This post contains affiliate links. If you book a rental through one, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Short answer: Simpler than Honolulu: the rental booths are across the street from baggage claim, and you pick up and return the car right behind your company’s booth. Turo is the exception, with its own shuttle to a lot at Kukui Grove Center.
Status, October 15, 2026: Hawaii State Parks says Ha‘ena State Park reopens October 15, 2026, and gohaena.com says the shuttle resumes the same day. Overnight camping and hiking past the two-mile point of the Kalalau Trail stay closed. The other Kauai state parks, apart from part of Wailua River, remain closed after Hurricane Lowell, including Polihale and Waimea Canyon, and Kōke‘e Road is closed until further notice. HDOT’s road page, last updated October 9, still lists local access only on Kuhio Highway from Hanalei to Ke‘e Beach. Check the Hawaii State Parks notices and HDOT road updates before you plan the day.
Lihue’s rental setup is simpler than Honolulu’s, closer in spirit to Kahului. Here’s what to actually expect.
Where the counters are
From baggage claim, head to the rental car booths across the street from the terminal. Most major companies (National, Alamo, Enterprise, Budget, and others) are represented there. Pickup and drop-off for every company is behind its booth, so check your confirmation for your company’s exact instructions.
Picking up at Lihue (LIH)? Check prices for your dates before you land.
Car rental companies at Lihue Airport
Hawaii DOT lists eight companies with booths across the street from the terminal: Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National. HDOT’s car rental page says pickup and drop-off for every company is behind its booth. It does not list counter hours for Lihue, so check your confirmation for the hours that apply to your flight. To see how customers rate each company, see the Google ratings for every Lihue rental company.
Pickup and return are behind the booths
Each company’s vehicles are staged behind its own counter, not in one shared lot the way Honolulu’s CONRAC works. Expect a shorter walk once you’ve checked in, but also a bit more variation company to company in exactly where you end up.
Turo and off-airport pickup at Lihue
Turo is the one option at Lihue that never happens at the airport. Turo’s host rules prohibit deliveries anywhere on Lihue Airport property. The cars wait in a Turo-dedicated lot at Kukui Grove Center, behind Target at 4303 Nawiliwili Road, and a Turo-branded shuttle links it to the terminal. According to Turo’s LIH guest page, pickup goes like this:
- Leave the terminal and go to the Baggage Claim B shuttle, bus and taxi area. From Baggage Claim A, walk to B, then walk 10 yards to the right.
- Look for the Turo-branded shuttle, which arrives every 20 to 25 minutes, and show your reservation to the driver.
- Pick up the car in the Turo parking area at Kukui Grove Center, Rows A to G.
The shuttle runs from 7 am to 11 pm. Guests arriving outside those hours need to arrange their own ride to the lot, and Turo lists 10:45 pm as the last pickup for the ride back to the airport. Seats are limited: for a large group, Turo asks that only the primary driver and one other person take the shuttle, then drive back for everyone else at the baggage claim curb. The rental booths across the street from baggage claim avoid that extra trip to Kukui Grove Center, so a late landing hurts Turo guests more than counter renters. The Turo in Hawaii vs rental car guide covers the fees on top.
Renting a car on Kauai: airport brand, local company or Turo
A Kauai car rental comes from one of three kinds of company, and each one handles pickup differently.
- The airport brands. Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National have booths across from the terminal, per HDOT. This is the easiest pickup. On Google, Enterprise, National and Alamo rate 4.4 to 4.5 at Lihue, while Budget, Thrifty and Dollar sit at 2.6 or lower (checked October 15, 2026).
- Local Kauai companies. They have no airport booths, so each arranges pickup its own way. The best rated with a large number of reviews are Alii Rental Cars (4.9 from 1,943 Google reviews) and Island Cars Discount Car Rental (4.8 from 1,514), both based in Lihue.
- Turo. Private owners’ cars, picked up at the Kukui Grove Center lot described above and never on airport property.
The ratings for every company are in the Lihue Airport car rental comparison. Whichever type you choose, compare prices for your own dates before you book.
What to plan around
Kauai’s main highway isn’t actually a loop. It’s one road (Kuhio Highway going north, Kaumualii Highway going west) that dead-ends at Ke’e Beach in Ha’ena on the North Shore and at Polihale on the west side, with about 15 miles of impassable Na Pali Coast cliffs between the two ends that no road crosses. Practically, that means there’s really one road connecting most of the island. Traffic backs up fast around any incident, and there’s rarely a real detour. Give yourself buffer time getting back for a return, especially heading in from the North Shore, since you can’t loop around a problem the way you could on an island with a real ring road.
- This is a smaller airport than Honolulu’s: expect less signage complexity, but also fewer staff at less busy hours, so build in some slack rather than assuming instant service.
- If you’re heading straight to the North Shore, see the Haena State Park reservations guide before you leave the lot. That reservation needs to be booked well before you land, not on the drive up.
- Deciding whether you need the car for the whole trip or just part of it? See whether you need a rental car on Kauai first.
For the official terminal layout and current airport info, see Hawaii DOT’s Lihue Airport (LIH) page.
Traveling with kids? See the Hawaii car seat law guide before you pick up. It applies to rental cars too, and covers whether renting a seat at the counter or bringing your own is the better move.
Packing drinks for a beach day or scenic drive? See the Hawaii open container law guide: the trunk-storage rule catches renters off guard more than people expect.
Visiting from overseas? See the international driving permit guide: the state rule and your rental company’s rule are not the same thing.
Planning how many days to book the rental for? See how long it actually takes to drive around Kauai before you decide.
Parking a car at the airport instead, or picking someone up? See Lihue airport parking and the 2026 pickup changes.
Choosing between companies rather than looking for the counters? See the best car rental at Lihue Airport, compared by Google ratings.
Compare rental rates for your trip →
Researched and written by Neo Pecorro. Facts on this page were checked against Hawaii Airports, plus the other sources linked above. Hawaii rules change often, so confirm on the official page before you go.
Last updated: October 19, 2026.