Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
up, stay dry and safe. Follow Koʻolau Rd and turn onto Moloaʻa Rd, which ends 0.75
miles down at a few beach houses and a little parking area.
Larsen's Beach
BEACH
This long, loamy, golden-sand beach, named after L David Larsen (former manager of C
Brewer's Kilauea Sugar Company), is stunning, raw and all-natural with a scrubby back-
drop offering plenty of afternoon shade (the sun is usually behind you in the afternoon).
Although shallow, snorkeling can be good when the waters are calm, usually only in the
summer.
Beware of a vicious current that runs westward along the beach and out through a
channel in the reef. The calmest waters are north of the giant buoy sunk in the sand. To
get here, turn onto Koʻolau Rd from whichever end (ie where it intersects either Kuhio
Hwy or Moloaʻa Rd), go just over a mile then turn toward the ocean on a dirt road (easy
to miss from the south: look for it just before the cemetery) and take the immediate left.
It's 1 mile to the parking area and then a five-minute walk downhill to the beach.
Sleeping
Valentine By The Bay
VACATION RENTAL $$$
$$$
(
822-5216;
www.rosewoodkauai.com/valentine-by-the-bay/
;
Moloa Rd; per night $545, 3-night
minimum)
This stunner of a vacation rental offers four bedrooms, four bathrooms, is fully
updated and renovated and sleeps up to eight. The gourmet kitchen has granite counter
tops, the lanai has mountain, stream and beach views, and it's within walking distance to
a gem of a beach.
HANALEI BAY & THE NORTH SHORE
Forget Eden. Arguably the most pristine part of the island, the North Shore's quilted
green slopes and valleys are effortlessly fertile. Somewhere between Hanalei Valley and
the 'end of the road,' the seemingly untouched landscape makes it easy to imagine what
it must have been like for the Hawaiian gods taking it in from above the sand, sea and
mountains below. Savor life here: swim through the turquoise sea, bite into juicy fresh-
picked fruit and nap away the afternoon on warm sugary sand. To be sure, the sleepy
little enclave that is the North Shore is an unassuming treasure; the island within the is-
land.
