Kauai in a week!
August 20, 2010 1:34 PM Subscribe
Looking for non-lonelyplanet activities to do in early October in Kauai.
This will be both my and Mrs. Furnace.heart's first vacation in about 4 years. Heading to Kauai for 5 full days in early October, and looking for Kauai specific gems that might not be found, or focused on by your typical lonely planet guide. Previous AskMe posts focused more on places to see, but we've got that kind of mapped out...we'll be over the better part of the whole island, and certainly in the major towns.
We've got a budget on the better side of shoestring, with a bit socked away to do one or two "really cool / really touristy things," which we already have picked out but the rest of the time we'd just like to hang out and eat really good food (restaurant and street), read some books, go thrift shopping/flea marketing and drink some beer.
That's what we're looking for the most, places to eat, drink and find some weird used-goods.
Also, i'm a bit of a coffee nerd, so i've been trying to do some research and it would be a shame to visit without checking out some of the coffee production on kauai...i don't really have any interest in going to a large farm...we're also having trouble finding any small farms or family farms that would be willing give us a small tour and possibly buy some green coffee. Not very interested in going to the Kauai Coffee Company's estate, unless there's some bizarre groundswell of support for it from metafilter....
Thanks in advance!
This will be both my and Mrs. Furnace.heart's first vacation in about 4 years. Heading to Kauai for 5 full days in early October, and looking for Kauai specific gems that might not be found, or focused on by your typical lonely planet guide. Previous AskMe posts focused more on places to see, but we've got that kind of mapped out...we'll be over the better part of the whole island, and certainly in the major towns.
We've got a budget on the better side of shoestring, with a bit socked away to do one or two "really cool / really touristy things," which we already have picked out but the rest of the time we'd just like to hang out and eat really good food (restaurant and street), read some books, go thrift shopping/flea marketing and drink some beer.
That's what we're looking for the most, places to eat, drink and find some weird used-goods.
Also, i'm a bit of a coffee nerd, so i've been trying to do some research and it would be a shame to visit without checking out some of the coffee production on kauai...i don't really have any interest in going to a large farm...we're also having trouble finding any small farms or family farms that would be willing give us a small tour and possibly buy some green coffee. Not very interested in going to the Kauai Coffee Company's estate, unless there's some bizarre groundswell of support for it from metafilter....
Thanks in advance!
Do you like plants? Do you want to see that tree from Jurassic Park ?
Allerton Gardens has a great tour that even I, a non plant lover, found pretty interesting.
Oh, and Queens's Bath is no joke. I almost got drowned there on a calm day by a set of 3 big rollers that came in randomly. As soon as I got out of the water a family showed up with 3 small ones. I told them how bad it had been 5 minutes before, but they didn't listen and jumped right in. Luckily, it stayed calm for a while. I read the Blue thread and completely understand. Stay out of the water there.
posted by Crashback at 2:55 PM on August 20, 2010
Allerton Gardens has a great tour that even I, a non plant lover, found pretty interesting.
Oh, and Queens's Bath is no joke. I almost got drowned there on a calm day by a set of 3 big rollers that came in randomly. As soon as I got out of the water a family showed up with 3 small ones. I told them how bad it had been 5 minutes before, but they didn't listen and jumped right in. Luckily, it stayed calm for a while. I read the Blue thread and completely understand. Stay out of the water there.
posted by Crashback at 2:55 PM on August 20, 2010
Queen's Bath is beautiful. The "Ultimate Kauai" book was very useful.
Not sure if you have already made your lodging reservations (or if they are refundable), but I ended up regretting the fact that the condo we rented was on the south side of the island (Poipu area). The north side seemed to have a lot more going on in terms of restaurants and cafes and such. It was not that big of a deal, because we just drove up to the north side every day. But it would have been better without the drive.
On the other hand, Poipu has the better beaches.
We very much enjoyed Puka Dogs and ended up eating there more than once.
We also enjoyed buying poke at a fish market and eating basically in the car.
Also, the Shrimp Station was tasty and cheap.
posted by Mid at 3:23 PM on August 20, 2010
Not sure if you have already made your lodging reservations (or if they are refundable), but I ended up regretting the fact that the condo we rented was on the south side of the island (Poipu area). The north side seemed to have a lot more going on in terms of restaurants and cafes and such. It was not that big of a deal, because we just drove up to the north side every day. But it would have been better without the drive.
On the other hand, Poipu has the better beaches.
We very much enjoyed Puka Dogs and ended up eating there more than once.
We also enjoyed buying poke at a fish market and eating basically in the car.
Also, the Shrimp Station was tasty and cheap.
posted by Mid at 3:23 PM on August 20, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
That post was fascinating from all angles. Who wouldn't want to go see the Queen's Bath after seeing the accompanying video? But all kidding aside, if you VERY CAREFULLY consider the risks like a good MeFite and non-obnoxious tourist, this guide should have some interesting information about places off the beaten path. Just ask MrMoonPie.
(On second thought, stay on the beaten path, but bring giant binoculars. Is that a good compromise?)
posted by Madamina at 1:41 PM on August 20, 2010