Road to Hana in 3 Days
Last Summer, my dad and I took a trip to Maui for one week as a graduation gift to myself. When planning for the trip, I knew that I wanted to do the Road to Hana— one of Maui’s greatest attractions. However, there were a lot of questions to consider when preparing: “How long should we take? What should we see and what should we skip? What do we bring?” Reflecting on the trip now, I think we did a pretty dang good job! In this post, I’ll be going over some of the basics of tackling the Road to Hana as well as highlighting what I did on my own trip.
What is the Road to Hana?
The Road to Hana—formally called the Hana Highway—is a 64.4-mile-long road connecting the town of Kahului on Maui’s northern shore to the district of Kaupo, situated on the southeastern side of the island. Hana, located on the eastern edge of the island, is the town you pass though about 2/3 of the way to Kaupo. The trip is jam-packed with abundant scenic stops including breathtaking waterfalls, ocean landscapes, and gorgeous rainforest vegetation. (Fun fact: the Hana Highway is the longest drivable rainforest in the United States!)
How long does it take?
The amount of time needed to complete the Road to Hana varies widely depending on your schedule and how much you want to do and see. If possible, it’s best to spend at least two days on the trip. Many people attempt to do the Road to Hana in only one day. I would highly advise against this for a couple of reasons:
First, with so much to see and do, trying to drive down and back in one day could leave you feeling rushed and cause you to skip out on some great experiences. It could also be hard to really appreciate each stop if you’re overly worried about getting to the next one quickly.
Second, depending on where you are staying in Maui, attempting a one-day excursion means you’ll need an early head start—and I mean early. It’s important to mention here that if you are staying in South Maui, there are no other roads connecting directly to Kaupo or Hana, meaning—taking the back road won’t necessarily save you any time. You’ll have to drive up to Kahului and then around Mount Haleakala to begin your journey and the road to Hana is about a 2-hour drive without making any stops. So, it ends up being a rather long day— especially for the person driving if you choose to drive yourself.
Third, the town Hana itself is just amazing! The people are incredibly kind, the views are great, and they had some of the best food I experienced in Maui. I’ll talk more about Hana later, but overall, I’m very glad we decided to stay in Hana.
TLDR: Attempting the Road to Hana in one day can leave you feeling rushed, exhausted, and missing out on some awesome sights. If you want to, or can only afford to, do the Road to Hana in one day—that’s totally fine. Definitely still go for it! However, if you can, take the extra day or so. I believe you’ll get more out of it and enjoy the experience much more.
What to do
Before getting into the stops, I would recommend purchasing an audio guide. We used Shaka Guide, an offline map and audio tour app, and it was great. While I pre-planned most of the stops, the audio guide was helpful in sharing details about the locations and giving recommendations on which places to stop at and which ones to skip. The map was also helpful as there isn’t any WIFI for most of the drive. Shaka Guide also provided music and fascinating anecdotes about the history and culture of Maui!
I still recommend doing your own research on where you’d like to visit and not replying 100% on the app. The app, for example, recommended skipping the Garden of Eden which—as you’ll see—we chose to visit. It’s better as a tool for supplementing your trip, not entirely persuading it.
Now, onto the stops.
Day 1
On day one we checked out of our South Maui hotel and drove up to Paia for breakfast. We sat down at Paia Bay Coffee Bar, a lively, tropical-themed café serving food and drinks made from fresh local ingredients. I had an iced latte with oat milk, the Vegan Bagel, and a side of their special steamed eggs which was all delicious.
After filling our bellies and heading out, the Road to Hana was officially underway!
On the drive down we decided to skip some of the common stops located at the start of the drive, including the popular Twin Falls. Instead, we used the first day to hit up the places we knew would take longer and hoped to use the drive back to see everything we had skipped.
So, for our first stop, we visited the Garden of Eden Arboretum, a luscious and vibrant space home to over 700 species of plants. The garden hosts some amazing ocean views as well, including the spot where the opening scene of “Jurassic Park” was filmed!
After spending a few hours at the arboretum, we continued our drive to Keanae Lookout, a scenic spot featuring waves crashing into black rock. The lookout also had tons of black-shelled crabs!
Next, we drove past the Halfway to Hana sign, the Upper Waikani Falls, Hanawi Falls, and Makapipi Falls. Besides the allocated stops themselves, the Road to Hana was incredibly beautiful with flourishing scenery at every turn.
After all the sights it was time for a snack break. Luckily, our next stop was Coconut Glen’s, a popular coconut milk ice cream stand. Coconut Glen’s was a place I was extremely excited to try and oh my goodness it did not disappoint! I got their original coconut flavor and could taste actual chunks of coconut in the ice cream! This shouldn’t have been surprising though, as while standing in line one of the owners was cutting open fresh coconuts on the spot!
We also picked up some banana bread from Cafe Banana Bread, located in Nahiku Marketplace, for breakfast the next morning. After stocking up, we soon arrived in Hana Town, checked into our hotel room at Hana Kai Maui, and took the rest of the evening exploring the area.
We first walked along Waikaloa Bay, located right outside our hotel.
After feeling sufficiently amazed by our surroundings we walked towards the other side of the town and picked up some dinner from a selection of food trucks clustered together, about a 13 minute (.7 mile) walk from our hotel. I got takeout from Ae’s Thai Kitchen and let me tell you: this was some of the best food I had during my entire Maui trip. I don’t know what they do to their food but it’s unbeatable. After dinner, we went to bed early in preparation of the day tomorrow.
