How are the 2 and three bedroom suites? Is the beach fairly easily accessible and swimmable? Are there many restaurants nearby?Thanks!

Stayed there 3 yrs ago, but in a hotel rm., not a suite. The beach is NOT very accessable; it is a very steep walk all the way downhill past all the tennis courts; I would recommend calling for the little cart ride the hotel provides to come back up; otherwise it's a VERY steep walk back.
There is only 1 restaurant on premises, and 1 bar. Both shut down every nite PROMPTLY at 10 pm. There is nothing else open at the hotel. There are several restuarants at the Princeville Resort next door , several of them have prix fixe menus that make it a resonable, but not cheap dinner.
For other places, you have to drive out to the shopping area at the entrance to the Priceville Resort grounds; there was a casual restaurant there that had great fish sandwiches, and a couple of other restaurants.

Stayed there 3 yrs ago, but in a hotel rm., not a suite. The beach is NOT very accessable; it is a very steep walk all the way downhill past all the tennis courts; I would recommend calling for the little cart ride the hotel provides to come back up; otherwise it's a VERY steep walk back.
There is only 1 restaurant on premises, and 1 bar. Both shut down every nite PROMPTLY at 10 pm. There is nothing else open at the hotel. There are several restuarants at the Princeville Resort next door , several of them have prix fixe menus that make it a resonable, but not cheap dinner.
For other places, you have to drive out to the shopping area at the entrance to the Priceville Resort grounds; there was a casual restaurant there that had great fish sandwiches, and a couple of other restaurants.
Just remember that this is not a resort in the sense of The Priceville next door or the Hyatt Kauai, or the Marriott Kauai. It is more like a timeshare complex, meaning very limited facilities and services., There is not anything else on the property besides several tennis courts and two pools, one of which has a nice waterfall and landscaping. There is NO poolside food or drink service, and no amenities geared towards children.

Was there last year and everything Anthony says still applies. The beach is, in fact, down a very steep hill and is very unspectacular once you get there. Small, very rocky, with no beach chairs. The restaurant/bar situation was pathetic, with both closing at 8:30 sharp - no exceptions. There were little to no activities, the concierge was a little snippy and the most heard phrase heard during my stay was "buy a timeshare". The staff wasn't nasty but was far from nice.

That said, the view was beautiful, and the rainbows were some of most vivid I've ever seen. There were places to eat in the town of Hanalei, about a 5 minute drive, 2 of which were the Morning Glory Cafe (breakfast) and Bubba's Burgers, which actually made a decent burger. Bubba's also has a WebTV unit for sending email messages back home.

All in all, if I had it to do over, I'd stay on the south shore, somewhere like the Marriott. There's less rain down there and you're closer to the sights on the rest of the island.

Anthongy I would not call that a steep hill. Steep to me means watch your step, walking slow. The ocean path from HBR is just a long hill facing down at the beach. This is an asphalt street like path widing down the hill of princeville. It is actually fun to walk down and back I met people each time. You walk under a vine path part of the way, very tropical, gets dark in there after sunset. Everyone in Pville has to walk down a path, other properties like Pua Poa and Pali ke Kua have STEEP unpaved paths where you have to watch your step. You are actually exausted when you get to the end of those paths or I was.

I think HBR is fine, one of the limitted airconditioned properties in princeville. I stayed there two years ago, my studio was spacious comfortable and clean although quality of rooms can vary at HBR. I thought dealing with the hotel directly made room quality easier to assure.

Having said that I saw great rates for this place at hotelonsale.com

I would go back to HBR but not in a few years I saw a difference in the hotel restaurant after only one year. More and more condos it will be less and less a hotel environment. Great views to walk to and there is something to be said for being in the Pville area puts you closer to non-North Shore activities. I don't know what happens to me but somehow I get so lazy on Kauai. The trek up from Hanalei into the foodland in Princeville feels like long drive. It is only about 15 minutes!!!

I myself like renting condos in Hanalei town. Do like to walk along the beach before dinner and there I can just walk right out a block and half a way, love this.

ps there was a poolside drink and food service when we visited last August. We were not staying there so maybe it was only on certain days but a women came up to us (kids with us swam in the pool after breakfast at the hotel) Another quality, that pool kids love and it never seems to have a lot of people as people hit the area beaches. Same cannot be said of Hyatt still wondering if I should cancel my reservation there. Going in August should I cancel???