Long before the resorts, Native Hawaiians lived along this shore for centuries, drawn by sheltered swimming coves, reef fishing, and fertile land just inland. Kauaʻi was also the first Hawaiian island reached by Europeans — Captain James Cook made landfall at Waimea, west of Poʻipū, in 1778. For a generation afterward the island kept its own ruler, King Kaumualiʻi, the last independent king in the Hawaiian Islands, before Kauaʻi joined the unified Hawaiian Kingdom in 1810.
Down at the water, Poʻipū Beach Park has been called the best beach in America — a pair of golden crescents with calm, protected swimming and a gentle break that has taught generations of beginners to surf. Nearby, the Spouting Horn forces the surf up through a lava tube and throws spray forty or fifty feet into the air, with a low moan that the old stories tied to a giant moʻo, or lizard, caught in the rock. West of town, the Allerton and McBryde Gardens fill Lāwaʻi Valley — two of only five National Tropical Botanical Gardens in the country.
Why People Visit Poʻipū
Poʻipū rewards visitors who want Hawaiʻi at its sunniest and most easygoing — a warm, protected coast with a century of south-shore history behind it. People come for Poʻipū Beach and the Spouting Horn, for the gardens and the golf, and for the plantation-era streets of Old Kōloa Town, where the Garden Isle's layered past sits a short walk from the sand.
