KAUAI · HAWAII
Sea cliffs, secret falls, the Garden Isle.
Na Pali Coast boat days, doors-off helicopters over Waialeale, kayak runs up the Wailua, Waimea Canyon from the rim and the air. The oldest of the main Hawaiian islands, end to end.
Only in Kauai
Three things you won’t do on any other island.
Hawaii has six main islands. Boat trips, snorkels and luaus exist on all of them. These three don’t. The cliffs you can’t drive to, the volcano caldera you can’t hike into, the river the rest of Hawaii doesn’t have. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
On the water
Na Pali by sea
Eighteen miles of cliffs that drop straight into the Pacific. Cathedral spires, waterfalls that fall direct to the sea, sea caves wide enough to drive a catamaran through. There’s no road in. The boats out of Hanalei and Port Allen are how you see it.
- 1 Kauai Airplane Tour: Na Pali Coast, Waterfalls & Window Seats
- 2 Na Pali Coast Half-Day Raft and Snorkel Adventure
- 3 Kauai: Na Pali Coast Super Raft Snorkel Adventure
From the air
Inside the volcano
Three quarters of Kauai has no roads through it. Mt. Waialeale’s caldera, the waterfalls of the Olokele, the back of Waimea Canyon. The helicopters are the only way in. Doors off, GoPro mounted to the strut, the cinematography crew look.
- 1 Kauai: Hughes 500 4-Passenger Doors-Off Helicopters
- 2 Kauai Private Doors-Off Helicopter: Ultimate Waterfalls & Canyons
- 3 Kauai: Hughes 500 4-Passenger Doors-Off Helicopter Flight
Up the river
The only river you can paddle in Hawaii
Hawaii’s only navigable river runs from the spine of the island to the east coast. Paddle two miles up, hike twenty minutes into the rainforest, and the falls drop sixty feet into a swimming hole. The only state where you can do it.
- 1 Kauai: Secret Falls Kayak and Hike
- 2 Kauai Adventure: Kayak & Hike to Secret Falls with Expert Guide
- 3 Secret Falls Kayak & Hike Guided Adventure on the Wailua River
Where to start
Start with the tour everyone books.
First trip to Kauai? This is the one most travellers add to the calendar before anything else. Read the review, then build the rest of the week around it.
The classics
Kauai's Most Popular Tours
Na Pali boat days, doors-off helicopters over Waialeale, kayak runs up the Wailua. The trips travellers come to Kauai to do.
The Garden Isle
Why Kauai stands apart.
The oldest of the main Hawaiian islands. The wettest place on earth at its centre. Three quarters of it without a road. The numbers do most of the talking.
By coast
Pick a coast of Kauai.
Each coast is its own day. Hanalei for the North Shore beaches. Wailua for the rivers and waterfalls. Poipu for the south side sun. Waimea for the canyon and the west cliffs.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to see it.
Helicopter for the inland. Boat for the cliffs. Kayak for the waterfalls. Snorkel the south reef, sail to Niihau, hike the Kalalau, drive the canyon, zip the old plantation.
Above it all
Up and over the interior.
Three quarters of Kauai has no roads through it. These three flights cover the rest: Mt. Waialeale, the back of Waimea, the cliffs of the Na Pali. The three we’d put on a first-time visitor’s itinerary.
The Grand Canyon of the Pacific
Ten miles long, three thousand feet deep.
Mark Twain’s words, not ours. The red-rock canyon on the west side reads like Arizona dropped in the middle of the tropics. Three ways to see it from the rim, the air and the canyon floor. The three we’d book first.
Below the surface
Where the reef starts.
Tunnels in summer for the cathedral coral. Poipu year-round for the green turtles and the monk seals. Na Pali day-boats with snorkel stops at the sea caves. Three favourite ways to get in the water.
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