IF you’ve just had a grueling week at work, suffered a 5-hour flight over continental United States, followed by another 5.5-hour aerial haul over the Pacific Ocean and landed in Kaua’i, then Waimea is the place where you need to be.

The Town of Waimea

A constant small-town feeling, devoid of the unpretentious tourist vibe, remains with you as you make your way down on Highway 550 towards Waimea, a town tucked away at the southwest side of Kaua’i. The people here are friendly and adhere to their roots and traditions. Waimea’s claim to fame is its historic standing as Captain Cook’s landing point on Kaua’i, making him the first European to arrive on the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Stay a while at the Waimea Plantation Cottages, bring some friends and family along, enjoy flaky Onu at Wrangler’s Steakhouse, or pack a picnic for a romantic sunset dinner at that Kekaha beach. It is here that the state’s longest (~15 miles) continuous stretch of beach begins and ends at the Polihale State Park.

Polihale State Park

I dubbed Polihale as the ‘beach at the end of the world’. Okay. Perhaps it was just the end of the island. This place is a hidden gem and for good reason. It requires a 5 mile drive on a dirt and gravel road that most tourists chicken away from. Anyone who tells you that you need a 4WD to make it through this perilous road does not know what they’re talking about. All you need is a little patience, a car that can drive, and your sense of adventure. Half an hour later you’ll find yourself standing on a secluded beach with golden sand between your toes.

All you need is a little patience, a car that can drive, and your sense of adventure.

I recommend going early in the morning to beat the afternoon heat. The sun is bright and hot even in the winter, often making it difficult to walk on the sand. If you are interested in swimming, look for the Queens Pond sign right before getting to the beach parking area. This leads you to an area with calm waters. Like most beaches on this side of the island, Polihale is not a swimmer friendly beach due to rip currents. The charm of this beach is in its seclusion, its gorgeous sunsets and the beginning of the sheer Na’Pali cliffs forming the backdrop of this picture perfect place. Embrace your sense of exploration and go here; Kaua’i will not disappoint.

Waimea Canyon

Dedicate at least a day to explore the Grand Canyon of the West, the Waimea Canyon. Waimea is a great place to stock up on very reasonably priced food, especially if you plan to spend a lot of time at the Canyon. Bring lots of water and be sure to leave by 8 or 9 AM; parking at the overlooks and hiking areas becomes extremely limited later in the day. A lot of people are met with disappointing weather and turn around. Most days if you wait around for half an hour to an hour, the weather is likely to clear up.

Turn onto 550 (Waimea Canyon Drive) from 50 E and 10 miles later you will find yourself at the Waimea Canyon Lookout. The drive itself is very smooth and the road seems to have been reconstructed in the recent years. Stop at the several roadside pullovers and take some pictures. A note on picture taking: most people associate ‘sunny’ with great pictures. I found that the intense sunlight in the canyon gave all my pictures a hazy look. Head up on a cloudy day if you can.

From the Waimea Canyon Lookout, head forward on 550 (at this point, it becomes Koke’e Road), always staying to your right at road junctions, until you reach the Pu’u Hinahina Lookout. This is one of your first opportunities for great hikes. We did not venture down into the canyon, as the hike back up can be very strenuous, and we wanted to save our energies for our upcoming backpacking trip on the Na’Pali coast.

This didn’t keep us from taking a leisurely 0.5 mile stroll that turned into a 4 mile round trip without water. Learn from my mistakes and don’t be dumb. Carry water even if you think you are going for a stroll. It might turn into a mountaineering adventure. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit.

Signage for hikes at Pu’u Hinahina is shoddy and the names for the trails don’t seem to match the names on the maps I saw online, but if you follow my guidelines, you should be able to find the trail easily.

This hike takes you to the top section of the Waipo’o Falls, offering mind-blowing views of the canyon. Look for the sign that says Waimea Canyon Tail. You’ll find the entrance to the left as you face the sign. The first half mile or so goes downwards fairly quickly and coming back up this way can be a bit of a workout if you are not a seasoned hiker. If you want to avoid this 0.5 mile stretch, drive down the Halemanu Road. However, the path that leads you down to the parking spot where you can pick up the trail is a dirt road that does require a 4WD ride to get you back up.

Shortly after passing the clearing at the 0.5 mile spot where cars are parked, you’ll see an offshoot on the right. This is the Cliff Trail, an optional short 0.1 mile detour, that leads to a dead end and some pretty views of the canyon (bonus: reasonable cellular coverage if you’re looking to make an emergency phone call!). If you choose to forgo this side adventure, continue forward on the Waipo’o Falls trail (the signs might still refer to it as the Waimea Canyon trail here). You’ll notice the soil turn redder and redder as you head towards the falls. There is plenty of traffic around this area to guide you to a narrow and steep path, which involves climbing down a few big boulders. This path leads you to one of the small top tiers of the falls where fast flowing water momentarily collects in a small pond before furiously plunging down hundreds of feet.

Once back at your car, head up on 550 until you reach signs for the Kalalau Valley and Pu’u ka Pele lookouts. Say you happened to pack a light lunch involving some apple bananas (a type of banana that smells and tastes like apples and bananas all at once!), rice cakes, cheese and coconut water. This might be an awesome place to dig out that lunch. This place has the bluest blue skies, the greenest of greens underneath, and had it not been for the scorching sun on my back, I would have considered staying here forever. Pu’u lookout is also where the trailhead for Pihea is located; your access to one of the wettest places on earth: Mount Wai’ale’ale.

I don’t have any first-hand experience with this trail, but the few explorers we happened upon were all covered in mud up to their mid-calves and explained that they turned around fairly quickly because the mud made it very difficult to walk through. This is as far as the road will allow you to penetrate the western terrain as you hit the sheer Na’pali coastline only accessible by the Kalalau trail, helicopter tours or a boat ride.