The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook - Hanalei Bay Resort & Suites

280 rooms, 8 tennis courts, a tennis pro shop, coffee makers, washer/dryers in some units, a/c, hi-speed Internet access, mid-week cleaning (in rooms managed from the top set of numbers), 2 pools, spa and 2 "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. All rooms are not created equal. There are three main types: hotel-type rooms (which are plain), studios (same but with a kitchenette and sofa bed) and condo-type rooms (called suites). Of these, the suites are much better. 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 St. Regis Princeville. (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 150 or more of the rooms to timeshares, but they'll always keep many rooms in the vacation rentals. (But don't expect a good view from rooms in the 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--feel tired and were not as clean as you would expect. If you stay in Regency Pacific Realty's rooms--the second set of numbers—the rooms are much better, but the common areas of the resort were looking worn and could have been cleaner on our last visit.

Depending on the view, hotel rooms (around 550 sq. ft.) are $215-$305 ($260 for studio kitchenette). Condo-type suites (1,091 sq. ft.) are $380-$420 for 1/1s. Larger units available by combining lock-offs with 1/1s. Regency Pacific Realty (the second set of phone numbers) has much cheaper rates, and their units are much nicer than the first set of numbers. Regency is also the place to go if you want 2/2 (1,325 sq. ft.) units for $258-$495. (Cheaper than most of the other guys' 1/1s!)