Koloa is a small former sugar town on Kauai's south shore, and the surrounding coast — known as the Poipū area — contains some of the most varied and rewarding attractions on the island. The coastline runs from lava-platform blowholes and prehistoric fossil cliffs to sheltered beach parks with the clearest water on Kauai. Inland, botanical gardens of international quality and the ruins of Hawaii's oldest sugar mill round out a town that punches well above its size.