Rating: 
Summary: A MUST HAVE when going to Kauai
Review: One sunny week in June 2002, I left my children behind (Oh yes, this was Mom's renewal retreat!) and landed in Kauai... but I needed an insider's view of the island to make the most of my week, and I looked at lots of travel books about Kauai, but liked this one, after just reading a bit here and there... I thought the authors had a great sense of humor. I bought it, opened it, and literally (lol!) couldn't put it down! It was not only informative and factual, these writers (and residents of Kauai) had the guavas to be TOTALLY HONEST about the INSIDE STORIES about everything, just like a local friend would give you the 411... Such good info on the beaches, where to snorkle, where to snuggle, what to avoid (like brackish waters where sharks like to dine); the go ahead to be brave and try the restraunt that didn't look so hot from the outside but was ONO! etc., etc. I do have friends on Kauai, but they weren't NEARLY as helpful as Andrew and Harriet! Just buy the book, in fact, buy ALL their guidebooks on the Hawaiian Islands, and you'll use them, because after reading them, you'll just have to go to the Land of Aloha!
Rating:
Summary: A must buy!
Review: Until now I have never taken the time to write a reveiw for anything, but I feel need to share my feelings about this book. This book is the reference standard for how guidebooks should be written. The maps and graphics are outstanding; very detailed with mile markers etc. shown where needed, and it doesn't include useless details that you won't need anyway. Maps are very easy to follow, and they are broken down for each district on the island. It is especially helpful if you are looking for little known hiking trails, beaches, or waterfalls to visit. Some of these you would never find without the help of this book. The information is very accurate. The couple that wrote the book live on Kauai, and it is clear that they do their homework, and they even added a touch of humor. We used this book for every activity and restaraunt during our stay, and we have never been disappointed.
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Summary: I wish every guide book were this good!
Review: The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, deserves its name! It should be required reading for anyone going to Kauai, with very precise and accurate directions and descriptions of sites, activities, restaurants, etc. A lot of Kauai's attractions are "hidden" and with this book, we felt like we were driving/hiking around our hometown, there was none of the typical confusion and bactracking trying to find our given destination. We spent a few days in Oahu afterwards, and sorely missed having a guide book with such detail. Don't waste your money on another book, this is the only one you will need or use! It really is a MUST READ for anyone travelling to the Garden Isle!!
Rating:
Summary: ALOHA KAUAI, HERE WE COME!
Review: kauai is amazingly beautiful ... yet also amazingly mysterious. only 1/4 of the island can be accessed by roads, and the other 3/4 can only be seen by exploring and hiking through the wilderness. and what better guides than andrew and harriet! this book was hard to put down, and accompanied our group wherever we went. even the maps and details about certain hikes were extremely accurate. this allowed us to enjoy a stress free vacation, and instead of being concerned with the little details, we were able to get the most out of our short stay on the island. a week was definitely not enough.
be sure to peruse the dining reviews, and take advantage of the delicious tropical fruit and fresh produce that the island offers. some "must sees and dos":
- shave ice at jojo's clubhouse
- a hike on one of the trails through waimea canyon
- a trip to the north shore's kee beach
- souvenir shopping at the local wal-mart
- dinner and dessert at roy's poipu bar and grill on the south shore read the book before you go, and use it to put a little "aloha" into your trip's itinerary. whoever says this book isn't helpful, probably didn't really read it.
aloha and have fun!
