Maui road to Hana tour, recommendations.

[lilpooh108]

We've done it twice-- once the right way and once through the back way from the other side (which voids your rental car agreement, btw).

I wouldn't do it the "right" way again. It was fun, once in a lifetime, and we never made it to the 7 pools. We stopped ALOT and jumped into random waterfalls. If you're not planning on stopping, then don't bother. The actual town of Hana and the 7 pools (which we finally got to on our 2nd trip) are not that spectacular. The black sand beach is worth stopping for.

Plan your dinner at the Hana Hotel to refresh yourself for the drive back. It's dangerous at night since every bridge is a one lane and you have to pull over to let oncoming traffic pass. There's dozens of bridges.

I would not take a tour, since you can't stop at your leisure. With the motion sickness you might just want to.

 

[happyann79]

FYI...most car rentals make you sign a waver that you will not take the car on that road. We chose not to go after talking with the rental agency.

 

[Dean]

FYI...most car rentals make you sign a waver that you will not take the car on that road. We chose not to go after talking with the rental agency.

That's not true as I understand it. What they generally state is that you can't take the vehicle on unimproved roads.

 

[dsneygirl]

I totally agree!! We LOVED the road to Hana, and we took all day as well. Of course, the return trip is a bit scarier than the trip out, since on the return you are on the cliff side. We just were very cognizant of where drivers were coming toward us, and went slower.

We have done it twice. We loved it. We took our own car and drove and then turned around we did not go all the way around (this was 8 years ago the roads may have been improved)

 

[rockchick04]

We did this earlier this month and loved it. I wouldn't take a tour.. pretty easy drive as long as you watch for cars on the other side of the bridges and take some motion sickness pills. It literally went from bright blue to pouring rain in about 5 minutes when we ate lunch and then never stopped raining, but we enjoyed it a lot.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

This is the way I feel about the road to Hana:

If you have the time to do it, take your rental car and do it. The point of it is to enjoy the journey, not the destination. We've been to Maui six times. We did the drive once back in 2009 (on our 3rd trip there) when we had 12 days on Maui. It's not a difficult drive. The point of the drive is to stop and enjoy the sights along the way, not drive it straight through. Definitely get the Maui Revealed book, it will take you through it basically mile marker by mile marker. We ran into many tour buses along the way. I was glad we did it on our own. We got to decide if we wanted to linger at a waterfall or move on and see the next. We packed some sandwiches, some drinks, sunscreen and the camera and hit the road.

In our 3 trips since, we haven't felt the need to spend an entire day in the car doing the trip again. We probably won't be doing it on trip #7 in May either.

 

[Shellandscott]

We did the SkyTrek Hana with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters and Temptation Tours. They flew us in and drove us out. If you do anything in the sky or sea do it early in the am. Winds pick up as the day goes on. Relaxing way to go and they give you lunch. Check with your hotel or timeshare tour desk for who they recommend.

 

[lilpooh108]

That's not true as I understand it. What they generally state is that you can't take the vehicle on unimproved roads.

Yup. In my post I meant to say that we voided the rental agreement by going the back road. The back road "ends" at a beach on the other side of Hana. There is literally no road, but rocks and sea. You can drive it if there is low tide.

We didn't do this intentionally---we went to Maui winery and decided to drive up to Hana thinking that there was a road. It was more fun this way...but a little scary for the 2 miles where there was literally, no road. I have a picture somewhere. I'll dig it up.

If you take the "right" road, it does not void your rental agreement.

Shhh...don't tell Alamo.

 

[Dean]

Yup. In my post I meant to say that we voided the rental agreement by going the back road. The back road "ends" at a beach on the other side of Hana. There is literally no road, but rocks and sea. You can drive it if there is low tide.

We didn't do this intentionally---we went to Maui winery and decided to drive up to Hana thinking that there was a road. It was more fun this way...but a little scary for the 2 miles where there was literally, no road. I have a picture somewhere. I'll dig it up.

If you take the "right" road, it does not void your rental agreement.

