Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

I am getting such conflicting information. Please give me any advice you have. How long did it take? Did you go to Oheo gulch? Will we have time for a horesback ride? Did you drive back the same way you came?

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

I drove it, we did not go into any waterfalls, we were not that adventourous and I didnt feel like sitting in the car all wet. We drove around the island, didn't turn around, even though the rental company said not to tkae those roads. We drove around to go to Mt Halekeli (sp?), to see the sunset, but it was raining. We bought the tape as the gas station before the sign.

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

We drove the road to Hana. It was awesome, but a very long day. We left at 6:30 am and didn't get back until 9:00 PM. But we also stopped alot and found secret waterfalls to swim in (just amazing!!!) and we did the 4 mile hike to a huge waterfall through the bamboo forest (which was awesome!!!).

We drove straight through, we didn't go back the same way we came. It was a rough ride, but worth it. The landscape is just amazing.

What really helped us was the cd narrating the Road to Hana and the extra information friends of mine provided for us who live in Maui. We found waterfalls that weren't on the cd, but that our friends told us about.

Definitely worth it!!!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

We drove the road to Hana in a rented Jeep. We did the roads they say void the car rental agreement. I still remember those mountain roads where only 1 car will fit and you are beeping your horn around the corners. The scenary is awesome, however, I was with my then-hubby who was only in a rush to get there. Hana was NOTHING truly to see. It is all about the ride there. We stopped for ice cream right after Hana and we saw the waterfall, although just put our feet in. We also stopped to watch the wind surfers (it was the year of El Nino in 97). It was truly something to do. It took about 4-5 hours I would say.

There are also vineyards to see and amazing scenary.

Be prepared for a very bumpy, scary ride.

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

We drove all the way around the island. The road gets a little scary when you pass Hana, but it's amazing. We also wanted to always be on the inside of the mountain so we never turned around. We left the hotel at around 8am and didn't get back until 8pm. We tried to listen to the CD, but it just confused us. Instead, we just followed the Maui Revealed book. We stopped at most of the falls and hung out for about 15 minutes at each place.

ETA: Here is a picture of me in one of the pools at the Oheo Gulch.

• 

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

---

Posted by pinkgirl

I am getting such conflicting information. Please give me any advice you have. How long did it take? Did you go to Oheo gulch? Will we have time for a horesback ride? Did you drive back the same way you came?

---

I just did it on the 16th! It took us from 7:30 to about 4 but that includes travel time to and from Wailea. We did go to Oheo gulch but we did the shortest, easiest trail. There are a ton of places to stop and see things so the horseback ride would really depend on how much you want to stop. We didn't stop at all the places it said to. We came back the same way we went.

It is the craziest drive you will ever do in your life. But we thought it was worth it.

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

That is an AMAZING picture!!!!!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

OK why o why did we opt not to do this????

It sounds so lovely but with DH's driving I was scared to do it!!!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

The Road to Hana was one of my favorite parts of Hawaii! We used the Maui Revealed book as our guide, and it was WONDERFUL. It took ALL day. We left our hotel at 7:30 am and didn't get back to the area until 8:30 at night - totally exhausting, but SO worth it! We went in a few waterfalls, including Oheo Gulch and the blue pool. The best thing we did was take Nahiku road down to the town of Nahiku..it's 2 miles off the path. We picnicked down there and saw dolphins swimming by!
We did it in a convertible, which was wonderful b/c everywhere we looked, we were surrounded by lush greenery. We did the return path around the other side of Haleakala. Even though a lot of things say that you shouldn't do it w/o 4 wheel drive, any car can do it. Just don't be risky or foolish about it. Here are some pics of our drive!

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

we did it! we flew to Maui (our hotel was on Oahu), rented a jeep, and drove all around... we didn't go back the same way we came because we just took the road until we got to the airport... the map we had said to turn around at a certain point but we went on... we stoped at some places along the way including a winery you have to go to ... it was great...
it took us a full day to travel the highway...
HAVE FUN! remember your camera!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

I agree the MAui Revealed book is the way to go we also stopped and got the CD to listen to. We drove straight threw and it took all day. Don't make reservations for dinner. The trip was well worth it bring bug spray we went into the caves and got eaten alive.

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

We did the road to Hana in about 7/8 hours starting at about 7am... we didn't stop at Oheo Gulch because we wanted to continue driving the 'forbidden' roads... we did it in a Dodge Neon and survived... the scenery is like nothing you will ever see in your life... totally worth it. At the end, when you get to paved road and civilization again, there is a winery which was nice, and we picked up some Maui wine. All in all, the day was about 12 hours long.... on the way to the hotel, we stopped at McDonalds and ate dinner on the balcony because we were exhausted!!!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

OMG! These are all such awesome stories! I am SO excited!!!!

Re: Anyone who has driven the Road to Hana...

my advice - if you get a jeep, make sure you know how to put the top up before you go bc it does rain (we spent the whole trip wet)!
and definitely do the 'forbidden' roads - it was the best part!