I'm headed to Maui at the end of the month and wondering if a day trip to Lanai is worthwhile. My wife and I are traveling with our children, ages 12 and 10.

We already have a snorkel/sailing outing planned and certainly beach time built in. Are there amenities that we could enjoy in Lanai or are we better off spending a day on a Maui beach? If we made the trip, we would take the ferry vs. a sailing trip.

Any advice would be appreciated.

In addition to any info you get on this site, the Maui Revealed book has a very informative chapter on visiting Lanai that might help you decide.

If you haven't locked yourselves in for the snorkel/sailing outing mentioned, you might consider the Pacific Whale Foundation snorkel trip to Lanai. It is a good family outing. There is not much of anything to see on the island of Lanai itself, but the snorkeling is wonderful. A day outing on Maui, other than the beach you might think about is Haleakala crater. Personally I love the drive to Hana, but I doubt it would go over well with the kids.

How long do you have on Maui?

I went to Lanai on a Trilogy trip. The beach is really nice, but not nicer than the beaches on Maui.

If you are looking for something different and educational, I'd go to Molokai and visit Kalaupapa. I don't know if there are age limits.

We will be in Maui one week. We are planning to do both Haleakala and Hana while there. Based on comments, I'm edging away from Lanai at this point. We'll probably make it a beach day on Maui instead.

That's a good choice. I'd say if you'd been to Maui several times and were looking for something new, then try Lanai, but there are more than enough things to do on Mauai. I'd stay put.

We enjoyed a great $-)rental 4WD-jeep "legal" off road experience (www.dollarlanai.com) to a secluded beach in an Expeditions ferry day trip to Lanai from Maui. The ferry (www.go-lanai.com)to and from Lanai proved to be an awesome whalewatch as well!

We took a daytrip to Lanai for snorkeling and dolphin/whale-watching. For us, it was totally worth it.

We snorkeled at Manele Bay - in addition to snorkeling off the beach here, there are some great tide pools at one end of the beach. You could take the ferry here and walk over to Manele Bay to save some cash if you like.

We also got to snorkel beneath some gorgeous cliffs on the island - this area was only accessible by boat, and was a nice change from snorkeling off the beach.

The highlight of our trip though was seeing dolphins and whales on our trip across the channel back to Maui. At one point, our boat was completely surrounded by dolphins - it was incredible!

If you're interested, you can read more about our daytrip to Lanai, as well as check out our pics, here:

http://www.paradise-found-in-maui.co...-of-lanai.html

You mentioned that you already have a snorkeling/sailing trip planned though... if your family loves to snorkel, than I think you'd enjoy a second snorkel outing. If not, you could always just take a ferry to Lanai, and then rent a vehicle to explore the island on your own.

If you enjoy exploring, I think there is enough to see on Lanai to keep you busy for a day!

I am curious to know if the ride was rougher being that close to the water, and were you getting wet from the waves?

I am curious to know if the ride was rougher being that close to the water, and were you getting wet from the waves?

Be aware about West Maui, Lahaina, Kaanapali. Activity, restaurant prices are hurting visitors

A tourism executive said, "We haven't seen such revenue, reservation and visitor declines in Maui since we've been keeping records."

A fresh sign of the woes are being unleashed by a Maui economy mired in boom-time pricing marketing and the Great Recession.

Those vacationing on Maui are, unfortunately, not finding ways to reduce their restaurant and activities expenses once here. Visitor confidence in finding reasonably priced activities and restaurants in Lahaina/Kaanapali is exceptionally low.

Next year will not be any better than this year if the needs of visitors cannot be met.

Hi Grizz55.. sorry for the delay in reply...

You could definitely feel the waves in our boat.

I would assume that in general, the smaller the vessel, the more you'd feel the waves...

Depending on how the waves hit the boat, and where you were seated, it was possible to get sprayed a bit by some of the waves. I don't recall anyone getting terribly wet though...

Sheralyn

Great way to phrase the question. My answer is a big yes. This is a wonderful boat trip and even though I love Hana it is for most if you have a group a road trip in a mini van. Something I left behind on the mainland.
At the other end there is as much adventure I put no Hawaii in contest. Look for what you want.
Rough? maybe but at the end of a trip to Hana all but the driver will be car sick or sick of the car.

I want some of what you're smoking' . . .

(The thread is 4 years old BTW)

Phfiiiiiiiiiiiift allando takes a long inhale and passes to jansij and says whats your fargin point?