This was definitely the ultimate guidebook. It helps you eliminate the places that you may not want to go to, and allows you to go to as many of the best places that you have time for. Also great for describing where to park, how to avoid lots of traffic/people. We were able to do everything we wanted to while viewing the whole island with the guidebook.

Thought you'd like to know another great use for the "Ultimate Guides" by Doughty & Friedman - SOUVENIRS OF YOUR TRIP! I buy quantities of The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook & Maui Revealed, and automatically send them out to family & friends who I invite to come stay with me on these islands. I encourage EVERY VISITOR to "do their homework" by reading these books before you go. It is THE GUIDE BIBLE and indispensible for finding most of the "hidden" i.e. BEST spots on Kauai, and some of the still "unknown" spots on Maui. Believe me, without the Ultimate Guide, you WILL NOT FIND MOST beaches, trails, waterfalls, swim holes, hieus (temples) or other natural attractions. My favorite feature are the maps with the yellow lines showing you EXACTLY where to access a beach or trail. Island locals have used highway "mile markers" since State created them. Now the authors are sharing this navigational secret with you too. You are WASTING YOUR MONEY ON GUIDEBOOKS OTHER THAT THE WIZARD PUBL. "GUIDES" BY DOUGHTY & FRIEDMAN.

BUT WITH INFORMATION, COMES RESPONSIBILITY. Since now the Guidebooks are leading more & more people to spots not known before publication, I ASK THAT EVERYONE USE THEIR INFO. WITH RESPECT & RESPONSIBILITY. PLEASE HELP US KEEP HAWAII LITTER-FREE AND PROTECT THE REEFS AND MARINE LIFE. Don't leave cigarette butts, trash, dog excrement, your beach gear, fishing lines or other paraphenELia on the beaches, trails or parking lots. I pick up other people's trash when I see it and I encourage all of you to do the same. Bring a plastic grocery bag with you when you go to the beach or on a hike, to be ready to "pack out" any trash you see. I do this all the time. Please don't walk on the reefs, grab turtles, feed fish or remove life forms. You have a right to approach others who are doing this, to tell them to stop. And we all have to behave. We don't want the State, or previously lenient land owners, closing accesses due to folks walking thru or camping on their property. As for the nude use at Secret Beach which I treasure, a wonderful way to enjoy any island, it is becoming increasingly extinct in HI as tourism increases, more people buy homes. Let's try to preserve this luxury by using our common sense by moving up the beach when we see obviously conservative locals or tourists, or families with kids, marching up the beach in our direction. Stay at the right end. I fought hard in the '80's to keep Little Beach on Maui optional, let's not lose this natural experience on Kauai. Thanks everyone.

+ The reviews are written for the average tourists, not for some choice travel editors. For example, the conventional guidebooks' dining guide consists mainly of large/hip restaurants and hotel restaurants. Ultimate Kauai also tells you about roadside stands, take-out places, and "plastic paper & picnic table" kind of places. Very helpful for quick meals and we had some best food in such places.

+ This one tells you which sights/restaurant/tour/hotel/etc are great and which are not and why that is so. The brutally honest review is so helpful.

+ It's very easy and fun to read. To me, reading guidebooks is usually equivalent to studying text-books (I don't enjoy it but I must study it). But I actually enjoyed reading this one.

+ This guidebook is beautiful to look at. All the pages are smooth coated papers with lost of color photos. Hard to believe for the price.

When we went there in June 2004, we followed this book's recommendations for dining, heli tour, snorkeling, & hiking trails, and it was a success! Now whenever I travel to other destinations without a guide like this, I feel like I'm missing out a lot (and I probably am).

It is impossible to overstate just how much this book will improve your trip to the beautiful island of Kauai. I realize that in a place as magical as Kauai, just sitting on a porch with a drink in your hand may seem like a sufficient amount of paradise. But wait until you follow Andrew and Harriett's advice on food and adventures. (I've never met them, but you will want to call them by their first names because after reading this book, you'll feel like you know them). The book will pay for itself in many different ways: a cinammon roll in the morning, a jump off a waterfall, a hike through a valley of unbelievable beauty, and of course, a delicious shave ice off a truck that hasn't moved in what seems to be a decade. I stayed with five other people in a house on Kauai in April. We didn't agree on much, but we all agreed on the book's advice. We had cheap macadamia nut pancakes, we hiked through a fogbound swamp, we swam through tunnels at Tunnels Beach.

I swear that at some of the places we ate and visited, it appeared as if the staff/chefs/inhabitants had read the book themselves to decide how to act and what to serve. If the book says service is slow, you'd better not be in a hurry. If the book says the food is salty, bring extra water. If the book says that you'll 'be given the stinkeye' by the natives, prepare yourself. If you read in the book that a hike or swim is magical, by all means do it. My friends and I made it our goal to attempt as many of the book's adventures as possible. We swam in caves and hiked on crumbly cliffs. We swam with turtles and swung from ropes. We ate gross-looking, but tasty local food and hiked some of the most beautiful trails any of us have ever seen.

If there's a downside to a guide this well done, it's that everyone else you see at these spots will also have this exact book in their backpack as well. Striking up a conversation with them will reveal that the book has shown them special places that they were happy to have visited. If the book says that a particular place is unmarked, or the trail is hard to find, you can bet that by now, with the popularity of this fantastic guide, many more people have followed the lead of the authors and have made even the most hidden gems easier to find.

Our rental house had about 15 Kauai guides, but this was the only one we always left the house with. You will not be disappointed.

I also had their Maui Guide for a quick stop on that island. It paid for itself in that case with a single visit to a deserted four-tiered waterfall.

You are spending a substantial amount of money to get to the most beautiful of Hawaii's islands. Do yourself a favor and spend about 15 bucks more. You won't be disappointed.

I can't wait to go back.

This is an outstanding guide book full of beautiful pictures and right on information. I picked up this book before my second trip to Kauai. We had visited the island the year before for our honeymoon. I really wish we had bought this book a year earlier!

There were so many things on Kauai that we didn't even think of to do or see the first time and we bumbled around from place to place, seeing little of the island. The second trip, we used this guidebook and checked out some outstanding restaurants and beaches. Without the book, we never would have gone to JoJo's Clubhouse for shave ice or found parking for Ke'e Beach.

Something we found helpful was the aerial photos of the resorts section where we got to see just how far the ocean is from where you are planning to stay. We were at the Hyatt for both trips and would readily make reservations there again in a heartbeat!

This is an amazing resource for the island. I wish the authors would write books for Maui and Oahu!