Thumb through the glossy pages of Condé Nast Traveler magazine and the Hawaiian island of Kaua‘i appears to be a rather upscale destination. Indeed, this island has many of the high-end corporate-owned hotels one expects to find in Hawai‘i. There is no shortage of well-healed tourists padding around the marble foyer of the Princeville Hotel in Tommy Bahama–brand silk resort wear.

Yet Kaua‘i, by nature, is a laid-back, shirt-off, toes-in-the-sand island. Locals don’t normally pay US$ 350 a night for a room or US$ 70 for dinner, and you needn’t either. If you have more sense than dollars, with a bit of advance planning and knowledge of the island, you can keep costs down and enjoy the best of Kaua‘i.

Kaua'i, Hawai'i's Garden Island, has a different shade of green for every day of the week.

As with any Pacific island, your greatest cost is just getting there. Airfares to Kaua‘i are not cheap, so look around for the best deals from the U.S. West Coast. Check Hawaiian Airlines for discount fares from major West Coast cities, Las Vegas or Phoenix. Aloha Airlines may also have occasional specials from California, Reno or Las Vegas, though the best prices are often from Hawai‘i to the mainland.

Currently, the only way to get to Kaua‘i is by inter-island flight (25 minutes from O‘ahu) on Hawaiian or Aloha airlines, but Hawaii Superferry plans to offer the only passenger/vehicle inter-island ferry service between O‘ahu and Kaua‘i, Maui and Hawai‘i (the Big Island) starting in early 2007. The four-deck ferries will have a capacity of 900 people and about 250 vehicles, making the journey between islands in three to four hours for about half the price of airfare.

Once on Kaua‘i, you can limit expenses by watching where you eat, stay and play. Admittedly, Kaua‘i’s hotels are not cheap, with average daily rates hovering just below US$ 200 a night. Add on pricey meals of fresh seafood, Hawaiian-style luau feasts, and activities like whale-watching cruises and flight-seeing by helicopter and you have yourself a not-so-inexpensive holiday.

Before you strike Kaua‘i from your list of potential destinations, however, consider this: Kaua‘i’s greatest attraction, the natural beauty found on long stretches of sand beaches, the breathtaking mountains, valleys, forests, dunes, cliffs and high-altitude swamps, and all that tropical flora (Kaua‘i is, after all, known as the Garden Island), are free. Likewise, Kaua‘i’s cool trade winds, warm sunny days and frequent rainbows won’t cost you a thing.

Typically, more expensive accommodation is found on Kaua‘i’s south side (the Po‘ipu area) and on the north shore in Princeville and Hanalei, but if you search online, you may find exceptions. In addition to large corporate hotels and luxury vacation rentals, Kaua‘i is blessed with countless wonderful and reasonably priced B&Bs that offer lodging for as little as US$ 50 a night for two.