Maui - Driving the Road to Hana ... and past?

knick1959

Level 2 Member
The online maps aren't clear on this. The road to Hana continues on, but around the NP area some maps show a dotted line while maps.google.com claims I can drive along the south east coast of the island then cut back north on Rt 37.

Has anyone done this? Why the dotted lines for the road on some maps? I see no map legend, are these dirt roads needing 4WD? Has anyone done this before or otherwise know?

Would like to drive to Hana, overnight, then continue on to the east entrance of Haleakala NP, then continue around to the other end of the park. All without retracing back over charted charts (not going back on the Road to Hana).

Thanks in advance.
 
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chalkitup

Level 2 Member
Great drive. Wake up early and have the seven pools and whatever else to yourself before the mobs arrive.

Dotted road for gravel. Graded road, only a problem after severe weather. Any vehicle should be fine. Some portions are very narrow!

Search google images for pics of the route and road quality.
 

pstlb

Level 2 Member
Just took this route today but with a tour ... small van. Great trip but the roads can be rough, narrow and sometimes get closed for washes after a rain. Then you just have to turn back. Saw a few accidents and people afraid to navigate the narrow roads,
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Thanks guys. Sounds like it's doable, but I did find, just this morning, a detailed web post specifically on this topic:
Code:
http://www.govisithawaii.com/2009/08/26/should-you-drive-the-back-side-of-the-road-to-hana/
First, I thought that this road would provide intense scenery, but this article argues that this is not the case (anyone disagree?). I do want to see the east end of the park, and the second desire was to save time by not back-tracking. To get to the popular park entrance back-tracking requires quite a large loop of highways where going the southern-bend route looks to be so much shorter. My trip is not until Jan, but I'm trying to rough-in the trip to arrange accommodations.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Thanks guys. Sounds like it's doable, but I did find, just this morning, a detailed web post specifically on this topic:
Code:
http://www.govisithawaii.com/2009/08/26/should-you-drive-the-back-side-of-the-road-to-hana/
First, I thought that this road would provide intense scenery, but this article argues that this is not the case (anyone disagree?). I do want to see the east end of the park, and the second desire was to save time by not back-tracking. To get to the popular park entrance back-tracking requires quite a large loop of highways where going the southern-bend route looks to be so much shorter. My trip is not until Jan, but I'm trying to rough-in the trip to arrange accommodations.
I've driven it. Did not do the part with dotted lines. Did the turn back. I did not rent a 4x4 but rather a convertible and didn't want to risk it. I agree with everyone who says to start out early in the morning. There was some construction on the roads when I was there that really showed things down (this was in March). At any rate, the scenery is wonderful.
 

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
We did it. The road had been washed out for a few months before we were there. We didn't find it difficult. It's frustrating when you get to the point you can see Wailea but there is no way to cut over to it. Regardless, I was happy we didn't turn back after finding Lindbergh's grave as it was much shorter to continue on.
 

spamman808

Level 2 Member
I live here. That's the best drive on the island, in my opinion. You get to see a side of the island that's not seen by a whole lot of people. The views of Haleakala are totally different from the back, and the coast itself is pretty raw and awesome. Start early and you can hit up the Ulupalakua Winery (Free wine tasting) toward the end of the road before it closes. Couple of notes though:
1. It is not paved all the way through, but the unpaved stuff isn't too bad. I've taken my Ford Fiesta around the back and had no issues. Still, be careful.
2. Most locals here get frustrated when tourist traffic slows everything down. I understand that tourists aren't comfortable with the road, and you're hopefully mesmerized by the view of both the mountain and the ocean. However, for a lot of locals that's the only road to get to where they need to go (more people than you think live out there, many people go out there to hunt, fish, etc.) If you notice you have cars behind you, it'll go over real well if you take the time to pull off and let people pass. It will only cost you a few seconds, but will make you much appreciated (and save the other person many minutes). I do it myself all the time (Ford Fiesta: good on gas, not on much else)
3. If you want the best Hana drive experience, go out on the "Road to Hana," stop in Hana Town for some food (there's a decent Thai place and Braddah Huts is BOMB when it's open), then continue on the back side. Hit up the winery for some free booze and stop in at the Kula Bistro for some grub (maybe purchase a bottle at the winery to open at the Bistro, which is a BYOB place).

