BJ

We are going to Kauai in January. We will be hiking most days, moderate to difficult trails 3+ miles.

I am trying to determine which end of the island to stay that would be the best location for majority of hikes on Kauai. Although I am drawn to the North shore for lushness, if I remember from our previous visits the west shore has more hikes, other than a few wonderful ones up north.

Can anyone help with this? I do not want to fight traffic each day to go hiking. Should we split our two week stay lodgings?



Thanks,
BJ

Samsaf

A lot of people prefer the north shore, and I do think it's very, very beautiful, but I prefer the south side (it seems more "open" and tropical, I guess).

But if I had two weeks, I would probably split between north and south sides, and then plan the location of the hikes accordingly.

Any hiking in Waimea Canyon is closer to the south side.

poolboy

Highly recommend the Maha'ulepu area in Poipu for a unique, rugged and beautiful coastside hike. See it now before it gets built on.

LindainOhio

The northshore has the most famous trail in all of Hawaii, the Kalalau--we have never done the entire trail, you need reservations, but the first 2 miles are beautiful. The trail follows the coast and leads to a beach. Great views of the valley, out across the ocean and up the coast. When you visit, you will have the added bonus of seeing whales--take binoculars.

The first 2 miles of that trail did not compare though to the fabulous views that we saw when we hiked the Nualolo/ Cliffs/Awa'awapuhi loop trail in Waimea Canyon. We started down the Nualolo near Kokee Lodge--be sure to go beyond the intersection of the Nuololo and the Cliffs trail to Lolo Vista--my favorite view in Kauai. You look down into the valley and then out at the Na Pali coast--wow. The Cliffs Trail at the time we hiked it was a bit washed out--it was a bit scary. Great views also from the Awa'awapuhi Lookout and then a miserable couple uphill miles(but the rest of the trail and views make it worth it) We only saw 5 other people on this trail--it's about 10 miles total miles. Our favorite all time hike.

We also loved walking along the cliffs at Maha'ulepu. We spent several days at the little cove beach out there beyond Gillins Beach.

Every morning we loved to walk from Makahuena Point down to the Hyatt and up on the cliffs.

We visited in Feb. and chose the southshore because the winter is the rainy season in Hawaii and the southshore receives the least rain. We watched the weather and headed to the northshore when the forecast was for clear weather. It is a long drive from the northshore to Waimea. We are also drawn to the northshore's beautiful beaches and scenery

sea_wahine

I found this interesting mahaulepu preservation group online a while back.. www.malama-mahaulepu.org/
malama-aloha