Hello,
I am planning a trip to Kauai and we would like to stay somewhere on a swimmable beach. I am having a hard time finding anything. I have found a lot of oceanfront places, but the beaches are either inaccessable or rocky or have dangerous undertow. We'd like to stay somewhere with a kitchen or kitchenette rather than a hotel room. We are trying to find something around $135/nt or less. Also, we will be traveling with our baby.

Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

In looking around more I am thinking that my $135/nt range might be too low. When I went to Maui I had no problem finding studios and 1 bdrms at that price on swimmable beaches, but Kauai seems to be more expensive. I guess we may have to raise it up from $135/nt, unless you know of something...

We stayed at Poipu Beach in a condo complex, Kiahuna Plantation. We did not swim, but I assume it is swimmable because at the end of the large grassy area between our deck and the beach was a 'shack' with swimming 'equipment' ... floats, boards, etc. The beach was sandy and inviting, although not very wide.

These units are individually owned and rented out when the owners are not there. It is a fairly large complex, but set in pretty gardens and a unit which has a 'garden view' rather than an 'ocean view' would undoubtedly be less expensive, if it doesn't matter to you to have the ocean in front of you all the time. Sorry I cannot give you a price...I have forgotten it, but it was not much more, I think, than you are looking for, and we had a 1-bedroom rather than a studio. If you want to check this out, I would try googling Kiahuna Plantation and also go to vrbo.com to see if anyone on that site has a unit at KP. Good luck.

We found lodging in a rental cottage through Alternative Hawaii well within your price range. http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/accomg.htm
Of course, now I re-read your post and you want something right on the beach. Also look at http://www.aakauairentals.com/kauai-...on-rentals.htm

I do think there are places within your price range (you only need one bedroom or a studio, with a baby, right?).

Also look at vrbo (vacation rental by owner) for many many cottage rentals all over the world (some are cross listed in the sites above).

Liz

Liz

There are some units at Kiahuna that are available on vrbo.com starting at $120 a night. That stretch of beach is very swimmable.

-Bill

I'm not an expert on Kauai but when we were there we found the beaches not really condusive to swimming due to the very strong undercurrent. Even with fins (while snorkeling) we were kicking just to stay in one place (at Poipu) and not get pushed out.

amwosu,

You can find rip currents anywhere in the world. When in one just swim parallel to the beach until you are out of it. The worst one I was ever in was off Pacific Beach in San Diego.

Tide rise and fall is not much of a problem in Hawaii.

8-)

I'm sure you are correct about the rip currents being everywhere jamaltay.

There were two drowning shortly before we visited Kauai and on several beach hikes we saw warnings not to swim and even death tolls posted which I just don't see when we do our annual trips to the gulf coast of Florida. I assumed the strong tides on Kauai had to do with its location in the string of islands.

We stayed at Kiahuna Plantation last July. The beach there was swimable and we loved the location. The kitchen was nice to have as well. I think we paid around $160 and that was the AAA rate. I must say our unit was the absolute furthest from the beach.

You aren't going to find a place right on a swimmable beach with an oceanview for $135. You should be able to find something a short walk to the beach. Also you will do much better in the fall than the rest of the year.

In Poipu the beaches considered swimmable are Poipu and Kiahuna beach. I also swim at Shipwreck, but the waves are big and not for everyone.

Kiahuna plantation is not a bad choice but some of the places are a good walk to the beach despite the resort fronting the beach. Poipu Kai has studios and 1BR garden views which would be a short walk to Poipu Beach. You might also consider Poipu Sands 212. It is a walk to Poipu Beach, but it is on Shipwreck beach. Also there are a number of smaller resorts and B&B in the poipu area that are short walks to Poipu Beach.

You can look at the web site for the blue book and the poipu beach resort association for more ideas.

Alan

We just got back from Kuhio-Shores and rented through a private owner. The rate has gone up to $165 a night, but it was right on the ocean (30 feet or so) with a really short walk to a swimmable beach. This area is very close to Poipu Beach, but not walking distance.
www.kuhio-shores.com

Anini Beach is very swimmable, on the north shore. Here is a rental with ocean views, very reasonable:
http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteFrame...turnurl=/29257

Have you checked Wailua Bay View Condos? Not sure what time of year you are going, but we have swam in the beach in the summer. This past Jan. it was a little rough.

