THE BACKWARDS ROAD TO HANA - MAUI, HAWAII

This is considered the most beautiful road in all of Hawaii! Along it you’ll find waterfalls, swimming holes, red sand beaches, black sand beaches, hikes, etc. The road to Hana covers the entire east coast of the island. It snakes and dips around the volcano and coast (so if anyone in your group gets motion sickness, be sure to bring medicine). There are over 100 stops you can make along the way. Isn’t that amazing?! It’s no wonder that this is a must-do for Maui visitors.

Driving this road will also take you all day, so don’t make any other plans. Our day was 7AM – 4PM leaving and arriving from Kihei. It may take longer if you’re coming from Lahaina. And because this is popular, you’ll want to start early and be on the road by 8AM. You’ll also want to bring snacks and sack lunches. There are not many food options along the way!

Also note that you won’t be able to stop at each location. If you did, you wouldn’t make it back before dark (and you’ll want to be off the road before then). So be smart about time! Pick and choose which locations are worth it to you and which ones you wouldn’t mind passing by. Know your group and what they would actually be interested in seeing. We passed up many stops along way, because we just didn’t care about seeing certain things.

The typical way to drive this road is from North to South, but we decided to drive the opposite way to avoid a long trail of cars. We don’t regret it either and would highly recommend this route! Some rental car agreements will discourage you from driving the back side of this road, but we had a 2WD sedan (Hyundai Elantra to be exact) and we made it just fine. Just be a cautious driver and take it easy during the rough road conditions. They weren’t bad, and if we could make it then so can you!

I also recommend purchasing an audio tour on the Shaka app. It’s only $10 (as of 2019) and will narrate your tour as you drive. You can choose from several options: north to south loop, south to north loop, north to south turnaround (most popular). We chose south to north loop. The tour will mention the 100+ locations you can stop at along the way if you wish. It also includes history of the island, which stops to pass over, etc. It also mentions where there are restrooms. It was a great resource to have! Tip: purchase your tour and download it at least a day in advance before you drive the road. You’ll need to download it because you will lose phone service during the drive.

Our Road to Hana stops:

Our first stop was at this black rock beach! It’s a small walk from the road and is really neat to see. We didn’t stay here long – just enough to take in the beauty and snap some pics. It truly is unique!

Our next stop was one of my favorites: Alelele Falls! It takes a short 5-10 minute hike (that’s pretty easy) to get here from the road. As you can see, there was only a small flow when we visited, but it was still awesome! Hawaiian waterfalls are just so cool! You can swim in the water below too, but the water is very cold. And beware of falling rocks that come over the water’s edge. One hit my phone while I was holding it! Overall, we spent about 20 minutes here enjoying the falls and snapping pics. Then we hit the road again.

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  From here we went on until we reached the Oheo Gulch (better known as the Seven Sacred Pools) at the Haleakala National Park. The entrance fee is $25 per car (credit card only) and parking is limited. This is the destination of the Road to Hana. Most visitors will drive from north to south, stop at these pools, then head back north. But note that the pools are often closed for swimming, so ask the front attendant if you’ll be able to swim that day. Luckily, we were able to swim on the day of our visit, but honestly… we were unimpressed. This area seems way overrated by media. We would skip this if we had the chance to drive the road again.

  

  Our next stop was Venus Pools! This is a locally-known swimming area that is partially fed by the ocean and partially fed by an uphill spring. It’s super cool and a short 5 minute trek from the road. It was not crowded during our visit! But note – it is deep and there are no areas to really rest. You’ll have to climb down rocks to get in the water, unless you jump (but it’s pretty high). And if you want to chill on that beach you see in the photo, you’ll have to swim to it. I’d recommend bringing noodles or boogie boards here. To get here, park just past the bridge on the right side of the road. Then, walk back towards the bridge and hop over the guard rail on the same side of the road. You’ll see a small dirt trail. Follow the trail!

  

  Our next stop was the actual town of Hana. In this area there is a well-known red sand beach. It was super cool to see but difficult to get to. Seriously, the hike was short but strenuous. Unless you just have to see this, you may want to skip (especially if you have small kiddos). The beach was also crowded with swimmers, so we did not stay. We made the hike, snapped some pics, and then left. Parking is also super difficult. There is a very small dead end road with street parking along one side. Only about 10 cars can fit. So we parked at the nearby community center. We weren’t sure if this was allowed, but there were no signs that said we couldn’t. It ended up being fine since we were only there for about 20 minutes. But park at your own risk!

  

  After the red sand beach, we visited a black sand beach that was north a ways and at Waianapanapa Park. This one was extremely crowded! It was very difficult to find parking. We squeezed into a space, walked to the overlook, took a pic, and left. We are not one for crowds and just didn’t want to deal with it. But for me, I just had to see it and take my pic! That was enough for me. Cool to see, but too crowded to stay. There is also a lava arch and blowhole at this park. We didn’t see the blowhole, but the lava arch was visible from our viewpoint.

  

  After visiting these unique beaches, we stayed in the car and drove for awhile. We ended up pulling over at a small marketplace that hosted some food trucks and a small shop. We only ended up grabbing coffee, but it was so good! If you stop here, get the mac-nut latte. Yummy! Worth the stop for a quick caffeine boost. They have banana bread here, but we decided to wait for the famous stand that would be later down the road.

  

  On recommendation of our audio tour, our next stop was a small pullout on the side of the road to check out a lava cave. The opening is very small and the cave is pitch black. Our flashlights on our phones weren’t enough lighting, so we ended up heading back to the car and moving on. If we had brought a flashlight, we definitely would have explored more!

  The next stop was one of my favorites, Upper Waikini Falls (also known as Three Bear Falls). This is a trio of gorgeous waterfalls that create one large pool. I really wanted to climb down and swim in these, but we were already exhausted from the day (it was already mid-late afternoon) so we didn’t. We did stop to take some pics, and boy was it gorgeous! It is difficult to climb down to these, but it’s doable. There was a couple swimming there when we stopped to see. If you do want to climb down, do so on the far side of the bridge if you’re driving the road from north to south or the near side of the bridge if you’re driving from south to north. Skipping this waterfall was my only regret!

  

  

  Shortly after the falls we came up on the famous Halfway to Hana standwhich is known to have the best banana bread on the island! We of course stopped here to get a loaf, which cost us around $6. And it’s true – this stuff was good!

  

  One last thing I wanted to see were the famous rainbow eucalyptus trees. There was a small grove of them on the side of the road (the app will tell you where), but they were on private property and protected by a fence. So my husband drove slowly as we passed them, and I stuck my phone out of the window to take a few pics. They’re so pretty! This is not the only place on the Road to Hana to see these, but it is the only free place to see them. Unless you want to pay an entrance fee to a garden, just drive slowly past these so you can see them.

  Our final stop was at a table setup on the side of the road by a local. We purchased a fresh coconut to drink. She chopped off the top and gave us some straws so we could drink the fresh milk. Yum!!! I sipped on this as we headed back to our condo.

  

  And there you have it! That concluded our Road to Hana tour. It was a great and fun day with lots of variety. It was an even longer day for my husband who drove the entire way (he was the only driver on our car rental agreement). He was a trooper! And I let him choose where we had dinner (:

  I hope this post helps you plan out your own drive on the Road to Hana. You should only stop to see what interests you! And remember that it’s about the journey and not the destination.