Garden Island Inn

We loved this place. The staff are friendly and helpful and the whole place is just so dang quaint. The room was a bit tight for three, but for the money it was fine. Convenience to the airport is a huge plus. If you want a cozy, old-​school Hawaii experience, this is the place.

Close to the airport, convenient and the nicest workers. Walking distance to the beach and shops :)

We were very happy with our stay here! It’s hard to rate in stars — no, this is not a 5-​star resort. As evident by the affordable price, it’s more of a 3-​star accommodation. But they provided 5-​star service for what they are, hence the rating.
Staff are beyond friendly. My husband inquired about ice to learn there was no ice machine, but the staff bustled off and returned with a gallon ziplock filled to the brim with ice in no time.
Rooms are clean, eclectically decorated with beach art, fresh flowers provided daily. There’s a small fridge, microwave, coffee maker, TV & DVD player.
Many things are complimentary — lobby is stocked with movies, books, beach towels, snorkel equipment, boogie boards, etc. We filled up our water bottles every day from the filtered water machine & grabbed a few granola bars.
Easy walk to the beach, ABC Store, Duke’s Barefoot Bar & many other restaurants and shops.
Only negative is there is some light road noise, but we weren’t bothered by it. You’re going to be listening to rosters no matter where you are on Kauai, so what’s a little road noise?
If you’re looking for an affordable hotel on Kauai, you can book here with confidence.

This place is cute, quaint and has tons of character. I love the garden with all the seating and cute lights strung up all around the trees and the property. Perfect location. Close to the airport, across the street from the beach and a little mall with restaurants and shopping. Great value. They have fresh water in the lobby which was super convenient, rather than having to buy bottled water to have in the room. They had snacks, tea and coffee in the lobby as well. They offer chairs, beach towels, books, sunscreen, bug spray and boogie boards to borrow in the lobby which was great to take to the beach right across the street. I will definitely stay here again.

This place has been fantastic! The staff is the kind of friendly where you want to hug them after you hand them back the room key. The only reason this isn’t a 5 star experience is because the rooms are close to the main road and there was some light traffic noise; HOWEVER I implore you not to let that deter you from staying here. I got the last of two rooms available. My options were a room with a king bed and three twin beds for $ 198+tax or a room with just two twin beds for $ 148+tax. I took the two twin beds as there was not 5 of me and even two beds was more than necessary. Or I could have stayed at the Marriott for $ 350+tax. The décor was über Hawaii: colorful with lots of flowers and plants. The rooms are not modern and lack some of the luxury that other Hawaii resorts may have. There are some very nice gardens on the grounds. The shower had a nice adjustable and removable shower head and good water pressure. The room had a balcony with a view of the water in the distance and a couple chairs to chill outside and enjoy the evening air. Checkout is at 11am, which is nice. After checkout they allowed me to store my backpacking gear for the day so I could explore the beach. They even let me use a chair and beach towel for the entire day (after checking out). The staff here was fantastic, offering real tips on what to do and where to eat with none of the usual salesmanship; simply offered information based on their experience and the experience of other guests. If you’re looking for an affordable and friendly place to stay within a very short walking distance of the beach THIS is the place. Enjoy!

It was tough for us to decide between this and another similarly priced hotel on the east shore. When we first arrived, we weren’t sure if we had made the right choice; I’m a very light sleeper and the walls are a bit thin, but we brought ear plugs which successfully blocked out the occasional road noise, opening/​closing doors, and waterfall (probably there to cover up the other noise). As you can tell in the photos, the furnishings, beds, and TV aren’t the nicest or newest. But you don’t go to Hawai’i to watch TV, right? If you book a room with a double bed, it’s likely that it will be two twin beds that are rather skillfully pushed together and made up into one bed, but we found it to be comfortable enough. Our room included a microwave and small refrigerator, which were very useful.
After a five day stay, we decided that this would be a great hotel to return to. What makes the Garden Island a place to come back to is their amazing staff. They are so kind, and very easy going and generous with their loaner beach towels, mats, boogie boards, snorkeling equipment, and fresh fruits and breakfast snacks. [Mahalo to the staff member at the front desk who knew that I was pregnant and insisted that I take more fruit! :) ] The free pineapple that I had here was actually some of the best that I had on the island. The collection of sunscreen available in the lobby is such a huge help — you can leave yours at home!

