Welcome back to another Kauai Travel Series post. If you missed my first post reviewing our stay at Lawai Beach Resort, catch up here. My most vivid memory of Kauai 19 years ago was Polihale Beach. I remembered how white the sand was, the beautiful lush mountains in the background, warm water, and the best part, how it felt like we had the entire beach to ourselves. Years later, Polihale Beach is just as beautiful (and vacant) as I remembered it. When we were planning the trip, my mom asked if I had any must sees. I couldn’t remember the name of the beach, but we did some research and added Polihale to our itinerary. My mom also dug up this photo of my sister and I at Polihale back in 2003.
Getting There
The worst but probably best part of Polihale Beach is getting there. The 30 minutes of rocky roads prevents a lot of visitors from making the trek. It is located at the end of Highway 50 and is accessed down an unpaved road. But the seventeen mile stretch of white sand beach and sand dunes make the adventure getting there well worth it. At the end of the stretch, we parked near the facilities and hiked down through the sand dunes to the beach.
Facilities
There are a few facilities in the State Park, but beware they are not clean. I couldn’t bring myself to use the bathroom because it was so dirty. Slight tangent, but the lack of facilities in many parts of Kauai is something to take note of when planning your day away from you are staying. On the way home we stopped in Waimea Town and a majority of the shops and restaurants did not have bathrooms open to the public. My dad and I walked over to another State Park bathroom that was also unsanitary. I ended up using the mens bathroom and had my dad guard the entrance because the women’s side was not pretty.
Overall thoughts:
If you noticed by the pictures, Polihale Beach is very sunny (at least while we were there). Storms do roll in and out, but when the sun is blazing, you’ll want to make sure you have an umbrella and hat. We didn’t travel with an umbrella for obvious reasons, but we packed plenty of water and sunscreen. We stayed for about 2 hours before heading back towards Poipu Bay as we had a few more stops on the agenda that day. If the trek to the beach wasn’t so long, we probably would have gone back a second day, but until next time Polihale Beach!
And that’s a wrap on my Polihale Beach review. Check back for additional posts in my Kauai Travel Series very soon!
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