The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook - Hanalei Bay Resort

280 rooms, 8 tennis courts, a tennis pro shop, coffee makers, washer/dryers in some units, air conditioning and daily maid service (in rooms managed from the top set of numbers), 2 pools, spa, cocktail lounge (Happy Talk) and 6 "maintained" roaming kitty-cats. Suites have kitchens. This resort is located in Princeville on 22 acres of beautiful, lush and winding grounds. It looks and feels very tropical. You can't drive to most rooms, but they will shuttle you around the grounds or to either Princeville golf course, so you don't have to tie up the car for the day.

The main swimming pool is dashing with a small waterfall next to the spa. The layout of the resort makes it quiet, even when they're nearly full. (Though the Bamboo buildings, number 9, get an earful when neighboring Princeville Hotel's lu'au is going.) The Happy Talk Lounge has always been a great place to have a drink in the evening, and they serve food.

All rooms are not created equal. There are three main types: hotel-type rooms (which are plain), studios (same but with a kitchenette) and condo-type rooms (called suites). Of these, the suites are much nicer and include free daily breakfast and two cocktails if you book direct and pay rack rates to the top set of numbers. In these you get a living room area and larger rooms. Ocean views are fairly distant but many are stunning, overlooking Hanalei Bay and Bali Hai.

Some people get frustrated that they can't use the beach chairs at Pu'u Poa Beach in front of the Princeville Hotel. (The chairs belong to that hotel.) Hanalei Bay Resort will bring a chair down to the beach and pick it up if you ask them to for $3.

They converted 170 of the rooms to timeshares, but they'll always keep many rooms in the vacation rental pool. If you don't want to buy a timeshare, tell them so and they (hopefully) won't bug you about it again.

We used to give them a gem rating. Though the grounds are still exotic, the rooms in the timeshare rental pool--the first set of numbers--tend to be a bit worn. (If you stay in Regency's rooms--the second set of numbers--it would still qualify as a real gem.)

Depending on view, hotel rooms (around 550 sq. ft.) are $205-$295 ($250 for studio kitchenette). Condo-type suites (1,091 sq. ft.) are $370-$410 for 1/1. Larger units available by combining lock-offs with 1/1s. Regency (the second set of phone numbers) has much cheaper rates, and their units are much better than the first set of numbers. Regency is also the place to go if you want 2/2 (1,325 sq. ft.) units for $250-$450. (Cheaper than most of the other guys' 1/1s!) All units are non-smoking.