Kaia’i is Hawaii’s Garden Isle
Garden Isle offers fun for the family
They had me at yearround great weather. Where I am is rainy and gloomy. Enough incentive to beeline to the tropics? Thought so.
Kaua’i, the fourth largest, oldest geologically, and most northern in the chain of Hawaiian Islands, is called the Garden Isle for good (and very green) reason. The paradise where George Clooney rocked a vintage Hawaiian shirt in The Descendants, and where Jurassic Park had to shut-it-down after a serious dino-flip-out, Kaua’i is roughly 1,430 square kilometres, with just three per cent of the island developed for commercial and residential use. It has only 67,000 residents.
Rainy? Sure, but most falls over the mountain ranges, making the entire island green and lush, thus the “garden isle” name, and in the places where most visitors spend their time, nary a raindrop will spit.
Kaua’i’s scenic wonders are plenty. On the western end of the island, the nearly 1,219-metre Waimea Canyon, also known as “the Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” offers a 22.5-kilometre-wide stunning view.
The Na’pali Coast’s 914-metre high mountain cliffs rise from the ocean floor, and are best viewed either by helicopter, or from the deck of a catamaran while you sip a mai tai. Captain Andy’s Sailing Adventures, offers one of the best days on the sea, with a fun but professional crew, barbecue lunch, stops for snorkelling, and dolphin spotting.
To view the Garden Isle’s “green,” some time spent strolling the Allerton Gar- den, at the National Tropical Botanical Garden is a must, and no visit is complete without a photo op at the Avatar tree.
What’s Hawaii without a round of golf? Kaua’i boasts three of the top 15 golf courses in the state.
If you’re looking for something a little off the grid, the mountain tubing with Kaua’i Background Adventures, kauaibackcountry.com, is big fun. Wear your swimsuit, don a helmet with headlamp, and float on an inner tube through miles of waterways that were once irrigation ditches for sugar cane plantations. The tunnels are where it gets a little crazy, especially once you are told to flip off your light and do the last one in pitch blackness.
Resorts and hotels range from family-friendly to full-on luxury, depending on your needs and depth of pockets:
The Kaua’i Marriott Resort, marriott.com, is spacious, beachfront and great for kids with its waterslide pool; plus Duke’s Barefoot Bar is always fun for a little tiki-time.
The St. Regis Princeville Resort, stregisprinceville.com, offers luxury without pretence, and the impeccable service you’d expect from this chic hotel brand. The view of Hanalei Bay on the breakfast deck is stunningly surreal, and celebrity chef JeanGeorges Vongerichten’s Kaua’i Grill can’t be missed.
If a condo-style stay is your thing, the new Koloa Landing Wyndham Grand Resort, koloalandingresort.com, is lovely, and a great value.
To order a Kaua’i Travel Planner, call (800) 262-1400 or visit kauaidiscovery.com