Lanai Travel Guide: Exploring The Lovely City Of Lanai in Hawaii (2024)

Blessed with peaceful and pristine beaches, breathtaking waterfalls, lush green cover, mesmerizing sunsets, scenic landscape views, electrifying marine life and exotic cuisines, Hawaii is one destination that is on everyone’s wish list.

Accept it or not, we all have sometime in our life fantasized about visiting and exploring this dreamy chain of islands. From imagining about hiking through the active volcanic sites at Haleakala to snorkeling with the sea turtle at Maui, we’ve all been there. But do you know what makes Hawaii Hawaii? You guessed it right, its islands. From Oahu to Maui, each one of its islands in Hawaii are amazingly beautiful and worth exploring. But out of them all, Lanai- popularly known as the Most Secluded Island of Hawaii is probably the most beautiful one and it’s an extreme pleasure to visit it. Those looking for harmony, peacefulness and a departure from the hecticness of regular day to day existence will discover their comfort in the tranquility offered by Lanai. So, let us find out a little bit about it.

About Lanai:

Lanai is the 6th biggest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest openly accessible island in the chain. Hawaii’s smallest possessed island, Lanai offers its guests a dazzling relief from the high speed of their regular busy timetables. Initially an island-wide pineapple plantation, Lanai presently is known for its tranquil magnificence and extravagant five-star resorts. You can encircle yourself with serenity and debauchery at the best spots Lanai has to bring to the table in the midst of elite retreats like the Four Seasons Resort at Manele Bay. You can also go window shopping in the midst of beguiling stores in the island’s focal town of Lanai City or gain experiences traveling along the Norfolk pine-lined Munro Trail, a street offering magnificent and exotic views on the island’s immaculate excellence. Additionally, you can undertake an unquestionable exploration of the Hulopoe Bay, an ensured marine reserve with an abundance of ocean animals including Hawaii’s renowned spinner dolphins. You can also plan a day trip over from Maui on the Expeditions ship leaving from Lahaina Harbor. Apart from that the island also offers various other activities, for example, a guided 4×4 Trekker Tour to Lanai’s far off shorelines, horseback experiences, golf and that’s only the tip of the iceberg!

How to Reach Lanai?

This beautiful island of Hawaii can be reached through the following ways:

• Plane: As an island, Lanai is only available via air or ocean. Lanai Airport (LNY) has associations from Honolulu, Molokai, Kahului, and Kapalua. Once on the island, a public transport will take you to Lanai City and the retreat inns for $10.
• Ship: There are a few ship options available everyday from Lahaina on Maui. The charge for adults is $30 with a children ticket costing $20. The ship is only for foot travelers and not for vehicles.

When Is The Best Time To Visit Lanai?

Lanai experiences tropical weather with genuinely stable temperatures throughout the year. The sea gives a cooling impact and the island is lovely to visit at any time of the year.

How To Get Around In Lanai?

You can explore Lanai by availing the following services:

• Public Transportation: There is no public vehicle network on the island but a bus transport will take you between Lanai City, the air terminal, the harbor, and the significant retreat lodgings. It costs $10 for a day ticket.
• Taxi: Taxi facilities are limited and should be reserved ahead of time. The meter drop charge is $3.50, and afterwards it is around $4 per mile.
• Rental or Personal Vehicle: Driving in Lanai is a loosening up encounter as the traffic there is almost negligible. Vehicle rental is accessible however it is more costly than in the terrain regions.

What Are Some Of The Places To Visit In Lanai?

Out of a variety of places to visit and explore in Lanai, these are the top ones:

• Lanai’s Beaches: Lanai sports 18 wonderful sandy sea shores, 12 of them available to the general public. You can scuba, snorkel, swim or sunbathe on these beautiful white sandy sea shores.
  

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• Manele Bay: Manele Bay is a staggering marine reserve on the south shore with the lone public boat harbor on Lanai. You can put together a lunch and get a cooler for a day on the water here. You can additionally take off from Manele Bay to dive deep, do ocean fishing, yachting, whale-watching, swimming or shipping.
  

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• Hulopoe Bay: Earlier a strange fishing town in old Hawaii, Hulopoe Bay is a social irregularity. Its sickle shaped white-sand sea shore is lined by multifaceted magma arrangements. Here, snorkeling, swimming and tide pool exploration are the main activities. You may even see an incidental school of spinner dolphins at play, or detect a magnificent humpback whale in the colder time of the year.
  

