Number 3: Kauai 
For diversity and charm, Kauai, the oldest, greenest and most beautifully eroded
of the islands, occupies a niche of its own. The Garden Isle’s golf courses play
through an array of microclimates, from lush to semi-arid. If the backdrops look
familiar, more than 60 movies, including South Pacific and Jurassic Park, have
been filmed on Kauai.
On the cooler north shore within view of the
accordion-pleated Na Pali Coast is Princeville Resort. Perhaps Trent Jones Jr.’s
finest design, the Prince course spreads across rolling tableland spliced with
ravines. The clifftop hotel, angled toward Hanalei Bay and the fabled peak of
Bali Hai, is on the rebound. Off campus, there is no hike like the Kalalau
Trail, which winds through fruit trees high above the cliffs.Near the
airport in Lihue, Kauai Lagoons has two Nicklaus layouts built in the late
1980s. The headliner is the Kiele, which calls for brave carries over rain
forest canopies as well as unerring approaches to greens perched on fingers of
wave-washed lava. The Kauai Marriott Resort, situated above palm-shaded Kalapaki
Beach, boasts a giant rosette-shaped pool and is one of the best family resorts
in Hawaii. Catamaran thrill sails in Nawiliwili Bay cap the day.
Make time
for Puakea, a daily-fee course set at the base of the Haupu Ridge, before
journeying to the Poipu Beach area, the dry, sunny side of the island. Poipu
Bay, a breezy, links-style track routed along ocean bluffs and framed by
volcanic peaks, was the annual site of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The Grand
Hyatt Kauai attached to the club, a low-rise, Hawaiian-themed property fronting
a saltwater
lagoon and a beach, is the ne plus ultra of the island’s
resorts.
Not far from the Poipu Beach area is Waimea Canyon, a colorful gash
in the earth that plunges 3,567 feet. Mark Twain described it as the “Grand
Canyon of the Pacific.” The sea and canyon views along the Kukui Trail are, like
Kauai itself, sublime.
