Kauai or Big Island: which island should you consider when you plan a vacation?
With so much natural beauty and a more relaxed lifestyle both Kauai and the Big island are nature inspired and filled with natural beauty. If you are looking for doing more outdoor and recreational activities, water sports and on land activities then both islands offer so much more fun and adventure.
We detail the best of each island from hiking, beaches, resort lifestyle, history and culture, costs, recreation and activities for you to decide which island is best for you to visit. Then we break out each interest factor for beaches, snorkeling, hiking, dining and costs and showcase which island does it better.
Having spent a lot of time visiting around each island, I found that both have so much natural beautiful, outdoor adventures, amazing beaches and so many cool things to see and do. It’s a hard choice since both islands are fantastic options for nature, adventure and recreation, small town appeal and unique experiences..
Here’s a quick guide and the best of each island options.
Visiting Kauai Island pros and cons
Kauai is the oldest of the major islands in the Hawaiian chain, while the Big Island is the youngest. As the oldest of the Hawaiian chain, Kauai is what one expects a tropical paradise would be like with gorgeous beach areas, abundant waterfalls, impressive cliffside hikes and stunning canyons to explore and experience.
Pros to visiting Kauai
The island is relatively compact which is easy to travel to different parts especially if the weather is not so conducive where you are at.
There are so many beautiful beach areas to choose from popular and sunny Poipu beaches to quiet cove beaches or long stretches of white sandy beaches to choose from.
For adventure lovers, there’s so many choices from water sports to more inland recreation like hiking, mountain climbing or even taking a helicopter ride above the entire island.
There’s a lot of small-town appeal and laid back, casual vibe that makes everyone feel comfortable and easy to experience.
Cons to visiting Kauai
Kauai tends to be wetter compared to the other islands and can make it challenging to be outdoors at different times of the year.
Travel around the island is basically by two lane roads, so it could be slow driving when you enter and exit a location with traffic during peak season.
There are not as many choices of shopping, eating and grocery options compared to the other islands.
Check out these posts to visiting Kauai
A visit to iconic Wailua Falls
Conclusion on travel experiences in Kauai
Exploring around Kauai and discovering the amazing nature, recreation and outdoor activities on the island is why this island is ideal and a good choice. You’ll find the oldest island in the chain a fantastic place to explore all the main attractions, parks and adventure filled with one-of-a-kind experiences. If you are not familiar with visiting Kauai, check out my posts of things to do and see around the island on the recommended posts.
About The Big Island: the pros and cons of visiting the island
The Big Island is also known as Hawaii island and is the largest island in the state. Even though the big island has a small population with just 200,000 people, there’s so much open space, beautiful landscape and outdoor venues to explore along with fantastic beaches, cool towns, lush jungles and waterfalls and even an active volcano erupting at Volcanoes National Park at different timeframes for over 30 years.
A drive around the island showcases amazing beautiful black, white to green sand beaches, expansive lava fields, an active volcano, amazing waterfalls. coastline views and sleepy towns and cities that have remained the same for a long time.
The youngest island in the island chain you’ll find expansive open fields of lava runs, lush forests and so much open and untouched nature to discover. If you love open areas and no as much development compared to the islands then the Big Island is the place to visit.
Pros to visiting the Big Island
The Big Island contains of over 4000 square miles of land to explore. The island is large with so many wonderful attractions and landmarks to explore.
If you love culture and history, you can visit many historic sites around the island including the Place of Refuge, historic Kona village, Pu’uhokola, the fishing village of Lapakahi state park and so many other cultural treasures around the island.
Recreation and adventure buffs will love manta ray diving, snorkeling venues, hiking trails, horseback riding and so many other outdoor activities to enjoy that match your interests.
Foodies will love all the mixture of local foods and family friendly venues to more upscale restaurants and bars that cater to all different taste levels.
Cons to visiting the Big Island
The Big Island is large so you do have to cover a lot of ground to see everything that matches your interests.
Things are at a slower pace and things don’t change quickly so everything is slower so you need to also enjoy the pace and vibe here
Big Island is not a not nightlife driven although there are bars, small venues with live music and some fun events and venues
Cost Between The Big Island and Kauai
For a vacation or getaway both the Big Island and Kauai cater to all different types of visitor. The Big island in general offers some of the better prices or affordable shopping, dining, accommodations, gas and entertainment compared to Kauai. Kauai also offers cheaper attractions and places to visit and accommodations but you do have to shop around. Both islands offer good mid range to more resort and luxury accommodations to target higher spenders.
