crazieladybug

Would you stay a whole week on the north shore of Kauai or would you break your week up, ex. 4 nights north shore, 3 nights south shore??
or do you not mind driving from one to the other, and just stay in one place for a whole week?

aloha

The best trip I've had yet (of 4 total) was 7 days on the N Shore, at Hanalei Colony Resort, and 3 days on the southwest side, at Kalaheo Inn. From Kalaheo we were close to Koke'e and to Po'ipu. Really don't enjoy spending big chunks of time driving just to get to a certain spot. This year, we spent 10 days in Kapa'a (Islander on the Beach) and enjoyed that area, but we really love the Ha'ena area on the far North. If you have 7 days, I think a 4-3 or 5-2 split would be good.

gyppielou

love the split unless you make our mistake a few years back...stayed at Princeville and moved to Sheraton Poipu,,,major letdown, Our next trip will be 3star rather than 5 star so that won't be a problem. All our trips to Maui are split between areas which we find best to fit our sense of adventure....hit one area , explore and then move on...I think you experience more this way. Good Luck

RichinPA

I am sorry, but I have to disagree. I love the North shore, but where ever you stay, the island is only 30 miles wide, why waste valuable vacationtime switching hotels, packing and unpacking. You can drive from one side of the islnad to the other in an hour and a half, it is not like you will be spending 4 or 5 hours to get to any place. I would prefer to stay either the entire time in one hotel, North or South and travel to sight see.

But that's only my opinion.

pspercy

Agree 100% with Rich regarding staying put.
Aloha, what did you think of Kalaheo Inn, what time of year - did it get enough of a breeze ?
Thanks

Nancy03

This is such a personal preference. I don't consider the 1/2 hour of packing my suitcase and checking out of a hotel a big bother. And I love to see what a different hotel looks and feels like. I would rather do that than take the same trip back and forth from the North to the South shore. For instance, let's say you want to spend 2 days touring areas on the South shore and you are staying in Hanalea area. You would use up about 6 hours of travel time alone. 1 and 1/2 hours each way for 2 days and with each trip you see the same drive view (a beautiful one mind you) 4 times coming and going. Plus the traveling back and forth alone can be trying. It's nice to go exploring during the day, then stopping for a sunset dinner and drink with a new view, new restaruant choices and not have to think about an hour drive back to your hotel in the dark. I think, packing and unpacking and checking out and in takes up (at the most) an hour and a half - an hour seems to work for me. But others are bothered by this routine.

Staying at a new location gives you a whole new feel of the island. They are so different and you can relax and look around longer during the day without of the worry about getting back to your hotel.

This is how I look at the time: If you stay the whole time on the Northshore you will use 6 hours of your time in your car to drive to the southshore for 2 full days. If you stay in the south shore area you will use 1 hour to pack, 1-1/2 to drive to your new location and another 1 hour to unpack. So a move to the south shore would save you 2-1/2 hours which equals more time for relaxation and a chance to experience something different.

It's truly a personal thing. Do you hate to pack/unpack? Do you hate to drive in the car? Are you going to be back next year so you can just skip one side of the island this time and save it for next year? Lots to consider.

crazieladybug

Very good points, thanks for the ideas and helping me decide. I don't considering packing up and moving a big hassle, so we are going to do that.

On a side note we were going to rent this beachhouse from this woman, but when I asked if we could rent for four nights I got a strange response back. She said that we couldnt, she only rents out for a week..that is understandable. But then she said "Everybody likes the Northshore better than the Southside anyway. It is more beautiful and not so developed." Wow, I can't believe she would make such a generalization. Surely not EVERYONE likes the Northshore better? We definitely will not be renting from her.

Nancy03

crazielybug: If it it just the two of you check out www.secretbeachkauai.com on the northshore - they rent for 4 nights.

crazieladybug

Thanks for the info Nancy. Yep it is just the two of us, it will be our honeymoon.

I have seen those cottages at Secret Beach before. They are look soooo nice! Out of our budge though as we are staying 7 nights at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui, and then off to Kaui where we need to downscale a tad. I think we are going to stay at the Sealodge for only $115 a night, and then our last three nights at the Hyatt. I just found a rate of only $189 for the Hyatt on cheaptickets.com.

aloha

For PSPercy: We were at the Kalaheo Inn in late Sept. 1998. It's funny, I had forgotten there was no air conditioning. We weren't in our rooms much during the day. we were very comfortable sleeping--which is the main reason I would be concerned with air conditioning. If you look at the ipix on the web site, it is pretty indicative of the rooms. The rooms are small, and i remember that some things appeared scaled down, such as the door to the bathroom being narrower than usual. We had a ground floor unit with bedroom, bath, living room/kitchenette (small fridge, microwave, and electric skillet). We had a tiny patio with 2 chairs and a palm tree about 6 feet tall. We really enjoyed staying in the small town. We ate at Camp House
Grill several times, enjoyed it. We thought it was a great value.

mscarls

If dining is important to you, it's worth splitting the trip for the variety of restaurants. I think you would have trouble finding 7 good ones on the North Shore. Finding 7 on the south would be possible, however.

s3az

Hi! I just had to respond to this post...my husband and I stayed in the secret beach cottages for our honeymoon (7 days) and it was the most perfect place possible. It is secluded, though. We loved that. Anyway, there is no way you would want to leave the cottage so consider staying there (or somewhere similar) for the whold trip. I just got back from another week in Kauai and I would definitely recommend staying in one spot. We still went all over the island and out to dinner on the south shore...the scenery is so beautiful that even driving is amazing. Just my opinion! But the Secret Beach Cottages are so fabulous. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! You will love Kauai no matter what you do!