Kauai Waterfalls

Kauai Waterfalls are abundant in an island that is sometimes known as the Garden Island. Indeed, Kauai (or Kaua’i) seemed to us to be like the back-to-nature island. It seemed to harbor some of the grandest natural features in all the Hawaiian Islands, and this included one of the wettest spots on earth at the top of Mt Wai’ale’ale, the dramatic fluted cliffs of the famous Na Pali Coast, as well as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific in Waimea Canyon. But like most of the other islands, we didn’t have to rough it in order to get close to Nature as there were plenty of accommodation options to choose from.

Even though the island was green and very wet, we had to temper our expectations of having a bonanza of Kauai Waterfalls. While the island did have innumerable waterfalls, most of them were either inaccessible, require difficult adventures, or were on private land. Then, there were some waterfalls that required some dangerous scrambling in order to get the best views that were not attainable from the official overlooks (like Wailua Falls and Opaeka’a Falls). I guess that was the ultimate catch-22 for waterfall fanatics like us – either shelling out money on tours to see them or settling for a handful of waterfalls with the feeling that we had somehow missed out. Not many of them were accessible by self-touring. The map you see at the top of this page shows what we were able to accomplish.

Even with the limited options of waterfalls on the island, the highlights included Hanakapiai Falls) on the Na Pali Coast, Wailua Falls (a well-known waterfall that was also on the Fantasy Island TV show), and Waipoo Falls nestled within the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (Waimea Canyon). Then, we also visited Manawaiopuna Falls, which we knew had made an appearance in one of the Jurassic Park movies.

There are a couple of waterfalls on this island that have managed to crack our Top 10 Hawaii Waterfalls List. Find out which ones made it by clicking on the link!

Even though the quantity of waterfalls that we were able to visit was tempered by various restrictions, as you can see from this page that we were still able to visit quite a few of what was left. You can find out more about these waterfalls that we were able to visit by clicking on the waterfall links below.