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Road to Hana Tour

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We took The Road to Hana Tour with Valley Isle Excursions and I have to say it was great. What a value for the price! Surprisingly there were two main attractions. First, the unparalleled beauty found on The Road to Hana.

Second is the knowledge possessed by your guide. The guides are so familiar with every aspect of Hawaii, Hawaiian culture and are so friendly, they are truly the epitome of “Aloha”. You really feel like they are enjoying their job! It’s so nice to see that their employees are taking the time to really show you the beauty of Maui and making it fit within your vacation budget!

Another thing to consider is the possibility of having an accident while driving the Road to Hana. There are a whole lot of t-shirts that say “I survived the Road To Hana” and they say that for a reason. There are over six hundred turns on the way to Hana. Six hundred!!! How could anyone enjoy their trip if they had to drive it. It would simply exhaust you and you would be advised to stay the night in Hana and then drive back the next day. Now, if you didn’t already know, the little, affordable B&B’s in Hana are usually booked way in advance. Also, expect to spend at least $150 for a decent place to sleep in Hana.

When we drove to Hana by ourselves on a few separate occasions and it was truly a unique adventure each time. The first time we drove to Hana it was raining so hard that we couldn’t get in to swim at the Seven Sacred Pools because of flash flooding. The second time it was so dry that there weren’t any falls at the Seven Sacred Pools or to look at on the way and we weren’t knowledgeable about the other sites so we just went home.

Another time we drove out a Jeep had just landed in the ditch on the opposite side of the road, presumably because the driver was looking at the sights instead of driving, which happens quite often from what I hear. Even during our trip with Valley Isle we saw a good sized rock in the road that had fallen from the side of the cliff directly above the road. I don’t even want to imagine the hassle that could have caused us if it had come down on our car, not to mention possibly killing someone if they were in a convertible or soft top vehicle!

Yep, the Road to Hana is incredibly treacherous, and incredibly beautiful. Valley Isle Excursions really has us hooked. Now and in the future we’ll enjoy the Road to Hana while letting someone else man the wheel and educate us on Maui!

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Hana

Going out to Hana to do things is the opposite to what you should be planning.  You should plan to do nothing when you go to Hana and just fill in some time checking out some of the local attractions.

During the Day

Hana Cultural Center and Museum

Red Sand Beach

Hana Bay

Oheo Gulch

Waianapanapa State Park

Hamoa Beach

At Night

There is not too much happening after sundown in Hana.  This is a sleepy little Hawaiian village as remote as you can get on Maui.  There is some live music at the Hana Ranch restaurant or at the Hana Hotel on most nights.  Other than those two places, unless you know some locals who are throwing a party, that’s about it.

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Tours for The Whole Family

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The best tour to take is a Maui tour with Valley Isle Excursions. There are many tours you can take on Maui but this one will appeal to children the most.  It’s a long day but here are some great benefits for different age groups.

Infants and Children

Our Maui guides are safe, courteous and definitely love kids.   They will make any accommodation you need to be sure the entire family has a great time.   Children can sit and their own seat and relax, this is so much more comfortable then being in a car.  They have great seats that sit them up higher then others so they can see really well out of huge windows.  No one is driving in the family so everyone can hang out with the children or sit together without having them confined to a backseat car seat.   You can get in and out of the van comfortably so the child can easily be taken outside as often as you want without any hassle.

Older Children

Many of the same points still apply but here are a few other.  It’s a rainforest adventure, they are going into where the dinosaurs of the movie Jurassic Park live.   Some of the scenes from the movies were shot out here in Hawaii and opening (most incredible, dramatic) sequences of the first movie was filmed along Maui’s northern coast where the road to Hana is.  During the tour they can hike into a cave, sit on black sand beach, watch a blow-hole, go swimming in a crystal clear mountain pool and jump off a waterfall.

There are so many possibilities, the entire day is open to you and your Maui guide can help plan the best day possible for the entire family from infants to Grandma and Grandpa.

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Road to Hana

If you love to do day hikes then Maui is the place for you.  One of the most popular and mostly free Maui activities is hiking.  You wouldn’t believe the spectacular and This is by far the best thing to do in Maui.  It’s an exciting day filled with all sorts of classic Maui activities and sights.  Checking out the huge waterfalls, the rugged coast, the rainforest, the colorful flowers, the small villages as well as taking a dip at a classic swimming spot enjoyed for many thousands of years by the Hawaiians.  This is a day you will not forget and will want to do more then once.

The route takes you from Kahului through little towns of Maui’s Northern coast.   Many tours stop in towns like Paia but the folks at Valley Isle Excursions believe that you should spend a bit more time there.  They wet your appetite to come back and see that one.   It’s a great spot to catch a pizza at Flatbread.  They use local and organic ingredients in their creations.  The specials are always very tasty.

