Oahu

Day Trip from Oahu to Kauai: Waimea Canyon & Wailua River

Oahu, USA

Kauai Day Trip Waimea Canyon Wailua River from Oahu

14 hours
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the island of Kauai on this full-day trip from Oahu. After your flight touches down on the 'Garden Isle', visit sites like Old Koloa Town and Waimea, where Captain Cook first came ashore. Visit the Spouting Horn and the picturesque Waimea Canyon. Cruise down the Wailua River to see Opaekaa Falls and explore the Fern Grotto on foot, accompanied by traditional Hawaiian music and hula. Round-trip airfare,a local guide, and transportation on Kauai and are included.

Full-day tour of Kauai from Oahu by air
Visit stunning Waimea Canyon, aka Hawaii’s 'Grand Canyon'
Be amazed as the ocean blasts skyward through the Spouting Horn blowhole
Enjoy spectacular scenery on the Wailua River cruise and a stop with live Hawaiian music and hula dancers
Get great photo ops around Opaekaa Falls and Fern Grotto

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
Tour narration by a professional driver/guide
Interisland R/T airfare (overage charges may apply)
Lunch

Gratuities
Airline flight overage charges

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting points

Select a meeting point

Type to search

Start time

05:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

If option selected, enjoy morning pickup at your Oahu hotel for the ride to the Honolulu airport.

Board the 45-minute inter-island flight to Kauai, then disembark to meet your local guide and climb in your climate-controlled van.

Waimea Canyon is the first stop, a 3,600-foot (1,097-meter) crack in the earth that is, at 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) long, the Pacific's largest canyon. Stand on the lookout point for fantastic photo ops of verdant valleys and raw, rocky cliffs.

Leaving the canyon, drive to the Hawaiian islands' last Russian outpost, Fort Elizabeth. Then visit Waimean town, where Captain Cook first made landing in 1778.

After passing Poipu Beach, visit Spouting Horn Park, where an ocean blowhole shoots water 50 feet (15 meters) in the air. Stop for a traditional Hawaiian lunch at a local restaurant (own expense), then continue to Old Koloa Town, the home of Hawaii's first sugarcane plantation.

Heading down the highway towards the Wailua River, pass Mount Ha’upu and look for the likeness of Queen Victoria on its face. When you reach the river, board a boat and cruise 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) to Fern Grotto, passing Wailua Falls and Opaekaa Falls on the way. At the Fern Grotto landing, climb out and explore the area on foot.

At the conclusion of your full-day adventure on Kauai, drive back to the airport for your return flight.

Wailua River State Park

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Fern Grotto

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Opaekaa Falls

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Puakea Golf Course

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Spouting Horn

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Waimea Canyon State Park

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Hanapepe Valley Lookout (Pass By)

Kauai Coffee Company

35 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Passengers must provide date of birth and gender at the time of booking per TSA requirements
Not wheelchair accessible
Once reservation is made, tour is non-refundable and non-changeable
Stroller accessible
Interisland flight times and routes are subject to change
Service animals allowed

Infants must sit on laps
Most travelers can participate
Special needs requests must be called in to the local supplier at least 1 week prior to tour date
The interisland airfare may fluctuate based on flight availability. Additional fees may be required to be paid by the customer in these cases.
IMPORTANT: The name you enter at the time of booking must exactly match what appears on your valid government-issued I.D. photo I.D. that you will use during travel. This is a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and FAA requirement and there is no flexibility with this policy. A valid government-issued ID (passport for non-US citizens) is required on the day of travel. If a passenger is denied boarding, there will be no refund.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

SusanJ_A

Rosario was a very interesting & informative guide. He was very knowledgeable & had a great sense of humor. We loved the view of the canyon & the boat trip on the Wailua River was beautiful & very interesting. We got to see an overall view & feel for this island.

Reviews

4.0

62 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 62 reviews

Not worth the considerable expense to fly there

Gregg_W, Mar 2024

Too far to go; if on the island already is OK. Would you like me to be more critical? Don't want to spend any more of my time with this!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

We are sorry that your expectations weren't met. Thank you for posting your comments. We hope you had a nice time in the islands. Mahalo.

Good tour

Previn_B, Jun 2023

Other than the incorrect information on the pick up at the Lihu airport everything else was great. It said that we would be picked up between 8.10snd 8.15am and to stay at the curb side in front of the baggage claim area when we come out.I was sitting on the bench from 7.30am but no bus , so panicked and had to run around till I asked a security who said the tour busses park right side of the baggage claim area, where I finally found the bus not in the purple color which is shown on the brochure! This happened to another family as well.Please give correct instructions in the future and tell the driver to get off the bus and check with people who is sitting right in front of the baggage claim area to see if they are waiting for the tour! Is it do hard? Other than that our guide Lisa was awesome and a great way to spend the day.The lunch stop was under renovation and there was loud bang sound throughout our lunch time!

Mostly great!

Carol_S, Apr 2019

The best: Our guide, Joseph, was excellent. His knowledge, stories, observations, friendliness, humor, and patience were superb. He answered our many and diverse questions easily and clearly. The island is beautiful and well worth visiting. Because of Joseph and Kauai, the tour was memorable in a good way. However, there were a couple of concerns with the information supplied by Polynesian Tours. The write-up notes pick-up between 4:30 and 5 am. After a call made to the 800#, the bus arrived about 5:15 am. Since we were waiting on a street corner before dawn, we became disconcerted by the original misinformation. Also, we had a few questions concerning the form of the tour since particulars had not been provided until a second call was made to the supplied 800#, when we spoke to a very helpful contact. Finally, no information about airport pickup upon out return to Honolulu had been relayed. While searching for a driver, bus, or sign that we would not be left to fend for ourselves, Polynesian Tour employees found us wandering around the baggage claim and assuring us that all was well. To improve the experience: be more detailed in the explanation of the actual tour, be accurate and thorough in the particulars of pickup in the morning and at the airport in the evening. These changes would make the tour even more enjoyable.

