Duration: 5 days, 4 nights

Island: Kauai, HA

Kauai was my favorite island in terms of beach’s and being outdoors. We camped several nights on this island on the beach and KoKe’e state park. I can hardly describe how amazing it was so I’ll just include this video of the helicopter flying into jurassic park.

Things To Do

1. Kalalau Trail and Na Pali Coast

This iconic trail can take multiple days to hike. We only did a return trip to a beach and back which was amazing. I recommend having real hiking boots for this trek and as always, bring/wear a bathing suit so you can take a dip in the water. My friend and his wife highly suggested a helicopter tour, so that could be something to look into because if you can’t do it on your honeymoon, when can you? 

2. Haena Park with Cannon’s Beach and Makua Beach

Along the way to the Kalalau trail head, stop at this beach. Parking can be a drag, but its very picturesque with the mountains in the background. There is snorkeling to be had here as well! Map

3. Secret Kauapea Beach

I don’t know how secret a secret beach is when it’s marked on Google. but it’s a beautiful beach none the less. Parking is okay on the street to the trailhead and the black sand at the bottom was great. You MIGHT be able to do the hike in flip flops, but it definitely makes it easier if you’re wearing at least runners if not hiking boots. Map

4. Polihale State Park

We rushed the beach here as we only stopped here for sunset on our way to the campsite. It’s a sweet beach and there were a bunch of people off roading on it. I enjoyed the 15-30 minutes we had on it. Map

5. Koke’e State Park

Kalalau Lookout / Pu’u o Kill Lookout – The hikes here were awesome! It was kinda crazy hiking so high up, but the views were amazing. i have no idea what it would be like to have to travel to the trail head then hike since we slept at a campsite near it, but these hikes were gorgeous. Definitely bring the hiking boots if your going further than the viewing platform (which you should).

6. Queen’s bath

Parking sucks here. I ended up in a parking lot a half mile away and we just walked in the beautiful sun to get there. We did the hike down in flip flops and it was manageable! Trail Head and Tiny Parking Lot

Camping!

Kauai was my gateway drug into camping. Before this trip, I hadn’t camped for years… We lugged one check in bag full of camping gear around just for this trip and it was 100% worth it. Hawaii has PERFECT temperatures, nothing that will kill you, and only a couple bugs. The following were the two spots we pitched our tents. 100% worth it.

1. Haena Beach Park

Since we were rushing to hike a bit of the Kalalau Trail before sunset, we got to the camping spot after dark. Most tents were set up on the grass behind the tree line, but we decided to pitch ours right on the sand. In hindsight, it made sense as we were exposed to the wind, and we woke up in the morning about 2 feet away from the rising tide. Alls well that ends well, right? Camping Spot

2. Koke’e State Park

We, AGAIN, arrived at the campsite well after dark after catching the sunset at Polihale. It seemed like we drove through Koke’e for a while up the mountain before finding the spot. We climbed in elevation so much that there was a significant change in temperature from the beach. After throwing on a hoodie, we set up right next to the parking lot which was right next to the washroom. It was absolutely gorgeous to camp underneath the full moon and the stars.  Camping Spot