I love love love this place. Boutique style hotel with cute rooms. Comfortable bed and great décor. I believe there is an artist in residence who is highly talented. The place is all lit up with cool lighting .
All of this wouldn’t be reason for me to love this place as much as I do but the thing that really sets this place above others is the staff. Super duper nice!!! We will be back.

Super beautiful place to stay in super beautiful Kauai! Thanks GII!

Outstanding little hotel and a great value. Very clean and comfortable. Great AC. Outstanding hospitality staff. Lots of items you can borrow from the main office including beach gear, snorkel equipment, movies for your room, etc. The front desk gal even gave us popcorn and drink to enjoy while we watched our movie. Centrally located and an easy walk to the nearby beach and shopping/​restaurant district. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone staying in Lihue!

This convenient and colorful hotel has wonderful service and staff! My family received a free unpressed, simply because the hotel had the extra availability. Sheila was most helpful, and she remembered my name throughout my stay. The hotel is conveniently located right across the street from the ocean and o my 5 mins from the Lihue airport. The rooms are clean and comfortable with many bedding options. My family and I would definitely stay again!

The Garden Inn is a great place to stop and stay because of its unique beauty, fantastic staff, & reasonable prices.
The beds weren’t the best in the world, but we’re not staying in Kauai to sleep in kick ass beds.

Kind of run down, smokers delight. Given reviews, surprised by all the issues we experienced. Positives were that the staff were friendly and it’s close to airport. Also pretty clean. Free wifi but slow.
Negatives.
This hotel is in need of major updates. There is a difference between quaint and run down. This was the latter. Love the throwback HI feel. Were staying in an older place prior to this so was not a case of fancy resort fever.
Paid for «garden view» room on their website. Put in awkward corner room with view of big structural pole, parking lot and street. To their credit did move but to room with same view. They said it was garden view. Seemed like other side of the hotel was. Felt like being played a bit albeit with a smile.
King size bed was two twin beds squished together. Really uncomfortable. Linens felt old and worn as did twin mattresses.
Small fridge broken and barely cooled.
On major road so loud, even competing with roosters!
Okay worst thing — The way wind blows, cigarette smoke would drift into our room on that road-​side of the hotel from where smokers would smoke in the lawn-​gazebo area. Not nice to be awakened to this at 5 am! If people want to smoke and destroy their health, don’t get but, hey okay, their bodies. It is unacceptable, though, that other guests are exposed to it and in their rooms! Hotel needs to come up with a much better solution.
Ugh, glad it was just one night.

Not 5 stars ’cause it’s fancy but because it was excellent. Stayed in the 2 bedroom condo overlooking bay/​beach with pool and tennis court right outside. VERY clean. Great price for HI accommodations. The people made it extra special! They will loan you anything they have for free to use while there. From DVDs to beach gear (snorkeling equip) to golf clubs! Ever have a place offer free loaner clubs before? Not me. Fresh fruit from their trees in the lobby in the AM and original art on every door and in the rooms. Crazy colorful.

Thus we leave the lovely island of Kauai. But not before a stay at this lovely little find! A nice break from resorts on poipu or wailea, the garden Island inn has the best service with the nicest staff we’ve yet to meet here. We spent two nights enjoying the free DVDs and beach gear (though the boogie boarding here is sub par). The rooms have comfortable beds and cute personal lanais along with an adorable outdoor area with Christmas lights and music. Free treats in the lobby all day contribute to the friendly feel. Though there is no pool, the location has tons of tourist shops and restaurants to keep you busy. What a fantastic and friendly way to end our trip — the hotel’s also right on the bus line to the airport for you backpackers out there! Be back soon!

