Our first destination in our Hawaii Trip is Kauai. For this part of the trip we are staying at the Hilton Garden Kauai Wailua Bay and this is my review of that hotel. This is a new hotel for us but not a new destination. On a previous trip to the Garden Island we stayed at the Residence Inn Coconut Bay, that hotel has been re-branded as a Sheraton and the prices have increased. Val has an entire review of Kauai for daily vacation ideas. I’ll handle the boring hotels and flight, she does the fun things.
For this trip, I had a ton of Hilton Honors points burning a hole in my wallet from my work travel over the last year. With Hilton, on points redemptions, you can get 5 nights for the price of 4 so we chose to stay here for 5 nights. It fit our schedule very well, it’s nice to have a longer opening stay after traveling all the way to Hawaii from the East Coast.
The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai really fit the bill for me when selecting a hotel. We’re not resort people and wanted to be somewhat central on the island. We don’t spend much time in the hotel when we’re on vacation, so I’m not really looking for an amazing pool or lots of restaurants on site. I’m much more interested in a nice room, in a good location, for a good price.
Anyway, let’s get into the Hotel.
In This Trip
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Location
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Lobby
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Ocean View Room
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Bathroom
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Ocean View
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Pool Area
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Public Areas
- Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Mamahune’s Tiki Bar
- Final Thoughts
- Follow This Trip
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Location
The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai is the only Hilton on the whole island. It’s about 15 minutes North of the Lihue Airport right off Kuhio Hwy, the main road that circles the East half of the island. This is a great location for exploring the Island. Kapa’a Town is just to the North with plenty of shops and restaurants.
The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai is right next to Lydgate Beach Park, a great little beach park with a nice protected area to swim. It’s by no means the best beach on the island, but it’s a nice place to relax at the end of the day.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Lobby
We Arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai via our rental car, yes, you need a rental car on Kauai.
The lobby is a mix of indoor and outdoor space. Like much of Hawaii, the weather is pleasant so it’s easy to blend the two. We were quickly checked in and even upgraded to a ocean view room. I don’t ever ask for an upgrade, seems grubby, but I was really pleased when the agent offered an ocean view room.
The main building is really cool and just feels old Hawaii. This hotel has been around for a long time under many different names, it became the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai in 2016 after a full renovation.
As you see, the lobby is very large with lots of seating and space to wait on other or just relax. But it’s all an outdoor feel, I really love that about Hawaii, they really blend indoors with outside.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Ocean View Room
At the Hilton Garden Inn we ended up with a two queen room. I was booking with points and that’s all that was available, We’d prefer a single King, but it’s not a big deal.
The beds were very comfortable with lamps on both sides of the beds. There was also power on both sides of the bed on the left. The bed on the right only had power on one side, so we chose the left bed as we could then plug in our devices.
Good sized TV along with a fridge, microwave, and coffee station. The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai has a Keurig Coffee machine that Val used a few times for a morning coffee. We also used the fridge constantly to keep drinks cold before heading to the beach. We also used it to keep leftovers.
Next to the window there was a desk, this isn’t a work trip so I didn’t use it once. Very glad for that, but it does exist if someone needed it.
There was also a small sofa near the window. You’ll notice in the corner there is a dehumidifier, Hawaii is humid, but it’s also a pleasant temperature. Usually the AC unit will take care of humidity when it cools, but because the AC doesn’t run that frequently it can get humid, thus the separate dehumidifier.
There is a closet with an iron and ironing board. Didn’t use it!
There was of course an alarm clock, nothing fancy, but it worked just fine for us.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Bathroom
The bathroom here at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai is large and clean. The vanity held all the necessities along with induvial toiletries.
More hotel art, this one I really liked. I’d gladly have that picture in my one house.
The shower was large, but was probably the low point of the room and bathroom. Not that it was bad, but it just wasn’t as nice as the rest of the room. Perfectly clean so more than happy with it.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Ocean View
Ok this is the reason you pick this room at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai, the view is amazing. This is the sunrise view from bed, we woke up to this for 5 straight days and couldn’t have been happier about it.
These are ocean facing rooms, so the windows get dirty the great news is that the upper ones open we could take in the wonderful breeze.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Pool Area
There are two pools here at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai. This is the large main pool next to Mamahune’s Tiki Bar. We didn’t swim in either of the pools, we’re more ocean people, but they did look very nice with plenty of chairs, tables, and umbrellas.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Public Areas
Keeping with the indoor/outdoor theme, this is the hallway leading to our room. This is right off the lobby but we’re all the way at the end of the hallway so it was extremely quiet.
There are lots of really great gardens here at the Hilton Garden Inn on the Garden Island. This hotel has great public areas, it’s easily the most unique Hilton Garden Inn I’ve stayed at.
So Kauai is lousy with chickens, nothing wrong with chickens, but they can become a nuisance and aggressive about food. Don’t feed them, chase them away.
This loud little shit was outside our window in the mornings. It’s fun a couple times, beyond that the crowing is annoying.
Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay Mamahune’s Tiki Bar
The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai has an awesome pool and ocean front tiki bar, Mamahune’s. We didn’t come here every night, but the few nights we did were an extremely pleasant way to close out the day.
We received 2 free Mai-Tais each day, we also got a $15 daily food and beverage credit because of my Hilton Honors Diamond Status. We spend that at the bar and not on breakfast.
There are seats at the bar and then just free range seating facing the park and ocean. It was such a nice place to just sit and enjoy a drink, small plates, or desert.
Under the lights, it was touristy, but it was fun. The food was really great, we never had full entries, but the apps and deserts we tried were great. They also had a rotating selection of local draft beers.
Final Thoughts
The Hilton Garden Inn Kauai is a great hotel. Maybe one of my favorite of all time. It’s just my speed, nothing fancy, just a well executed hotel. Clean, friendly staff, great location, and good drinks, what’s not to like.
The ocean view room was great, the rooms were clean, and the public areas are extremely unique. Mamahune’s is perfect to unwind at the end of the day, the ocean view, live music, and crashing waves in the background made me feel at home. I really love how the indoor areas are blended with the outdoors, it’s uniquely Hawaiian.
I would gladly stay here again, in fact I would go out of my way to visit again. Kauai is an amazing place and I cannot wait to get back.