Kauai

SusanJ_A, Aug 2018

We loved this trip. We were staying...

Stephen S, Mar 2018

We loved this trip. We were staying in Waikiki and had been to Maui and the Big Island before, but never Kauai. It was a debate about doing an overnight trip, but after reading the reviews of trips, decided on this one 36 great reviews, guess it's 37 now. We are very glad we did! Great tour guide Jonna, as least that's how she said to pronounce it , the trip to the Canyon was most spectacular, but loved stopping in the coffee plantation, stopping for lunch, the river tour trip to the Fern Grotto, the overlooks, historical insights as we went by everywhere. We usually had extra time to squeeze in another sight. I am not sure why some folks complained about getting to the airport early, we thought it was perfect timing and on the way back had an hour to eat dinner at the airport instead of eating at 930 pm on Oahu. Highly recommended, and we are actually glad we did not stay the night. I would do a tour with this group again, to another island we have not seen.

This was a very memorable tour with...

DonaldE_M, Jun 2016

This was a very memorable tour with an ethnic Hawaiian guide who informed us about flora and fauna, Hawaiian history and native traditions. I had learned when I was 12 the motto of Hawaii and recalled it because of his running narrative.

Kauai was beautiful. Tour was...

Lori T, Jun 2016

Kauai was beautiful. Tour was excellent. Only regret was would have liked more than one day there.

What we saw was nice, but I had...

Triss, Mar 2016

What we saw was nice, but I had expected more for the Garden Isle. It was a little disappointing after a beautiful, 5-star trip along the Road to Hana in Maui a couple of days earlier. However, kudos to the driver who safely managed to bring the bus to a gentle stop on the roadside after a rear tire blowout.

The bus driver was hilarious and...

Cathy R, Oct 2015

The bus driver was hilarious and brought us all together. Wondered if we really had to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time for a 7:30 a.m. flight.

Great tour well worth the travel...

Edward G, Oct 2015

Great tour well worth the travel. Excellent way to see Kauai. The Island was beautiful! I highly recommend the tour. Our tour guide Vinnie was fantastic and very knowledgeable.

Enjoyed this trip, it wasn't as full...

Julie G, Aug 2015

Enjoyed this trip, it wasn't as full on as some of the other day trips we've done, great guide who was full of information about the Island.

The tour was good, but things got...

JUDITH H, Apr 2015

The tour was good, but things got off to a rough start with a driver that took us to the airport who seemed very unprepared for the task. Once we got to Kauai, our driver guide Kamu was exceptional. We made all our stops and the scenery was breath-taking.

Trip was everything that it was...

Douglas C, Apr 2015

Trip was everything that it was advertised as. Every tour guide we had was friendly and helpful in every respect. I highly recommend Viator and will use them again.

The tour is fine if you are already...

Michelle E M, Mar 2015

The tour is fine if you are already ON Kauai, but spending the money to fly from Oahu and back. The canyon is beautiful, one of the most beautiful things that I saw in Hawaii, but there wasn't a whole lot to the tour other than that and our tour guide continually blanked on information and referenced her age as the resason. She was a sweet lady but maybe shouldn't be giving tours anymore...

This trip was pretty good especially...

Wandarlou, Mar 2015

This trip was pretty good especially compared to the Maui Day trip from Oahu. We liked this much better. More to see and didn`t feel quite as long a day. We went with Island Air and another couple went with Hawaiian Air which their flight times seemed to be better. Lunch was at a golf course which there is a variety to choose from. Our guide was great and made a couple of extra stops for the group (to see turtles and the coffee plantation) which was difficult with a larger group. This is a nice way to see the island of Kauai.

Totally enjoyed this adventure!!! A...

Marsha_B, Dec 2014

Totally enjoyed this adventure!!! A number 1 tour guide Lias Cate....beautiful island...

A very good tour, the Waimea canyon...

Stan, Nov 2014

A very good tour, the Waimea canyon was spectactular, the river cruise interesting and the drivers commentary extremly good. Only complaint possible was the length of the day, 5 AM pick up in Oahu and returned approx 7:00 PM that evening. Probably will not book and similar tours expoloring other islands from the one we're staying on.

It was an outstanding trip. A...

eva, Jul 2014

It was an outstanding trip. A perfect way to see Kauai. We will go back to Kauai and stay longer next time. The Island was beautiful! I highly recommend the tour.

The Kauai Day Trip was a nice way to...

Hollie, Jul 2014

The Kauai Day Trip was a nice way to escape the crowds of tourists in Oahu although I found that their was not much to see on the island. The day was very drawn out with quite a few monotonous stops throughout the beginning of the day. The Wailua River was beautiful but I don't think the tour is good value for money considering the affordability of flights between each island as well as car rental. My tour guide Lisa was amazing, very knowledgeable and hilarious - she kept the bus entertained for 8 hours straight.

An excellent day out which would...

Alan H, Jun 2014

An excellent day out which would have been even better if we had not had to wait over 2 hours each way for our flights. To be dropped at the airport at 5pm for a 7.26pm flight was such a waste of time. The tour guide was excellent and our group size (9 people) made it very personal. Not sure how good it would have been with a very large tour group. All in all a good day.