Kauai Trip Review - Part II

January 2014 marked our second trip to the beautiful island of Kauai, I'm sure it won't be our last.  When we visit, we typically stay on the North Shore, close to hiking, nice resorts, and some of the most fabulous food you can get on the island.  One of the things I love about staying up here is that you are forced to leave your resort and head into "local" territory to eat.  You won't find an Olive Garden or a Chili's, and instead you are treated to an abundance of local delights.

Kauai's Kilauea Fish Market

The Kilauea Fish Market was recommended to us by friends as a great lunch stop.  The food was absolutely not disappointing!  We had Fish Tacos and something else that topped the list as "customer favorites".  Both were delicious.  The only downside here were the number of (aggressive) chickens also trying to eat our delicious lunch.

Dolphin Restaurant

The Dolphin Kauai wins for atmosphere, this almost entirely open air restaurant is a great way to enjoy the setting sun of Kauai.  The appetizers and sushi here was good, but not the best I've had.  If you are in the mood for sushi, this is the place to be.

Postcards Cafe

Postcards. Postcards. Postcards.  
The Postcards Cafe Kauai is an absolute do-not-miss on our travels to Kauai. The fresh fish special NEVER disappoints.  The fish is so fresh and so well prepared I think I could stop in here 3 times a week to enjoy it.  We've also enjoyed amazing servers each time we've stopped in. 

Bar Acuda

Bar Acuda is a hit-or-miss for me.  The first time we came it was a miss and we were pretty disappointed.  The second time it was a super "hit" we loved literally everything we ordered.  This is a tapas style restaurant with a very long wait, and sometimes no availability for dinner, so make a reservation the day before and be prepared to sample a few dishes.  

Tahiti Nui

Kalua Pork and Pineapple pizza.  Also known as "Da Hui" is hands down the best $25 you will ever spend.  It's SO.GOOD.  

This restaurant also makes an appearance in the movie "The Descendants" which put it on the famous map, and features live music and sometimes impromptu hawaiian dancing as the night progresses.  Seriously, what's not to love? 

Trip Review Part I- Kauai Hawaii

Kauai Trip Review - Part I 

In January 2014 we made our second trip to Kauai, the oldest and possibly the most beautiful of the Hawaiian islands.  Kauai itself is a stunning work of nature, lush, deeply carved by the elements and very undeveloped in comparison to the other islands.  Part of the charm of this island is the unparalleled natural beauty it offers, along with which comes an abundance of outdoor activities and a true laid back island lifestyle.  Making this trip even better was the fact that we were joined by our amazing friends (travel buddies we met on an Asia cruise).  So.much.fun.

We spent the last two trips on the North Shore, specifically in Princeville Kauai at the St. Regis Kauai.  While the St. Regis as a resort could really do a little better, there is no better place on the island to take in the un-spoiled beauty of Kauai.  The entire North Shore is very "local" with an extremely relaxed vibe.  Everything from the restaurants (more to come in a later post) to the hiking lends itself to just enjoying yourself and your stay here.  There is also a great ratio of tourists to locals, which I love.  Any trip to Kauai must include the "The Ultimate Kauai Guide: Kauai Revealed" trip planning book.  Very VERY worth it.

Staying at the St. Regis

The view from the pool - not bad :-)

I'm very meh about this resort. (See Trip Advisor reviews here, and here) it is very pretty, and well appointed, but it still lacks in the service department for something that should be a 5 star hotel.  Things that are really wonderfully done here include the comfort of the rooms (we had a Jr. Suite and it was gorgeous), as well as the service level at the pool area.  This is a HUGE improvement over my last stay here so I was really pleased with that.  We found the pool butlers, pool servers, and outdoor dining areas to be spectacular.

Things that are not so spectacular are things you would just hope a real 5 star hotel would anticipate and have taken care of immediately.  Valet for example.   If you call for your car 15 minutes ahead of time, you should not walk out the front door without your car being in the circle, especially when 4 valets are joking around and having fun with each other in the valet area.  Other things lacking include the overall attentiveness of the staff.  It takes the staff of a Four Seasons resort (any of them, we've stayed at 8) about 30 minutes to learn everything about you and cater to you the entire time you are with them.  At the St. Regis guests are avoided by all but a few really friendly wonderful staff members.  Some may read this and think I'm a Princess when I travel.  That's ok with me, what's most important is that I feel I am getting what I should be from the money I choose to spend on a vacation.

Overall I would still recommend the resort to anyone wanting to stay on the North Shore as the good outweighs the bad by far.

Things to Do on the North Shore

Na'Pali coast hike

Hike the Na'Pali coast.  Honestly this is a do not miss.  I am in no way a hiker and this is a hike I would do every day of the week.  It's difficult, but not killer and gives you such amazing rewards.  You can adapt this hike which I also love, you can do 4 miles round trip to a nice beach area, or you can do 8 miles round trip to a waterfall.  Or if you are super adventurous (I am not) you can continue on from the waterfall and hike god knows how many miles and stop at the peaks along the Na'Pali coast.  You'd have to camp overnight to do this and let's face it, I'm not willing to go more than 10 hours without my hair straightener. ever.

Seriously have you ever seen anything so pretty?

