New Family Friendly Hotels in Lanai:

Four Seasons Manele Bay: Lanai, Hawaii


Property
Nestled into a lush green bay on one of Hawaii’s smallest islands, Manele Bay recently managed to provide my family of five our best vacation of all time—no kidding. A friend who grew up on Maui later asked if I knew that we were going to the island, “with nothing to do.” I had no idea, but I think this was what made the difference for us. We are not hike-the-volcano, dig-into-Polynesian-culture types. I think I read three books in five days. We spent every one of our five days on the perfect, private beach. Meals at Manele were pricey and somewhat mediocre, but this was made up for by “Chef Oliver” who befriended us and sent appetizers to the table and a fabulous dessert extravaganza to the kids one night in the room just because we’d all had a great conversation about soccer one afternoon. The hotel felt sophisticated, welcoming and kid-friendly but in an excellently subtle way.

Location
Lanai, Hawaii. We flew into Maui, and took the ferry, which the kids loved.
Sleeps
2-4 in spacious and lovely rooms (larger families will have to reserve connecting rooms). The hotel feels a tiny bit old, but only on the outside. The rooms spare no luxury and the kids were delighted by cookies in the room and little sponges in the bathroom that spelled out their names as well as backpack goodie bags on check-in.
Highlights
Definitely the beach–the waves were the perfect size for my 5, 7 and 9-year-olds, the youngest of whom doesn’t actually swim. With a little yellow floatie belt provided by the Four Seasons (it turns out there was nothing the Four Seasons didn’t provide) and the guidance of a parent, he loved body-surfing in the waves as much as his siblings. The pod of approximately fifty dolphins that came into the bay four of the five days we were there was “the most amazing thing in nature” that my husband had ever experienced. My daughter may become a marine biologist after having swum in the midst of the pod, “so close I could have touched one.” Other highlights are a great pool and a bar-type lounge (kids allowed) with table shuffle-board and ping-pong.
Good to Know
Be prepared for a leisurely (read, long) layover given the arrival of your flight into Maui and the wait for the ferry after a quick 20-30 minute drive across the island for the ferry. It did feel like a long-ish day of travel, but felt well worth it once we were in what is truly the lap of luxury. With youngish kids, I wouldn’t go for any fewer than 4 nights.

Written by Kimberly Ford

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