Kauai is known as “The Garden Isle”, and it is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands. Its beauty and charm is unmatched…as its beaches and tropical rainforests give way to a magical feeling that is hard to truly put into words. Much of the small island is still very much “untouched” by the commercialism that seems to prevail in so much of the world, making it a place where you can truly step away from the hustle and the bustle of you busy life and immerse yourself into the goodness of God’s handiwork.
While I try to tell many things in this blog, to see my full travel experiences first hand as they are happening, make sure you are following my TRAVEL INSTAGRAM!
In this blog, I simply want to take you along our 8 day trip to Kauai…what we loved, what we saw, what we would want to do again. I hope you enjoy every picture…as it was very hard to narrow it down…and as you can imagine, pictures do not do the island justice.
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Resort, and I could not give it enough praise. I would stay there again in a heartbeat, and the pictures I am sharing for the next few are all right in front of the resort on those beaches.
We loved coming out at sunrise and seeing these views right in front of the resort. The way the rocks and the waves meet…and the cliffs and greenery…it just all was breathtaking!
When we were on the beach one morning at sunrise (we were accustomed to 5 hours LATER in the Central Time Zone, so it was easy to get up so early at the beginning!), we came upon this Hawaiin monk seal just resting on the beach. We had no idea he was there, and he was just living his best life. It almost looks like he is grinning if you look closely!
These sand caves were right down from our resort, and only maybe a 5 minute walk. The kids LOVED exploring these and all the trails that were right there. That was truly right up in our top 3 things to do on the island!
The above picture was taken on one of our little hikes by the resort, right past the sand caves. I have so many pictures from those hikes, and it was some of the most beautiful scenery you could imagine…all right there by the resort!
Now I want to share just a few pictures from around the Grand Hyatt. Above is a picture of part of the pool area. It is just a small snapshot, because the pool area is pretty expansive and impossible to get in one shot, but isn’t it gorgeous!
Me and the kiddos after our dinner at Tidepools there at the resort. This was some of the best food we had on the island! It was pricey, but it was very very good! I got the filet, of course (that’s my very fave) and it was SPOT ON!
We went to Waimea Canyon one day, and it was spectacular! The picture above was simply taken on the side of the road on the way there…just normal countryside in Kauai!
A snapshot of one of the lookouts onto the Nepali Coastline. I was obsessed with this view and the fog over it. I think it turned out beautiful, and you can only imagine the beauty in person!
We hiked up to the Waipo’o Falls, which was about a 1.5 mile hike each way. It was not a hard hike, but it was kinda “moderate”. We saw soooo much beautiful scenery on the way, and I am only sharing a very little bit. I highly recommend this hike!
This is NOT Waipo’o Falls, but it is another little waterfall you get to before the bigger falls. You can swim in it! The kids loved every second of swimming and jumping off that rock!
You can’t tell in the picture, but the Waipo’o Falls were soooo majestic! This was at the top of the falls, and there was no way to get a picture of the rest or you would fall off the cliff LOL
The pictures I am sharing now are all from the Napali Coast boat tour that we did. That was the HIGHLIGHT of the entire trip to Hawaii, even the other 2 islands we went to! The majesty of the coastline is literally so gorgeous you lose your breath. We also had the most AMAZING tour guides, which made it that much better. It was only us and 1 other couple on the boat- who were on their honeymoon from Oregon…and we all felt like Ohana!
This was a cave we went in. It was immaculate!
The water that Brandon and the kids snorkeled in was the prettiest I had ever seen anywhere, and I have seen some beautiful water. SOOOOO clear and blue!
They saw so many beautiful fish, coral, sea turtles, etc… and they loved every second!
Brandon waving hello! LOL
I stayed on the boat and grabbed some sun and chatted with our guides, who I just adored. I am not a big swimmer…but I was living my best life just like everyone else. The scenery and the beauty was enough for me.
As you can imagine, there are shave ice stands everywhere you turn, and we can truly say we took advantage of LOTS of them! There was something so much better about it there than here on the mainland! THIS was our favorite one, and we came back twice to it, on purpose. It was just truly that much better. We also talked to the owner quite a bit, and she was just as sweet as she could be!
At Poipu Beach, sea turtles are known to come to share each evening around sunset, so we made a point to come by and see if we could catch them on the sand…and we did. There ended up being 3 or 4 total, but I loved this picture of the 2 of them with the sunset in the background. They are the prettiest creatures.
The spouting horn park is just a little area that overlooks the natural wonder of the blowhole that spouts water into the air every couple of minutes, and it is just beautiful to watch!
I had never seen such a beautiful tree as the Rainbow Eucalyptus! It looked like it had been painted…just spectacular!
This little stand was in downtown Waimea, and I just thought it looked like the epitome of Hawaii in a picture 🙂
It is amazing the beauty you see while just driving down the road, such as this waterfall!
We visited Kauai Coffee Company on our last day, as we had a few hours before we headed to the airport. It was a neat experience, as it is America’s largest coffee estates with 4 million trees on 3,000 acres…and you know how much I love my coffee!
They had lots of samples to choose from, and I give them all an A+!
To say there is an abundance of flowers is an understatement, and I didn’t capture even a small portion of them, but I wanted to share some of the ones that I did capture! How gorgeous is the array of colors? I will never forget the beautiful smell of the island because of these gorgeous flowers. It is a smell you don’t forget.
To end this blog, you truly can’t sum up the island of Kauai in a few pictures and a simple blog…but take my word that it is a place that will take your breath away and leave you speechless and wanting more. I can’t wait to go back, as it felt like a home away from home for us…and we loved being able to have the ability to truly disconnect. It is just the way of life there.
Last Updated on July 16, 2023
I’m so glad y’all enjoyed Kauai!! I have millions of pix, too. It is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen!! 💙💖💖💙
Ohmygoodness! Your trip pictures look amazing! Thank you for letting us tag along!! 💖
Brooke I really enjoyed viewing your pics, very lovely place to visit, by the way it’s on my bucket list of places to visit. I have a former coworker who is a native Hawaiian (Waimanalo) she returned home years ago after her husband passed away. You visited Kauai, which just happens to be my niece’s name.
I want to go to Hawaii one day.