🇺🇸 Nawiliwili (Kauai), United States — Cruise Port Guide
The Garden Isle, and the oldest of the main Hawaiian islands — which is why it is the greenest and the most eroded. A canyon Mark Twain called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, a coast no road can reach, and waterfalls a five-minute drive from the pier.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Nawiliwili (Kauai)
Kauai is green because it rains; showers are possible any month. April to June and September to October are the sweet spots. The north shore is far wetter than the south.
Good to know
Kauai has one main road and it does not go all the way round the island — you cannot loop it, and a north-shore trip plus a canyon trip in one port day is not realistic. Pick one direction.
Things to do in Nawiliwili (Kauai)
Waimea Canyon
Ten miles long and 3,000 feet deep, striped red and green. The drive up is about 90 minutes from the pier; go in the morning before cloud fills the canyon.
Nā Pali Coast by boat
Catamarans run from Port Allen along cliffs that rise 4,000 feet straight from the sea, usually with sea caves and spinner dolphins. Seas are calmer in summer.
Wailua Falls
An 80-foot double waterfall about 15 minutes from the pier, visible from the roadside car park. The easiest big sight on the island.
Helicopter over the island
The only way to see the interior, including Waiʻaleʻale's crater walls and the hidden falls. Expensive, and the thing most people say they would do again.
Poipu Beach
The reliable sunny side of the island, with a protected pool for children and Hawaiian monk seals hauling out on the sand most days.
Kilohana Plantation & train
A 1930s sugar estate five minutes from the pier, with a narrow-gauge train through the orchards and a rum distillery on site.
What to eat
- Poke
- Kalua pig
- Lilikoi (passionfruit) pie
- Loco moco
- Shave ice
Weather by month
Best time to visit: Apr–Jun and Sep–Oct; the north shore is wetter year-round
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 78° | 65° | 4.5" |
| Feb | 78° | 65° | 3.2" |
| Mar | 79° | 67° | 3.4" |
| Apr | 80° | 68° | 3" |
| May | 82° | 70° | 2.6" |
| Jun | 84° | 72° | 1.6" |
| Jul | 85° | 74° | 2" |
| Aug | 86° | 74° | 1.8" |
| Sep | 86° | 73° | 2.2" |
| Oct | 84° | 72° | 3.6" |
| Nov | 81° | 70° | 4.5" |
| Dec | 79° | 67° | 4.4" |
Local phrases
A little history
Kauai is roughly six million years old, the oldest of the main islands, and erosion is why it has canyons and knife-edge ridges the younger islands lack.
Mount Waiʻaleʻale near the centre is one of the wettest places on earth, taking around 450 inches of rain a year — which is what carved Waimea Canyon.
Kauai was the only island Kamehameha never conquered by force; its chief negotiated a peaceful union in 1810 after two invasion attempts were wrecked by storms and disease.
The Nā Pali Coast has no road. You see it by boat, by helicopter, or on the Kalalau Trail, and nothing prepares you for the scale of the cliffs.
Films shot here include Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark and South Pacific — the island doubles for anywhere lush and inaccessible.