That being said, I highly encourage you to take that drive.
 

Tia

Level 2 Member
spamman808, I see you posted right around (or during??) the big storm that hit Maui (the locals were calling it a typhoon). I hope you got through it without any damage?

We were in Kaanapali at the time and saw some of the landslides and flooding on that side. The Hana highway was closed due to landslides and many people were stuck overnight in Hana. The event was declared a major disaster and no one here on the mainland knew anything about it!

knick1959, we've done both - a drive on our own and a guided tour. If you drive yourself, there a pretty good app you can buy with the very obvious name of "Road to Hana Gypsy Driving Tour". It uses GPS to tell you all the good places to stop.
If you want to relax and enjoy the scenery a bit more, the tour we took is Mahalo Tours. Our tour guide was a lot of fun, but he wouldn't let us do any dangerous stuff :( They also go past Hana all the way around and stop at the winery.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Thanks for updating the thread @Tia! I have reserved all of our accommodations and it provides us the greatest flexibility, barring any of these storms in late January!

We start our drive on the road to Hana from Lahaina. Not ideal, but we'll be taking an early ferry from Lanai (2 nights there) and jumping right in the car. We do spend the next night IN Hana, which allows us to collect info on the road conditions and weather on the far side. My intent is to go for it unless there are serious signs not to. We will still visit the ocean-side entrance to the park and the area ... then decide whether to continue around or backtrack. We spend the next 3 nights in Kula so we can explore the inland park side.
 

merice107

Level 2 Member
I agree with @spamman808 in that the southern part of the island past Hana and the pools is great. That is my favorite part of the drive. I've done it couple of time and it never disappoints (except for the one time when rain clouds covered everything). Most of the time when it is raining on the rain Forrest side the south side is sunny and dry.

My wife and I love the hike up the pipiwai trail to see the waimoku falls

Make sure you car rental is good to go for the gravel roads.
 

spamman808

Level 2 Member
our rental car was not covered on gravel roads so buyer beware
Most rental cars aren't. That's been around for a long time, since way before they started improving the roads. That being said, buyer beware is a good thing, but if you don't mind a local style car, try Kimo's rentacar. Reminiscent of rentawrecks, but there aren't many restrictions on those...and they're usually cheaper than regular rentals.
 

spamman808

Level 2 Member
spamman808, I see you posted right around (or during??) the big storm that hit Maui (the locals were calling it a typhoon). I hope you got through it without any damage?

We were in Kaanapali at the time and saw some of the landslides and flooding on that side. The Hana highway was closed due to landslides and many people were stuck overnight in Hana. The event was declared a major disaster and no one here on the mainland knew anything about it!

knick1959, we've done both - a drive on our own and a guided tour. If you drive yourself, there a pretty good app you can buy with the very obvious name of "Road to Hana Gypsy Driving Tour". It uses GPS to tell you all the good places to stop.
If you want to relax and enjoy the scenery a bit more, the tour we took is Mahalo Tours. Our tour guide was a lot of fun, but he wouldn't let us do any dangerous stuff :( They also go past Hana all the way around and stop at the winery.
I did okay. I live in Makawao, so weather isn't usually extreme here.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Update: Just back from our Maui trip (with 2 days in HNL).

We did opt for driving around the south side of the park and the "back side" of the road to Hana. My wife was a bit nervous about doing something we weren't supposed to (per the rental car agreement; I did not check it, I just assumed that we weren't supposed to), but after talking to our Inn owner in Hana, it sounded ok to try.

