We traveled back to Kauai this past fall for our biannual trip to the Hawaiian Islands! Yes, for the past 10 years we’ve made it our family tradition to travel to the Aloha State every 2 years. Here’s a quick recap:

Maui 2008: Slaed and I got engaged, and started this whole tradition!
Big Island 2010: Stayed in the Kona area.
Kauai 2012: Bergen’s first time to the island at 15-months old.
Oahu 2014: Bergen 3-years old, and I was about 6 months pregnant with Georgia.
Maui 2016: Bergen 5-years old, Georgia almost 2-years old. First time repeating an island!
Kauai 2018: Bergen 7-years old, Georgia almost 4-years old.

Where we’ll be headed in 2020 hasn’t been decided, but I do know we won’t return to Kauai 2 years in a row, and we are saving the Big Island for 2022, so those 2 are out! What’s your recommendation?

While you ponder that, for those traveling to the Garden Island of Kauai, especially those with young kids, I thought I’d share our itinerary. I hope the beaches, restaurants, parks, and other destinations here help you plan your own getaway. Have you traveled to Kauai with kids? Make sure to leave your favorites below in the comment section!

Kauai with Kids: 7-day Travel Itinerary

We opted to take the evening flight from Seattle to Lihue arriving late in the evening. The flight duration is a little under 6 hours. Another note that may help parents, we plan our Hawaii trip around the Veteran’s Day holiday. That way, our 7-year old only missed 4 days of school instead of 5!

Review coming soon: Our lodging overview: We stayed at Waipouli Beach Resort in Kapa’a (East Coast).

Day 1: Acclimation Day!

We picked up our reserved gear (snorkel set, boggie board, chairs, and an umbrella) from Coconut Coasters in Kapa’a, grocery shopped (just across the street at local Farmer’s Market & Safeway), and spent tons of time at our resort’s pool.
Slaed also treated himself to a hot stone massage.
Take-out lunch from Chicken in Barrel (delicious BBQ spot).
Beach exploration (just outside our rental condo/resort)
Happy Hour and dinner at Oasis (located within Waipouli Beach Resort). At this time (early 2019), Oasis has live music every Wednesday evening.
More pool time! We absolutely LOVED having the pool (one of the best on the island) so accessible. Perfect for families as it’s an easy built-in go-to activity that can be fit in whenever there’s some free time!

Day 2: North Shore Day!

After I “indulged” in a 4-mile run (along the Kapa’a Bike Path), we headed up to the north end of the island for a tour of Na ‘Āina Kai Botanical Gardens and Sculpture Park. You can read all about our experience (we highly recommend a visit) in this post.
Lunch from El Rey Mexican Food Truck.
Mini Golf at Kauai Mini Golf located in Anaina Hou Community Park. Bergen (our 7-year old) is a mini-golf fanatic, and associates vacation with a round of putt-putt. It’s a great family activity, so we try to “make his dreams come true” whenever we can. This course was a lot of fun, and is surrounded by a botanical garden, so we learned all about native Hawaiian plants as we golfed!

Returned to our rental condo for nap time, and then left the kids with a babysitter for the afternoon/evening!
- Ventured back to the north end of the island to Secret Beach where we hiked, explored, and enjoyed the beach kid free.
- Back to Kapa’a for dinner at Bubba’s, then poked around town while also paying attention to the Sounders-Timbers playoff game (sadly the Sounders lost in penalty kicks!).

Day 3: South Shore Day!

With rain in the forecast, we opted to head south (where the weather is almost always significantly drier). We settled in at Poipu Beach Park, where we did some snorkeling, got to see Monk Seals, and just generally enjoyed the sunny, little kid-friendly atmosphere.

Lunch: Puka Dog (long line, but it went fast and was worth it) located in Poipu Shopping Village. Tip: Have one person wait in line while others scope out a seat if you plan to dine-in.
Back to the rental for naps, and preparation for the…
Smith Family Luau! This was our 2nd time attending a Smith Family Luau. They do a wonderful job. The tour and ceremony before dinner are interesting and informative, the food is delicious, and the show after dinner is SO well done. Our kids were engaged throughout, and still talk about their favorite parts now, months later.

Day 4: Kapa’a Day!

While we usually opted for breakfast at the rental (a great way to save money), we treated ourselves to a favorite from our last visit: Kountry Kitchen in Kapa’a. We recommend you go as early as you can as it’s a busy and popular spot (for good reason). At 8:30 am, we still waited 25 minutes. Though a walk around town and the resident chickens were entertaining enough for our kids!

