My family is of 4 is heading to Kauai in November. I am planning on staying 6 nights in the south shore to hopefully get drier weather - (but we do plan on taking a day trip or two to the North Shore) I would like to find a place to stay either hotel or condo on a sandy swimmable beach - quiet and nice with a decent pool... seems like everything I find is on a rocky beach?! HELP

Kiahuna Plantation!

Whalers Cove... Not on a beach but lovely place and would definitely stay again. Beach is very close and we enjoyed exploring lots of beaches very close to the condo. It has a wonderful pool. Beautiful island! You will love it!

Try this place - Lawai Beach resort - a timeshare with I believe some condos. We traded in there for a few days and really liked it - and there is a nice beach nearby and a great restaruant also.

http://www.lawaibeach.org/

In addition to the Kiahuna Plantation, two other nice resorts that meet your criteria are the Marriott Waiohai at Poipu Beach and the Marriott Beach Club Resort at Kalapaki Beach. The latter is my personal favorite. FYI, the KP does not have air conditioning. November can be warm and your need for AC would depend on your personal preferences.

We've actually stayed at all three of the places Bob mentions (although we stayed in the hotel portion, not the condos at the Marriott at Kalapaki Beach). We preferred both of the Poipu Beach places to the Lihue one - I think the Marriott in Lihue is in need of some updating and refreshing - I was shocked by the condition of the tennis courts. However, the condos are newer so they're probably nicer. We just loved the lawns and beach at Kiahuna - the grounds are so lovely, but I agree, you might think twice because of the lack of AC. The Marriott Waiohai is a Marriott timeshare property, but they rent out too. I think all the units are 2 BDR, 2BA. The units themselves are standard-issue (very nice, but not very Hawaiian) Marriott timeshares, the grounds are beautiful, and the beach is really nice. The public corridors in the buildings are oddly institutional looking. If you do choose this property, be sure you get a unit that overlooks the gardens (interior) because they call everything that doesn't have an ocean view, "garden-view" and that might mean looking over the parking area. You can see my review under the same screen name on TripAdvisor.

Kiahuna Plantation has a beautiful beach, but it is very busy. It is one, if not the best swimming beaches in Kauai. Did I mention it is really busy. The grounds are beautiful. The pool was renovated somewhat recently, but it is across the street, not really on the grounds. If you want to stay here I would recommend looking for a privately owned condo, look at VRBO or just Google it. You can typically save around 40% to 50% off of the rack room rate, and then you will know exactly which direction and what type of view your condo will have.

I disagree with the others here regarding the need for an AC. An AC isn't necessary. I've been to Kauai a dozen or more times, at various times of the year and I can't remember a time when an AC was necessary. Well maybe July/August. But most of the time the high is 85 the low is 68(F) In the winter months (November - March) it will hover around the mid 70's. You should know that this is considered the rainy season though. If you stay on the South or west sides, you will be fine. I can't remember a time where it rained for more than 30 minutes in a day. For some reason it rains more at night, if at all. When it rains, just pack up your stuff and go over to Kaloa town and visit the soap shop or Lapperts for ice cream. My favorite is Hana Road.

Whalers Cove is beautiful, I would recommend staying in a ground floor unit so that you can walk out to watch the sunrise and sunset every day. It is also easier to get to the pool. Sunset's in Hawaii are an amazing event and everyone comes out to see them. We met some great friends on the rocks outside of our condo at Whalers Cove at sunset. The pool here is great, never busy. The snorkeling and Scuba here is the best on the island. You will often see large sea turtles, an occasional ray, two or three different types of eals, and a large variety of fish here just about any day. The depths range from a few feet down to about 40 feet.

The Grand Hyatt in Poipu is very beautiful but in my opinion it is overpriced. The beach is gorgeous, just not great for swimming. We went to a wedding here. The pools are great. The Lomi Lomi massage at the Anara Spa is fantastic. The restaurants are nice, Tide Pool's restaurant is one of our favorites for the ambiance. However our favorite is Roy's, which is closer to Kiahuna Plantation. Or the Beach House Restaurant, which also has a very nice swimming and snorkeling beach nearby. It can get busy here as it isn't a big beach, but it is a good one for swimming safely.

The last few times that we have visited Kauai we have rented a house. Depending on the size of your family and budget this may or may not be an option. The closer you are to the beach the more expensive it is. We typically rent a 3br 2.1 ba, house on the Kiahuna Plantation golf course for about $260 a night. We rented a house next to the Hyatt once for about $400 a night once, but that was for a wedding, not ours.

The Marriott near Lihue/the airport. It has a beautiful beach. In fact if the beach wasn't on the flight path of the airport it would be perfect. This hotel is definitely a resort. A nice golf course and it has beautiful grounds. But did I mention the proximity to the airport. We have never stayed at the hotel, so I can't speak to the rooms. We went to a restaurant there, called Dukes, which I thought was over priced for somewhat marginal food. But a lot of people like it. So....

When you go to the North Shore, check out Tunnels Beach for snorkeling. But be aware that there IS an under toe/surge. Another way to explore the beaches on this side of the island is by taking a snorkeling boat tour that takes you around the west side of the island, along the Napali Coast, and then drops you off at a beach or two for lunch and snorkeling. These beaches are typically only accessible by boat or hiking in. These trips are great for whale watching, the occasional spinner dolphin or pod of spinner dolphins, and if you are lucky you will see or even go into some of the volcanic caves along the coast. Driving to the North shore is a nice scenic drive. Lots of beaches to explore, you can go to the land of Hanalei, or hike around the Haena State park. We often stop at the Guava farm on our way there as well, mostly because I like guava juice and we live in Chicago, so we don't get to see too many guava farms where we are from. Not to mention they have great Guava sorbet.

I own a timeshare at the Marriott at Kalapaki and it is not directly on the flight path to the airport, the planes come in from the east a bit and I've never been bothered by noise there in 10 stays. In fact the helicopters are noisier if you are out by the pool area.

Hi Jamie99,

I don't mean to be rude but look at a map. The golf course is between two of the runways. http://tinyurl.com/7u8ckgv
The flight path for runway 35 is right out in front of the hotel. Runway 3 takes planes almost right over your head. Check out http://www.airnav.com/airport/LIH for the flight paths.