Biking - Kapaa

Another thing I'm not overly fond of on vacation, but the husband is so we go.  I do have to admit that each time we do a bike tour I am pleasantly surprised by how amazing it is to see so much of a place or city on 2 wheels.  This bike ride was along a really nice (read, easy to ride) path along the ocean.  We saw whales, a monk seal, and really beautiful views.  Bikes were rented through Coconut Coasters in Kapaa. Below are some of the sights on our bike tour. 

Monk Seal - you really can walk up almost right him!

That covers my favorite place to stay and my favorite activities on the North Shore.  Stayed tuned for other parts of this review including restaurants with reviews, getting to Hawaii for nearly free (it's totally true), and a few other travel tricks I have up my sleeve! Have a great day!

From Hawaii with Love

What blog of mine would be complete without a little travel writing?  I love to travel much to the dismay of my poor husband (who also loves to travel, but doesn't love getting stuck with the bill for every.single.trip.) :-)  All in good time my love, I'll start pitching in.  Eventually. 

Our most recent trip was to Hawaii and we visited both Maui and Kauai for 5 days each.  Here is a review of these fabulous islands!

Flying:

I hate flying, mostly because all the value of airfare has been sucked out.  I will say that if you can fly out of (or into) T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, do it.  This is possibly the greatest airport on earth, great people, rarely a line, quick and efficient, I love it.  

As for airlines, never fly with Continental or United.  It's so nice that two of the worst lines in travel have merged to form one truly horrifying airline.  Zero customer service, zero value, and worst of all least leg room in the industry. 

Resorts:

Maui

On Maui we stayed on the Four Seasons Wailea.  This resort does everything right, literally like Heaven on Earth.  Absolutely without a doubt this is the place to book if you are looking for the most relaxing, perfect experience that money could buy.  I could go on for days about this resort, but I'll spare you the gushing, for that you can go to trip advisor and get all of my gushy details  :-)

This is the Serenity pool.  Go here.  Do not leave.  You will not be sorry. 

Because the Four Seasons was like a magnet and gave us absolutely no reason to leave the property, we only left for one afternoon where we drove the west shore and stopped in Lahaina for lunch.  We ate at Kimo's which was very good.  Great view, great Mai Tai's, Great Service, Great Cheeseburger with grilled Pineapple.  Delicious, if you are in Maui, stop here for lunch or dinner you won't be sorry!  

Kauai

Next up was Kauai, where we chose (poorly) to stay at the St. Regis Princeville.  Bad, bad idea.  This resort is beautiful, and is situated on the most gorgeous area of Kaui (on the North shore with a perfect view of the Na'Pali coast) but that's about all the good news I can share with you. 

Overall the St. Regis was a huge disappointment, terrible service, no included amenities, hell no included coffee.  I should say that if you HAVE to come to Kauai (which you all should at least once) and you HAVE to stay at a St. Regis, then by all means, do so.  But I will tell you that the Westin Princeville does it about 100x better and for one-third the price that St. Regis does it at.  Live and learn.  Again, trip advisor has my angry details of this resort.
The good news about the resort being so crap-tastic is that we really got to get out and see Kauai. 

We hiked the Hanakapi'ai Trail, 8 miles total to a waterfall and back, a tough hike but well worth it!  I should put it out there that I am NOT a hiker.  As in this was my first real hike and I did just fine.  Except of course the parts where I thought I was going to die, or almost died.  Here are some of the views along the way:

We also had some great opportunities to get out and eat our way through Hanalei Bay, so we took full advantage.  I should note that we do our best to enjoy locally owned restaurants and bars everywhere we go (hell even at home) so this is a compilation of good eats in the North Shore Area. 

Tahiti Nui - How could I not start with a place that scenes from the Descendents was filmed in?  My butt was possibly in the same spot as George Clooney's.  This place was great, we went in around 6:30, got seats at the bar, were served immediately, and the food was amazing.  We got a total of 4 Mai Tai's which were amazing, and a huge pizza with pork and pineapple for a grand total of $52.  How much better does it get?  And they had live local entertainment and the guy was a fantastic musician. 

Postcards Cafe - It was fairly obvious that the specialty here was local fish.  My favorite thing about this restaurant was that it was small and quaint, a very "homey" kind of place.  It was almost like going over to a friends for a good casual dinner party.  They have a "fresh catch" section which features a selection of toppings like macadamia nut butter, pineapple something salsa, yum yum yum.  The fish is whatever is fresh that day, I had Opah with the macadamia butter.  Oh so good.  And on top of the fresh catches, they also offer a Chef's special which is difficult to pass up.  My husband didn't and it was amazing.  Overall, great great meal here.  Arrive early because the lot was full by 6:30 and there was already a wait list. 

Bar Acuda -  This one was just ok for us.  I really think our selections led us to not have the best experience, because everyone seems to love this place.  The menu changes very frequently, so when you visit you will have all new goodies to look forward to.  What I can say is that we were unimpressed with the fish dishes we ordered, but the beef dishes and salads were all good, and the pizza looked pretty good too.  Our server was awesome though, I had to send back a Mahi Mahi (which I never do) but he was great about replacing it and taking it off our bill.  Major thanks for that!   


Packing Tips:

I am a seriously bad overpacker.  I have no idea why I pack so much.  Here are some lists of the necessities:

Bug Spray (if you are doing any hikes you will need lots of spray)

A Hat - the sun is strong your going to need one!

Half the clothes you packed (I probably wore 1 pair of shorts, 3 sundresses, 2 nicer-dinner dresses, 7 tops, 2 swimsuits and a cover-up) What I brought was about 65 pounds more crap.