Went back on 4th of July to stock up for next week at the timeshare. It was very crowded this…read moreSaturday as compared to last Saturday. We went right @ 9am when they opened. Frequented some of the same stands. Bought 2 loaves of organic sourdough bread. Samosas from the Indian food stand.. Gluten free bakery items from Hanoli (?) Girl stall. The stand has regular bakery items as well that look good, Especially their croissants. Went to the other produce stand as they had a bigger selection. Bought 2 honey sugarloaf pineapples which were extra sweet & $1/lb. cheaper than white sugarloaf pineapples. Bought several mangoes. Cut some this morning & they were very good. Found a stand selling 100% cotton kitchen towels, beeswax paper, reusable paper towels & a few other kitchen items. They had the cutest Hawaiian prints for decent price. I bought 3 rolls of beeswax paper & a set of matching kitchen towels & reusable paper towels as a gifts. Also bought a cute Hanalei Farmer's Market cloth grocery bag for future trips. They were sold at the entrance to the market. I look forward to going to this farmer's market next year with my new bag.

Located in the downtown are of Hanalei on Kauai's north shore, the Hanalei Farmer's Market operates…read moreonly on Saturday morning. With the beautiful weather and easy parking, the setting was perfect for a great time. But found out that it wasn't worth the 50 minute drive by itself, though there are plenty of places to visit on the north shore around that area...still worth the trip. We arrived a bit earlier than the 09:00 start time, so parked near the Hanalei Pier, and walked across the sand of the beach to enjoy the morning before arriving at the market. The market was fairly hopping by 09:30, with 30 different stalls selling their wares. My goal was to find two things to munch on first, as we walked the market: some sliced white pineapple and malasadas. It's clear that for food items, the market does an effective job of making sure a type of a food item is sold by only one vendor at the market...it really inflates the price. White pineapple is a lot less hardier for transport, thus hard to find on the mainland...but definitely a far superior pineapple in terms of sweetness and juiciness. The vendor that sold it here, presented it in slivers inside the typical cored pineapple container. I saw it right away, but noticed that there was no price....it ended up being $20 (I was committed at that point), which is pretty steep for maybe 1/4 of a pineapple. I found the malasada vendor, making it fresh on-site. We only wanted to taste, so got one for $3 non-filled...and it was disappointing...just OK. Should have tasted a lot better considering where we were. We circled the market multiple times, and ended up staying for about an hour. It's a market geared towards tourists like me, not locals: you are not going to find a local restauranteur looking for produce for his/her dinner menu here. Speaking of being a tourist: did end up buying a nice print of nearby Anini beach that we will frame at our home to remind us of Kauai...the artist was super grateful. The picture itself gave me a mission to find that view at Anini (as we were heading there next).

We did this tour as a family, over Thanksgiving. The guide is the owner. She is enthusiastic,…read moreknowledgeable, and, as my wife and the other women in the group noted, glamorous for someone toiling in the fields. Basically the activity turns on her story telling. Her accounts of flash flooding are vivid. She sure is accomplished. Her anecdotes are authentic, sincere, and funny. There isn't all that much walking, and they bring chairs out for people who need to sit. One fellow fell over in the mud (the leg of the stool sank and he toppled over; he was unhurt). There are three parts. First, there is the taro farm. Second, there is the rice mill. Third, there is lunch. The taro farm is a real, multi-generation family enterprise. I don't understand how they make money. It looks as if it is all done by hand. And taro is not a luxury item. You help them gather the eggs of invasive snails. Presumably they have some other task if needed and that doesn't work. The rice mill is fascinating. It's too bad it doesn't work anymore. You look at everything that has ben restored. You also drink fresh coconut milk, extracted right from the gourd in front of you, and you eat tarot snacks they make as you watch. The lunch is excellent. We enjoyed, among us, all of the menu choices. The quantities also are vast. The food truck would be worth visiting on its own, without any of the rest of the activities.

If you are looking for a unique tour on the North Shore or you want to step back it to old…read moreHawai'iI, you have to check out the taro and rice mill tour. know a taro farm and rice mill tour may not on the top of your Kaua'i to do list but if you like its definitely worth checking out, especially if history is your thing. The tour is conducted by Lyndsey, a fifth generation farmer, who had grown up out in the taro fields. She makes the tour worth while. Yes, everything you will learn and see is educational and quite fun. And, the food and smoothies are fantastic enough that you will probably want to stop there stand for more the next time you are in Hanalei, but Lyndsey just puts it over the top. You could tell how much she loves her family, their farm, and educating others about their tradition and what they do. First, after meeting at Hanalei Taro & Juice and sampling an ono smoothie made with taro, we headed down the road a bit to go see one of their many, many taro fields. The view was nothing short of breathtaking. There we learned about taro and how its grown and some of the history of farm. She also educated us on the endangered birds the lived in and around farm, which is located on a wildlife refuge. There we did the first hands on activity. If you wanted you could help pick up and collect apple snails and their eggs. It may sound a tad gross but it wasn't at all. I don't really even know how to describe the tool you use to remove them, besides saying that it looked like a metal kitchen strainer attached to a long pole. After the fields we stopped at the rice mill. The mill is no longer in use but the history behind it is incredible. After touring the inside of the mill and looking at old family photos and artifacts we finally got to try the taro. We drank coconut water from a coconut cute open in front of us. We also got to taste taro which was cooked, mashed, and mixed with shredded coconut straight from coconut we just drank from. It was delicious. I've had poi at luaus but this was nothing like that. It was the consistency of mashed potatoes (and those not poi but and other dish) so good. My dad had five servings he loved it so much. At the end of the tour you are taken back to the family's taro and juice cart for lunch. The kalua pig was out of this world. I have tried the kalua pig at at least 20 places on Kaua'i, but their pig, along with the Koloa Fish Market's are my all time favorites. Their taro mochi is a much try! I can't even begin to describe how much I am obsessed with their mochi.

