Kauai — The Garden Island

Attractions
from Hawaii Travel Experts
  

• Botanic Gardens: Kauai is an island abounding in natural flora, and in addition has four botanic gardens open to the public for small fees. Smith's Tropical Paradise at Wailua, Olu Pua Gardens at Kalaheo, Kiahuna Planatation Gardens in Poipu, and National Tropical Botanical Garden in Lawaii, all offer an unusual assortment of flowers, shrubs, cacti, and other magnificent plant species.
• Captain Cook's Landing, Waimea Bay is the first place where the intrepid British explorer set foot in Hawaii in January 1778. This bay was for many years a favorite provisioning port for Pacific traders and whalers.
• Fern Grotto is a hauntingly beautiful cave, luxuriantly festooned with growing ferns; it is reached from the Wailua Marina.
• Grove Farm Homestead, just south of Lihue, was founded in 1864 by George Wilcox. It is now a museum complex that includes the old family plantation home, wash house, tea house, and guest cottage. The homestead is typical of the old Hawaiian planation tradition.
• Hanalei Valley — another name for Hanalei is Hanohano: glorious. You will want to stop at the vantage point near the marker to gaze at this sweeping scene of majestic tranquility.
• Hanapepe Valley's red cliffs give a handsomely colored accent to the valley's myriad shades of green and blue.
• Kalalau Lookout is a tropic Eden where once peacocks preened their plumage, and families cultivated terraces of taro. No lone lives here now ... nothing remains but one of the most beautiful views on Earth.
• Kamokila Hawaiian Village is the ruins of an old Hawaiian village, above the great bend of the Wailua River where once gathered the war canoes of Kaumaulii, the King of Kauai.
• Kauai Museum in Lihue presents a history of the Garden Isle in artifacts and photographs, along with other historical and art exhibits.
• Ke'e Beach Park is a fine bathing beach at the end of the road where the trail begins to the Na Pali Cliffs.
• Kilauea Lighthouse & Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is a haven for nesting seabirds. The isolated promontory where the lighthouse sits is open to visitors.
• Kokee State Park, adjacent to Waimea Canyon, has picnic grounds, cabins, and a wide variety of outdoor activities includinghunting, trout fishing, and hiking. The NASA Kokee Tracking Station is nearby.
• Lumahai Beach was chosen for Nurses' Beach in the movie South Pacific. This lovely spot is undoubtedly the most photographed beach on Kauai.
• Menehune Ditch: only small portions remain of what once was a great water course or aqueduct. Archeologists say it was built before Hawaiians came, possibly by the Menehune.
• Menehune Fish Pond at Niumalu has remarkable stone walls said to have been built in one night by the Menehune. The fish pond they enclose is still in use.
• Old Russian Fort (Fort Elizabeth): hoping to seize Kauai for his Tsar, an employee of the Russian Fur Company of Alaska built this fort near the mouth of the Waimea River in 1817. Rocky ruins are all that remain of his efforts and dream.
• Opaekaa Falls is where the Wailua River makes a dramatic plunge over a high cliff. Opaekaa means rolling shrimp and dates from days when swarms of shrmp were seen rolling in turbulent waters at the base of the falls.
• Poipu Beach is an exceptionally fine bathing beach.
• Royal Birthstones at Wailua: women of Hawaiian nobility always tried to reach these sacred stones in time to give birth, to ensure the royal status of their children.
• Sleeping Giant: the outline of a mountain ridge here shows a striking resemblance to a reclining giant.
• Smith's Tropical Paradise is a 23-acre site with gardens, lagoons, and exotic birds. A narrated train ride meanders through a rain forest, a Polynesian village, a Japanese island, a Filipino village, and other interesting areas. Kauai's ethnic heritage is reflected nightly in a 75-minute musical production in the lagoon theater.
• Spouting Horn: when the tide is running high, waves pressured through lava tubes are forced through a hole in coastal rocks to burst noisily into spectacular fountains of salt spray and foam.
• Wailua Falls is nicknamed Fantasy Island Waterfalls.
• Waimea Canyon is more than a view, it's an experience. You'll treasure its grandeur and jewel-tone colors, its awesome depth and breadth.
• Waioli Mission House was built in 1834, and restored by descendants of the first missionaries. You're welcome to look through this quaint home.
• Wet and Dry Caves of Haena are eerie caverns, one dry and the other two filled with limpid green water, where chiefs are said to have gathered in ancient times.

Kauai: Mini Guide | Driving Tours | Hotels & Resorts