Post #322765 by TikiJosh on Thu, Aug 2, 2007 1:03 PM

On 2007-08-02 00:24, sushiman wrote:
Princeville really turned you off , huh ? Would you care to elaborate further ? We were thinking of renting a very nice house in Princeville with ocean view for $ 1300 for a week which I thought was a pretty good deal ( sleeps 8 ) . Right now we're torn between Kauai and Hawaii . Got to decide soon .

I had originally written a post that was more like a novel so I did some editing. The long and short of Princeville is this--
It's a Master Planned Community. Real Estate Investors buy land here, and there's golf courses and spas and all that type of stuff. It's like living in a gated community. I just didn't like it. I like places with a little more personality.
The hotel we stayed in (Hanalei Bay resort, I think it was) was very nice which was sort of what attracted us to stay there. We just didn't realize that it was inside a Master Planned Community. Like I said, not my cup of tea.
So, here's some analysis:
Food-- the only restaurants around were in hotels. Five-Diamond hotels. Like $50 to $100 per person. It's okay once, but not every night. That's how we found the Paradise Bar and Grill. We were just looking for something that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

Beaches--The beaches have more of a northern exposure so they get pounded almost all the time with the exception of the summer months (June, July and August). When we visited in January '04, conditions all around the island were pretty rough for snorkeling, but the beaches near and around Princeville were downright hazardous.

Driving--Princeville is pretty far away from all the happenings in Poipu and Kapa'a. It was something like a 30 or 45 minute drive one way. It gets old after the first few days. Plus the gas is expensive. You might save some money on the hotel, buy you might pay more for gas. Something to think about when planning your trip.

Having said all that, Kauai is a great island and you'll enjoy it a lot. If you're thinking of going to the Big Island instead, that's also a lot of fun. It's hard to recommend one over the other without knowing what you want to do. The Big Island is BIG. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to drive all the way around without stopping. Kauai is a lot smaller. probably take you less than 1/2 the time.

Seas are rougher on Kauai owing to its location at the northwest end of the islands. Diving isn't great all the time, but when it's good you're supposed to be able to see some great stuff-- like big pelagics. If you want something easier, like just some snorkeling, the Big Island is nice (though diving is excellent here too!). Because of it's size, there's almost always a nice calm beach on the lee side of the island. Conditions can be rough on all the other islands, but there's always at least one beach on the big island that's still really nice.

Plus on the Big Island you got the volcano park and the Mauna Kea observatory. Pretty cool. I'd think you'd need a longer vacation to explore the Big Island than you would Kauai, so that's something to consider too. The volcano park takes a whole day in itself. Leave really early, get home real late. Feel free to PM me if you want more info on anything.
Aloha!