Is the road to Hana good views, or a traffic jam?

[BS102]

We stayed in Maui for a week, and did the road to Hana. It is everything everyone has said, but my two cents say not to do it while on a cruise. The really good parts are at the end, so going halfway and turning back is missing the spectacular sights. I would be afraid that an accident would take forever to clear, and you might not get back in time...and an accident on that road could happen anytime!

[fotogirl]

Luckily for us, we'll be doing the road to Hana on a the first day of an overnight stay in port.

 

Does anyone know if the road to Hana is open on the other side of Hana to rental cars? I've read elsewhere that road is closed to lava flow? Our main concern is driving back over the road after it is dark. We probably won't be starting the drive until 10-11 am, but we want to make all the stops to make sure we don't miss anything. Is it dangerous once it's dark? Can you go past Hana and loop back around?

 

What are some of the key stops we absolutely must not miss?

 

Thanks in advance!

[judyf]

We stayed in Maui for a week, and did the road to Hana. It is everything everyone has said, but my two cents say not to do it while on a cruise. The really good parts are at the end, so going halfway and turning back is missing the spectacular sights. I would be afraid that an accident would take forever to clear, and you might not get back in time...and an accident on that road could happen anytime!

 

That's why we did it on the overnight day of the cruise. This way you're okay just in case something does hold you up.

[judyf]

Luckily for us, we'll be doing the road to Hana on a the first day of an overnight stay in port.

 

Does anyone know if the road to Hana is open on the other side of Hana to rental cars? I've read elsewhere that road is closed to lava flow? Our main concern is driving back over the road after it is dark. We probably won't be starting the drive until 10-11 am, but we want to make all the stops to make sure we don't miss anything. Is it dangerous once it's dark? Can you go past Hana and loop back around?

 

What are some of the key stops we absolutely must not miss?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

We drove back in the dark in the pouring rain, for us it wasn't so bad. After dark there's not much traffic. When you start out check the road only you can tell if it will be okay for who ever is driving after dark.

 

 

I would say the top three places not to miss are Ke'anae Peninsula, Wai'anapanapa State Park and 7 scared Pools. The revealed Book on Maui really helped me decide where to stop and what to skip, We also got a late start. I just did a complete review on our driving the RTH if you want to see what I wrote on it.

[beachchick]

Luckily for us, we'll be doing the road to Hana on a the first day of an overnight stay in port.

 

Does anyone know if the road to Hana is open on the other side of Hana to rental cars? I've read elsewhere that road is closed to lava flow? Our main concern is driving back over the road after it is dark. We probably won't be starting the drive until 10-11 am, but we want to make all the stops to make sure we don't miss anything. Is it dangerous once it's dark? Can you go past Hana and loop back around?

 

What are some of the key stops we absolutely must not miss?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

No, at this time you cannot take the circle route around south Maui and back to Kahului through upcountry. It's not closed because of lava flows (there are no recent lava flows and no currently active volcanoes on Maui; you may be thinking of Kilauea on the BI, which has tromped over miles of roads in the past couple of decades). The road is closed because of damage and possible dangers from the earthquake in October 2006.

 

Yes, it is dangerous once it's dark. However, if you are a very confident driver who is fine with absolute darkness (no "streetlights" or other light sources) and confident on winding, narrow roads with one lane bridges, then you can certainly do it. We wouldn't, but then again we don't think the RTH is a must do for cruises either. As an FYI, if the south route to circle around was open, then that's an absolute DO NOT DRIVE THIS IN THE DARK. The "bad" section of it is not safe at night, except for locals who (used to) drive it frequently.

 

There's simply no way to leave that late and make "all" the stops. The fact is that not every possible sight or stop is "all that" either. Browse around here and through the Revealed (or other) books, think about which kind of sights interest you, and then select some of what you would like to see. IMO, Waianapanapa is an absolute must stop. The black sand beach is beautiful and it's a very lovely beach/park; a good place for a picnic. Hana is, of course, a must stop. Go to the Hasegawa General Store. For a neat stop, try a red sand beach; one is just on the other side of Hana Bay (and probably has a name, but I can't remember it), the other is Koki and a few miles past Hana. There are so many waterfalls that you could really "lose" time if you try to stop at all of them. Choose a few (the Revealed books really give insights into which might be best) and enjoy those. The Blue Pool (Helele'ike'oha Falls?) is a good stop, but you do have to go off the main road and spend some time getting there. However, it can be spectacular.

 

You might want to drive straight through to Blue Pool (if it interests you), then on to Waianapanapa, after that head to Hana and stop, go beyond to Oheo Gulch ("Seven Sacred Pools"), and then turn around and head back toward Kahlului. That way you can make stops on the way back based on how much "day" you have left. Don't forget that the RTH is on the east-south and behind Haleakala, so you'll lose light faster. There's a stand somewhere along there that has some of the best banana bread, but I'm blanking on location or name. (My DH is a banana bread fiend who says mine is the best, but that the bread we bought on the RTH was pretty darn good.)

 

Hope that helps you plan your day. Enjoy!:D

 

beachchick