Road to Hana tour vs Drive

I have been debating the best way to see the Road to Hana?

If a person were to drive should we go all the way to Hana or will part way be enough to see several sights - I know depends on what we want to see, etc right?

I have found a tour company called Valley Isle Excursions that sounds pretty interesting

They will pick us up of off the pride of America - is this the way to go rather than shuttle to airport and then renting a car and the fear of driving on the road - plus several people say the driver doesn't enjoy - hmm

Your input and experience would be appreciated

Thanks

ps maybe the road to Hana isn't necessary - would you recommend other options - it's not like we have to do the Road to Hana

Driving it yourself takes considerable attention from the driver, no doubt. On the other hand, on a tour, you are subject to the schedule of the tour, allowed stops, slow fellow pax, etc.

But only you can decide if which is worth it to you. Personally, there are so many other things to see and do on Maui, I wouldn't put it high on my list. I didn't do the road to Hana until after about our 12th trip to Maui.

After reading dozens and dozens of reviews, we too passed on Hana.

A lot of people say it's pretty but it's just too long of a drive, even if you are riding. A lot of posters say they would never do it again.

We had a hire car and drove 2/3 of the way then did a u turn, came back and spent the rest of the afternoon on the ship.

We live by the ocean, so to us it was nothing spectacular & we thought we were just wasting valuable time.

Didnt think it was really challenging and the first 1/3 or the journey was ordinary.

Maybe the final 1/3 was where the thrill was? We will never know! :-)

We rented a corvette convertible. Seriously. It was our honeymoon.

Every 15 minutes we had to stop and put the top up or down due to rain.

It was fun but wouldn't recommend it.

Have fun!

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

The Road to Hana is a great way to kill a day's time. You won't really miss much if you skip it. It takes a FULL day...there is some pretty scenery, but that's it. There is so much other good stuff to do and see on Maui...don't waste your day. If you are on a land vacation, with many days to fill, it's fine...but if you only have one day....don't do it.

We also decided not to do Road to Hana but when our snorkeling excursion for day 1 in Maui was cancelled at the last moment, we decided to do it because we had already rented the car. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of my notes with me as to where to stop, so we just drove to Hana. The ride was not bad at all, just some hairpin turns and waiting your turn on some bridges. Once in Hana, we were able to find some very beautiful sights, but somehow going back (even with the GPS) we got lost and wound up coming back the back way on unpaved roads. I would never do this ride again.