- Yellow Productions presents
Nine Things to Know Before You Come to Kauai in Hawaii,
I'm Chris, this is Topher, this is Yellow Productions,
we do travel guides that are fun,
informative and entertaining.
This video's part of our Kauai series and in this video,
we're gonna be telling you everything you need to know,
if you're considering coming to this Hawaiian island.
I put links in the description below
to the time codes for the nine different areas,
you can click any of those to skip to a specific area,
you'll also find links in the description
to my other Kauai videos.
Number one, some general things about Kauai.
Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands,
it's the one that was formed first by volcanic activity,
it is one of the smaller ones,
it's the fourth smallest in terms of population,
there's about 70,000 people on this island,
so a pretty small population,
it's called the Garden Island,
because the island is very lush,
to make it so lush, it actually rains quite a bit,
there's the rainiest spot on Earth,
it rains about 450 inches per year,
that is 40 feet of rain per year,
so there's tons of waterfalls,
many famous movies you've seen were filmed here,
including Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones,
Pirates of the Caribbean 4,
so it's a great place to come
and really get that Jurassic feel.
Also, being one of the smallest islands,
in terms of population, it's relatively undeveloped,
only three percent of Kauai is developed,
so you'll find lots of wilderness to explore.
So, who is Kauai best for?
It's not best for people that wanna go to beaches,
'cause the beaches aren't fabulous,
but it's best for people, who really like the outdoors,
who kinda like the jungle, who kinda like to hike
and so if that's you, then you're gonna really enjoy Kauai.
For the final thing I wanna mention in the general section,
is Kauai has tons of chickens, yes, chickens and roosters,
I saw a T-shirt,
it said that Kauai's alarm clock is the rooster,
they're just wild, they roam around the island,
I've seen them before on other Hawaiian islands,
but Kauai has way more chickens and roosters.
Also, great to see nature here,
lots of honu, which are green sea turtles
and Hawaiian monk seals,
you can see them on a lot of beaches, in the water,
I've seen more green sea turtles here
in this five day trip to Kauai, than I have
on any of the other Hawaiian islands I've been to.
The second thing to know,
before you come to Kauai is about the weather
and if you're wondering why my hair is kinda wet,
it's because it just finished raining,
Kauai is quite a rainy place, it's get the trade rain,
so it's not like rain all day, but its rains
just you know, for five or ten minutes they come down,
so make sure when you're coming around,
that you're carrying an umbrella.
The temperatures in Kauai,
they can range from the lower 50s up in the mountains
to the upper 80s along the South Shore,
which is where I'm filming this right now,
this is in front of the Grand Hyatt Kauai.
The South Shore is known as the sunniest
and the least rainy,
the North Shore is the rainiest part of the island
and it's very common to be in rain one minute
and then the next minute, be in full sun on this island,
it also can be quite windy, the trade winds come here
and those can be 15 to 25 miles per hour,
you can see the palm trees behind me,
they're going pretty good.
Alright, the third thing to know,
before you come to Kauai is about beaches
and I'm kind of on a beach right here, it's that way,
you can't see it all that much,
but trust me, there's a beach over there,
the sun's this direction,
so if I was shooting into the beach,
you wouldn't be able to see me at all
and so the thing to know about the beaches here
is that many of the beaches, they're not swimmable,
actually most of Kauai's shoreline is rocky
and so that doesn't make for good swimming,
so if you do wanna swim and go to the beach,
check out, there's a few of them,
I actually have a whole separate video on beaches,
you know, you can click on this Info card right here
to watch it or find the link in the description below
for the rest of my Kauai series.
Summer has some of the calmest waves on the North Shore,
the North Shore can get pretty rough in the winter,
in the winter, the South Shore is often the best.
The fourth thing to know,
before you come to Kauai is about hotels
and yes, Kauai is home to some amazing resorts
and the two big resort areas on the South,
where I am right now,
Poipu kind of centered by the Grand Hyatt
and on the North Shore, it's Princeville
and everything in the resort areas is more expensive,
if you want cheaper food or cheaper anything
like shops, this and that, get out of the resort areas
into Lihuei or some other places,
that have more people that live in there,
you'll find things cheaper than in the hotel areas.
The big resorts, the Hyatt goes for about 500 a night,
the St. Regis goes for 700 a night,
you can certainly get cheaper accommodation,
there's Marriott Lihuee, a Courtyard, a Hilton Garden Inn,
also a lot of people like to rent condos,
there's a lot of resort condominiums,
that you'll find around here in the resort areas as well.
The fifth thing you need to know,
before you come to Kauai is about transportation
and there basically is no good public transportation
around this island, so you will need a rental car,
you will need a rental car, get a rental car,
but it'll probably be banged up,
because the roads, there's a lot of dirt roads here,
the parking spaces are narrow,
you'll probably have a lot of dents and bangs on your car,
at the rental car company I rented from, which was Alamo,
they gave me this little sheet,
that told you the size of dents and asked you, like,
"If there's a dent bigger than this, then let us know,"
so make sure you look around your car
and you don't accept any with dents,
sorry, I'm chasing mosquitoes away,
by the way, did I mention there's mosquitoes here?
There are a lot of mosquitoes in Kauai,
so bring mosquito repellent,
if you don't like being their tasty treat.
