Maui Road to Hana

Hi Guys

do you recommend doing this yourself or take a tour??

Thanks

Hi Guys

do you recommend doing this yourself or take a tour??

Thanks

I have done it both ways about 20 years apart. The tour was far better than doing the driving because the driver's main concern is staying on the road. I also learned a lot more listening to the guide.

Tour , not a DIY. Driver won't see anything other the road.

Without knowing more about you and your style of travel, it's difficult to make a recommendation. We prefer DIY vs small group tours, but others prefer the tour experience.

If you want to hike the Pipiwai Trail (highly recommended if you enjoy hiking) then a rental car is your best option.

There are lots of places to stop and enjoy the scenery along the way - if you do it via a rental car, the driver has to really focus while driving, but can take in the scenery at the various stops.

If you choose a tour, I'd recommend one that does the full loop around Haleakala, vs. doubling back on the same route, because you'll get entirely different scenery on the way back.

Tour. The road is very narrow with lots of hairpin turns. Next to no guard rails. I was driving and finally said "I can't do this anymore." Found a place to make a 3-point turn and headed back. The little scenery I saw was lovely.

While a tour is more relaxing it eliminates to flexibility to set your own schedule & to attempt to avoid potential crowds when many tours stop at the same time.

I would recommend to go DIY and have a navigator guide you to the wonderful stops along the way. It's true that the driver may miss things during the driver however to me it's not as much the drive on the RTH but the wonderful things to stop to visit. That way we get to decide what to see & how much time at each location and not a tour guide.

With so many people arriving & departing Maui on the weekend my experience when taking visiting friends is to go early on weekend days to have less crowds. One of my most relaxing drives was after going to Haleakala for sunrise & continuing the opposite direction from Hana as everyone else was driving to Hana.

I'd recommend renting a car to set your own pace & to purchase the very helpful Maui Revealed guidebook to enjoy the RTH. :)

Just heed their warnings to consider the conditions because too often those who ignore the conditions will get seriously injured & have even died. :(

Tour. The road is very narrow with lots of hairpin turns. Next to no guard rails. I was driving and finally said "I can't do this anymore." Found a place to make a 3-point turn and headed back. The little scenery I saw was lovely.

We have found it interesting that many people feel the road to Hana is THE only drive with beautiful scenery. Maui is so much more than just that road.

I agree with Astro Flyer for all the reasons for a self drive. And...if you are doing a self drive and the weather is rainy you can pick something else to do that day. We have explored Maui for over 25 years and never get tired of the RTH. You might pick some spots in the Maui Revealed Book and not do the entire road. So many stops along the way that most of the tourists on buses do not see. Last week our daughter, who now lives on Maui, hiked with some friends past huge groups of tourists to a waterfall with a cool pond to swim in and enjoyed a pic nic. It is totally up to you and your comfort level. I think there are also some good audio tapes to give you the narrative that a tour driver might. Enjoy, Cherie

I enjoyed driving the road to Hana all the way around, not just to Hana and back.

Past Hana the road is very narrow with few places to pass another car coming toward you but luckily almost all the traffic goes the same way.

The worse times are when someone decides that it is too rough for them and turns around and has to meet the oncoming cars with no place to pass so my advice is if you decide to go pass Hana, then go all the way. Don't decide to turn around when the going gets rough because this just makes it rougher for everyone.

Some rental car companies don't allow their cars pass Hana.

If you like to drive I would recommend it. I drove it twice and enjoyed both trips. I saw plenty even as the driver and enjoyed not being to tied to a timetable and a group of strangers.

Unless you've seen all the other sights on Maui, I'd skip this, unless you really want to take an entire day....

We did it on a 10 day land vacation....would I do it again? Nope. It was fine, as we had a day to kill...but there are so many other things to do!!!

I've driven the Road to Hana several times. I've seen plenty, what is the benefit for me, is the ability to stop where and when I choose. An example, I've enjoyed a lava tube walk, found Lindbergh's

Both options are excellent, depending on YOUR choices. :)

I've driven the Road to Hana several times. I've seen plenty, what is the benefit for me, is the ability to stop where and when I choose. An example, I've enjoyed a lava tube walk, found Lindbergh's

 

Both options are excellent, depending on YOUR choices. :)

I think that the Budget Queen's sentence got cut off so: found Lindbergh's grave. It is located a few miles beyond the "Seven Pools" and I am sure that few visitors ever see it. Not well marked as I recall.

I think that the Budget Queen's sentence got cut off so: found Lindbergh's grave. It is located a few miles beyond the "Seven Pools" and I am sure that few visitors ever see it. Not well marked as I recall.