The Road to Hana tour from there becomes a tropical wilderness as the road winds through hundreds of gullies over tens of bridges and past waterfalls of various sizes.   Since there is so much to see and experience they stop at only the best or most convenient places along the trip.  There are times when you would want to stop to check out a specific place but trust the guides they will take you to the best spots.

Some of the main stops on a Road to Hana Tour by Valley Isle Excursions are:

  • Maui Waterfalls

    • There are hundreds of waterfalls along this part of Maui.  Depending on the amount of rain over the past couple days they will be either gushing, torrent of water or barely a trickle.  There are trade-offs in dealing with the rain on this side of the island.  So if you get a nice clear sunny day, you can see a long way up the coasts but the waterfalls will be smaller.

  • Keanae Peninsula

    • This area is beautiful with it’s rugged coastline.  This is the most exposed point on the north coast of Maui.  It has been subject to a tsunami almost 50 years ago as it’s only a few feet above the ocean.   There are no sandy beaches here as this is a result of a lava flow many, many years ago.  It has been made habitable by Hawaiian’s years ago through the hard work of transporting good soils down here to create taro fields.

  • Waianapanapa Black Sand Beach

    • The black sand beach and blowhole at Waianapanapa state park are just two of the features to see.  There are caves, graves and a wide variety of plants to see.  Take your time and enjoy this beautiful spot where the blackness of the rocks, the green of the plants and the blue of the ocean contrast with such stark colors that you wonder if your are really seeing it.

  • Wailua Falls

    • This beautiful waterfall just past Hana is just off the road.  You can enjoy the view and the mist by standing on the bridge.  You won’t find this scene anywhere else in Hawaii or the world.

  • Hana Town Sightseeing

    • The town of Hana is quite small and there are a few places of note, like the bay and the hotel.  This sleepy little village is home to many celebrities and hawaiians for many years as this is one of the best examples of a relatively untouched Hawaiian lifestyle.

  • Hana Ranchlands

    • The Hana ranch is huge and is spread over many thousands of acres.  The road cuts through this ranch at many stages and is quite a change from the dense rainforest earlier on in the journey.

  • Charles Lindbergh’s Memorial at Pala Pala Hoo mau Church

    • This classic american hero, the man who flew across the atlantic non-stop and alone first is buried here.  Hana was his home and he loved this place more then anywhere else in the world.  By the time you reach here you will understand why he never wanted to leave.

  • Swimming at the Pools of Oheo at Haleakala National Park

    • Few tour companies are allowed to stop in the park.  This is by far one of the best stops in Hana.  The Seven Sacred Pools are here, examples of Hawaiian architecture.  Huge waterfalls, bamboo forests and amazing plant life are found in the park.  Stopping here can rejuvenate you for the rest of the journey back around Haleakala as you make your way from Hana.

  • Surfing Overlook at Hookipa Park

    • This park is a stop just after Paia.  It’s a place where the worlds best windsurfers come to compete and practice.  Their colorful sails dot the ocean doing jumps and flips over the waves.  If you look carefully right below the cliffs you might see many of the turtles bobbing in the water feeding off of the seaweed that dot the coral reef just a few feet below the surface.

  • Tedeschi Winery

    • The winery is the last major stop on the Road to Hana Tour.  After a day of exploring and sightseeing, enjoying a sweet glass of pineapple wine will make you feel very good.  Grab a bottle to enjoy later with your meal.  You might want to get a few.  The grounds are beautiful and have lots of history so be sure to check out their little museum attached to the wine tasting room.

 

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Zip Lining’s Growing Popularity

Zip lining is the next big thing to do all over the world.  Zip lines are going up quickly throughout Hawaii.  Here on Maui we have at least three operational zip lines.  One up Crater road going up to the summit of Haleakala, one down near Makawao and another in West Maui.  It’s an amazing experience whipping over the tops of the trees like a low flying bird.  Going from platform to platform on your way back down the mountain.

The journey is something like this.  You hike up a mountain and then attach yourself to a wire take you back down.  With safety in mind and a comfortable, fast ride.  There is specialized seat harnesses that you sit in and a helmet too incase you bump your head on something.

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South-side Sailing

With the trade winds blowing at a constant speed you are sure to enjoy a great sail here in Maui.  There are evening cruises, day trips, overnight excursions and charters available for whatever you want to do.  There are plenty of great sailing opportunities.  Explore the other islands in Maui county without ever exposing yourself to the serious waves of the north shore.

In the protected channel between the islands Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokai you can glide the water in comfort, never feeling a bit seasick.  During the winter the best place to be is on the water because during that time of year the humpback whales are in town to give birth and to mate.  The shows are spectacular as these behemoths leap from the water in an incredible display of tails, fins and splashes.  The newborns are especially active as well.

There are many sailing charter you can contact to take you for a ride, especially out of Maalaea Harbor and Lahaina harbors.

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