[custom-mapping map_id=”6120″ height=”300″]
When choosing a place to stay in Kauai with kids, parents often think about all the amenities a resort has to offer. Preparing for our recent visit, we took many things into consideration before deciding on Koloa Landing Resort.
Parents like us might view a potential hotel choice to rank their pool activities and other programs geared to children of all age groups. To please ourselves, we might also look into the resort’s restaurant and bar options. I mean, who doesn’t love being served an umbrella drink by the pool in some remote tropical setting?
But since having kids, we’ve found our number one consideration has been if the hotel room has a kitchen.
Koloa Landing Resort sports the biggest and grandest pool on the entire island.Look for a Working Kitchen
The last thing you want to do is cook every meal for your family while on vacation – I get it. However, when your four year old wakes up at 5 a.m. because of time zone changes and you have to feed her, no restaurants are open that early. When you just want to slip into the room for a break from pool time and you’re a little hungry, you can whip up a quick quesadilla. Or PB&J. Or whatever your kids will eat when they’re being difficult and need the comforts of home.
It’s nice being on the ground floor so the kids can run in and out while parents keep an eye on them.Save Money
That’s not even mentioning the amount of money you can save. We love to eat out at restaurants – I mean our family LOVES it. But that can get really expensive, particularly when visiting a tourist destination built to serve travelers. Prices can be high, and perhaps we’d rather spend our vacation fund on experiences other than restaurant food.
Shop Local
By shopping at the local grocery store, we get a chance to see what locals eat and perhaps make some of those dishes as well as the hot dogs or mac-and-cheese our kids want. We also help the local economy, putting our vacation dollars into the hands of locals who could use the support. We’ve been consistently pleased by the quality of food we’ve purchased locally and cooked in our hotel room kitchen.
Even better, the local stores always have the freshest and most delicious island fruits, freshly picked and ready to enjoy. Guavas, mangos, papayas, passionfruit, star fruit, bananas and of course pineapples are all available, fresh and delicious.
The grounds at Koloa Landing Resort are beautifully landscaped. Don’t you just want to dive right in?Koloa Landing Resort
This was the offering done elegantly by the Koloa Landing Resort in gorgeous Poipu, Kauai. A luxurious resort that is part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, Koloa Landing Resort offers what can only be described as spacious suites that come complete with fully outfitted, regular sized kitchens. No mini refrigerators or Barbie-sized ovens for these folks – Koloa Landing Resort kitchens even have a dishwasher.
We made scrambled eggs and bacon one morning, oatmeal and toast another morning, and I don’t even know how many quesadillas over the course of our stay. One evening we had a mocktail party before going out to dinner, serving tropical juice to the kids in fancy glasses (okay ours were spiked with vodka). Slices of cheese and salami with crackers was our snack, as we all sat on the lanai to enjoy the Hawaiian view.
Sometimes it’s so nice to just sit and relax while watching the sun set.
More and more hotels are offering these room types, and now we look for them wherever we travel. Granted, we don’t do this every time but it does help make things easier especially with younger kids.
Pin it!
