Princeville: Experience Nature’s Paradise

Princeville Resort, located at the center of Kauai’s spectacular North Shore, is the perfect place to launch any number of outdoor adventures in paradise.  While some visitors are content to nap in a beachside hammock, most come to Princeville eager to holoholo, meaning “to get going, to do things.” They want to explore the rivers, beaches, ocean, and trails that make the North Shore one of Nature’s most beautiful playgrounds.

In addition to the golf, tennis, biking, and water sports offered within the Resort, Princeville is also the gateway to adventures such as canoeing or
kayaking emerald rivers, cruising and sailing along the famed Na Pali Coast, touring peaks and canyons by helicopter, hiking to secluded beaches, horseback riding to waterfalls, deep-sea fishing and whale watching.

In and around Princeville

On your North Shore outdoor tour, you don't have to leave the resort itself to have an adventure or two.  The hotel’s beach is the entrance to some of the finest snorkeling on the island (depending, of course, on water and weather conditions).  Trails leading from the Princeville plateau to other secluded coves and beaches below afford opportunities for exploration, swimming, snorkeling, and surfing. During the winter, when the humpback whales cruise the coast, you can see them frolic not far from shore.

Across the highway from the resort, Princeville Ranch Stables offers horseback riding to a secluded waterfall, and Princeville Ranch Adventures offers back country hiking and kayaking.  Their newest addition the “Zip and Dip” expedition features a series of eight zipline crossings.  You can also walk through the treetops and over a waterfall on a suspension bridge.

South to Kilauea Town

When leaving the resort, you just have to decide to turn right (north) toward Hanalei, Ha`ena, and the end of the road, or take a left south toward Kalihiwai and Kilauea.  Heading south leads to Anini Beach, the launching spot for deep sea fishing and an ideal environment for windsurfing lessons for the novice as well as some fine boardsailing for the experienced.  The nearby Kalihiwai River is a favorite for kayaking adventures, and beautiful Kalihiwai Bay is great for swimming, surfing, and bodyboarding.

The old plantation town of Kilauea, with its stone buildings, is small and charming, but offers fine dining and some outstanding shopping.  Just past the town is Kilauea Lighthouse National Wildlife Refuge where tours and hikes available. The historic lighthouse, built in 1913, presides over a sanctuary for Hawaii’s most interesting sea birds, including albatrosses, Red-footed Boobies, and other endangered species.  Just south of town, Na Aina Kai Botanical Gardens provides tours of unique gardens and a 110-acre tropical hardwood plantation.

Heavenly Hanalei

As you turn north from Princeville and head down the plateau into Hanalei Valley, the National Wildlife Refuge offers scenic hikes above the taro fields, home of rare native birds.  The Hanalei River is a favorite kayaking and paddling scene, and uncrowded Hanalei Bay is everyone’s vision of a perfect beach, a crescent of golden sand ringed with coconut palms and presided over by a range of magical mountains.  Windsurfing, kite-boarding, ocean kayaking, paddling, fishing, and sailing, are also part of the scene at Hanalei.  Just watching the teams of outrigger canoe paddlers plying the bay on a summer evening can be an awesome experience.  Picturesque Hanalei town is a shopping adventure in itself, with unique boutiques and a range of restaurant options.

Over the bridges to the end of the road

The road beyond Hanalei, with its seven one-way bridges, leads to more breathtaking beaches  Lumahai, Makua, and Ke`e.  At Makua, (also known as Tunnels), some of the best snorkeling, scuba diving, and wave sailing on the island takes place along the mile-long reef.  Shelling can also be an adventure when winter swells deposit cowries, cones, and exquisite sunrise shells.  The Dry Cave and the Wet Cave are favorite spots to explore along the way to Ke`e, the beautiful beach at the end of the road and the entryway to Na Pali, Kauai’s dramatic northern coastline.

Na Pali means “the cliffs” in Hawaiian, and these precipices stand stark in green and red against the blue ocean and sky.  Pounded for eons by wind and waves, the volcanic shore shows the dramatic effects of erosion.  This area is only accessible by foot or boat, though it can been seen from above on helicopter tours.  The rugged 11-mile trail to Kalalau Valley is one of the most challenging on the island, but it takes hikers to remote verdant valleys, towering waterfalls, and hidden beaches  an experience like no other on earth.

Customizing your own adventure

Taking part in these adventures brings you close to the ‘aina, a word that could be translated as land or earth, but actually encompasses all of nature.  It is the highest Hawaiian value to malama aina, or take care of nature, and that value is increasingly honored in the concept of “ecotourism.”  Along with adventure travel, health and wellness tourism, and cultural and heritage tourism, ecotourism reflects a new consciousness in the world of travel. 

Kauai, the least developed of the four main Hawaiian islands, has long attracted travelers who want to get off the beaten path and who also look for opportunities to learn about the environment and its eco-systems as well as the local culture.  The island also offers numerous programs and practitioners offering special services such as exercise training, outdoor skills, healing and health programs, and personal growth experiences.

Whether you consider yourself an ecotourist or  an outdoor adventurer  the gracious and knowledgeable concierge staff at the Princeville Hotel will work with you to design your own personal adventure in paradise.