jill

I've heard that the north side of Kuaii is much wetter than the west side. Is this true? I'm planning a trip for mid September and wanted to stay in the better side. Pros and cons? Thanks, Jill

Paul

The north side of Kauai, e.g. the Princeville area, is indeed much wetter. Because of all that rainfall, however, it is lush and beautiful. At least a rainbow per day when I stayed there! The southern end of the island is considerably drier. So, if you want no rain to ensure your beach days, stay there. That's one of the reasons why Poipu Beach is so popular. I simply stayed up north, and when we had a "beach day" planned, drove down to Poipu. If I return (which I probably will), I'd choose Princeville area again - it's just too pretty to pass up!

xxx

I prefer Hanalei to Pville it is such a short stroll to the beach. In pville you always need to walk down a hill or steep steps to get to beach. In Pville strolls along the water can just happen that much more frequent because it is closer to yah. Stayed in pville and Hanalei and much prefer Hanalei.

Hanalei does not get the commercial advertising that Pville does. It does not need it because we had trouble finding availabity 5 months before our trip. At the very same time pville had loads of availabiltiy.

Would choose another island before staying on West Side the driving can be exhausting during a vacation.

Rick

I do prefer the south side or the Popu side. So many more condos and hotels to choose from. I do enjoy the lushness of the north but the south isn't so dry that it looks like the dessert. It is gorgeous.
In the south it is easier to get to Waimea Canyon and there are more boats going out of the south(port allen) to go to Napali etc. It is also closer to the airport.

Suzie

This particular question is asked alot and the answers vary based on what people want in a vacation. I recently did a search on this site for kauai boat tours intending to get various opinions on which tour was best to see Na Pali. Of course I waded through hundreds of posts debating the merits of each side. If you really want a good cross section or a LARGE number of opinions you should try a Kauai search then set aside some serious reading time. Ultimately you need to decide what you want in your vacation. Knowing that when we go at the end of the month it will still be reasonably dry both on the north and especially in the south we chose Poipu because DH did not want to be affected by any rain. Also being from CA, driving around the island in a convertable on slow roads appealed to us! Good Luck with your decision!

traveller

The north side is pretty much what you think of when you see the pictures of Kauai. The Napali coast is the trademark to some people of the island. The southern portion has some fantastic beaches though, eventhough it was pretty much wiped out of a lot of vegetation subsequent to Hurricane Iniki. Personally I would stay at somewhere like the Outrigger which is about halfway between both and be able to explore the North and South without having to always head off in the same direction.