We really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere at this little unique hotel! Every door is hand painted, making them fun to look at as you walk to your room. The woman who greeted us was so welcoming and sweet, we instantly felt at home (at 11:45 pm in December!) The shower stalls are very small, my husband is 6’5″ and had to crouch way down to get under the water. We appreciated the little touches like dish soap, a dining set, silverware, live plants, etc. It was a cute, quaint hotel in the middle of the main highway in Lihue. We liked the location being walking distance to the little shops and malls nearby. You can walk across the street to the beach area. The ABC store across the way is a great store to pick items up at. At peak times, the road gets pretty backed up with commuters. One thing to note is that we paid for a water view room, but the water is across the highway, over some power lines and trees. It’s definitely not, on the water like we expected. However, we really enjoyed our time. Thank you Garden Island Inn for a great first time experience to the islands!

Cute place with very friendly staff! Great location.
We stayed here one night during our recent vacation and we really enjoyed it. The hotel is located right across the street from the Marriott property and the locals surf spot at K-​bay. There is a hot and cold water dispenser in the lobby as well as cookies and pastries at the front desk throughout the day.
Our room was very cute, decorated with colorful walls and bedding. The room and the bathroom was very clean. We had a good night sleep. There is a large garden on the property full of beautiful trees and plants. We even got some organic tangelos from the tangelo tree, big juicy and very tasty!
The staff were very helpful and gave us alot of good information on what to do and where to go. definitely recommend!

GREAT value for the money.
I was just there with a group of 8 ladies for almost two weeks. We needed somewhere inexpensive, clean, conveniently located, and with kitchenettes. This fit all of our needs plus some. Free (and reliable) wi-​fi, free (and easy) parking, helpful and friendly staff, plus all kinds of extras (beach towels, boards, sunscreen, coffee/​tea/​baked goods…).
As other reviews state, if you’re looking for a resort kind of experience, this is not your place. If you’re looking for an easy, local, comfortable stay– book it now!
The location has quite a selection of walking-​distance restaurants and shops. This made finding food (and drinking at dinner) very easy for our group.
(This rates as a moderately priced hotel, but for the area I would qualify it as inexpensive.)

This place is awesome. Front desk really helpful. DVDs, board games, books, snacks, water at front desk. Super chill and funky. Great location.

The Garden Island Inn is one of my favorite places on stay in Lihue.
For the price, their rooms are decent and the staff are friendly; a microwave, utensils, plates, cups and a refrigerator are located in each room. Also, the hotel features wi-​fi, which is relatively fast.
Extra points for offering free parking.

This was a perfect landing spot for our 4-​night stay on Kauai. Convenient for someone set to explore the whole island, close to the airport but never noticed planes. Clean, simple, friendly, quiet place to put your head down between adventure-​filled days. Recommended in the Kauai Revealed guidebook as a «solid gold value» and it is.
Pretty front yard. Clever backyard waterfall drowns out street noise. The mini-​fridge, while great for our beverages and leftovers, didn’t quite freeze the ice trays. We didn’t make use of the coffee maker or microwave but it was nice to have them anyway. Our private balcony was small but large enough for two chairs and a table to enjoy a drink after a long day. The «ocean view» description might have mentioned palm trees in the park across the street obstructing the actual water view, but we were usually coming back after dark anyway so that didn’t really matter to us.
LOVE that they offer free gear for you to borrow– beach towels, snorkeling gear, beach chairs/​mats, books, DVDs, coolers.
We saw a pair of geckos on the exterior walls a few times on the way to our room, which I hear are natural predators for roaches and other bugs– so I was happy to see them. Apparently a teensy baby gecko thought our room was a great spot, but we put him outside where we were less likely to step on him.