Oops, I thought I read that one had a sofa bed. If the child sleeps in a crib while traveling or can share a king with mom and dad (ha!), you might want to contact the host through that website and see what they allow in terms of adding a child.
My pleasure, it’s always fun thinking about trips and living vicariously
Princeville and Poipu are great options as others have noted, especially if you’re looking for the familiar resort area feel IME. My sibling has stayed at a nice place in Princeville as a family of 4 and walked to Anini. But as you noted availability is always tricky. We usually do vrbo and sometimes getting in touch with the owners can give other leads (other properties of theirs or friends’).
You have been sooo helpful!! Thought I’d also pick the brains of the community here as well:
I talked briefly to the kids last night, and while they want to be able to hike and see things that sound like they are more on the north side, they emphasized walkability to beaches and such for us and the 2 yo.
Yes I think they want walkability to beach and things to do with the baby but they also plan to go up to the north shore to hike. Is there hiking on the south side?
I can get a 3 br at the wyndham Bali hai in Princeville. It doesn’t look as nice but its got a lot of what we need, and seems less crowded than the south shore. Trying to figure out how close it is to beaches and stores/restaurants. It looks, though, like access to the closest beaches is on steep trails. Thats not good with the little guy. I am still holding a reservation at villas at a Sheraton and a Marriott on the south side. One will be too small though. Had no luck with anything workable on the E side. Help!
Look up Kauai Heritage trail - it’s very close to the Hyatt on the south shore (it’s a very easy hike). Waimea Canyon is where we hike a lot, and it’s much closer to south side.
If you want to hike up past Princeville (Napali Coast and others), you do need to get parking/passes (they have a reservation system). We were surprised by that last time we went.
The first one is the one we usually do (like I said it’s very easy - could take the 2 YO), because it’s really pretty and along the coast, but the other sounds interesting too.
There are fabulous little cottages (waimea Plantation Cottages) where you turn up the canyon, and youmight find a 3 br there… Beach is walkable but less swimmable (but kekaha up the road is fabulous). Much less built up, fewer amenities, different feel. Personally, I love the sleepy feel of this part of the island, but it’s quite different from poipu or princeville.
I think for hikers, the south is a better bet, though.
I’m starting to lean more south side as well. The hikes from Ke’e are great coastal hikes will a bit more risk in sections. I only did one hike in Waimea, but I recall it being a more classic hike (with tremendous views) Ke’e requires getting there pretty early for a close parking spot, Waimea, which gets busy when the tour busses hit, is somewhat better.
So with a two year old in tow (or on one’s back), Waimea may be easier.
It looks like the long name one is part of, or overlaps the other (by Poipu beach and to the right of there)
ETA - there’s a map of the Koloa trail you can download here
@RWatterson , you may have done awa’awapuhi trail. It’s an out and back, and it’s stunning. My retirement plans include planting myself at the base of this canyon and doing a different amazing hike every day! So many options!
Yes, the hike out along the shore on the north is indeed very special, but it can be tricky. Someone had to be medivac’ed out the day we were there.
With all of these, you’ll want to pay attention to the conditions. Reviews range from “,not sure what the big deal was” to “my brother died” and the difference is almost always weather/footing.
The Koloa trail is easy and will take you to beautiful beaches. Definitely worth the energy.
For a family with a toddler, the key is really going to be figuring out what everyone wants to do and then figuring out how to accommodate that, realizing that folks are going to be splitting up most days. I could see a place like the Hyatt, with a nice beach, on an easy trailhead, and near everything Poipu, being a good alternative for everyone, but expensive. The hikers would still need to drive to Ke’e or Waimea. Waimea is not at all resorty but has a slower, simpler pace and great access for hiking (or a boat trip). Lots of choices/trade-offs. Maybe this is why I want to move there???
Thanks, everyone! I suspect we will be doing a lot of “divide and conquer”, where maybe a few days (or parts of a day) we babysit the 2 yo while the kids take the car and hike somewhere more adventurous, some days we do thigs together, and maybe if they don’t want him in the car too long, they will stay close to home, as it were, and DH and I will venture off to see the beauty. I liked the quieter side of the island, but since some of the beach access was described as treacherous, that seemed like a bad idea, and I don’t know how early we will be up and out. Those Waimea plantation cottages look darling, but they didn’t seem to have availability for the last 2 nights of our stay, so I went ahead and splurged on a place on the south shore with great walking options to the beach, the easier trail (thanks for the download) and great views. I figure we are only going once, so why not splurge.
When/where do we get the parking passes if we want to do some trails on the north shore? Or are the passes only for the beach, or do we park at the beach and hike?
So happy we got to hike many of these amazing places back in the good old days when no reservations were needed! Only a permit to hike and camp at the beach at the end of the Kalalau Trail. That was a hike of a lifetime!
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I love Anini with kids. Hope you guys have a blast!