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How to Stay a Month in Hawaii
Originally we were supposed to stay six nights at our favorite family resort in Poipu: Koloa Landing, with its multiple pools, waterfalls, and waterslides.It was even voted best pool in the country according to the 2020 USA Today’s 10 best readers’ choice awards. There are other hotels I like in Poipu. The Ko’a Kea is perfect for adult-only getaways and the Sheraton, where we got married, still has my favorite oceanfront rooms (but their lack of kitchens isn’t ideal for younger families). But before I get too far into the weeds about the Poipu/Koloa area, I should talk about the other choices in Kauai.
Kauai, known as The Garden Isle, is one of the quietest islands. June is the busiest month, yet there are 33,000 daily visitors compared to 74,000 in Maui. However, the natural wonders from Waimea Canyon to Hanalei Bay make it a breathtaking stay. If it’s your first visit first to Kauai, you might want to stay in the more central areas of the island, Lihue or Kapaa. On one of our recent trips, we stayed in Lihue and appreciated the easier access to both north and south shore areas.
The time we borrowed a friend’s condo in Princeville, we were deluged with rain for days. There’s a reason that area is so lush and green, and for some reason, Poipu Beach is situated in an area where the sun shines almost every day and rainfall is half of what it is in the North on an annual basis.
Not being millionaires, staying a month at a resort was not even an option. Even if it was, it wasn’t ideal as we are traveling with my mom, who is 78 years old and our kupuna (grandparent). A large resort with people coming from everywhere seemed risky. Part of the reason we were going to Kauai in the first place was that their all-time COVID-19 case count was only 61 as of this writing. However, keep in mind that there are only eight ICU beds on the island, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep cases at bay.
At this point my husband, Clay, had been researching houses. Given that we were going to be living in Kauai, not vacationing, we had a few criteria: at least three bedrooms, solid Internet speed to support working and distance learning, a west-facing lanai where we could watch sunset every night, and ideally a pool, where the kids could get the wiggles out every day. Being near the ocean would be nice, but it most…
