KAPAA — Daily, the smell of barbecue chicken mixes with sun, sand and seaside bicycling under the coconut palms that line Kapaa Town, enticing visitors from every corner of the globe to wander the sidewalks.
“I’d say about 95 percent of my business is tourists,” said Pepper, co-owner of Chicken in a Barrel and one of the men responsible for that barbecue smell. “We opened here about nine years ago, trying to catch people on the side of the road with smoked meat.”
Pepper doesn’t have to worry about tossing that scent net into traffic anymore; unless it’s raining he says he’s got a steady stream of customers lining up outside of the little smoke meat shack.
And that’s pretty much the case throughout Kapaa, which has topped the travel destination charts twice this year by TripAdvisor — as the number one rated trending United States travel destination, and most recently as the number two destination in the world for 2018.
In February, Kapaa Town was followed in order by Waco, Texas; Wilmington, N.C.; Bend, Oregon; and Boulder, Colorado.
April delivered TripAdvisor’s top 10 travel destinations for 2018, and Ishigaki, Japan topped the list. Kapaa came in at number two, followed by Nairobi, Kenya; Halifax, Novia Scotia; and Gdansk, Poland.
Kauai Juice Bar has more of a local-based clientele, but juice baristas at the company said they’ve noticed an uptick in visitors over the past year or two.
“We’ve got such loyal customers,” said Stephanie Stauber. “And then, on top of that, we have the visitors that come in. They’re like the icing on the cake.”
Carolyn Collander and Jeff Gower, visitors from Santa Cruz, wandered into the juice bar on Friday, spending part of their second day on Kauai in Kapaa Town.
“I love the hometown feel, kind of like it’s off the beaten path. It’s different than some of the more touristy places,” Collander said. “It’s a lot like Santa Cruz.”
Across the street at Island Hemp &Cotton, Nancee McTernan watched the people go through the same door she’s had open for 22 years.
McTernan has been watching the number of visitors slowly increase over the past decade.
“I used to be about 50/50 visitors and locals in the shop,” she said. “Now, I’d say it’s about 60/40 with more visitors.”
Kapaa Town is rich with history as the Royal Coconut Coast and its fertile soil and ample water supply made it a prime place to live, even before Westerners arrived in the 1700s.
“There’s a lot going here for the Royal Coconut Coast,” said Himly Dale, association president. “We’re seeing strong interest in Kapaa culture, attractions, lodging, food and activities by both our visitors and our kamaaina (locals).”
Whether it’s the biking in the breezy trade winds, the menagerie of shave ice, chicken barbecues, and food trucks or the friendly faces behind those counters, people are loving Kapaa.
“It’s such a beautiful little town,” Collander said. “We’re so excited to be here.”
The Kauai Beach House Hostel has become known as one of the top hostels in the world not only because it is located on Kaua’i and in Kapa’a Town but also because it is located on the edge of the Blue Lagoon and The Pacific Ocean and has big open airy fresh breeze rooms and large decks / lanai overlooking the lagoon and ocean..
The Kauai Beach House Hostel offers world travelers an affordable, safe, clean place to stay. Many of its international guests are on Around the World journeys choosing Kapa’a and Kaua’i as their go to place in the Hawaiian Islands over the many locations in the South Pacific before going onward to Asia, Australia and New Zealand, or the US Mainland and the rest of the America’s.
Congratulations to Kapa’a for putting Kaua’i on the world map (and vice-versa) as a World Destination.
Mahalo to the Kauai Beach House Hostel and the tropical feeling and experience it provides our visitors.
Charles.
We’re number 2!!
https://www.thestreet.com/slideshow/12795442/1/drunkest-cities-america.html
The ” cities ” of Kapaa and Kona, glug glug.