The road was bumpy and did require slow speeds and dodging specific holes at times. I believe I averaged 15 MPH over the rough part although I let many people pass me going faster. There was about 8 miles of rough road, including a section at the end that was truly single lane supporting 2-way traffic. I had a couple places where I had to squeeze past a car coming the other way where our mirrors were separated by an inch or 2 at most. After that roughly 8 miles, a perfectly paved 2 lane highway appeared.

For us, it was well worth it. It shaved a couple of hours off of our drive to Kula where we stayed for 3 nights. We saw some things we would have otherwise missed and I always prefer seeing new rather than backtracking.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I did okay. I live in Makawao, so weather isn't usually extreme here.
Makawao. What a cool place this turned out to be. We visited 3-ish times, including finding the "Third Friday Festival" by mistake one evening. Perfect! And you live there, lucky you!!
 
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dukerau

Level 2 Member
Update: Just back from our Maui trip (with 2 days in HNL).

We did opt for driving around the south side of the park and the "back side" of the road to Hana. My wife was a bit nervous about doing something we weren't supposed to (per the rental car agreement; I did not check it, I just assumed that we weren't supposed to), but after talking to our Inn owner in Hana, it sounded ok to try.

The road was bumpy and did require slow speeds and dodging specific holes at times. I believe I averaged 15 MPH over the rough part although I let many people pass me going faster. There was about 8 miles of rough road, including a section at the end that was truly single lane supporting 2-way traffic. I had a couple places where I had to squeeze past a car coming the other way where our mirrors were separated by an inch or 2 at most. After that roughly 8 miles, a perfectly paved 2 lane highway appeared.

For us, it was well worth it. It shaved a couple of hours off of our drive to Kula where we stayed for 3 nights. We saw some things we would have otherwise missed and I always prefer seeing new rather than backtracking.
Also just returned from a trip that included Maui. We drove the backside of the RtH (not sure if it was permitted per rental agreement or not). While the road was rough and most of the turns were blind, if you take it slow it was not a scary drive at all. Frankly, we were underwhelmed by the RtH but the backside was incredible and made the day worthwhile. The only "negative" is that we were staying in Wailea, so after completing most of the southern part of the loop we were 4 miles from the hotel as the crow flies but had to drive an hour more as there was no road straight back into Wailea/Kihei. :)
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Also just returned from a trip that included Maui. We drove the backside of the RtH (not sure if it was permitted per rental agreement or not). While the road was rough and most of the turns were blind, if you take it slow it was not a scary drive at all. Frankly, we were underwhelmed by the RtH but the backside was incredible and made the day worthwhile. The only "negative" is that we were staying in Wailea, so after completing most of the southern part of the loop we were 4 miles from the hotel as the crow flies but had to drive an hour more as there was no road straight back into Wailea/Kihei. :)
Yes, my wife kept suggesting that THERE HAS TO BE a road that cuts over. I kept showing her the online maps ... no road!

I agree that the RtH didn't offer as much as I expected. Of course, we chose a terrible web page to reference places to stop, as they were out of order and/or the mile markers didn't jive. Still, the backside road was way more interesting; the real Road Less Traveled.

The other road we took that was interesting was the NORTH WEST route around the western lobe ... Rt 340 from Kahului (the OGG airport) to Kapalua then to Lahaina. The GPS didn't want to map this route, but we made it :). This was almost a mirror image of the RtH with the same switchbacks and narrow lanes. THIS is where the single lane road existed for a couple of miles ... I may have mis-remembered in my previous post.

Still, Maui is just beautiful, whichever road you take.

I updated my trip report list to include this trip just yesterday. Anyone interest can PM me for a link to my whole collection.
 

mark.goblue

Level 2 Member
We took the back side RtH back in December and I would do it again in a heartbeat over turning around. Took a Chrysler 300 and some sports were tighter than expected but it's definitely doable.

Stunning scenery and such as stark contrast from the front side. As the driver, there were definitely some intense spots but it was much more enjoyable for me to have less traffic to deal with. Next time it sounds like I need to try Rt 340 :).
 
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