Molokai
Across the Pailolo Channel from West Maui sits an island most visitors never set foot on, and along its north shore runs a wall of rock that is the tallest sea cliff in the world. There is no road along that coast and very little access on foot. Two listings on this page cross the channel: $2,653 for fifty-five minutes with 188 reviews, and $611 for ninety.
Quick answer
The north shore of Molokai carries the tallest sea cliffs in the world, and the only practical way to see them is from the air. The fifty-five-minute two-island flight is $2,653 and carries 188 reviews at 4.8 — the second-best-evidenced listing on this page. The ninety-minute flight at $611 covers the same coast with more time over West Maui. The doors-off listing at $452 also reaches the cliffs, with no glass in the way.
Why the cliffs are only visible from the air
The island collapsed into the sea and left a face, not a slope.
The north shore of Molokai is a single unbroken wall for most of its length. It was formed when an enormous slice of the island collapsed into the sea, leaving a face rather than a slope. Streams that reach the top of that face do not slow down: they drop off it, straight into the ocean, with no plunge pool and no beach at the bottom.
There is no coastal road. The Kalaupapa peninsula below the cliffs is reached by a steep trail, by small plane or by sea, and access to it is limited. From a boat you see the base of the wall; from the trail you see the section in front of you. The only vantage that shows the wall as a wall is a helicopter tour Maui operators fly across the channel.
This is the same argument as the closed valleys on East Maui, at a larger scale: the landscape was not built with viewpoints, and the aircraft is the viewpoint.
Book direct
The best-evidenced crossing, the longest flight, the doors-off version and the cheapest look.
★ 4.8 · 188 reviews
★ 5 · 7 reviews
★ 4.8 · 45 reviews
★ 5 · 9 reviews
Which of the four to take
The proven one, the long one, the one with no glass, and the cheap one.
$2,653, fifty-five minutes, 188 reviews at 4.8. The most proven crossing on this page by a wide margin, and our pick if Molokai is the reason you are flying at all.
$611, ninety minutes, 7 reviews at 5.0. Twice the flight and cheaper per minute, with a landing at Ulupalakua Ranch on the way home. A newer listing with correspondingly thin evidence.
$452, forty-five minutes, 45 reviews at 4.8. The cheapest way to the cliffs and the best one for photographs, because there is no glass between the camera and a mile of vertical rock. Minimum age ten.
$396, forty-five minutes. The budget option. It covers West Maui properly and gives you a look at Molokai rather than a tour of it.
What the crossing adds that a Maui-only helicopter tour Maui flight does not
None of them exists on Maui itself.
Nothing on Maui is comparable in scale or in verticality.
On Maui the falls land in pools and streams. Here they land in the sea.
Molokai is the least developed of the main Hawaiian islands, and it reads that way from the air.
The Pailolo is one of the windiest channels in the state, and crossing it is part of why these listings cost more.
188 reviews at 4.8 — the second-best-evidenced listing on this page, and the one built around the crossing.
Check dates for the two-island flight→Common questions
Yes — four listings here reach it, from $396 for a look to $2,653 for the full crossing.
Yes, on the island’s north shore. There is no road along that coast.
The Pailolo Channel is windy, and you will feel it. It is a short crossing.
The fifty-five-minute two-island flight: 188 reviews at 4.8.
Yes — $452, forty-five minutes, minimum age ten.
No. The only landings on this page are the Wailua Valley on Maui and Ulupalakua Ranch.
What the crossing is like
A windy channel, then a coast that ends in a wall.
The Pailolo Channel between West Maui and Molokai is narrow, deep and among the windiest stretches of water in the state. The crossing takes a few minutes and you will feel the air moving; it is normal, the pilots do it several times a day, and it is part of why the listings that make it cost more than those that do not.
What arrives on the other side is unlike anything on Maui. There is no resort strip, very little development of any kind, and then the ground simply ends in a vertical face. Any helicopter tour Maui operators fly across this channel spends most of its Molokai time tracking along that face, which is the correct way to see it — the cliffs only make sense in sequence, not as a single view.
On a clear day you will also see Lanai to the south-west, low and dry, and the far side of the channel stretching away to the north-west.
Molokai against Maui, four differences
Everything here is absent on Maui itself.
Maui’s windward flank is steep. Molokai’s north shore is vertical, and for kilometres at a time.
No pool, no stream mouth, no beach — straight off the face into open water.
The least developed of the main islands, and it reads that way from a thousand feet.
Crossing open water is a different sensation from flying over land, and it is part of what a two-island helicopter tour Maui listing is selling.
In short
Four cross the channel; none of them lands there.
Four listings on this page cross the channel. The most proven helicopter tour Maui sells for this is $2,653, fifty-five minutes, 188 reviews at 4.8.
The cheapest helicopter tour Maui offers that reaches the cliffs is $396, though it gives you a look rather than a tour. The best one for photographs is doors off at $452. The longest is $611.
No helicopter tour Maui operator lands on Molokai. The cliffs are seen from the air or not at all, which is precisely why the crossing is worth the fare.
Go deeper
Thirty minutes on ground no road reaches, from $2,303.
CostFrom $396 for forty-five minutes, and what the landing adds.
The verdictTwelve listings, and the four worth your money.
Road or air620 curves and ten hours, against forty minutes of flying.
Doors offWhat changes, and the rules nobody reads until check-in.
BookingWeights, seats, and what sells out on Maui.
Maui: Road to Hana Helicopter & Waterfall Tour with Landing
★ 4.9 · 332 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h