I just booked a January trip to Hawaii. After much stressing, I decided to book:

6 nights in Maui at the Four Seasons
5 nights in Lanai Four Seasons Manele Bay. Both resorts include breakfast and are garden rooms. The total price is $5750 for the 11 nights with breakfast. I will depart from Honolulu at 11:40pm so I figured we would have time to explore Oahu and Pearl Harbor on departure day. I got r/t flights First Class/Business Class on Delta using 210,000 skymiles.

So, do you think I made a mistake picking Lanai and not the Big Island????

But you'd finally decided on Kauai on your other post.

I already tried to talk you in to Maui and Oahu over there -lol! Seriously, just depends what you want to see and do. 5 days on Lanai wouldn't be my cup of tea but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it.

It depends on what you want to do on your trip. Personally, I would find 5 days on Lanai very boring, but then we like to drive around and see stuff. If you want to just relax and not really leave the resort much, then Lanai would be fine.

Well. Yes, I think 5 days there will be a bit much. But, you don't have to stay there the entire time. you can drive around on that side of the island and visit small towns and do some of the hikes and such. I would spend my Maui days enjoying Maui. Then spend a few days in Lanai just relaxing. Do the wine tour at the pineapple place. Go horseback riding if that is your interest.

Long story short you are on the island of Maui. What's not to enjoy? If you are the type of person that can make your own fun no matter where you are then you will be fine. But, if you go into it thinking it's going to be bad then there you have it.

Enjoy. I love Maui!

We had a week on the BI and still didn't see everything. Is it too late to cancel Lanai and make other plans? If it's possible then go for it. If it is too late, then look at it this way: A boring day in Lanai still beats a fun day at the office.

I think you will enjoy your trip, whatever you do.

Let me just add i spent 16 days on the island of Maui. I had thought I would do the island hopper thing. But, I am so glad I didn't. there was plenty to do on Maui. Enjoy Maui and everything there is. It's going to go by so fast. I personally like to see one place and see it well. I think some visitors get caught up in the visit to Hawaii and end up spending so much time trying to see everything that they miss out on the simple things. Like driving around and stopping at road side stands for fresh banana bread. Or hanging out on the beach. Going snorkeling for a day or two. There is so much. You will be happy that you spent a lot of time in one spot.

I am not worried about Maui. I think 6 nights there will be good. I am worried about five nights in Lanai. Perhaps, it will be too boring and too similar to Maui. I wanted to do the Big Island but it was just not working with redeeming our skymiles. The Four Seasons in BI also was nonrefundable because of the holiday season. I really don't want to take that chance.

What if I keep the six nights in Maui, then do two in Lanai, and three nights in Halekulai. I would lose the free night at Lanai so it would end up to cost me an extra $650, but I could live with that if everyone thought it was a better trip.

Thoughts? TIA

I think I would love Lanai as it is very low key and potentially very relaxing, which is why I go to Hawaii...to relax.

Staying on any of the islands for less than 5 days is sort of pointless.

Dr_Andrea, you said "Halekulai." Did you mean "Halekulani?" I would do 5 nights on Oahu at the Halekulani, but that's just me! I would do AT LEAST two nights on Oahu ... Just depends on what YOU like to do. I've never had a bad time anywhere in Hawaii but I'm happiest where I have lots of choices!

<<After much stressing>>

Didn't you reserve Maui and the Big Island??

This is truly a personal choice. Every single person sees it a bit differently. Obviously there's advantages and disadvantages for any plan...
Maui/Kauai
Maui/BI
Maui/Lanai
Maui/Oahu/Lani

You're staying at extremely nice places, I'm sure they would all be lovely. Some people like to see & do lots every day, some people can lay around and do nothing for a week. Trick is matching what YOU want to do with the location.

kindly, suze

Do NOT stress-it's Hawaii! And come back with a trip report on hidden gems of Lanai.

My personal experience. I really didn't like Oahu, and we stayed at the halekulani. LOVED Maui- and we were there for 8 days. I would do Oahu for 2 nights b/c you are there, then head over to Maui. Lanai sounds lovely- but maybe a 3 nights type of place.

just to clarify, we loved the halekulani, but oahu wasn't what we were hoping for for our hawaii experience.

emcash~ Did you get out and see other parts of Oahu?

I ask only because most often people who were disappointed with Oahu did not leave Honolulu/Waikiki.

I on the other hand spent 6 days on Oahu and 5 days on Maui and ended up preferring Oahu over Maui. Spent very little time in Waikiki but in other areas on the windward side and on North Shore. Felt like I really experienced on Oahu what I imagined Hawaii to be - and that's often opposite of what you read on these posts. Oahu - too commercial. Maui - wonderful. My experience was the opposite.

Leaving in a couple of weeks for Hawaii, and this time just for 8 days. I chose 6 nights on Oahu and 2 nights on Maui just to do a couple of specific things.

So like previous posters said - it all depends on what will be a "vacation" for you. But don't go and feel like you have to squeeze every ounce of sightseeing into the trip. If you enjoyed what you did, does it matter whether you missed doing something that someone else recommends as "not to be missed"?

I love Lanai. Have been fortunate to stay there twice. I prefer staying at The Lodge and shuttling down to Manele. Love talking story over bfast in Lanai city and meeting the locals.

I might switch it to 7 nights 4 nights as there is much to explore on Maui while there and leaving plenty of resort time.

And if you are exploring you might consider a night or two at Hotel Hana.

Save the Big Island for another trip! Lanai is a real treat.

You might also consider a day trip to Molokai from Maui. As a doctor the history of the colony may be of particular interest. And the colony is on what is perhaps some of the most beautiful land of the islands.

http://www.muleride.com/index.html