A Tubing experience by Kauai Backcountry Adventures. Back to all Kauai tours.
Tour Summary: Float 2.5 miles of old sugar-plantation irrigation canal on Kauaʻi, drifting through five hand-dug tunnels lit only by your headlamp. A slow ride into interior land closed to the public, easy enough for kids age five and up.
The tour takes riders from age five up, so it works for mixed-age family groups. 
The canal has a few small drops between the calmer stretches, enough for a splash without turning it into whitewater. Groups float close together through the narrower flume sections, and the guides keep the mood light between tunnels. The tubing route follows an open irrigation canal cut into the old Līhuʻe plantation, with a few faster sections between the tunnels.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Feel your way through five pitch-dark tunnels, dug by hand more than 150 years ago
- Hear Kauaʻi history and culture from the guides on the 4WD ride up the mountain
- Grab a tube at the launch site and float the plantation's open irrigation canal
- Reach 17,000 acres of former sugar-plantation land closed to the public
- Cool off with a swim in a natural pool, then a picnic lunch before the ride back
- Bring mixed-age groups: everyone from age five up rides the same float
Important: The tour has a 300-pound weight limit with a mandatory weigh-in at check-in and a 43-inch minimum height, and it is not recommended for anyone with back, hip, or knee problems.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult |
|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $169 |
Price note: Everyone ages 5 and up pays the same flat rate; there is no child or youth discount.
Tour Provider: Kauai Backcountry Adventures
Activity: Tubing
Tour start time: 8:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM
Duration: 3 hours
Location: Līhuʻe
Pick-up available? No
Included: Round-trip 4WD transport. Tube and headlamp. Helmet and gloves. Picnic lunch after the float. Cold drinking water
Cancellations: The cancellation and change window depends on your group size. Groups of 1 to 5 can cancel or change up to 24 hours ahead, groups of 6 to 9 need 72 hours, groups of 10 to 14 need one week, and groups of 15 or more need two weeks.
Read more: about tubing in our Kauai tubing guide.
About this tubing tour
You float through five tunnels, each one hand-dug around 1870 and pitch dark inside, lit only by the headlamp on your forehead. The route runs about 2.5 miles of open irrigation canal that once carried water to the Līhuʻe sugar plantation. Kauai Backcountry Adventures runs the only tubing tour of its kind on Kauaʻi.
The 4WD ride in, and the views along the way
You start at the Līhuʻe base and ride a 4WD into the interior, across former Līhuʻe Plantation land. The guides narrate Kauaʻi history and culture the whole way up, and in our experience the drive is the most interesting stretch of the three hours. The scenery is here too: on a clear day, Mt. Waiʻaleʻale, one of the wettest spots on earth, and its waterfalls. Those views come on the drive, not in the tunnels, so watch the window on the way up.
What the float through the tunnels feels like
At the launch you grab a tube and a headlamp and drop into the canal. The float is slow, with gentle spinning and a small drop or two, more relaxed than thrilling. You can’t steer, so when we went the group spread out along the canal and tubes bumped off the walls. In the tunnels it’s dark enough that your headlamp is the only thing you see by, and the water runs cold enough that we wanted a towel waiting at the car.
Included gear, a picnic lunch, and a swim to finish
For $169 per person the operator provides the 4WD ride both ways, the tube, a headlamp, a helmet, gloves, and cold water. You finish at a picnic area with an included lunch and time to swim in a natural pool before the ride back. Bring water shoes, since flip-flops are not allowed and Crocs are the only rental, along with a swimsuit, a towel, a dry change of clothes, reef-safe sunscreen, and a dry bag or clear pouch for your phone. The full trip runs 3 hours.
We think this is a relaxed half-day on Kauaʻi, good for families and mixed-age groups, since everyone from five up does the same float. The guiding is good, and the dark, hand-dug tunnels are unusual for a tube float. The tour runs 3 hours, but most of that is the drive, check-in, the briefing, and lunch, so the float often lasts 30 to 60 minutes. At $169 a person, book it for the scenery and the history, not for hours on a tube.
[Video] Deep in a Hawaiian jungle lies an old irrigation system
About Kauai Backcountry Adventures
It suits families and relaxed groups more than thrill-seekers: a slow float through five hand-dug 1870s irrigation tunnels on private land closed to the public, gentle enough that everyone from age five up does the same run. At $169 per person it’s not cheap for the short time you spend in the water, so go in expecting a scenic, low-key half-day rather than a thrill ride.
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