Day 2
Day two was equally as thrilling as the first day. We got up early, ate a lovely breakfast of coffee and fruit alongside our banana bread, once again acknowledged our hotel room’s unbelievable view, and then headed out on the road.
We stopped by Wailua Falls briefly before arriving to Haleakala National Park (in Kipahulu).
Haleakala National Park runs from the southeastern sea to the submit of Mount Haleakala, so you can enter the park from both the southern and northern ends of Maui. From the south side, you can see Ohe’o Gulch and hike the Pīpīwai Trail to Waimoku Falls (which I will talk about below). From the north, you can access the summit. You do need to pay for tickets to get into the park. However, the tickets are good for 3 days from the time you purchase them. What we did, and what I recommend, is planning your trip so that you do the Haleakala summit trip and the Pīpīwai Trail hike within three days of each other if you want to do both.
Anyways, my dad and I hiked the Pīpīwai Trail. The hike was incredibly fun and filled with a ton of gorgeous sights. My favorite part of the trail was the bamboo forest. Not only were the visuals stunning, but when it was quiet you could hear the clattering of bamboo shoots gently knocking against each other. It was purely magical.
We unfortunately couldn’t go to Ohe’o Gulch that day as it was closed, but that wasn’t too big an issue. After the hike, we drove to Hamoa Beach—about a 20 minute drive from the park’s parking lot—where we spent some time relaxing and cooling off.
To wrap up the day, we went back to the food tucks for dinner (I got Ae’s Thai Kitchen again) and relaxed in our hotel room.
Day 3
Day three of our Hana adventure was also the day we were scheduled to fly back to the mainland. Our flight wasn’t until 11:30pm, so we managed to have a fun and eventful day.
To kick things off, we woke up early and headed towards Waiʻānapanapa State Park to visit their famous Black Sand Beach. The beach was small, but due to their reservation system it didn’t feel too crowded.* To get to the beach you have to go down (and eventually up) some stairs, which could be an accessibility issues for some. There were lots of rocks and swimming is generally not advised. Nonetheless, the experience was super fun!
*Due to COVID, the park is requiring reservations in advance for entry into the park and the beach.
After washing up from the beach, we got a late breakfast from Hāna Farms Roadside Stand & Restaurant, where we ordered the local catch and taco plates. Following that, we began the drive back to Paia, stopping a few times along the way to do a bit of sightseeing.
We got back to Paia by the afternoon and spent some time walking around the town and checking out the local shops. For our final meal we stopped at Paia Fish Market, a popular spot known for its blue exterior and seafood plates, before heading back to the airport and saying goodbye to Maui.
Where to Stay
Hopefully by this point I have convinced you to take multiple days doing the Road to Hana. Perfect! Now it’s time to figure out where you want to stay. I would recommend staying in Hana. There are a couple of places past Hana that you can book through websites like Airbnb. However, Hana has the benefits of convenient location and access to delicious food and utilities.
We stayed in the Hana Kai Maui, in Room #4 Nanualele. The hotel room was great: clean, nice amenities, and the view was stunning. If you choose to stay at Hana Kai Maui, try to get a corner room because they have larger patios!
Need I say more?
The only thing about Hana Kai Maui is that they require you to stay at least 2 nights, which worked perfectly for our itinerary. However, if you want to stay in Hana only 1 night there are other options, such as the Hana-Maui Resort.
Getting There and Packing
On the road to Hana, once you leave Paia, there aren’t really any places to stop and stock up on supplies. I would recommend stocking up before the trip. The day before, my dad and I got an ice chest from a nearby grocery store and loaded it up with food and water. We also made sure to get a full tank of gas. As mentioned above, Hana does have some pretty great food trucks and there is one convivence store in town, along with a gas station. However, these places have limited hours and may be closed by the time you arrive (the convivence store was when we visited). So I wouldn’t bet on it for your trip. It’s best to prepare everything in advance.
Is the Road to Hana Safe?
There is some talk of the Road to Hana being dangerous due to its number of twisty and narrow roads. Souvenir shops even have T-shirts with “I Survived the Road to Hana,” written on them. In my experience, it’s not nearly as dangerous as such advertisements make it out to be.
Drivers should be aware of certain “rules of the road”—such as what to do when you approach a one-lane bridge (the Road to Hana has 46 of them). I would say that the roughest part of the road was between Hana and the national park, as the roads were a bit more narrow, bumpy, and had more sharp turns. We did have one slightly scary instance in which a truck suddenly appearing around a blind turn coming at us, but they had sounded off their horn before turning so we had a bit of a heads-up.
If you remain cautious and follow proper road etiquette (honk your horn before blind turns, stop to let oncoming cars pass on narrow roads, pull off to the side of the road to take pictures, etc.) then everything will be totally fine. In all, the drive was safe and the only “peril” I really experienced was battling car sickness from the continuous twists.
I have heard from others that if you take the full-loop route, the second half is much bumpier and more undeveloped than the first. I don’t have any personal experience with this so, if you do plan to take the full loop, make sure to do your own research to prepare!
Considerations
The last thing I would like to mention is please be considerate of the locals living along the highway and in Hana Town. While you are there to sightsee, the area is home to many residents who are just trying to drive to work, return home, and live their daily lives. Pull over for locals on the road, don’t trespass, and don’t liter. Like the sign below says: “Hāna pono, do good!”