Rating: 
Summary: Great maps, frank reviews, needs editing
Review: We just returned from Kauai and used this book as our guide. I'd strongly suggest purchasing this book if only for the maps, which are completely thorough and seemed very accurate! We followed their driving guide around the island and thought it to be an excellent way to "self narrate" our drive. The authors' frank reviews of the island's activities/companies were helpful in weeding out the bad ones, if not always in selecting the BEST one. You'll read a lot about the good in other customer reviews -- I'd agree with much of what was written. What this book SUFFERS from is a good editor, both to curtail the authors' long-winded rambling and to make certain each of the sections are consistent in including key details. The restaurant section, for example, seemed sloppily put together, as some of the reviews excluded addresses/locations and other such details. Likewise, the guide to beaches omitted such useful facts as "the drive to Polihale State Park includes over four miles of dirt road" -- something I'm sure they assume you'd notice on their great maps, but all the same, some of their write-ups included such details, some did not. We did follow their restaurant recommendations (about 10 of them, all told) and would advise you, the traveler, only to avoid BRENNECKE'S, whose "legendary Mai Tais" were the worst we had and the view was better than the food. OVERALL ADVICE: 1) Purchase this book from Amazon.com, 2) go to your local bookstore and copy down restaurant ideas from Zagat's Hawaii, and 3) browse through the freebie magazines available all over Kauai for supplemental information.
Rating:
Summary: The Bible Of Kauai
Review: I reviewed a few guidebooks prior to my first visit to Kauai. This one blew them all away. Within a day, my sister and I were able to guide ourselves (for free!) around the entire island without any hitches. The maps are great, directions precise and pictures true.... We did what we call beach tours based on the reviews and directions to well-known and not-so-well-known beaches. Beautiful. We ate at some of the places recommended and agreed with the reviews of all but one (didn't like the mango glazed fish....) and another place had closed already. Perhaps we didn't have the latest edition or the business just didn't take. Nevertheless, if you are planning to go, get this book before you leave and make your plans. We discovered while at the least known places, especially the beaches, the only people there were the ones with this book in tow. Great for finding your own nirvana in this island paradise. I could go on for days, just get the book. You just can't go wrong
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Summary: Personal Tour Guide!!
Review: On our trip to Kauai last year, I took two guide books, this one and the Underground Kauai guidebook, guess which one we ended up using the whole time?! This guidebook was like a personal tour guide taking us around the island. It was soooo accurate!! The maps are right on the dot, we even tried the restaurants that were suggested in the book, they were right about the service, the food and the prices! We never stopped to ask for directions on our trips to many parts of the island. This book was a total bible for us on our trip, we totally worshipped it! It isn't even boring to read. I read it from cover to cover and I feel like such an expert on the island that I can give anyone a tour! We also went to Maui and I got the Maui version of this book, it was INCREDIBLE! We stayed at the places that these books suggested were the best and they were right on the dot! I RECOMMEND this book on your trip to Kauai! I am telling you, it is UNBELIEVABLE! I can't wait to go again!
Rating:
Summary: not your typical guidebook
Review: Like having a friend on the island. A chatty, digressive friend who's prone to making terrible puns. I wouldn't go to Kauai without it.
Rating:
Summary: The best and the worst
Review: This is a hard one to review, because while this and the others in the series are wonderfully organized, expertly written and unbelievably detailed, they also reveal the deepest secrets of the Hawaiian Islands, previously only known to locals. First, the positives. You won't find a better tour book for Hawaii, on or off the islands - period. This goes for every book of the series - Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. Doughty and Friedman expertly steer you around the islands, avoiding the crowds and avoiding the tourist traps (like the bike ride down Haleakala). You'll get tons of practical touring strategies, like, for example, on Maui, taking the Road to Hana later in the day and spending the night in Hana so you can have the Seven Pools to yourself for a few hours in the morning. That's just one example from the series; each and every book is loaded with this kind of pragmatism, so even on your first trip you'll feel like a seasoned visitor. Every aspect of your trip is covered in the books, from the sites to see and avoid, the restaurants to hit, the best hotels, camping options, and island history. Every type of traveler from the luxury $1000 per night tourist to the canvas tent hiker will find useful info. More than anything, while realizing how much of Hawaii is truly still hidden to you in the almost uninhabitable reaches of the jungles and volcanic residues, you'll still feel as though you're seeing as much of it as any outsider can