Unfortunately, I was only visiting Kauai for a couple of days which happened to fall during the portion of the week when the lighthouse and refuge are closed; however, the drive is certainly worth it for the amazing view at the lookout. Just before the gate, there is a viewpoint to see the lighthouse, cliff side, and ocean below…beautiful!!

The Kilauea Lighthouse is open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday only and you have to book online in advance for a time slot! But the view from the lighthouse area to the coastline is amazing and the surf pounding the rocks at the foot of that cliff is impressive! The lighthouse itself is closed but that's not important. When you are there make sure you are talking with the park ranger, he will give you a better understanding of the nature there - and he is also a very nice guy. Had a great time there!

There is not a lot to "do" up at the lighthouse, but it's definitely worth a visit! $10/person entrance (15&under free) to the area. Easy walk to the lighthouse from the parking lot, and fantastic views once you're up on the cliff where the lighthouse is located. I wish we would have brought binoculars... There are a few public ones mounted around, but I didn't want to "hog" them. There's potential to see so many different birds, they provide you a little checklist.

A visit to the Kilauea Lighthouse National Wildlife Refuge is definitely worth making a reservation and the $11 USD/ person. Each reservation is given a 45 minute time slot to visit. We could have spent more time there watching the wildlife and soaking in the ocean views, but 45 minutes was long enough to watch the waves crashing and to watch lots of birds soaring. The visit is really about the nature and not the lighthouse, as the lighthouse is not open for climbing to the top. We saw red footed boobies, Nene geese, red tailed tropicbirds and a Laysan Albatross.

The lighthouse / nature preserve was a nice time. You can't go into the lighthouse itself, but you can walk around it and the visitor center has a lot of great information. They had a number of volunteers onsite to share information and there were plenty of placards with information. Very beautiful and worth an hour or two of your time. Be aware that there is almost no cell phone reception there and you need to get tickets reserved ahead of time online.

A beautiful scene, tucked off the main road. Be aware, to visit or tour the lighthouse, you need to reserve and pay for the in and out as it is a start run tour. The pictures are great but we passed on the cost and duration to visit.

The lighthouse is cute, and historic, but come for the birds! The cliffs were brimming with red- footed Booby nests. A frigate bird circled. Red and white tailed tropicbirds soared overhead. We spotted one Laysan albatross further aloft - then a volunteer set up a telescope trained on an albatross nest area with five fluffy chicks. The pathways in and out are lined with shearwater burrows - we heard the moaning before we saw them! We reserved two back to back slots to have enough time to read the placards and view the birds . Note: the restrooms were closed when we visited with porta potties in the parking lot.