The Big Island offers a variety of tourist venues and DIY type of activities that make a vacation to the island cheaper overall but different scales of affordability. You can easily go upscale or do things on your own and save on everything you want if you put the effort and research into visiting the area.
With more options for shopping, grocery, big box retailers and farmers markets, you can save more around the Big Island.
Best island to visit in terms of travel costs: The Big Island
Kauai vs Big Island for:The Best Resorts
Those looking for more of a resort vacation will find each island does contain a variety of amazing resort venues to choose from. Most of the nice resort venues on the Big Island are located on the Kohala coastline and a few in Kailua Kona. While Kauai offers resorts mostly in the south at Poipu and the northern part of the island at Hanalei area.
Both islands offer fantastic resort lifestyle, but the Big Island with so much more space have created larger scale resort communities, shopping and dining venues as a venue to attract more visitors looking for this type of lifestyle.
Best island for resort lifestyle: the Big Island
Best Beaches in Kauai or Big Island
The beach scene is a primary draw to visiting either Kauai or the Big Island offering a variety of wonderful beaches to explore with different venues around each island.
There are picture perfect beaches to explore on each island that makes it a fun experience to do on each island.
On the Big Island, you’ll have your choice of white or golden sandy beaches, black sand beaches and even a rare green sand beach on the south side of the island. These are all popular but you do have to drive to get to them and the popular beaches are always packed with visitors and locals wanting to enjoy a beach day. The leeward beaches on the Kohala coasts or even in Kailua are the most popular venues to visit on the island.
Kauai hosts many beautiful golden sand beaches all around the island with nice sandy bottoms. During winter and inclimate weather the beaches and water are sometimes dangerous with strong currents making it difficult to access. You can to choose carefully which time of the year is worth visiting for perfect beach weather and conditions, but you’ll find stunning beaches with beautiful natural surroundings to make a beach day a spectacular experience.
Because of the older age of the island, the beach scene tends to be more abundant with large sandy beaches around the island.
Winner of best beaches: Kauai
Best island for Snorkeling
You’ll find that snorkeling on either island to having some of the best off shore snorkeling spots to explore and offering some marine life, tropical fish and even interesting coral to experience.
Speaking of beaches, Hawaii is blessed to have some of the best offshore snorkeling opportunities in the United States. Between the colorful corals, tropical fish, and a variety of marine creatures, each island offers a unique underwater experience.
The Big Island with less water runoff and rivers allows for better visibility and snorkeling spots that are a fantastic draw to the island. You’ll find popular spots like Kahalu’u in Kailua, two step and the Captain Cook Monument to be fantastic choices to go to for snorkeling adventure.
One of my favorite spots is the Captain Cook Monument in Kealakekua Bay and hiking down and back up is a totally energy driven experience. The bay hosts many colorful marine life, coral and tropical fish in this protected marine preserve. The only ways to get here are by kayak, ocean outfitters or hiking down a long path down to the botttom where you can actually visit the monument. The other two options by tour outfitter and kayaking strictly forbid getting on the shoreline from a water approach.
Also, swimming at night with Manta Rays is one of the most unique snorkeling experiences you’ll ever have. Here are some fantastic choices for tours to take.
Check out these fun outfitter snorkeling tours on the Big Island:
Morning Snorkel Cruise in West Kona
Waikoloa snorkel and sale cruise
Snorkeling In Kauai
Snorkeling in Kauai is good but you definitely need to visit the island when conditions are perfect to be in the water. Plan on visiting outside of the winter season if you plan on spending more time in the water or even outdoors when the weather is more stable and favorable.
Popular places to go snorkeling in Kauai includes:
Winner of best snorkeling: the Big Island
Best Nightlife on Kauai or Big Island
Unfortunately, neither Kauai nor the Big Island is known for their wild nightlife (that would be on Oahu). Therefore, we wouldn’t recommend either island if you’re interested in late-night parties or nonstop entertainment.
Sure, the islands are quiet, but that doesn’t mean they are completely dead in the evening. While you won’t find any big nightclubs or crazy beach parties, there are lots of bars and restaurants where you can enjoy a drink or even live music. However, many of these venues tend to close early – around 10 or 11 at night.
