Planning a Trip

Arriving

By Plane -- No matter where you're coming from, you'll have to make a connection in Honolulu, where you catch a plane for the 25-minute flight to Lanai's airport. You'll touch down in Puuwai Basin, once the world's largest pineapple plantation; it's about 10 minutes by car to Lanai City and 25 minutes to Manele Bay.

In 2007 visitors to Lanai got not one but two new commuter airlines that began flying from Honolulu to Lanai. The first is go! airline, which started a new commuter service from Honolulu to Lanai under the name go!Express (tel. 888/IFLYGO2; www.iflygo.com) on their new fleet of Cessna Grand Caravan 208B planes. Another commuter airline, Pacific Wings, started operating a discount airline, PW Express (tel. 888/866-5022 or 808/873-0877; www.flypwx.com) with daily nonstop flights between Honolulu and Lanai.

Island Air (tel. 800/323-3345 or 808/484-2222) also still flies from Honolulu to Lanai, with deHavilland DASH-8 and DASH-6 turboprop aircraft. But I have to tell you that I have not had stellar service from Island Air and would recommend you book on go!Express or PW Express instead.

By Boat -- A round-trip on Expeditions Lahaina/Lanai Passenger Ferry (tel. 808/661-3756; www.go-lanai.com) takes you between Maui and Lanai for $26 each way. The ferry runs five times a day, 365 days a year, between Lahaina and Lanai's Manele Bay harbor. The 9-mile channel crossing takes 45 minutes to an hour, depending on sea conditions. Reservations are strongly recommended (or book online). Baggage is limited to two checked bags and one carry-on.

Visitor Information

Lanai Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 631436, Lanai City, HI 96763, or 431 Seventh St., Suite A, Lanai City (tel. 800/947-4774 or 808/565-7600; fax 808/565-9316; www.visitlanai.net), and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (tel. 800/GO-HAWAII or 808/923-1811; www.gohawaii.com) provide brochures, maps, and island guides.

The Island in Brief

Inhabited Lanai is divided into three parts -- Lanai City, Koele, and Manele -- and two distinct climate zones: hot and dry, and cool and misty.

Lanai City (pop. 3,200) sits at the heart of the island at 1,645 feet above sea level. It's the only place on the island where you'll find services. Built in 1924, this plantation village is a tidy grid of quaint tin-roofed cottages in bright pastels, with tropical gardens of banana, lilikoi, and papaya. Many of the residents are Filipino immigrants who worked the pineapple fields. Their clapboard homes, now worth $500,000 or more (for a 1,000-sq.-ft. home, built in 1935, on a tiny, 5,000-sq.-ft. lot), are excellent examples of historic preservation; the whole town looks like it's been kept under a bell jar.

Around Dole Park Square, a charming village square lined with towering Norfolk and Cook Island pines, plantation buildings house general stores with basic necessities as well as a U.S. Post Office (where people stop to chat), two banks, three restaurants, an art gallery, an art center, a whimsical shop, and a coffee shop that outshines any Starbucks. A victim of "progress" was the local, one-room police station with a jail that consists of three blue-and-white wooden outhouse-size cells with padlocks. It's now a block from the square with "modern facilities," including regulation-size jail cells.

In the nearby cool upland district of Koele is The Lodge at Koele, standing alone on a knoll overlooking pastures and the sea at the edge of a pine forest, like a grand European manor. The other bastion of indulgence, the Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay, is on the sunny southwestern tip of the island at Manele. You'll get more of what you expect from Hawaii here -- beaches, swaying palms, mai tais, and the like.

Fast Facts

Lanai is part of Maui County. In case of emergencies, call the police, fire department, or ambulance services at tel. 911, or the Poison Control Center at tel. 800/362-3585. For nonemergencies, call the police (tel. 808/565-6428).

For emergency dental care, call Dr. James Sagawa (tel. 808/565-6418). If you need a doctor, contact the Lanai Family Health Center (tel. 808/565-6423) or the Lanai Community Hospital (tel. 808/565-6411).

For a weather report, call the National Weather Service at tel. 808/565-6033 (www.nws.noaa.gov).

Getting Around

With so few paved roads here, you'll need a four-wheel-drive vehicle if you plan to explore the island's remote shores, its interior, or the summit of Mount Lanaihale. Even if you have only a day on Lanai, rent one and see the island. Both cars and four-wheel-drive vehicles are available at the Dollar Rent-A-Car desk at Lanai City Service/Lanai Plantation Store, 1036 Lanai Ave. (tel. 800/588-7808 for Dollar reservations, or 808/565-7227 for Lanai City Service). Expect to pay about $139 a day for a four-wheel-drive jeep.

Warning: Gas is expensive on Lanai and those four-wheel-drive vehicles get terrible mileage. Because everything in Lanai City is within walking distance, it makes sense to rent a jeep only for the days you want to explore the island.

Though it's fun to rent a car and explore the island, it's possible to stay here and get to the beach without one. The two big resort hotels run shuttle vans to the Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay; from there, you walk to Hulopoe Beach. When you want to return, you just catch the hourly shuttle (it may run on the half-hour from Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay) back to Lanai City.

If you're staying elsewhere, you can walk to everything in Lanai City and take a taxi to the beach. Lanai Plantation Store (tel. 808/565-7227) will provide transportation from Lanai City to Hulopoe Beach for $10 per person one-way (you can arrange in advance when you want to be picked up, or walk over to the Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay and phone them to come and get you -- or you can most likely get a ride back up to Lanai City with a local). Whether or not you rent a car, sooner or later you'll find yourself at Lanai City Service/Lanai Plantation Store. This all-in-one grocery store, gas station, car-rental agency, and souvenir shop provides information, directions, maps, and all the local gossip.