Also, related to rental cars, the cheapest gas you'll find,
that'll be in Lihue, that'll be around the airport,
there's also one road around the island pretty much,
I mean, that's an exaggeration,
but there's primarily one major road
that rings the island, almost rings the island,
it goes around like four-fifths of the island,
so you can't drive around the whole thing,
but if you go from the south part of the island
to the north part of the island,
it can take between two to three hours,
depending upon the traffic and yes,
they do have traffic here, often in Lihue round the airport,
that's the major commercial area, there is traffic there.
Also be aware of driving times,
when you're planning your driving,
because although it's a short drive,
distance-wise, it may take a long time,
'cause the speed limits are very slow,
there's a lot of speed limits, 25 miles per hour,
even 15 miles per hour, so watch out for those speed limits
and it'll go from 50 miles an hour to 15 miles an hour,
so don't get caught in any of the speed traps like that.
You should also be aware of one-lane bridges,
the North Shore is home to some bridges,
that are just one-lane,
that's not one lane in each direction,
that's just one lane total
and so it's about six to eight cars that go,
before the next set goes,
so if you get to one of those bridges,
you know, kind of yield,
until you find the next set of cars going,
if you're in front, then count about six to eight cars,
when they yield on their side, then it's time for you to go.
Alright, the sixth thing to know,
before you come to Kauai is about shopping
and the best shopping, I mean, I love Costco,
there is a Costco here, it's in Lihue by the airport,
that's a great place to pick up Hawaiian shirts,
this particular Hawaiian shirt, I actually got from Macy's
and that's right around Lihue as well,
if you're looking for groceries,
Safeway is their kind of big grocery store chain here,
if you need pharmacy or drug stores, that would be Longs
and also the great place for everything
any Hawaii tourist needs is ABC Stores,
there are four ABC Stores in this island,
but there's also a lot of just arts and crafts
and actually the Grand Hyatt has great craft vendors,
that come on the weekends to sell local goods.
Alright, the seventh thing you need to know,
before you come to Kauai is about food,
but before I talk about food,
let me talk about attire to come to food,
casual attire, totally okay and acceptable,
actually shorts and flip flops are pretty much
where it's at in most of the island,
if you're going to a dressy place,
a Hawaiian shirt and nice, khaki pants would be just fine.
Lots of the places in Kauai are just takeout
and don't have any seats, so if you want a place,
that you can actually sit down to eat,
make sure you're looking on Yelp for places,
that have seats and it's not just a takeout window,
actually I have a whole video about cheap eats,
that have seats, click this Info card right here,
find the link in the description below
if you wanna know more about the eating here
and the best cheap places that I like to eat,
but you should also know
they have some interesting hours for the restaurants here,
that many places are just breakfast and lunch
and so in that case, they close maybe at 1:30,
if it's just a breakfast place
or three p.m., if it's just a lunch place,
so make sure you're getting to lunch on time,
otherwise you might find yourself hungry
and not eating, if they're all closed.
The big resorts all have fancy restaurants,
but you're gonna pay a premium price, if you eat at those,
one of the most touristy restaurants is Duke's Restaurant
at Kalapaki Beach, get the famous Hula Pie for dessert,
but I say eat where the locals eat,
Hawaiian plate lunches, Asian food,
that's where it's at, when you're on Kauai.
Alright, the eighth thing to know, before you come to Kauai
is about what the big attractions are,
but the biggest attraction is Waimea Canyon
and it's a big Canyon, Mark Twain called it
"the Grand Canyon of the Pacific,"
if you wanna know more about Waimea Canyon,
it is in my Kauai travel guide,
click the Info card right here,
find the link in the description below for more on that.
The Napali Coast, it's the big Jurassic Park coast,
it's undeveloped, you can hike it, kayak it, boat it,
but you can't drive there, relatively undeveloped,
so if you like adventure, that's where it's at,
Kauai also has a lot of adventure helicopter tours,
kayak tours, boat tours, scuba tours, water sports,
and there's also lots of little towns to explore,
Wailua, Waimea, Hanapepe, those are names
of some of the towns, so you can check those out.
Also, and I think I mentioned this with the rain section,
it rains a lot, so there's a lot of waterfalls,
drive up waterfalls in fact,
so check out the waterfalls, while you're here.
Alright, the ninth thing to know, before you come to Kauai
and this is the last one is about hiking Kauai,
'cause again, it's relatively undeveloped,
there are some excellent hiking trails,
so if you like hiking, this s a great place to be,
the Napali Coast has some famous hiking trails,
I also think one of the great hiking trails
is actually right in front of the Grand Hyatt hotel,
I'll butcher the name of it,
so I'm just gonna put text up here, that says what it is
and it's this trail, it runs along the coastline
in front of the golf course in Poipu, but amazing views
of Kauai's undeveloped and rugged coastline,
but the attractions and the hiking are not very well signed,
so if you are hiking, make sure you have a map,
don't expect your cellphone to work,
because cellphone coverage is very spotty in Kauai.
Alright, well that wraps up my video
and so with that, I'll say thank you for watching,
if this is your first time here on Yellow Productions,
you enjoyed it and you'd like to see more every week,
click this yellow ball to subscribe,
otherwise click here and here
to watch some of my other videos in my Kauai series,
links in the description are also below.
Alright, thanks, bye bye.