The house is very thoughtfully appointed....everything a family might need during a vacation has been thought of already. The beach is right off of the backyard and is uncrowded and very beautiful. We loved the fact that one could just wake up in the morning and go out on to the beach in no time. The very first day of our visit, a Hawaiian Monk Seal decided to make the beach its home for a day. Three days into our visit, a day/night of heavy rains produced several waterfalls on nearby mountains. Amazingly beautiful. Yes, Hanalei does take some driving to get to, but the positives are that it is less crowded and quite unspoilt.