Molokai is the fifth largest of the Hawaiian islands and by far the least developed — there are no traffic lights, no buildings taller than a coconut palm, and no resort strip. Just twenty minutes by air from Maui and Oahu, it feels like a different century.
The island's population of fewer than 7,000 includes the highest percentage of native Hawaiian ancestry of any island in the chain, and that heritage shapes daily life here. Molokai is known as "the Friendly Isle," though locals are also protective of their way of life and have famously resisted large-scale tourism development.
The north shore holds the world's tallest sea cliffs, rising over 1,000 metres from the ocean, and the remote Kalaupapa Peninsula — once a leprosy colony founded by Father Damien — is now a national historical park accessible only by mule trail, small plane, or a steep hike down the cliff. The south coast is fringed by Hawaii's longest continuous reef, and the west end has Papohaku Beach, one of the state's largest white sand beaches, often completely empty.