Shhh...don't tell Alamo.

We haven't been that way since the road was washed out a few years ago. However, we did drive all the way around I'm thinking 2002 or so. IMO the road qualified as an improved road at that time though it certainly wasn't the interstate. I can't speak to the condition now. My point was that the wording didn't prevent the trip and at that time and IMO, the trip around past the pools and Lindberg would not have violated the contract with that wording.

 

[lilpooh108]

We haven't been that way since the road was washed out a few years ago. However, we did drive all the way around I'm thinking 2002 or so. IMO the road qualified as an improved road at that time though it certainly wasn't the interstate. I can't speak to the condition now. My point was that the wording didn't prevent the trip and at that time and IMO, the trip around past the pools and Lindberg would not have violated the contract with that wording.

We took it the year of the big fire in Kahului...where they shut down the roads all day. It was probably like 2005 or 2006. I remember on the map they handed out they dotted out that road that was washed out meaning that was not a road so it would have been a "no no" as far as Alamo was concerned.

We talked to some locals near the winery who told us it was driveable. It was...it was just (as you said) washed out. It would have been dangerous if the tide had come in though...and you know in Hawaii it comes in fast so probably in hindsight (and now having had 2 kids) it wasn't the best decision. But my husband and I were still living dangerously at the time

 

[Dean]

We took it the year of the big fire in Kahului...where they shut down the roads all day. It was probably like 2005 or 2006. I remember on the map they handed out they dotted out that road that was washed out meaning that was not a road so it would have been a "no no" as far as Alamo was concerned.

We talked to some locals near the winery who told us it was driveable. It was...it was just (as you said) washed out. It would have been dangerous if the tide had come in though...and you know in Hawaii it comes in fast so probably in hindsight (and now having had 2 kids) it wasn't the best decision. But my husband and I were still living dangerously at the time

Thanks, I do remember it being a little scary though.

 

[tor]

We made the drive many years ago. It was well worth it stopped at waterfalls and did some swimming. One waterfall went from a trickle to a torrent in minutes. Swam in the sacred pools and continued to Lindbergh's grave sight.

The back road was dirt in most spots but nothing the mustang I rented from Alamo couldnt handle. Maybe the bottom got a little scraped up I didnt see any grass farmers selling bags but did see a lot of cows

 

[ccigliano]

We drove once and once we did the tour where you fly back via helicopter and it was amazing!!!!!!!! We stopped and were told what was native and what not and fed a few mongoose as well !

We did this too and when i was the driver and missed out on a lot. When we did the tour we took a custom van where everyone had a captains seat and a full window and then we took the copter back over Haleakala. I would do this tour again.

 

[Anal Annie]

I've done the drive a couple of times on our own - the road is paved now (it didn't USED TO BE). We enjoyed it and would do it again but not with DS with us. Spending all day in a car "sightseeing" waterfalls is not his idea of a good time!! I would not take kids on the road to Hana. It's a long day. I DO hope to make it back up to Haleakala tho on our next trip. That's another thing we skipped on our last trip to Maui because we had DS with us. Didn't think he'd go for the getting up at 2:30 AM thing. But now he's a swimmer and we're all pretty much used to the o'dark-thirty hours so I want to go go again!! It's a good excuse for a do-nothing-but-lounge-around-the-pool kind of day for the rest of your day!! IMO the Road to Hana should be done at least once if you're kid-free!! But just do it on your own and take your time...and as others have already said head back well before dark!!

 

[Lisa Anne Colling]

I've done the drive a couple of times on our own - the road is paved now (it didn't USED TO BE). We enjoyed it and would do it again but not with DS with us. Spending all day in a car "sightseeing" waterfalls is not his idea of a good time!! I would not take kids on the road to Hana. It's a long day. QUOTE]

I think it depends on the kids. Mine were, 9, 10 and 12 and loved it. I think it is in the planning too. We did geocaching, hiking, swimming in the ocean, swimming in waterfalls, explored blow holes, lava tubes, and tidal pools. The kids loved it all and the adventure!