On a recent visit to Kauai, I had time to use before an event. I saw this place pop up on the map…read morebut wasn't sure it was actually there; thankfully it was. If you're a fan of thrift shops, this one is worth visiting. Located just off Rice St in Lihue, they have ample free parking outside. It doubles as a social services center in the front, with donation area at the back. Signs lead you toward the shop entrance as well. They have a lot of stuff in such a small space, with clothing, books, media, home goods, toys, etc. More valuable items are kept in the glass case or behind the counter. The shop attendants were friendly and welcoming. If you're visiting and need books to read or clothing in a pinch, this is a great option.

Got a good book here for .89cents. There are really no book stores anywhere near kapaa. So this is…read moremy new go to. Thanks.

True thrift store, lots of bargains, discounts for locals. I little hot but lots of clothing,…read morekitchenware, books and nick nacks. Decent and not over priced. Limited hours.

I love the ladies that I come across at the counter! And they have Kamaaina Saturdays or do…read morekamaaina 30-50% off depending on the month. They also have local resources such as beauticians do hair cuts, doctor & nurse & other resources every Friday.

We had a great tour experience at the Farm! We did the Animal Interaction Tour with our 2.5yr old…read moreand she absolutely loved it. We also included the feeding, which was a must! Our guide was so welcoming and good with our toddler. He was very encouraging and helpful to make her feel comfortable with the animals. For any Hawai'i residents, the kama'aina discount is a great deal. Our toddler's favorite interactions were getting up close and personal with the guinea pigs and feeding the goats. It was definitely a highlight to our Kauai trip!

We visited KAEF with our toddler who LOVES farm animals. It was such a great experience. We learned…read moreabout the rescued animals and even learned a few new things. Getting to interact with the animals was wonderful too, something our toddler definitely enjoyed. The tour guide was wonderful too, you can tell she really cares about the animals. Definitely recommend visiting KAEF. Also definitely recommend wearing shoes you don't care about. We visited a day after it rained so it was especially muddy.

Real thrift shop. Industrial area shop with focus on building supplies, but a large selection of…read morestandard thrift items, table ware, clothes, toys, kitchen ware, electronics. Decent prices and daily specials. Many items donated by retail stores. Good stop for deals. A little hot during afternoon. No AC

Love to support this local organization. I can always find something to buy that I can't live…read morewithout! Have been invited to two key ceremonies when recently built homes are given to a local family. Always donate to them every year. Great to give back to the community.

We had a great visit to Kauai Humane Society! I was on vacation with my family and we adopted SKOR…read morefor the day!!! SKOR was loving, she was able to follow command and was food driven. The individuals working at KHS were all wonderful! We also received a tattoo recommendation from one of the employees as her father was dropping off some lunch for her and had very impressive tattoos. Please help this facility! They have numerous cats and dogs for adoption! We were missing our "Chewy" back on the mainland so we decided to adopt SKOR for the day and we almost adopted her. I hope SKOR has been adopted. Our dtr. is allergic to dogs with dander. Is SKOR still cared by KHS? Best regards and keep up the great work! Dawne

I just came because of a tourist picture, but it is a very nice facility. They just need to keep up…read moreon cleaning and the initialy office presentation. I think they are in a prime location to get tourists to come and donate or buy gifts if they could do some fundraising events or improve gift shop area. Staff were extremely helpful and friendly and offered to take our picture. We take our Stitch animal on every trip and wanted to take this fun pic, we did get stickers and make a donation. I know it is very hard to bring dogs to islands, so adopting from the island is a great option. We do foster dogs at our home and we support animal shelters that do a lot of the hard work.

It's very important to our wildlife of our oceans in the corals and reefs for the shells to survive…read morereally appreciate Paul Clark and save our seas

From the owner: Save Our Seas Hawai'i. We specialize in implementing experiential hands-on education and research…read moreto preserve, protect, and restore the world's oceans for future generations.

Beautifully situated at the foot of green, lush mountains, the Hale Halawai Community Center is…read morejust a magical place. In addition to their own activities, the center is available for rent for private events as well. There are a number of buildings on the property, as well as a certified kitchen. The staff here is friendly and accommodating, and very easy to work with.

From the owner: Halehalawai.org Hale Halawai 'Ohana O Hanalei is a grass…read moreroots 501 (c)(3) organization founded by community members in 1993. Established out of a need for a gathering place on the North Shore, Hale Halawai 'Ohana O Hanalei became the first privately funded community center in the state of Hawai’i. Our name translates to, "A house for the coming together of the extended family of Hanalei." Our mission is to create and sustain a gathering place for cultural education and for community engagement and actions to support social, civic and recreation events that perpetuate the value of aloha and the betterment of our community. Locally referenced as Hanalei's Cultural Community Center, our center serves as a venue for a variety of services, classes, programs, events, and Hawaiian cultural programs. Our programs help perpetuate traditional Hawaiian culture and the Aloha Spirit. Hale Halawai 'Ohana O Hanalei is dedicated to celebrating and increasing the resources of the people. Said best by Aunty Kapeka Chandler, "...it is a place for everybody."