see. Now for the bad. Because Doughty and Friedman live on the islands and have explored every hidden waterfall and pool, they are privy to spots on the islands that even many locals are unaware of. And naturally, many of the areas are located on private property. This however, doesn't seem to bother the writers. After giving a detailed description of how to access a remote waterfall on private property (stuff like, "Park on the pull-off a few hundred yards after mile-marker 23, and scale the guardrail. You should see a path that winds down into a bamboo forest. At the bottom of the path, go *left*, not right, away from the river..." etc.), they follow it up with a limp disclaimer, like "Technically, this is Hawaiian Forest and Game property, but we've been hiking on it for years without a problem..." The bottom line is that while the places they tell you to go are private and amazing, by definition these magnificent spots can't last. Because they've been revealed (as the book titles promise), a hidden location that may have previously had only a few dozen visitors per year now gets five or six visitors a day, thus destroying the serenity and privacy of the location, ruining what is the reason for going there in the first place. So it's somewhat of a self-defeating book, since by revealing these remote locations they are also condemning them to extinction. Lastly, these books are quite popular and already the hidden waterfalls and trails are not so hidden. More than once I hiked a mile or two through rough, muddy terrain and rushing rivers to reach a waterfall, where I found a soccer mom, an over-weight dad in flip-flops, and two four-year olds frolicking in the pool, one of the inevitably clutching their copy of "Maui Revealed" or "Oahu Revealed." That sort of detracts from the sense of adventure I built up on the way there. In addition, some of the private property areas that he says have no signs posted now have "Keep Out!" signs posted in response to the hundreds of trespassers following Doughty and Friedman's advice. So be aware that some trails they mention as remote and tolerant of hikers may now be *very* intolerant to trespassers. While this book is an incredible guidebook and you *should* use it to plan your Hawaiian vacation, ultimately, let your conscience be your guide as to where you do and don't venture.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty reliable
Review: Before going to Kauai on our honeymoon last year, my husband and I did a lot of research before settling on this book - and we were glad we did! It came everywhere with us and really helped us decide how to spend our time and where to eat out. It has a lot of useful tidbits of information which most guides would never include. HOWEVER! A note of caution: We did the Tunnels hike, and carefully read the description beforehand. Our experience was somewhat more extreme than the book led us to believe. Firstly, you have to cross a river right at the start of the hike, and if you fall on the slippery rocks like me you'll be soaked through for the whole hike. Secondly, the hike up the mountain to the tunnel is a complete quagmire - when we were there the mud was knee-deep and putrid, smelly, and completely unavoidable. For me, it was hell on earth for a whole day - and the waterfall did NOT make it all worthwhile. So be cautious when relying on this book for hiking reviews. Also, if you're doing any hikes requiring a permit e.g. kalalau, be prepared to deal with infuriating bureaucracy at the Parks Department. If they don't want to see you, you can't make them see you. On the whole, the book will help you, especially if you want a non-touristy experience. Try to avoid Princetown and Poipu and you'll love it. The restaurant guide is great, and we relied on it a lot. Duane's burgers are without doubt the best on the island, well worth a bit of waiting and shooing off chickens. The shave ice recommendation is definitely a good one! For one touristy splurge, take a helicopter ride around the island - it's breathtaking. (Tip: go for the helicopter company which doesn't play music, it's a lot less corny). Also, we thought Snorkel Bob's was fantastic - they were helpful, full of information and didn't try to push us into renting the most expensive gear. And the snorkelling is out of this world!! We would've like more info on 4-wheeling on the island, but maybe it just doesn't exist - most back roads marked on our Topo Maps were closed to the public :-( Don't expect to find many Hawaiian souvenirs - you'll find that most of them are made in China - very disappointing. We were really tired of all the aloha stuff that was being pushed by the tourist industry by the time we left. Our impression was that the tourist industry's motto: "Hawaii loves to smile" is better expressed as "Hawaii loves to smile if they're taking your tourist dollars" - we found most natives to be unfriendly and unsmiling, and you'll be shocked at the amount of trash strewn around back roads all over this beautiful island. Grocery shopping is horrendously expensive, to the point where it is almost cheaper to eat out than to try to cook! I definitely recommend that you buy the book, but I recommend that you experience Kauai yourself even more. Take the book as a background guide, but take Kauai at your own pace, go and see the gorgeous beaches, incredible scenery, wonderful weather and spectacular sunsets!
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