I recently gave directions including the mileage marker number from the Maui Revealed guidebook & they still missed the small lane to the church. So it's easy to miss & I think the church wants it that way because they've had problems with people removing stones that cover Lindbergh's grave. :(

We have found it interesting that many people feel the road to Hana is THE only drive with beautiful scenery. Maui is so much more than just that road.

from the ships that are your favorites and the ships that are our favorites, we could possibly be good traveling companions. would love to hear from you. beginning to decide what we think we'd like to do and are still pretty open-minded. think that the ne pali sunset cruise sounds like a winner. if you're interested, please contact me at sat6666@satx.rr.com joanie

from the ships that are your favorites and the ships that are our favorites, we could possibly be good traveling companions. would love to hear from you. beginning to decide what we think we'd like to do and are still pretty open-minded.

What interests you on Maui? If we haven't been there or done that, there are several other CC members on this board who have been giving great information and can point you in the right direction. We personally tend to shy away from touristy areas. Not that they are bad, but we vacation to get away from it all - not take it with us (if that makes sense).

from the ships that are your favorites and the ships that are our favorites, we could possibly be good traveling companions. would love to hear from you. beginning to decide what we think we'd like to do and are still pretty open-minded. think that the ne pali sunset cruise sounds like a winner. if you're interested, please contact me at sat6666@satx.rr.com joanie

Joanie ... perhaps I'm missing something, but are you and Silver Sweethearts on the same cruise? Your post seems a bit out of place on this thread.:confused:

Joanie ... perhaps I'm missing something, but are you and Silver Sweethearts on the same cruise? Your post seems a bit out of place on this thread.:confused:

We, too, are a bit confused, as you can see right below this text what cruise lines we have sailed with. According to a post by Joanie, she says she has just booked the August 29th POA sailing and has been on "15 oceania cruises, three holland america, some carnival, princess, royal caribbean, and crystal cruises. first time on norwegian and first time to hawaii". We have no cruise lines in common. We have never sailed on the POA and do not intend to. We just live here on Maui and like to make (hopefully) helpful comments about our home whenever we can. We also won't be writing her at her personal email since whatever we say is hardly private and we wish to share with everyone. By the way, you were one of the people we were speaking about when we said other CC members give great information.

joaniep had similar posts on a recent Na Pali Coast Tours thread. It does seem a bit odd. Possibly the moderators can sort it out. Cherie

It seems that most of her posts include a request for people to contact her (and agree that this is unusual to see here on CC) - it's a wonder that her inbox isn't full of spam. It can also be quite easy to find out quite a lot about who someone is when you google their email address ... not sure if Joanie is aware of this.

Silver Sweethearts - thanks for the compliment - and I think that your posts are very helpful! Back on topic - I agree with your comment about how much more Maui has to offer than just the RTH. We didn't include it on our first trip to Maui (an 8 day stay) - instead waited until the next trip when we were there for two weeks and didn't mind devoting a day to all that driving. It was a really good day - but we haven't been inspired to repeat it on subsequent trips ... maybe next time :)

This attraction is MOTIONSICK TO HANA. Whether you are driving yourselves in a small car or especially in a tour bus where you are stuck on the excursion for around 10 hours, you will almost certainly be taking dramamine until you pass out. Don't let the others sugarcoat this one... skip it it's bad! You will see your share of tropical scenery (black sand beaches, waterfalls, rainforests...you name it) on the next stop in Hilo so you are not missing anything. Our group rated this a pathetic 4 out of 10.

Park yourself at a beach such as Ka'anapali and relax and take in the beautiful scenery with the mountains in the background. No hassle and still marvelously beautiful Maui!

Also, It takes 4-5 minutes to go a single mile on this road. Keep that in mind.

Wow, sorry that happened to you, NotO. But that just isn't true for everyone, as you can clearly tell by what others have posted, and certainly wasn't true for me and my parents when we did it years ago. The R2H isn't a "must do" for everyone; it just depends what a person likes. Personally, I wouldn't do it unless I was on a land vacation to Maui, but many have done it while on the cruise and it was worth it to them.

Everyone is different, and just because your party didn't enjoy it doesn't mean others will feel the same way.:)

Let's be realistic ... yes, some people get car sick on the Road to Hana - if you're prone to motion sickness in vehicles, then it's probably not a good choice of road trips for you. I've yet to read (until today) that you need to take dramamine until you pass out. We took no meds and felt fine.

And while beaches are fun and some people can park themselves there for hours, it could be someone else's nightmare.

It's a good idea to choose your excursions based on your own interests - not someone else's.

Maybe I was an extreme case. By MM16, the road took it's toll on me and I think the rest of the group too. Let's just say the port-o-jons back at Twin Falls were a lifesaver. :P

There is beautiful scenery on the road sure... but as someone who is not even prone to motion sickness, it hit in spades. Go into this road thinking you will get sick and make every preparation you can to avoid it if you do try Road to Hana.