After breakfast went back to Coconut Coasters (where we rented all our beach gear) to pick up our bikes! We highly recommend Coconut Coasters–the staff is friendly, helpful, and makes the whole process super easy. We rented 3 bikes (2 adult, one child for Bergen), and a bike trailer for Georgia to ride in.
- From Coconut Coasters, we traveled north on the Kapa’a Bike Path to where it dead ends, then turned around and stopped at Donkey Beach. It’s a short (and steep) hike down to Donkey Beach, but well worth it for gorgeous views. The beach is not swimmable (especially for kids), but we enjoyed playing in the sand and watching the surf.
- Back on the trail, we continued south to Fuji Beach, also known as “Baby Beach” (close to the southern end of the bike path). As the nickname implies, this beach is perfect for kids. A natural rock wall blocks the surf keeping the waves at bay, and creates a magical swimming spot. We have fond memories of playing here when Bergen was 15 months old, renting a small cottage right across the street (back in 2012). To our delight, we actually ran into the owner on this visit! It was fun to reminisce, talk about island traffic, and catch up.

We took it easy the rest of the day with leftovers, naps, pool time, and dinner at home (a simple family favorite called “Beef Rice Mexicali“).

Day 5: East Coast Exploring!

With tricky weather (off and on rain), we were torn on what to do on this particular day. We ultimately decided to check out Lydgate Beach Park. The playground was raved about in guidebooks, and if you have playground loving kids like we do, it’s one not to miss! A jetty also makes this a nice beach for snorkeling (and fairly calm for young kids), but unfortunately with all the rain, the water was murky, so not ideal on this particular day.

Lunch: Mermaids in Kapa’a (their wraps are my absolute favorite, and the one place I HAD to return to for this trip), plus a coffee pick-me-up at Java Kai (one of our favorite coffee shops on the island). Money Saving Tip: Even though we love visiting local coffee shops when we travel, we opted to purchase high quality Hawaiian grown beans at the grocery store, and brew at home for our morning cup O’Joe. A blender and some half and half (plus sweetener if that’s your thing) makes for a satisfying “latte”!
Back to the rental condo for naps, and another evening out for us thanks to a local babysitter:
- We took our time, and instead of driving or even walking along the roadside trail, we walked along the beach to Hukilau Lanai, one of the top restaurants on the island. This was our second visit, and it didn’t disappoint. I love how much time the staff spends with guests, the calm and peaceful environment, and most importantly the amazing mostly locally sourced food.

Day 6: Another North Shore Adventure!

With the weather in our favor, we knew that this was the perfect day to head north. Conditions were tricky though, and we had some trouble settling in to the right beach. We had high hopes for Anini Beach, but with no visibility for snorkeling, it just wasn’t ideal. Continuing north, we headed to Hanalei, and found Hanalei Bay Beach to be our best bet. Lifeguards, views of the historic pier to the south, and Napali Mountains to the north, it couldn’t be more picturesque. With a life jacket, of course, we felt comfortable with Bergen (7-years old) swimming here. Note: For this visit (November 2018), the town of Hanalei was as far north as we could travel due to flooding. You can read about our Napali Coast hiking adventure (when the road was open) from 2012 here.

We had a picnic lunch on the beach, and then treated the kids to Wishing Well Shave Ice (organic!) on our way out of town. When we arrived, folks were filming a house hunter type reality show! Neat to catch a glimpse of the behind the scenes action.
Dinner back in Kapa’a was leftovers for the kids, and Scorpacciata Pizza (neapolitan style, local ingredients, creative topping combinations) for us!

Day 7: Chasing the Sun to the South.

Last day! We didn’t want to mess around with the crummy, unpredictable eastern shore weather, so we headed down south again. This time we chose Koloa’s Baby Beach, a spot we’d visited while on the island in 2012 and really enjoyed. Just like Kapa’a’s baby beach, there are rock walls creating calm, shallow water, great for young kids, and even those not so comfortable in the surf. I was able to getaway when we first arrived for a quick 3-mile run, and stopped at the Sprouting Horn (spectacular blowhole) half way.

We also enjoyed a picnic lunch here, and then on our way out of town, we stopped Kukui’ula Village Shopping Center. After collaborating with Mālie Organics last summer, I couldn’t wait to see their flagship boutique located here on the south shore. After purchasing a few skin care goodies, we grabbed coffee for the grown-ups and ice cream for the kids at Lamparts.

In the late afternoon, we regrouped back at our rental with naps, pool time, and a little work. Then for dinner we took advantage of “Taco Tuesday”/Aloha Hour at Duke’s Kauai in Lihue. We also couldn’t pass up another opportunity to enjoy this restaurant group’s Hula Pie! After dinner, really enjoyed walking around the Marriott’s property, just steps from the restaurant.

We hope this Kauai with kids itinerary helps you as you plan your own getaway. We were quite happy with all we were able to do, but hope to do more hiking during our next visit. With so much rain before and during our visit, the trails (super muddy & difficult to navigate) were just not “calling our name” this time! For more specific adventures, make sure to head to our Hawaii Page! There is so much more to the island, and of course we barely scratched the surface.