Have a lot of time but not a lot of cash? Here are options that won’t dent your wallet if you’re visiting the Garden Isle.
Kauai Coffee
Kauai Coffee tends some 4 million coffee trees on 3,100 acres stretching from Eleele to Poipu. Learn about the company’s six varieties of Arabica coffee and the coffee-making process, from cultivation to roasting. If you’re there from September through December, you might see bright red coffee cherries being harvested in the fields.
Before or after the tour, enjoy free samplings of more than two dozen Kauai Coffee products in the visitor center. Top-selling flavored coffees include Paradise Mango, Coconut Caramel Crunch and Hawaiian Toasty Banana Nut Cream.
>> Address: 870 Halewili Road, Kalaheo
>> Guided tours: 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m. daily
>> Phone: 808-335-0813
>> Email: kcofvc@kauaicoffee.com
>> Website: kauaicoffee.com
Grove Farm Museum’s Train Day
Grove Farm was founded in 1854 as one of Hawaii’s first sugar plantations. Entrepreneur George Wilcox bought it a decade later, and it was owned and operated by family members for the next 110 years. Their home is now a museum providing fascinating insights into how they lived, worked and played.
Trains were once an integral part of sugar operations, used to haul cane from the fields to the mills. At the monthly Train Days, one of Grove Farm Museum’s vintage locomotives pulls cars along an original section of track that belonged to neighboring Lihue Plantation.
>> Meeting place: Haleko Road between Rice Street and Nawiliwili Road, Lihue. Look for the “Train Day” signs.
>> Available: 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. second Thursday of every month. Reservations aren’t necessary, but guests are boarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
>> Phone: 808-245-3202
>> Email: tours@grovefarm.org
>> Website: grovefarm.org
Pa‘u a Laka Cactus Gardens
The property was originally the estate of Hector Moir, manager of Koloa Sugar Plantation, and his wife, Alexandra, who started a garden as a hobby in the 1930s. Quickly finding that flowering tropical plants such as ginger and heliconia didn’t do well in an environment that didn’t have much rainfall, she focused on cactus and other succulents and named the garden Pa‘u a Laka, meaning “skirt of Laka,” the Hawaiian goddess of hula. In ancient times, a temple devoted to hula training was in the area.
Over the years, Alexandra Moir added hau, coconut, plumeria, wiliwili and ponds filled with koi and waterlilies. She also grew orchids, which the resort has expanded into a separate attraction called the Kiahuna Plantation Orchid Garden that is open 24 hours a day.
>> Address: Kiahuna Plantation Resort Kauai by Outrigger, 2253 Poipu Road, Koloa
>> Hours: Open for self-guided tours from 9 a.m. to sundown
>> Phone: 808-742-6411
Mini golf at Anaina Hou Community Park
The 18-hole course is set in a botanical garden that represents different eras of Hawaii’s history. For example, Hole 4 features taro, ti, breadfruit and other “canoe plants” that early Polynesian settlers brought to Hawaii for use as food, medicine, shelter and more.
The nonprofit Anaina Hou is a popular gathering place that offers farmers markets 2 to 6 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays; salsa dancing 5 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays; Friday pau hana get-togethers with live music and drink specials; and Kilauea Night Market, an arts and crafts fair with food booths and live music from 4 to 8 p.m. on the last Saturday of the month. In the works is a free weekly family movie night.
>> Address: 5-2723 Kuhio Highway, Kilauea
>> Mini golf: Kamaaina can play free of charge 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the last Sunday of every month
>> Phone:808-828-2118
>> Email: info@anainahou.org
>> Website: anainahou.org
Kokee Museum
Among the highlights of this small but informative museum are exhibits on native birds and trees; sea shells and land snail shells; the history of Kokee, including Queen Emma’s visit in 1871; and information on the Kokee Civilian Conservation Corps, a group of young men (ages of 17-28) who planted trees and built roads and trails in Kokee between 1935 and 1942.
There are 45 scenic miles of trails in Kokee State Park. The museum’s staff can answer questions about hikes and provide information on weather conditions.
>> Address: 3600 Kokee Road, Kokee State Park
>> Open: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Donations are appreciated.
>> Phone: 808-335-9975
>> Email: info@kokee.org
>> Website: kokee.org
Kadavul Hindu Temple
Learn about the Hindu faith as you stroll through peaceful gardens and admire intriguing statuary, which includes a 6-foot bronze sculpture of the god Siva in the central sanctum of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery.
You can also take a self-guided tour of the front area of the monastery from 9 a.m. to noon daily. The inner section, including the temple, is open only to worshippers until 10:45 a.m. Dress in modest clothing; shorts, short dresses, T-shirts and tank tops are not permitted.
>> Address: 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa
>> Guided tour: 9 a.m., once a week (except for December and the first two weeks of April and August). Reservations are required (call to find out what day the tour will be offered). Donations are appreciated.
>> Phone: 888-735-1619
>> Email: contact@hindu.org
>> Website: 808ne.ws/2KDUtyF
Lawai International Center
A tranquil hillside path is bordered by 88 stone shrines placed there in 1904 by Japanese immigrants. The Hall of Compassion was built by 1,600 volunteers in the traditional 13th-century style of Japanese architecture, which features interlocking joinery instead of nails.
The center’s 18th annual Pilgrimage of Compassion is set for 1 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 12. Plans include a bonsai exhibit, bake sale, silent auction, taiko drumming performances, ikebana and mochi- and taro-pounding demonstrations. Admission is free.
>> Address: 3381 Wawae Road, Kalaheo
>> Guided tour: 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. second and last Sunday of every month or by appointment. Reservations are required. Donations are appreciated.
>> Phone: 808-639-5952
>> Email: paradisekauai@yahoo.com
>> Website: lawaicenter.org
Daniel K. Inouye Kilauea Point Lighthouse
Equipped with a beacon that could be seen from 20 miles at sea, the lighthouse was dedicated on May 1, 1913, as Kilauea Point Light Station. It was decommissioned in 1976 — still operable but, like lighthouses in general, deemed obsolete as a primary navigational aid.
The tour is free; however, a $5 entry fee to the refuge is charged to visitors 16 years and older (cash or traveler’s checks only). You can sign up for the tour no earlier than one hour in advance (everyone in your group must be present to receive a ticket).
>> Address: Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, end of Kilauea Road, Kilauea
>> Guided tour: Hourly from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, depending on staff availability; call ahead to confirm. The refuge is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
>> Phone: 808-828-1413
>> Email: jennifer_waipa@fws.gov
>> Website: 808ne.ws/2KuM6Gm
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.