However, Wailua Bay is also very close to the most kid friendly beach in Kauai, Lydgate Park.

The condos are all one bedroom, but could fit a pack & play in the master no problem. I do highly recommend this area. You can go walking with the stroller to Coconut Marketplace or dinner w/out packing into a car. (Always take the back roads though, ask someone if you can't find the path.)

http://www.wailuabayview.com/?g
http://www.wailuabay.com/

PS, Anini Beach is great for kids too.

Thank you so much everyone. It does certainly look like I have some options. We don't mind if we don't have an ocean-view from our room/condo, but we just would like to be where we can easily go out for a dip and not have to pack up the car for a day at the beach.

Eeva, when you say you were furthest from the beach, how far was it? I looked on the website for the blue book and the rear units do look kind of far, but then I thought that it was probably just a 5 minute walk or so.

What about a place near Baby Beach on the East side of the island?

Thanks for the tip on VRBO. What a great site! I found so much there!

Is the beach next to Kuhio Shores a nice beach for swimming and is the area in front ok for snorkeling or is it rough?

Are a lot of the beaches in Kauai not swimmable? If so, are there signs posted?

Thank you!

The beach next to Kuhio Shores is small but swimmable and there is very good snorkeling there.

MinneNo1,
Was that through VRBO.com?

Our girls are now riding boogie boards and snorkling but not so long ago, when they were infants and toddlers, we spent a couple of weeks every January at Poipu Beach. The complex that worked best for us was Poipu Kai, especially the Manualoha units that opened onto the green belt. (Bldgs 4, 5 & 6 of Kahala are nice too with views.) While Poipu Kai isn't right on the beach, it's a very short walk to the sheltered lagoon at Poipu Beach Park and the paved walkway through the greenbelt goes all the way the other direction to the Hyatt. The rates are pretty reasonable too especially if you stay for a week and get a gardenview unit. We used to put a kid or two in the stroller and walk to the Hyatt for morning coffee and "Parrot Talk,"a little program that the Hyatt does to educate people about their macaws. The kids loved the parrots even when they were tiny. There are also some nice hikes/walks beyond the Hyatt that are great if you have a baby backpack.
We've rented units through private owners and through Suite Paradise. We had one iffy experience renting through an owner- the unit wasn't terribly clean. There is a great one bedroom Manualoha unit (Poipu Kai is made up five groups of condos) that is available through Grantham Rentals certain months of the year and is on their website.
We've stayed at a number of other places as well but Poipu Kai worked the best. The beach park is the prettiest and the best beach with little ones, it's easy to walk with a stroller, there are a couple of pools and nice landscaping and good security. Baby Beach can be a nice little spot in the morning but there is no shade in the afternoon. Another nice thing about Poipu is that while there is a wonderful shallow lagoon great for little ones, there is great boogie boarding beach right next to it and good snorkling and swimming as well.
I wouldn't stay along the eastern shore, too busy and loud. The North Shore is fantastic in the summer but we've enjoyed it most with our kids as they've gotten older and more mobile. (They're now 8 and 11.)
Have lots of fun and make good memories.

We used to stay at a place called the Poipu Beach Hotel - very modest, kind of small, and right on the beach. The water was great. I am not sure if it still exist, however. We loved it.

We are now on the Big Island, but just left Kaua'i and stayed VERY near Poipu Beach (a block or two walk away) We stayed at Hideaway Cove (http://hideawaycove.com/halealoha/be...ber/index.html). While we stayed at the largest units (we had 8 people and a 20 month old baby) the site noted above is their smallest unit--but it has a kitchen. Poipu Beach is great and wonderful for a little one. I believe the cost is $145 for less than 7 days and $125 for 7 days or more. Hope this helps!

I may have started looking throu VRBO.com, but I can't honestly tell you that's how I ended up. I did rent directly from the owner with only a couple of calls and emails back and forth. We had no problems whatsoever, and would certainly recommend Kuhio-Shores for sun, location and beach (sun and snorkel). We also had dinner at the Beach House. Our reservations were for shortly before sunset. I can say we had 1 of 2 great sunsets for the week we were there. The evening was perfect, the fireroasted ahi was fabulous.