If you want something a little livelier, another option is to book a Hawaiian luau. Not only will you be treated to a delicious dinner and tropical cocktails at sunset, but you’ll also get to watch traditional Polynesian dancing. You will find the luau offerings mostly in the resorts located in either island along with bars or restaurants with live music and places that offer dancing, music and entertainment venues in the tourist areas of each island.
Here are some fun options below for a Luau experience on either island:
Kauai
Luau Kalamaku Show with Buffet Dinner
ViP dinner and Lauai experience
Big Island
Kona Voyagers of the Pacific Luau experience
Winner of best nightlife: Big Island for its bar, club and after-hours scene which has more offerings compared to Kauai.
Best Hiking Big Island or Kauai
Going for a hike is a great way to experience the natural beauty of Hawaii. And regardless of which island you choose, you can count on there being some exquisite trails for you to trek.
On Kauai, you have Waimea Canyon (which some call the Grand Canyon of the Pacific), a striking landscape of deep cliffs, verdant valleys, and cascading waterfalls. There are numerous trails within the state park, ranging from easy hikes to more challenging routes, so it’s suitable for all types of hikers. And for a real challenge, you have the Kalalau trail on the north shore but be sure to get a reservation and permit before you go!
The Big Island is an outdoor playground for hikers to explore the entire island. From hiking and exploring Volcanoes National Park with it’s varying landscape and possibility of seeing lava tubes, craters, rainforest areas and even lava eruptions.
As you can see, Kauai and the Big Island are two excellent choices for hiking adventure experience done solo or in a touring capacity. if you love hiking, it’s almost a toss-up on deciding between the two! Kauai does have stunning landscape and hiking possibilities to visit and hike through many scenic locations that are truly breath taking.
Winner of best hikes: Kauai
Best Adventure in Kauai or Big Island
Experiencing a fun adventure or recreational activity is part of the fun in either Kauai or the Big Island. There are plenty of options to be outdoors and do some recreational activities with a tour company or DIY.
On the Big Island you can enjoy so many adventure activities from outfitters or do it yourself activities.
Some people love Hawaii for its relaxing beaches, while others are here for more exhilarating experiences. Either way, Kauai and the Big Island are excellent choices for adventure-seekers who are craving a bit of fun and excitement to get their heart racing.
On the Big Island you can enjoy one never-ending adventure after the other, from hiking an active volcano, ziplining through waterfalls and rainforest. You can learn to surf , enjoy a sunset cruise, take a snorkel cruise to the Captain Cook Monument and snorkel experience with Manta rays or spend the day on a black sand beach!
But on Kauai there is no shortage of adventures either. Popular activities include a catamaran sunset sail along the scenic Napali Coast on a boat ride or view the stunning coastal and waterfall scenes from above on a helicopter flight along the Napali. If you prefer to be in the water, then Kauai is also a good place to go do some kayaking or even try some mountain tubing.
There’s limitless possibilities to do recreation and sports either DIY driven or taking a guided tour to enjoy the experience.
Winner of best adventure activities: it’s a draw!
Ease of Sightseeing
Getting around each island tends to be feasible if you have a car rental to go out and explore but other options like tour outfitters or possibly public transportation is also doable.
With over 4,028 square miles, the Big island covers over 60% of Hawaii’s total land mass and is expansive so having a car is almost essential if you want to explore eveery facet of the island and experience the diversity of the area.
Kauai, in contrast, is older and is the smallest of the four major Hawaiian islands. and more manageable. With only 552 square miles of land mass it’ is a lot smaller than the Big Island. But most of Kauai is not accessible by car and less crowded than all of the main island chain.
It definitely feels more relaxed and not crowded to the busy tourist areas of Oahu, Maui and even the Big Island. You can go kayaking along the Wailoa River, hike the Napali coast or have a sunny beach day depending on how nice the sun and temperatures are for the day making it easy to drive from place to place.
The main roads travel from North to South to West and arranging your day is not so challenging if you plan it correctly.
Winner of east of sightseeing: Kauai
Which Island to choose from?
Every destination in Hawaii can lead to an incredible vacation no matter what you decide. But if you are deciding between a trip to Kauai or the Big Island, we laid out all the options and ideas that will make each island a pro or con.
If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, you’re probably looking for tons of rest and relaxation with a combination of fun and adventure included.
Enjoy your trip and discovery of either island, you wont be disappointed with your choice.
Disclosure – some of the links above are to affiliate sites that are either reviews or recommendations if you book helps to keep our site running. We appreciate your supporting our website meanwhile
0 Comments