What's happening in Kauai this week?

Kauai's week is built around its farmers markets, and the county's Sunshine Markets have run on a fixed weekly rotation for years. Monday's market is at Kōloa Ball Park at noon; on Wednesday afternoon it moves to Kapaʻa New Town Park, on Thursday to Hanapēpē and Kīlauea, and on Friday to Vidinha Stadium in Līhuʻe at about 3pm. Times do shift, so treat each slot as roughly right and arrive 15 minutes early. At the Sunshine Markets nobody sells until a whistle blows, and the apple bananas and lilikoʻi can sell out within half an hour. On Saturday the action splits between the north shore and Puhi: the Hanalei market at Hale Halawai opens around 9am, and the Kauai Community Market at Kauaʻi Community College in Puhi opens around 9:30am. Puhi is the better first-timer pick. Its stalls sell hot plate lunches and cold drinking coconuts that a vendor cracks open with a machete for about $6.

Friday night belongs to Hanapēpē, the west-side town where Hanapēpē Art Night runs from roughly 5pm to 8pm. Galleries along Hanapēpē Road stay open late, food trucks park nose to tail, and the swinging bridge over the Hanapēpē River sways and creaks underfoot. We'd spend the morning of the same day at Waimea Canyon State Park, about 40 minutes uphill from Hanapēpē, and get there before 10am: by late morning the clouds fill the canyon, and the Kalalau Lookout at the top of Kōkeʻe Road often turns to white fog that smells of wet eucalyptus. On the drive back down, Russian Fort Elizabeth sits at the mouth of the Waimea River, dating from 1816, and 20 minutes is enough there. What remains is mostly low lava-rock walls and sea wind.

The one booking that cannot wait is Hāʻena State Park. Visitors from outside Hawaii need a timed entry or shuttle reservation, and slots open 30 days ahead; weekend slots are often gone by the time most visitors look, but midweek slots tend to last longer. The park is the sole legal start to the Kalalau Trail, and the 2-mile hike to Hanakāpīʻai Beach is the right length for a first visit, though the red mud on that trail is slick as soap after rain. Do not swim at Hanakāpīʻai. A hand-painted tally sign at the trailhead counts more than 80 drownings there, and the north-shore swells of the cooler months make the rip currents stronger. If you miss a Hāʻena slot, Limahuli Garden and Preserve is less than a mile back along the highway and makes a calmer half-day, with rows of taro growing on old stone terraces.

Kauai's weather changes by coast, not by day. A recent 1pm reading showed 14.7°C with drizzle and 89% humidity, a reading that probably comes from an upland point near Kōkeʻe, since the coast usually runs about 10 degrees warmer. Trade winds push showers onto Hanalei and Kapaʻa overnight and into the morning, while Poʻipū on the south shore usually stays sunnier, and that is where to go when the north shore turns grey. Pack a light rain jacket for the Kalalau Lookout, where the wind can feel cold even when Poʻipū is warm. Weekday traffic on Kauai follows its own pattern. Kūhiō Highway through Kapaʻa backs up from about 3pm to 6pm as commuters drive home from Līhuʻe, so see Wailua Falls and ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls in mid-morning instead, when the parking lots are quieter and you can hear the water from the railing.