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• Wreck Beach: Although this sea shore is certainly not a swimming sea shore, “gathering” is a well known activity here. Wanderers can walk around Kaiolohia Beach, nicknamed Shipwreck Beach, to discover an assortment of fortunes in the sand. This beach frontline located on the upper east side of Lanai is celebrated for its propensity to sink ships because of overpowering flows and sharp, shallow coral reefs. Guests can likewise discover old Hawaiian petroglyphs cut into rock. The island of Molokai and the Auau Channel isolating Molokai and Maui are noticeable from some distance.
  

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• Munro Trail: Climbers can appreciate this twisting path as it advances upwards through the excellent Hawaiian rainforest. When the 8 miles (12.8 km) of trail are behind you, you’ll be remunerated with a breathtaking ethereal perspective on the island and ocean on Lanaihale, Lanai’s only mountain at a rise of 3,370 feet (1,027 m).
  

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• Garden of the Gods: Lanai’s Garden of the Gods, found to the northwest of the gigantic Kanepuu Preserve, is a geographical landscape constructed by nature. Rock arrangements of splendid fuchsia and different shades of red create a feeling of harmony and love.
  

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• The Cathedrals: The Cathedrals is a wondrous plunge site simply off the south shore of Lanai. Like no other spot in the Hawaiian Islands, its blessed namesake alludes to the 60-foot (18 m) chambers that house many dynamic marine life species, including octopus, blue-stripe snappers and pyramid butterflyfish.
• Kanepuu Preserve: Kanepuu Preserve in Lanai’s uplands is 590 acres of land of adventure and an explorer’s actual heaven. You can explore the last dryland jungle of its only kind amidst more than 40 types of local Hawaiian plants.
• Dole Park: This is the place where locals go to unwind and enjoy a serene and peaceful lifestyle.

What Are Some Of The Activities To Do In Lanai?

Out of a string of activities available in Lanai, these are the most popular ones:

• Golf: Golf is one of Lanai’s top activities, with the Jack Nicklaus designed, Challenge at the Manele offering mesmerizing views of the coast, and the 9-hole Cavendish, being Hawaiʻi’s only totally free course.
• Off road exploring: Rough terrain exploring is another of the best activities on Lanai, where country roads lead to white sand sea shores like Lopa and Polihua, and old iconic sights like Kaunolu town which are just a short drive away.
• Water Sports: Lanai is an open air escape for climbing, surfing, jumping, fishing and unwinding. Those waters are home to a portion of Hawaiʻi’s best swimming and scuba jumping activities, with the plunge at “Cathedrals” positioning as probably the best activity on Lanai.

What Are Some Of The Best Hotels In Lanai?

Lanai has an assortment of hotels to offer. From budget oriented to luxury inns, Lanai has got it all. Some of the popular ones are:

• Four Season Resort Lanai at Koele: A heartland Hawaiian sensibility pervades this 20-acre of focal high country property on inadequately populated Lanai. The 102 rooms and suites have verandas, many fronting the consummately manicured yards where croquet and grass bowling are played. The setting is green slopes, tall pines, and brilliant nurseries mixed with looks of the sea from the Lodge’s passageway. Following a day of jeep visits, climbing, horseback riding, or skeet shooting, you can unwind by the colossal stone chimneys in the provincial Great Hall, extravagant with dim rich wood, lookout windows, and libraries and parlors in the wings.
• Four Season Resort Lanai at Manele Bay: This 201-room property has immense marble washrooms and boundaries a marine reserve that is home to spinner dolphins. At the pool, specialists nicknamed Dr. Salve and Dr. Shade will invigorate your sunscreen and clean or fix your shades.
• Hotel Lanai: Hotel Lanai, constructed in the year 1923, by James Dole, as a housing for Dole Plantation chiefs, was the sole lodging in Lanai until 1990. Today, the proprietor managed Hotel Lanai houses 11 enchanting visitor rooms and a bright café. Lanai City Grille, with its new inventive food, is quickly turning into Lanai’s debut feasting experience.

FAQs For Tourists Planning to Visit Lanai:

Q1. What Are Some Of The Popular Restaurants In Lanai?

Ans: Canoes Lanai, The Dining Room at the Lodge at Koele and Blue Ginger Cafe are some of the restaurants that serve amazing food in Lanai.

Q2. What Are Some Of The Places To Visit When In Lanai?

Ans: Hulopoe Beach, Polihua Beach and the Lanai Cat Sanctuary are some of the places to visit in Lanai.

Q3. What Are Some Of The Best Places To Do Shopping In Lanai?

Ans: Some of the best places to do shopping in Lanai are the Local Gentry and the Lanai Art Center.