What to wear

What is the dress code? Beachwear is simple, but how about if you are going out to dinner (for both casual and fancy/pricier places)? And during the day? I will be traveling to Hawaii for a week leaving in 5 days and visiting both Kauai and Oahu!) and most likely will overpack, but just want to know what to pack and how many clothes I would need for each day. Thanks!

What to wear

There are lots of nice restaurants on Kauai and Oahu, be sure to bring something somewhat dressy just in case. But as for everyday wear, jeans and a tshirt, shorts, skirts, dresses...You can basically wear anything. The weather right now is pretty hot, sometimes there%26#39;s tradewinds, but it%26#39;s usually in the 80%26#39;s. But if you don%26#39;t wanna be too hot, stick with shorts and shirts.

What to wear

As with most places, women can pretty much get away with ANYTHING! Men on the other hand is another story.

At most fancy/expensive restaurants, men will most likely have to wear pants.

During the day when you%26#39;re just site seeing and stuff, I would just wear shorts and t-shirts and tank tops. It%26#39;s going to be hot and humid!

Collared shirt and dress Kahakis with clean shoes and socks will get you most. I spent 10 days in keen sandels and even hit Beach house in them. Oh if you do same be sure to wash your feet.

umaga said, ';At most fancy/expensive restaurants, men will most likely have to wear pants.'; Well, I should certainly hope so. ;-0

Seriously, yes, at upscale restaurants DH is more comfortable in chinos. Anything else he wears nice shorts and a collared shirt, usually a Hawaiian print. Woman can get away with nice shorts and top, but I usually wear chinos or nice capris. Nice sundresses are also OK. I wear a pair of nice sandals with a small heel because the only other shoes I%26#39;ll have are Tevas and hiking boots or sneaks. We%26#39;re both most comfortable in nice or ';smart casual'; clothes at anything but places like the Fish Hut or TC%26#39;s at the Coconut Marketplace or at the beach bar at Duke%26#39;s.

DH has never found the need for a sport jacket, but I think some do. We generally don%26#39;t frequent restaurants that might require that.

Bo.

There is absolutely no need to overpack. We have easily traveled and stayed for two weeks at time as visitors with one carry on duffel each.

When going out to a nice place for dinner, Beach House, Donderos at the Hyatt, etc., I wear light wt. long pants, a nice aloha shirt, and non- red dirt casual shoes.

Erica will wear a tropical style dress, nice sandals, and a pendant around her neck. Maybe an opal or tahitian pearl. That is it !

I trust me, that IS dressed up here on Kauai.

As visitors , she would also pick up a new dress each visit from Tropical Tantrums lady store. We lived at the beach in southern california and the dress is pretty much the same as here. Most of the time , it is tropical style, so we did not have to change our wardrobe to move here.

Sweaters, suits, ties, dress shirts, high heels, etc, were given away, prior to relocating. Nothing resembling those article came with us.

When visiting, we stayed in condos . Each unit had their own washer and dryer, which made it easy to have clean clothes every day.

Just FYI: Packing for Kauai.

I would wear my one pair of long pants on the plane, and a quality aloha shirt, SAS shoes, and a light wind-breaker. Erica would wear a tropical dress and her dress sandals, and bring along her wind breaker. ( saved a lot of room instead of packing them into the duffels ).

In the duffels: ( carry -on)...No checked luggage was required

Mask and snorkel ( rented fins when we got there )

Visor, or Cap

Tank Tops

No iron hawaiin shirts ( 3). Pull over style.

Ladies light wt. tops for Erica

Dress cut offs....Sportiffe ( 2 ) pr....

Ladies shorts for Erica

Swim suits ( 2) for me, more for Erica

Socks and underwear

Beater tennis shoes for hiking and daily walking around

Beach sandals for Erica..and another pair of sandals.

Cameral, film, etc.

Personal items,

We keep it easy, and still have plenty to wear.

With all of the security restrictions, I usually purchase liquid toilet articles, lotions, shampoos, etc., when we go shopping and lay in our provisions.

Sometimes we will check our duffels, just so we do not have to mess with them and security, and watching them every minute in the waiting area of the airport.

anyway, that is how we travel, including when doing a 30 day visit to Australia....well, we did add in our dive gear bag on that one.

Everyone has their own comfort zone. But since we do not need a mega wardrobe in this island, we always chose to make everything .... easy.

Just some suggestions

Denny

Aloha from Kaua%26#39;i!

Kaua%26#39;i has always been a laid-back kind of place -- ';no dressing up required'; type of place. While they are trying their best to turn some of our island into a glitzy So-Cal clone -- I think you can still dress casually and be perfectly in place here.

I live here on the South Shore and I can tell you that the most dressed up I ever get (outside of costumes for shows) would be a casual sundress -- there aren%26#39;t any places where I would feel underdressed wearing that -- and my husband? We have lived here for over 10 years -- he doesn%26#39;t even own a long pair of pants!

For the odd occasion (Hoku Hanohano Awards on O%26#39;ahu) that he does need them -- he borrows them from a friend!

O%26#39;ahu is a whole %26#39;nother thing -- it is much more dressy and people are much more urbanized -- I take over my best shorts, khakis and sundresses when I travel over there! You can dress up as much as you want and no one will think it strange.

Kaua%26#39;i -- a couple pairs shorts, sundress, bathings suits, pareau,

t-shirts or tanks -- slippers - those are the basics and you don%26#39;t really need more unless you are looking to fit in with other ';fancy types'; at the luxury hotels around here! Now there you%26#39;ll see fashion like I%26#39;ve never seen since I left the mainland!

I don%26#39;t know of any restaurant that has any type of a dress code -- the ';Living Room'; at the Princeville Hotel believe it or not has a code where you can%26#39;t wear slippers! That caused a huge uproar when they first put that into place! Don%26#39;t know if they still enforce it!

The fanciest I can imagine getting would be a collared shirt for a man, nice shorts, decent slippers. Women in a nice sundress and slippers.

Just my take on it!

Malama Pono,

Janet

Tropical Tantrum (Kapa`a and Hanalei) has GORGEOUS clothes, albeit a tad pricey for my tastes. I wonder if there%26#39;s a Serendipity on Oahu. I love their clothes, too.

Long pants????????????????? masochistic Save them for funerals and court.

there is no restaurant on Kauai where a pair of dressy shorts and a nice aloha shirt won%26#39;t work for men. Though in winter months when it%26#39;s a bit rainy, long pants are comfortable enough.

Bo28..you may know that ';slippers'; or ';slippahs'; are flip-flops...not fuzzy wascally wabbits ala Carol Burnett.

Haha, I figured that the slippers were flip flops. :)

Thank you to all who replied. I love tripadvisor forums!! I%26#39;m happy to hear that I can go super casual and be comfortable, the way a true vacation is supposed to be!

Kalapakidooley, thank you for your very detailed post as it will help with my checklist for packing!

Also, its definitely a good idea to leave some room in my suitcase so I can buy gifts and stuff for myself while I am there.

Speaking of gifts (for my parents, sisters (we are all in our 20s), brother, and some girlfriends) can anyone point me to a good place? I will also be in Oahu for a couple of days, so I can get stuff from there too.

Thank you all again!