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Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai

New York City, New...
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287 posts
16 reviews
43 helpful votes
Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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Hi All,

So, I'm debating on the Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai. Has anyone been to both? Which do you prefer? This is our honeymoom, so we are okay with splurging a bit, but can't do both.

Thanks!

Malibu
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17,099 posts
2 reviews
9 helpful votes
1. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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We've been to both numerous times. If you want peaceful relaxation, great beach and much less nightlife, go to Manele. Maui has many more shops and restaurants but is not as laid back. I, personnaly, would only consider Manele, not Koele on Lanai as I cannot see going to Hawaii to have a fire in the fireplace. They are 2 of the best upscale beach resorts anywhere, so you'll be fine either way.

Oregon
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54 posts
2. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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Several replies from Lanai friendlies on the Maui forum version of this post.

The Loop
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51 posts
14 reviews
17 helpful votes
3. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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You should also consider Four Seasons Hualalai, which is also lovely.

folsom
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101 posts
6 reviews
31 helpful votes
4. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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We have stayed at all of the resorts you referenced in the past five years, and in fact we are staying at the Lodge at Koele this June. The FS Maui is one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at, incredible service, great restaurants, fantastic beach, good golf courses, and shopping within walking distance. The FS Manele Bay and FS Lodge at Koele are excellent as well, but for different reasons. The FS Manele Bay is very peaceful and quiet, located on a georgous beach where spinner dolphins swim fairly often. Much more relaxed atmosphere than the FS Maui. The FS Lodge at Koele is not what you typically envision when you think of Hawaii, but it is actually one of my favorites, super service, quaint, large and comfortable rooms, better food, secluded and calm. So, I think it really depends on what you prefer to do on your vacation. One thought would be to split your time between a couple of the hotels, a few years ago we stayed 6 nights at Manele Bay and 3 nights at the Lodge.

oklahoma city
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2,359 posts
6 reviews
9 helpful votes
5. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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I would rate the hotels as follows 1. FS Hualalai(by a wide margin I might add)

2. Manele 3. Maui 4. Lodge at Koele. However they are all great hotels. I would suggest you decide what you want to do on your trip and which Island suits you best. There isn't much to do on Lanai besides golf and relax, maybe hike a bit, and great beach and snorkeling. If you go to Lanai definitely stay at Manele. Both Maui and Hawaii have wide variety of things to do, on Maui these things are much closer together, you will spend less time in a car. Only on Hawaii can you see lava. Personally I would go there. FS Hualalai is also the most expensive. If you go to Hualalai and are there on a Saturday don't miss the beach barbecue. Awesome. Best of luck.

The Loop
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51 posts
14 reviews
17 helpful votes
6. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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Does Manele Bay have anything like the star, surf and sand?

oklahoma city
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2,359 posts
6 reviews
9 helpful votes
7. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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They didn't when I was there, if they do it would be on their website. The beach is somewhat removed from the hotel, maybe a 200 yard walk so really no place to do it

Edina, Minnesota
Destination Expert
for Lanai
Level Contributor
4,257 posts
32 reviews
66 helpful votes
8. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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BigIsland1, Bob is right, there is not anything like the beach buffet at Manele.

Florida
Level Contributor
58 posts
115 reviews
152 helpful votes
9. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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We recently stayed at both Manele and FS Maui. Lanai is more tranquil and has a non touristy feel of laid back Hawaii. At Manele picture perfect colors of water and sky better than Maui and you can't help but relax there as there is not much to do/see besides water and nature sports. FS Maui cannot be beat for service and food and it is beautiful too with incredible adult only serenity pool. Maui is more crowded, touristy but has more options for entertainment. It is very easy and inexpensive to travel between the two islands so I recommend doing both.

Lanai City, Hawaii
1 post
10. Re: Four Seasons Maui vs Lanai
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husband and I moved to Lanai after vacationing here last summer, and we frequent FS maui quite a bit... To be honest, it is easy to do both islands, and it won't strain your budget! What you can do is fly to Honolulu and get a connecting flight to lanai which takes about 20 minutes. From Lanai, a shuttle will pick u up and take you to either manele bay or the lodge. Stay and enjoy lanai for a few days and at the end of your trip, hop on the ferry in lanai and enjoy the 45 minute boat ride(beautiful views of koholawe, maui, lanai and molokai, and go to maui. You can take a cab down to Wailea where the FS is, and it is about $70. It's no more money that going to just one of the hotels, plus, once you get to lanai, it is actually WAY CHEAPER per night in comparrison to Maui. If you book your flights through a travel website, like cheaptickets.com or travelocity, you can do a "multi-city flight" where you leave from your home and fly to lanai through honolulu, then fly home from maui. We did it last year, and it was simple and stress free, just dont forget to check your luggage all the way through to lanai on the first leg of your trip because where you fly into HNL and our of HNL are not close to eachother at all!

It's pretty cool to see the laid back "untouched" lanai and then going to Maui where it is tourist crazy.

PS the snorkeling in front of FS lanai manele bay is to die for, and the serenity pool in FS maui can't be beat, but sometimes adults get really drunk and obnoxious there...

They are both so nice, but lanai is like no where else on this earth, and maui is really big and it takes forever to get anywhere because there is no direct route anywhere which can be annoying, but both are so awesome.

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