West Maui's North Shore Highway

This has probably been discussed before in here, but I would like opinions about driving the North Shore Highway (30/340) on Maui between Honolua and Wailuku. Some travel guides list it as "dangerous" while others say that it is a difficult yet worthwhile drive. Have any of you been on it? What are your opinions? Would it present any problems to drive for a person with fear of heights?

As an aside, a fella from here in Southwest Missouri drove his rented convertible off of a cliff and into the ocean on that highway near Honolua last spring, but surely that does not happen often.

Last year, my husband and I drove that road from the pier area to Lahaina. I was the driver and I thought we would end up in divorce court because of it. We were on the outside lane, while all other cars were on the inside lane. It is a beautiful view, but the road is so narrow and there are many blind spots. The cliffs are very beautiful, but I felt we were going over many times. Occassionally when I met another car coming at us, one of us would have to back up, even when it seemed impossible to find room to do that. My husband wanted to keep stopping and take in the views, but I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I am a very competent, safe, calm driver but I never was caught in anything like this for so long. I would never take this ride again.

We returned to Maui a few weeks ago and drove The Road to Hana and it was extremely pleasant for me to drive this very scenic, and much safer drive. We stopped several times along the way.

Bottom line, I would not recommend Route 340.

Anyone out there disagree with me?

We drove the entire western portion of Maui from Kahului, south on 380, and then following 30 to 340 and back to Kahului. It was an incredible day. We didn't have much of a plan, but we took the revealed book and used it as a guideline to our stops.

We stopped at many, many beaches and places of interest. The drive was quite easy to drive with the exception of the area between 30 and 340 on the northern portion of western Maui - I believe it's called the Kahekili Highway.

This area is a bit of a challenge. It is very narrow and has a lot of curves. It is also on the edge of the cliffs, so you definitely have to be cautious but it is worth every minute of it, imho. We never felt as if we were in any danger whatsoever during our drive. You must drive slowly and use caution. The views are spectacular.

My DH did the driving. He was quite tired toward the end as the drive required concentration. I do have a fear of heights but this drive did not bother me. We have driven up to Lake Tahoe, Nevada and I can tell you that that road was much scarier than the drive in Maui.

If you are going to take this trip (I absolutely recommend it!!!), leave somewhat early as you must be out of the area by late afternoon. It would be impossible to drive this roadway after dark.

Here is a link to one of the many threads about this area:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=619449&highlight=western+maui

Thanx for the info. One more question. If we have lunch in Lahaina, will we still have time to drive the highway and get back to civilization before dark?

I don't think I would chance it, honestly. The last thing you would want would be to be on that road in the dark.

The entire drive took us at about 8 hours. We spent a significant amount of time at the Nakalele Blowhole and the Olivine Pools (at least an hour at each) but the rest of our stops consisted of jumping in and out of the car, relatively quickly.

If you want to eat in Lahaina, consider doing the drive counter-clockwise so that you will complete the most difficult parts earlier in your trip. You could then have a late lunch/early dinner in Lahaina. There would be little worry driving back from Lahaina after dark, imho. Keep in mind that if you consider this option, you will be on the outside lane of the roadway, rather than on the inside, hugging the curves (although in many places, it is barely one lane). We took comfort in the fact that we were on the inside lane.

Stepilyn is correct in saying that in some places, you may have to backup (we did once) in order for cars to pass.

Thanx for the info. One more question. If we have lunch in Lahaina, will we still have time to drive the highway and get back to civilization before dark?

If you leave between 1 and 2 pm, you should be fine, but you will not be able to just stop and take as much time as you might like to take. You will need to pay attention to the time and be very careful (even more so than otherwise) because of the afternoon light. You'll have some glare and some shadowing along the road, which is one-lane for a several mile stretch. Be sure to be in Kahului before dark.

It's not a road to be driven by the nervous, new, or timid driver. If you know one-lane etiquette and are confident in your driving skills (and especially if you have experience with these types of roads), then you should be okay driving it. It's a truly beautiful scenic drive and well worth the time. You need to allow at least 3 hours for it, and 4 would be better. The only reason to take this route is for the scenic beauty, and it is really spectacular.

I cannot recommend that anyone drive it counter-clockwise (Kahului to Lahaina) because, as Stepilyn says, it's more of a nail-biter being on the outside all the way. We only do the Lahaina to Kahului way.

beachchick

We just drove it last Thursday, clockwise from Laihina. Counter-clockwise would be terrifying, I would think! My husband did all the driving, and he said that though the Road to Hana was longer and tiring, the North Maui loop was much more nerve-wracking for him.

The one lane section has many blind spots on it, and frankly, we didn't look at the view much during that part, because we were both looking ahead to see what might be coming!

If we were to drive it again, we would probably go as far as the banana nut bread stand in Kahakuloa and turn around. We didn't stop anywhere beyond that point and the things that were highlights for us (Blow Hole, Olivine Pools, Smoothy Bus, banana nut bread) were all before that point.

It took us about 5 hours to get from Kaanapali around to Wailuku.

We ended up on that road by accident. We are still talking about it, and we were in Hawaii last month. I was scared to death, but at the same time it was thrilling. There were boulders blocking the road, rocks falling - one just missed our car and hit the "falling rock" sign instead. I do have to say I am so glad we did it - the whole Hawaii experience was a trip of a lifetime for us.:)

This information is from a April 30, 2007 Thread, we took this route on our cruise back in March 2007.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...ight=FORBIDDEN

Maui's Kahekili Highway - The Forbidden Road

We traveled this forbidden route to Kapalua on our Pride of Aloha cruise last month, has anyone else done this drive?

Quote:

It wasn't until sometime in the 1990s that this road was completely paved, and open to travel for rental cars (though some companies may still place it off-limits, so visitors should check their rental contracts). Even now, it remains a little-used "back door" into west Maui (for good reason, as shown below).

I called it the "Forbidden Highway" because about halfway through our trip I referred to the map given to us by the rental agency and it said it was "Forbidden" to drive this stretch of road due to it being a one lane road for quite a stretch.

There are incredible views from this highway.

(Click to Enlarge)

[/img]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=611514&highlight=FORBIDDEN

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