Driving to Haleakala

[mufc99]

Has anybody here driven to the top of Haleakala?

 

I am planning on renting a car in Maui and was hoping to drive there myself for sunset.

 

My wife however seems horrified at the thought! :-)

My son didnt help much, saying that he wouldnt do the drive - he did it with a tour company!

 

Surely its just a twisting road and its not like there are people going over the edge every week! :-)

[CruiserBruce]

Yes, its a windy road. Don't recall any complexity to driving it.

 

Sunrise is generally better. The mountain can be fully covered by clouds at sunset.

[sptrout]

Excellent road, and not a difficult drive at least during daylight. I would not want to drive it in the dark, but that is me. Agree that clouds could be a problem in the evening or earlier. We drove up in the morning arriving at the summit around noon. It was clear all the way up, but the clouds were quickly closing in by early afternoon. Also, do not forget the temperature change. Expect around a 30-35 degree drop from the sea level temperature, not including wind chill.

[Obsessedwithplanning]

We rented a camero convertible and drove to Haleakala on 8/9. It is windy and steep but certainly not dangerous if you drive the speed limit. It is a slow trip but beautiful. We are from upstate NY so the road was not that different for us. Although I was surprised by the lack of guardrails in many places.

 

It is an amazing site so I highly recommend you go. And stop at the various look outs along the way but continue all the way to the summit. Bring a jacket. It was August and 21 degrees cooler at the top. We reached the top at noon. Sunrise and sunset just didn't work for our schedule.

[Silver Sweethearts]

Has anybody here driven to the top of Haleakala?

 

I am planning on renting a car in Maui and was hoping to drive there myself for sunset.

 

My wife however seems horrified at the thought! :-)

My son didnt help much, saying that he wouldnt do the drive - he did it with a tour company!

 

Surely its just a twisting road and its not like there are people going over the edge every week! :-)

 

Actually, it isn't the drive up to the top of Haleakala that is the problem in this case. It is the drive back downhill in the dark.

[Astro Flyer]

It wasn't a bad drive for me in the dark as it was mostly a wide switchback road.

 

OP...you have to get up very early in the middle of the night to arrive before sunrise. I've gone twice & to me it's important to arrive at least 30 minutes before official sunrise. That way you can experience the black sky & the first rays of golden sunshine on the horizon...like a sunrise from space orbit.

 

Another thing to consider is that it will be very cold and can be windy at the summit. The general lapse rate for temperatures is 3° per 1000 feet of elevation & thus it can be 30° cooler at the summit! Add the windchill factor & that drops the temperature several more degrees. Also the 10,000 foot summit can create problems with some health issues due to less oxygen.

 

I also thought sunset wasn't anything exceptional...particularly in comparison to an amazing sunrise.

 

Just a few things to consider as your family decides about a very early drive to Haleakala.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Silver Sweethearts]

It wasn't a bad drive for me in the dark as it was mostly a wide switchback road.

 

It is just that the driver obviously has to pay attention to driving and the passengers have nothing to look at. Not a lot of fun. Just a thought, but wonder if the OP might consider a sunset cocktail or dinner cruise instead? Yes, it is at sea level rather than 10,000 feet, but we have seen so many gorgeous sunsets on the water, and we stopped counting green flashes (wonder how many visitors have seen those?).

[chipmaster]

Has anybody here driven to the top of Haleakala?

 

I am planning on renting a car in Maui and was hoping to drive there myself for sunset.

 

My wife however seems horrified at the thought! :-)

My son didnt help much, saying that he wouldnt do the drive - he did it with a tour company!

 

Surely its just a twisting road and its not like there are people going over the edge every week! :-)

 

Haleakala is so beautiful, the price for a sunrise or sunset is of course the very long and winding drive up or down in the DARK. Everytime I'm on Maui I fancy that adventure, but each time we enjoy doing it during the day, and simply enjoy sunrise/sunset at the beach ;)

 

Another consideration is often can find the place in clouds so you could SOL if you pick early or late and get up and see nothing.

 

All that being said the road is easy.. but it is safe if not a long drive.

