Kaua’i is the oldest of the main Hawaiian islands and the most lush — five million years of rainfall have carved its volcanic rock into a landscape of vertical green cliffs, deep canyons, and waterfalls that appear around every bend. It is the island that Hollywood uses when it needs to depict paradise: Jurassic Park, South Pacific, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The remarkable thing is that the real Kaua’i is more dramatic than anything the cameras captured.
The Nā Pali Coast is the headline — fifteen miles of fluted emerald cliffs rising a thousand feet from the Pacific, accessible only by boat, helicopter, or the eleven-mile Kalalau Trail. The trail is one of the great coastal hikes in the world: demanding, occasionally exposed, and jaw-dropping at every turn. A day hike to Hanakapi’ai Beach (four miles round-trip) is manageable. The full trail to Kalalau Valley requires a permit and a commitment.
Waimea Canyon — the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” — cuts a thousand meters deep into the western side of the island, exposing layers of red and green rock in a geological cross-section that is genuinely grand. The viewpoints along the rim road are free and spectacular.
The North Shore — Hanalei Bay, Princeville, Tunnels Beach — is the archetypal tropical coastline: crescent beaches, reef-protected swimming, and the Hanalei Pier that appears in every sunset photograph of Kaua’i.
The interior is the wettest spot on Earth — Mount Wai’ale’ale receives an average of eleven meters of rainfall per year, feeding the waterfalls and rivers that make the island the greenest in the chain. Tubing through old irrigation tunnels and kayaking the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto are ways to experience the interior without a helicopter.
When to go: April to September for the driest weather and calmest north-shore seas. The Nā Pali boat tours run year-round but are most reliable in summer. Winter brings big surf and occasional trail closures.