Kauai Wants You Back, and It Has Named the Date

Hurricane Lowell came ashore on Kauai on 7 September as a Category 2 storm, bringing hurricane-force winds, as much as 53 centimetres of rain, flash flooding, widespread power cuts and damage to coastal resorts and roads. Three weeks later the island has published a staged reopening timeline rather than a vague reassurance. Visitor arrivals to the South Shore resumed on 21 September. North Shore access is scheduled to return on 1 October. By late this week power had been restored to 83 percent of the island’s customers and county parks, including beaches, were reopening as conditions allowed.

Mayor Derek Kawakami’s message has been direct: Kauai is welcoming visitors, and it needs them. His ask of travellers came down to three things — arrive with patience, spend locally, and support the recovery. That is a more honest framing than the usual post-disaster tourism messaging, and it acknowledges the awkward reality of visiting a place mid-repair. Hotel staff are also people whose own homes may still be without power. Some roads remain single-lane. The island is not pretending otherwise.

What is actually open is more than a cautious visitor might assume. As of 21 September the list included helicopter tours from Lihue, kayaking on the Wailua River — the river itself, with Secret Falls still closed — mountain tubing with Kauai Backcountry, the coastal bike path, and most east-side county beaches. Smith’s Family Garden Luau and the Fern Grotto river tours resumed on 24 September, running Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. The pattern is that water-based and east-side activities came back first, with the harder-hit north waiting on road and utility work.

Anyone holding a Kauai booking for October should contact their accommodation directly rather than relying on general island updates, because conditions vary sharply between the South Shore, the east side and the North Shore. Cancelling out of caution is the option that hurts the island most and helps the traveller least, given how much is operating. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is maintaining a Kauai travel update page, which is the single most reliable source as the reopening progresses through October.

Sources: Hawaii Tourism Authority, Fodor’s Travel