Post #234611 by bamalamalu on Mon, May 29, 2006 8:11 PM

Hi, I visited Lanai several (way too many!) years ago with a friend and really enjoyed it. I stayed at the small Hotel Lanai - http://www.hotellanai.com which was far more appealing and much more affordable than the two giant resorts (camping is also possible, but I believe its limited to one area).

You can have a really quiet couple of days there, with a very different feel than the other islands. Some of the roads were closed due to a bunch of rain before we arrived, but we rented the jeep and were able to drive down along the Shipwreck Beach area and to Polihua Beach (which turned out to be the place I'd been going in my mind all those years whenever I heard "Pacifica"). Very cool views, with Maui & Molokai visible, and the ocean ripping through in between.

It's not the place to go for nightlife, but if you want a beautiful place to relax & explore and have an amazing beach all to yourself, that's the spot. I also had my first - and by far best - Lava Flow in the Hotel Lanai restaurant. It's great to fly in, in the tiny plane, and see the cliffs as you approach; but then when we left, we took the ferry across to Maui, which was also a fun little trip and gave another prespective of the islands. We kind of got a kick out of it when a fire truck dropped a fireman off at the ferry with us in Lanai, and then another engine picked him up at the dock in Maui - just one of those little bits of everyday local life you don't always get to see when on Vacation. I recommend it!