[mustgo]

Where did you rent a car on Maui? Was it easily accessible from the cruiseship?

[mufc99]

Previously we used Alamo. They have a shuttle that comes to the ship and also returns you there when you return the car.

[punkincc]

Where did you rent a car on Maui? Was it easily accessible from the cruiseship?

 

Are you docking at Kahului? Procedures may vary if it's Lahaina instead. You may want to check out the Discount Hawaii Car Rental website. Just indicate you are a cruise ship passenger. You get directed to the rental companies website to do the actual booking, but you retain the DHCR pricing and perks ( usually the 2nd driver is free ). You pay nothing up front. In Mauai and Kauai the airport locations are 5 min away. Just look for your shuttle when you exit the ship. They make loops back and forth.

[cb at sea]

We did a sunrise tour...on a bus.....we let a pro drive up that mountain in the dark! It is a steep and winding road...I really see no point in looking at the sunset from up there....it's the same on the beach!

[mufc99]

Looks like my wife has won the argument and we will drive up in daylight and come back in the daylight! :-(

 

I printed out your comments and even showed her Youtube clips!

 

She wouldn't have any of it! Chicken! :-)

 

Doing it with Roberts is pretty expensive, especially with the poor Aussie exchange rate.

[Susan-M]

Looks like my wife has won the argument and we will drive up in daylight and come back in the daylight! :-(

 

 

It's the way we've done it on our 4 trips up there - we really enjoy driving up and down in daylight so that we can see the scenery both ways, and being up there at the warmest time of the day so that we can spend time at the summit taking in the spectacular scenery and doing some hiking.

 

One of these times we'll go for sunrise, but I agree with the comment above that viewing the sunset from west or south Maui beaches is a great way to enjoy sunset!

 

Enjoy. :)

[Astro Flyer]

One thing to consider about the time of day is that when looking up from South Maui in the afternoon there can be clouds on the upper portions of Haleakala.

[utexonah]

We just were there, and had very poor visibility due to clouds, however, the driving was mostly fine. Go slow and enjoy the scenery. We were very happy with Discount Hawaii Rental Cars. We rented from them on every island. We booked in advance and checked the price again as it got closer and made a new reservation and canceled the old when prices dropped. We went with the best prices we could find, and paid about $35 plus gas for each day besides Oahu--where we specified a minivan and paid about $50 per day: Thrifty on the big island (Chevy Traverse-spotless condition), Alamo on Kauai (Jeep-brand new), Thrifty on Maui (Versa-selected "their choice", hoping for larger, and not very clean), and Enterprise on Oahu (Grand Caravan--okay, but the key fob didn't open the doors well, a couple of times we thought we were locked out). When you get off the ship they will direct you to shuttles, which will take you to your agency. Ask about what time their last shuttle goes to the port. We were almost in a pickle when we arrived at Alamo in Kauai and they said their last shuttle left before we arrived.

[punkincc]

We just were there, and had very poor visibility due to clouds, however, the driving was mostly fine. Go slow and enjoy the scenery. We were very happy with Discount Hawaii Rental Cars. We rented from them on every island. We booked in advance and checked the price again as it got closer and made a new reservation and canceled the old when prices dropped. We went with the best prices we could find, and paid about $35 plus gas for each day besides Oahu--where we specified a minivan and paid about $50 per day: Thrifty on the big island (Chevy Traverse-spotless condition), Alamo on Kauai (Jeep-brand new), Thrifty on Maui (Versa-selected "their choice", hoping for larger, and not very clean), and Enterprise on Oahu (Grand Caravan--okay, but the key fob didn't open the doors well, a couple of times we thought we were locked out). When you get off the ship they will direct you to shuttles, which will take you to your agency. Ask about what time their last shuttle goes to the port. We were almost in a pickle when we arrived at Alamo in Kauai and they said their last shuttle left before we arrived.

 

Well, for the sake of myself and others who might find themselves in this situation, don't leave us hanging!;). How did you get out of this "pickle"? Did the shuttle return and make an extra trip? Taxi?