Lihue Town

Kauai, Hawaii

Lihuʻe is the county seat of Kauai County and the island’s administrative, business, and transportation center. With 8,004 residents as of the 2020 census, it’s not large, but it handles most of Kauai’s day-to-day commerce — the island’s main airport, its only cruise port, and the biggest shopping on the island are all here or just minutes away. Kukui Grove Center is Kauai’s largest mall and home to its only large department store, and the main Walmart, Home Depot, and Target are all within a short drive of downtown.

The name Lihuʻe is of relatively recent origin and means “cold chill” or “goose flesh” in Hawaiian — a reference to the cool winds that blow across the land. The ancient name for the area was Ka-laʻ-i-a-mea, meaning “calm reddish-brown place.”

Lihuʻe Airport (LIH) sits on the east edge of town, just 6 minutes by car from the downtown core along Ahukini Road. It’s Kauai’s only commercial airport, served by most of the major mainland carriers. If you’re flying to Kauai, this is where you start.

Nawiliwili Harbor, about 1.5 miles southeast of downtown, is Kauai’s only deep-water commercial port and cruise ship terminal — vessels dock at piers #1 or #2, so no tendering is required. Near the harbor, the 12,000-square-foot Aloha Center houses an art gallery, coffee shop, clothing store, helicopter tour and moped rental desks, and arts and crafts vendors catering to arriving cruise passengers. Kalapaki Beach, at the mouth of the harbor, offers sandy, gently sloping swimming conditions protected by a large breakwall and is one of the best family beaches in the Lihue area.

For things to do in town, the Kauai Museum at 4428 Rice Street is housed in the historic Albert Spencer Wilcox Building — originally a 1924 library — and features two floors of permanent exhibits covering Kauai’s history from the birth of the island through the Territorial Period. It’s open Monday–Saturday from 10am to 5pm with adult admission at $10.

Just outside town at Kilohana Plantation, the Kauai Plantation Railway runs a 2.5-mile narrated loop on Hawaii’s first new railroad in 100 years (it opened in January 2007). The train’s 25-ton locomotive pulls four passenger cars named after Hawaiian rivers, with tours departing multiple times daily. Kilohana itself is a 105-acre estate centered on a 1935 mansion built for Hawaiian business magnate Gaylord Wilcox, and the estate is also home to the Koloa Rum Company tasting room — daily scheduled tastings of award-winning rums made from Hawaiian sugarcane.

A short drive south of Lihue in Kalaheo, the Kauai Coffee Company grows more than 4 million coffee trees across 3,100 acres, making it the largest coffee estate in the United States. The farm began in the early 1800s as the McBryde Sugar Company, one of Hawaii’s earliest sugar operations, before converting to coffee in 1987. Free tours and tastings are open to the public.

For waterfalls, Wailua Falls — featured in the opening credits of the TV show Fantasy Island — is a 13-minute drive north of Lihue on State Highway 583. The double-tiered falls drop approximately 85 feet into a pool more than 30 feet deep, and the parking lot at the top overlooks the falls with no hiking required.