The Dark Side of Paradise: My Van Camping Experience in Kaua’i
To be personally touched by naiveté has, in many instances, been a blessing. It is what resulted in me booking a van on our first trip to Kaua’i, Hawai’i — a snap idea that seduced me with the promise of self-sufficiency, freedom and maybe a just a few cool #vanlife Instagram posts.
Naiveté is also what got us into the situation where — after a long languid day of beach bumming, we pulled over in our rented Westfalia van at Spouting Horn Blowhole. After a beautiful sunset, the visitors had left — so it was just us and some local folks, quietly listening to music in their truck. It seemed possible that we could van camp here, so we made dinner and turned in for the night. However, we had barely an hour’s rest, when a park ranger rapped on our van window.
“You can’t camp here”, he said.
“So, where do we go?”, I asked, knowing all too well that this wasn’t ours to argue. “Just not here”. And with that, he disappeared into the empty carpark.
People come to Hawai’i for many reasons. For many of the malihini (newcomers), Hawai’i represents a Polynesian fantasia, a warm atmosphere of permissiveness, or perhaps escape from recent heartbreak. And it is all true! With its trees heavy with papaya, air filled with the scent of frangipani and its warm nights filled with the spirit of aloha, Hawai’i is the high-water mark of our beautiful Planet Earth. People go to Hawai’i and they get lost — either intentionally, or accidentally. Intentionally, because they can distance themselves from a world they wish to leave behind. Or accidentally, because they find themselves in a place that they can never leave.
Both newcomers and kama’aina (native-born Hawai’ians) have found themselves on an archipelago of unaffordability. As of 2022, Hawai’i has one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States, a situation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the hospitality and tourism industries. In addition, property prices have soared — in 2021, the median sale price of a single-family house on Kaua’i exceeded $1 million.
Just like their mainland counterparts, the people who cannot afford to keep a stable roof over their heads have turned to other forms of shelter — such as tents, cars and yes, campervans. They also find themselves in a place that, while being relatively accepting, cannot be a paradise for both the penniless and rich tourists paying in excess of $400/night.
So thus, the rap on the window while bedding down at Spouting Horn. In June 2021, Kaua’i lifted its COVID-19 mandate allowing the homeless to stay in “shelter-in-place” camps — and reopened its campsites to residents and tourists. Since then, police and park staff have actively discouraged overnight stays. Prior to arrival, the naive traveler in me didn’t realize how active this discouragement was — or why it was happening. When I clicked the “Reserve Now” button all those months prior, all I could think about was aloha.
Picking up the Westfalia van was simple enough. After completing the documentation online, all we needed to do was arrive at the rental office, receive a brief orientation and be on our way. I did ask the rental staff about overnight parking and received guarded responses. We determined that the sure-fire option was to reserve a campsite at Kumu Camp (minimum 3 nights stay). The second safest option was to pay for a camping permit at Anini or Anahola Beach beach ahead of time — but in the instance that we were discouraged from sleeping in the van, we could use a tent (provided). Finally, you could possibly stay at other parks and campsites. We tried all three options during our 1-week stay, with varying degrees of success:
Staying at Kumu Camp — full-featured, but not without its quirks. The first 3 nights of our Kaua’i adventure, we stayed at Kumu Camp at Anahola Beach. Kumu Camp offers hot showers, flushing toilets and overall, a campground experience on par with privately-run sites like the United States’ K.O.A. or YMCA chains.
The beachside sites (eg. Campsite 4) are also alongside a sand road, which the locals use at all hours for beach recreation. This recreation is most commonly sitting in a truck, listening to Jawaiian (Hawai’ian-inspired reggae) music with friends, but can also be dune-buggying at midnight. It is not dangerous — and most of the time, the loudest noise is the relentless crashing of waves on the beach. But it’s important to know that Anahola is a well-tracked beach. After all, it’s only 10-mins drive from Kapa’a town and one of the most everything goes beaches on Kaua’i.
There is one other private campsite, being the YMCA near Hanalei. We were told by the rental agency that campervans are not welcome there. Okay.
Staying at Anini or Anahola Beach —affordable, simple campsites, with just a little uncertainty. The campsites at Anini and Anahola are very cheap — just $3 per person per night, bookable in advance online. They both offer very basic, but fairly clean facilities, including outdoor cold showers. And yes, there is ample parking for campervans. What’s uncertain is the likelihood of sleeping in your campervan without a visit from the park staff. Yes, the booking website says no sleeping in campervans. But during our nights at both Anahola and Anini, it seemed to be quietly accepted. We stayed in our campervan near both sites and slept without interruption, however this may not always be the case. Anahola Beach was our favorite spot.
