We will be staying at Whaler's Cove (south side) for half of our trip and the other half in Puu Poa (Princeville) starting in mid June. Both places look beautiful, though neither has air conditioning. We will be on the first floor at each location. Should I be worried?

We have been to Maui in July and did not have A/C. We were fine and I am always hot. Hope this helps.

Absolutely not!

We were at the North Shore in Kauai in May at an apartment efficiency on the ground floor that had two sliding doors, front door with louvers, and two windows. The problem was at night we had to close the sliders for security, and pull the shades so outsiders/peepers would not see the Mrs. in her cuddleduds. It got stuffy, especially with a noisy ceiling fan.

Remember, the Hawaiian Islands will be very humid that time of year.
The stickyness is not pleasant.As the above post stated, your room can be stuffy and uncomfortable. Usually fans are not enough. I would opt for AC.

None of the places we've stayed in Kaua'i had a/c and we go in July/August. Would we have used a/c had we had it? Yes. Did we miss not having it? Not really. Good flow-through is important as are quiet fans, expecially at night. We leave all the windows open and shutters open even at night.

-Bill

We stayed on both north and south shores of Kauai during June and July this year. We didn't have AC in any of the 3 places we stayed and were perfectly comfortable.

The only issue we had without the AC was that in the morning those darn roosters were just so loud and we couldn't shut the windows because it would get too hot in our room.

Kaua'i roosters are LOUD all day long!

Have faith though, if Kal's rooster jerky keeps selling the way it is, there will be no more cock-a-doodle-dooing anywhere on that hell-hole.

-Bill

We stayed at Lae Nani in August. It was a beautiful condo, nice grounds, good cross ventilation. Would I look for a place with AC next time? Absolutely.

Whalers Cove is right on the ocean and Puu Poa is on a bluff overlooking the water. Because of this you'll get decent tradewinds that should keep your condo cool, especially if you've got the ceiling fan going. Unless you are especially sensitive, I doubt you will have a problem. Kauai has some of the highest electric rates in the country and so A/C is not all that common.

Alan

I too stayed in Lae nani (in late June) with only a bedroom ceiling fan. No prob in our corner condo, but our family next door had fewer windows and less breeze. As Iamq said, cross -ventilation and flow-through are essential. As long as there are plenty of windows, esp'lly the louvred slat ones common in Hawaii, you should be fine.

Worst comes to worse, you could check with on site mgr to see if extra table fan available, or buy addtional small fan at KMart or Longs.
Budman--love that "cuddleduds" term. Bet the cocks would've crowed extra loudly had they seen Mrs Budman in all her glory!

Truthfully, we were in studio in Princeville for a week at the end of August a couple of years ago without A/C and without tradewinds. It was not comfortable. HOWEVER...it was Hawaii, beautiful and paradise so we still loved it!

Thanks for all the replies. Really would like to stay at Puu Poa as it looks perfect for us. Does anyone know of any units that have a/c?

This is one of the Puu Poa condos (which, as you've realized, is a gorgeous setting) and is air conditioned per its description:

http://www.vrbo.com/22021

We were on the north shore in July before with no a/c. Our condo overlooked the ocean so we had our window open to sleep to the sounds of the waves. The breezes were awesome.

No a/c needed in this case!

I would want air-conditioning only in a loud area like Honolulu. Listening to the ocean surf would be nice as long as there are not other noises outdoors.

Is is safe to leave things open on the 1st floor or should I look for something higher up?