Timing for Haleakala

My plan is to drive the main road through the park to the Haleakala Visitor Center (the one near the Sliding Sands Trailhead) with a few quick hikes on the shorter trails.

With an hour drive there and an hour back, how much time should I budget for the paved road in the park?

I haven't decided if I want to get up super early on my vacation, but if I do, where do people usually try and view the sunrise from at Haleakala?

Thanks!

If you are coming from Kahului, allow an hour to get to the park entrance - where you pay to get in. Just past that is the first visitor's centre - or "Park Headquarter's Visitor Centre."

The summit visitor centre is approximately another 30 minute drive, and beyond that you can drive to the summit observation area (about .5 miles past the summit visitor centre) and this is the area most aim for for sunrise. On google maps, use "Haleakala Summit Parking" as the destination.

If you go for sunrise, I'd suggest getting there an hour before sunrise in order to get parking at the summit observation area and to see the changing colours in the sky as the sun comes up. It's a great drive up in the daytime though (and warmer than at sunrise), so don't worry about going for sunrise if you don't want to lose half a night's sleep and/or drive up in the dark.:)

For the sunrise thing, you'll need to be up and moving around 4:30 am.

For early April, I think you'd want to leave Kahului by 3:30 a.m. to arrive about 60 minutes ahead of sunrise. http://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/sunrise-and-sunset.htm