Castle Po'ipū Shores

The pool was great, the views were incredible, and at night the sounds of nature were like the best sound machine. Customer service was also so good that we'd absolutely stay again. We only stayed the last two nights of our month in Kauai. Coming back down south was a last-minute decision, and we were lucky to find availability here. The walk to the beach isn't far, though it can be tricky with kids because there aren't many ways to get off the road on the way down. It's doable if you don't want to drive.

We were right by the water, and falling asleep to the ocean waves was amazing. We also saw sea turtles swimming outside our window. The location and family were great, but the service was sub-par for what we paid, $700 a night for a townhouse for six. They charged $80 a day for housekeeping, but said cleaning only happened after checkout. During the stay, we had to put used towels in a bag by the front door and call for housekeeping to swap them the next morning. We called and bagged them as instructed for a 9 a.m. pickup, then left early and were out all day without cell reception. When we came back to shore around 7 p.m., we found a 5:40 p.m. text asking whether the towels were ready and telling us to reply within 15 minutes because the office was closing. That evening we had to use T-shirts as towels since we had no clean ones.

The room was awesome and the location was beautiful, one of the most amazing places. I hadn't booked the room myself, so I was surprised to find there was no AC. I managed without it, but would have preferred to have it.

We saw three pods of whales and dolphins from the patio, and the view from the room was beautiful. Poipu beach is about a 10-minute walk, and green turtles come ashore there to rest. The waves were a little noisy, but having a washer and dryer was a plus.