Deciding where to stay on Kauai is a very difficult decision. The north shore has the lush scenery and incredible beaches. The south side has the drier climate and more timid beaches. The east side perhaps represents a compromise since it’s centrally located. The west side is more isolated but has the most convenient access to the hiking of Waimea Canyon.
Another way to decide where to stay is to first look at what the accommodations in each area look like, and how much they cost. If you’re a visual person, the best way to do this is by looking at aerial photos of Kauai’s condo resorts
An Aerial view of Kaha Lani Resort
HawaiiGaga.com’s Kauai Condo Guide includes aerial photos so you can see what the surroundings look like. Most aerial photos are taken from the ocean, so you get the coastal perspective.
Our condo guides also include an estimate of average prices, and a subjective luxury rating. The map shows you what beaches and attractions are located nearby each resort. For many people this is very important consideration in choosing a place to stay.
If you’ve been using our Hawaii Google Gadget to keep an eye on airfare to Hawaii you’ll notice it also reports what airline is offering the low price:
The gadget actually uses Kayak.com’s flight search technology to discover those low fares. Kayak.com is an excellent web site for researching airfare, but there are many more. So how do they stack up? Recently, we took a look at airfare from Seattle to Lihue, and compared the major players:
Incidentally, the airfare found was with Alaska Airlines, whose own web site also quoted a price of $321.
These results are quite interesting. First, CheapOAir, a major player in the market, couldn’t find the discounted Alaska Airlines rate. As a result it found a much higher rate with a different carrier. OneTravel.com, another relatively new but big player in the market, quoted a rate that was slightly higher. Unlike the other web sites, OneTravel.com uses coupon codes to give people discounted rates. If you know about the coupon, you can get the $321 rate.
Finally, expedia, orbitz and kayak all discovered the lowest possible rate.
What differentiates these web sites is the way they search for low airfare. If you have exact dates, either expedia, orbitz or kayak will do the job. However, if you have flexible dates, kayak.com is the web site to use as it can search a range of dates, which is extremely useful.
Kona has a reputation for having the best sunsets in Hawaii. The combination of dry weather, ocean vistas, and perhaps vog scattering the sunlight make for some incredible scenes. It’s not uncommon for people to pull off to the side of the road to watch the sun go down. The Kona Reef on Alii drive is one of those lucky resorts with front row seating. Perhaps front row is an understatement. Condo D-12 at Kona Reef happily boasts that it’s situated just 23 feet from the ocean! Here’s a video slide show of D-12. You’re going to love the music, and the sunset slide!
