Kauai Island, HI

A holiday to Hawaii is a much-cherished getaway for beachcombers. On your Kauai holidays, you can laze and loll around and dream away your days or take part in a variety of water sports in some of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in the world. The Poihale Beach Park sees dramatic sunsets. Come here to watch the sun dip into the horizon after colouring the sky in fiery shades of red, orange, and yellow. The Hanalei Bay Beach encircles a crescent-shaped bay and is one of the most remote beaches on the island. Come here to seek solitude, quieten your mind, and listen to the whisper of the wind and the murmur of the seas.The Poipu Beach, the ‘Anini Beach, and the Kalapaki Beach provide ample opportunities to jump into the waters and engage in an activity of your choice. Go snorkelling to discover an underwater world of colourful creatures and foliage. Ride the surf and feel the high. Or just splash and swim around, taking in the warmth of the water and feeling the cool breeze on your skin. Your Hawaii holiday is never complete unless you have spent a day at the beach.

Kauai holidays are treasure hunts in the lap of Nature. The scenic natural wonders of Kauai are mostly hidden from view; it is as if Nature wants to invite you to explore the landscapes and discover Her secrets yourself. Here dolphins frolic along the remote shores of the Kilauea Point. The exquisite Na Pali Coast with its dramatic emerald peaks, glittering waterfalls, white sands, and lush greenery lies at the end of a stiff 11-mile trek. You have to board a helicopter to catch a glimpse of the Manawaiopuna Falls that plunges down a 400-foot lush canyon. The North Shore jealously guards the pristine sands of the Hideaway Beach that can only be accessed after trekking along a steep rocky path. A Kauai holiday teaches you that true beauty can only be found if you take a break from multi-tasking, switch off distractions, and devote yourself to the pursuit.

On your holiday to Kauai, you cannot but notice the vastness that abounds in Nature here. And nowhere is this vastness more striking than in the Waimea Canyon. The canyon stretches for about 10 miles and plunges to depths of about 3,000 feet. Over the ages, the Waimea River and the many waterfalls that leap off the cliffs have carved on the red walls of the canyon and exposed layers of basalt and lava rock. The vastness of the landscape, a deafening stillness that is only broken by the torrential Waimea River, and the sombre rusty red tones of the canyon sides add to the rawness of this primeval landscape.

Kauai is breathtakingly beautiful, but its northern fringes are more beautiful than the rest of the island. This part of the island is remote, which explains the raw, unspoiled beauty that abounds here. Here towering mountains encircle the lush patchwork fields of Hanalei Valley crisscrossed by gurgling streams and gushing rivers. Barely-there roads and hidden trails lead you to sleepy villages and quaint towns where the locals live like their ancestors used to a thousand years ago. Here, sheer cliffs look out to the powdery sands of the North Shore beaches and the azure waters of the sea beyond. A holiday in Kauai is a journey of discovery. It is as if Mother Nature is holding out for that one sensitive person who seeks true beauty.

You can go on a Hawaii holiday at any time of the year. The Kauai weather is one long march of sunny days interspersed by rains during winter. However, the windward side of the island receives more rain than the other parts. So, if the weather turns too moist for your liking, you can always head to the leeward side of the island where it is likely to be dry. The temperatures in Kauai are balmy throughout the year. 

Kauai is an all-seasons destination. But you might want to look up the social calendar before planning a Kauai holiday. The festivals of Kauai are not just occasions for the locals to sing, dance and dig into good food. These events also honour age-old customs and traditions and bring people together. Turn your tour in Hawaii into an enlightening cultural journey made of lore, legends, songs that sing of the sun and the moon, and dances that evoke the ripple of the waves, swaying palm and coconut trees, and flowing rivers and cascading waterfalls.

Winter: Surf Time and a Date With Whales

The winter months from November to February are also the wettest on the island. But after a spell of showers, Kauai decks up in a thousand shades of green. The fields and valleys are lusher. The waterfalls spout forth with renewed vigour and the streams that were mere trickles engorge and turn into gushing rivers. Winters may be barren where you live, but in Kaua’i, this is the season when Nature is fertile and verdant.Winter is also the whale-watching season in Kauai. If you are a capable surfer, then you might want to schedule a winter holiday to Kauai, a time when monstrous waves crash on the North Shore beaches. During winter, Kauai hosts the Prince Kuhio Celebration of the Arts, a grand festival of sensuous hula moves, sonorous chants, slack key guitar and ukulele beats, and colourful parades. Catch up on long-forgotten tales at the Waimea Town Celebration, a festival that brings to the fore stories that have shaped the psyche of a people.

Spring: A Time for Nature’s Bounty

As the winter chill gives way to warmer days and gentle breezes, Mother Nature brings out her bounties. The air is heady with the scent of tropical flowers. The trees are laden with ripe, juicy fruits. The markets are flooded with fresh vegetables, grown locally. You can continue on your cultural journeys with the First Friday Pa’ina, a celebration of traditional Hawaiian music, dance, and food that takes place on the first Friday of every month at the Kauai Museum.

Summer: Sunshine and Swell Time

A summer holiday to Kauai provides ample opportunities to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf. In summer, the swells are on the southern side of the island, and the Poipu Beach and the Kalapaki Beach attracts surfers with varied degrees of skill. The Koloa Plantation Days celebrations showcase Hawaii’s multi-cultural heritage. Throughout the years, Hawaii has attracted settlers from all over the world. The Hawaiian culture reflects the happy fusion of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Philippine, and European musical, gastronomic, and artistic traditions. The Koloa Plantations Days festival in Kauai is a unique opportunity to appreciate the tolerant and permissive mind-set of a people who have evolved by embracing a myriad of external cultural strains.

Autumn: Pleasant Weather, Sweeter Music

Come autumn, and the air of Kauai is filled with enchanting tunes, foot-tapping rhythms, and evocative and passionate lyrics. It is time for the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival, a musical extravaganza that draws masters of the genre from all over the world. However, the slack key guitar is a unique Hawaiian musical tradition. Attend the Festival to listen to the roar of the waves and feel the rustle of the wind in the sonorous strains of the slack key guitar.