Staying anywhere else — This is a crapshoot in Kau’ai. We stayed one night at Salt Pond Beach Park without incident, then were moved on around midnight the following night. The policeman who woke us up kindly recommended a place we could park safely, which was appreciated. He seemed most concerned about us getting a parking ticket.
If you feel compelled to overnight in the area around the Salt Pond Beach Park area, get in well before sunset and see where the locals park their vehicles on the west side of Hanapepe Bay. There are no facilities outside of the park; local businesses don’t have public restrooms, either. I share this information reluctantly, as there are very few options for staying on Kaua’i’s south shore. So please be pono. The beach itself is a wonderful spot for an afternoon swim.
I have a few other important pointers to share, which I hope will keep future Kaua’i vanlife’ers out of trouble:
If you are driving a vintage Westfalia, or similar non-offroad vehicle, please don’t attempt Polihale Beach Park. We went to sus out the unpaved road— and in line with what the rental people had said, determined it to be impassable with our vintage vehicle.
Waimea Canyon is a “grey area”, and Koke’e State Park may be one site too far. I’m not going to elaborate too much here, bit we ended up in a bit of a tit-for-tat with the rental company. In short, we hopped between two different Westfalia vans on our holiday, neither of which operated as described. Given the defectiveness of the vehicles and time wasted in swapping them, we felt that we had very little to lose in driving up Waimea Canyon Drive.
Yes, the van moved slowly at times when tackling the steep grades leading up to Waimea Canyon, but never really struggled. For peace of mind, we stopped at a few turnouts to let the van “rest” for a moment. But, we made it and had a wonderful day of sightseeing and hiking. Yes, the freedom that we desired!
That said, I thought it would be a little cheeky driving onwards to Koke’e and making an overnighter of it. I know some vans have done it, but not having done that drive before (is it steep? paved?) and faced with the possibility of the van locking up inexplicably (as had happened with one van), we simply day-tripped.
The downhill drive back towards Kekaha is glorious. You feel like a bird, gliding towards the glittering shoreline.
Each state park or campground closes for maintenance on a given day each week, so plan accordingly. This is important, as they are often the only place for miles where you’ll find public toilets and showers. You will absolutely get moved on if you hang out on the park’s maintenance day (and possibly ticketed, too).
Campervans and cockroaches do not mix. We had one night of cockroach hell, where they just seemed to keep crawling in. Take care to remove and dispose of all cardboard packaging (a favorite place for those “B52s” to lay their eggs) and maybe even consider laying a few cockroach traps. Food waste will also attract bugs, so tie closed your trash bags and keep all surfaces clean.
Hiking Ha’ena? Leave your van at the Waipa Park and Ride. The Ha’ena shuttle service is excellent, you avoid narrow roads and parking is free.
Kaua’i’s beaches are busy 24/7. I really can’t understate this. As mentioned, Anahola Beach has its fair share of offroad motorists. There is traffic around boat ramps, where people will put their boats in and go fishing. The locals like to stop by scenic spots and listen to music. I also encountered beachcombers wearing bright headlamps and throwing light across the van ceiling at night. Then, there are the wild roosters, which are charming, but don’t limit their cock-a-doodling to daylight hours.
On top of the ambient paranoia of being moved on, all these things can — and will — affect light sleepers in vans.
This might all sound like a story of woe, but honestly, I really enjoyed our van camping experience in Kaua’i. Even when were were approached, we found the police and park staff to be very respectful; I’m pretty sure they are well aware of the naive (or pretend-naive) tourists hailing from the Westfalia van rental companies on Kaua’i. As mentioned, one even helped us find a place to park.
For all our effort, we enjoyed waking in the back of the van to beautiful sunrises, where the billowing clouds looked as if coated in molten gold. I tracked an ancient sea turtle to a dredged grotto off Anini Beach, thanks to the free snorkeling gear. The van came with an ice chest, propane stove and sink; in the evenings, we would prepare a round of cocktails followed by a satisfying dinner. Our view: The sun dipping into the endless sea.
In all, van camping — being roughly $170/day in rental fees at time of writing — is a more affordable way to see Kaua’i, if you’re the sort of person who can: a) forego hot showers for outdoor showers, or a swim in the sea, b) doesn’t have to pee all the time and c) possesses grace under fire — especially when getting woken up by a dune buggy at midnight, or interacting with the police.
If you can accept the hardships, the reward is great memories and stories to tell — and with that, you may also be exposed to enough Hawai’ian reality to stop you from getting lost in the fantasy. While its wild beauty is free, Kaua’i is a place where both tourists and locals pay big dollar for peace and quiet. By van camping, you will see the island and be closer to its people — but as a holidaymaker, can you handle being treated like the homeless?
Be safe, be pono — and best of luck out there!
Recommended reading: Renting a Campervan or Truck on Kauai: Is it Worth It?
