The first is one we dont advise. This is one of the best things to do in Maui on a budget. This is the honey bee sanctuary. more! If the Road the Hana is proving scary, that Back route will scare the Bejebous out of you! You are driving the Hana Highway to the town of Hana! If you pay for your monthly expenses on the card and are responsible about paying it off every month, the points add up really fast. . More! ROAD TRIP AMERICA It wouldnt be fun to do that on the front side with all the traffic and narrow winding roads! Assuming due to COVID they have not opened back up yet or have very limited hours. Check out this view of a beautiful overlook of a gulch. The first of many Road to Hana stops, the Twin Falls is situated in the Ho'olawa Valley. The road to Hana is one of Maui's two most famous sights. They are indeed blind corners (you cant see if anyone is coming around the other side), but its not actually that scary. So you are trying to figure out whether you should do a Road to Hana tour or if you should do the Road to Hana on your own! While most of the road has been repaved in the last twenty years, Hawaii Route 200 still has a dangerous reputation. What makes it so dangerousIt's a road! OAHU Assume about 45 minutes of direct driving time from Lahaina to Kahului, then another 2.5 hours (53 miles at 25mph), plus stops on the Road to Hana itself. The Road to Hana is known for having winding roads. Driving the backside voids your rental car contract. Leave the driving to someone else and enjoy the ride with your family. The Best Stops on the Road to Hana Early Stops Most of the big waterfalls and impressive black sand beaches are later on in the drive, so for the first hour or so, just enjoy the road and get as far along as you can to keep the crowds way behind you, especially if your objective is to do the Pipiwai Stream Trail Hike: Is 3pm too late in the day to head out from Kanapali to Hana? We intend to stop only at Hanawi Falls briefly (1 hour), and we understand that it is otherwise a 2 hour drive. What makes it so dangerousIts a road! In some ways, winding roads are beautiful and make for a peaceful drive while road tripping. Side Note: If youre looking for a rental car for your trip, I LOVE Discount Hawaii Car Rentals. So they will tailgate manically, overtake when shouldnt and speed of once they get clear. Exploring and discovering are all part of the journey and a van tour is often a long and pretty boring way to see the road, even if you get a great guide and they show you all the best locations. I'll add, no, the late afternoon shouldn't be an especially dangerous time to drive the road (but it will take longer than 2 hours from the start of the RTH, let alone Kaanapali); you absolutely don't need a 4X4 (I prefer smaller (ta && ta.queueForLoad ? Ive yet to see a current rental car contract that even mentions where you can or cant take the car on Maui (and I always read the fine print!). What are you wanting to do west? 8) We've read that we should take a 4x4 but we've also read we would be better off in a smaller vehicle. Just three of the many many reasons to love the Road to Hana. If you ask them directly, theyll hem and haw (they give you the strong impression that its forbidden) but basically what it comes down to is they wont come and get you if you have a problem.. Next up is Ulupalakua. You can read Road to Hana tour reviews on getyourguide. Yikes. I guess depending on what youre most interested in seeing/doing you could try this, but here are my thoughts: I strongly recommend driving the Road to Hana the right way or clockwise from Paia for a couple of reasons: 1) youll be on the inside lane the whole way around (no hugging the tight shoulder where theres a 200 foot drop off mere feet away from your tire) which is a bigger deal when youre driving on the road past Hana. NATIONAL LAKESHORES However, the Road to Hana is not dangerous in and of itself, and for seasoned drivers, the trip should be a breeze. You'll battle the traffic with other day trippers, missing some of the drive's highlights due to time constraints and eventually running out of . Charged Cameras - Many photo opps await you! There are literally signs posted telling you to honk as you go around the blind corners. This is great to know thanks. Subscribe for Hawaii Travel Tips, my Latest Content and Much More. And so, it just depends on the kind of driver you are! This is a great place to stop to fuel up with gas, grab a coffee or a hot meal. Itll avoid the uncomfortable situation of figuring out how youre going to squeeze past (or backing up) once youre on them. : @kapenamorgan, What to expect driving the backside road to Hana. We can now offer our visitors 20 years of expertise on this beautifully scenic drive. Yes, if you drive straight from Paia to Hana, you might see less people at the spots near Hana, but by the time you start working your way back to Paia those spots are still going to crowded. So many people dont really plan their trip to Hana and end up starting out late in the day and just stopping wherever they see cars so those stops along the north shore are still going to have visitors all day long. The Road to Hana starts in Kahului and ends in Hana. ta.queueForLoad : function(f, g){document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', f);})(function(){ta.trackEventOnPage('postLinkInline', 'impression', 'postLinks-114353050', '');}, 'log_autolink_impression');Napili beach as well. For comparison, there was a mom and daughter duo that I met at the Maui hostel that I was staying at who did the back road to Hana, and they thought it was fine. The steep valleys encrusted in the jungle start off the imagination and you half expect to bump into a Dinosaur. The Road to Hana travels along the edge of many sheer cliffs. Was it worse or better than your fears? The backside of Hana has some one lane graded dirt roads and rusty guardrails so the drive requires extra caution. Hana, the quaint little backwater town has just the one road leading in or our and this is the drive of a lifetime! My girlfriend. Theyve got the largest selection of rentals youll find anywhere and you can easily filter to find exactly what youre looking for. The Oheo Poolsare a tier of waterfalls that flow into pools and eventually into the ocean. We have written extensively and lyrically about the road in our other articles and we imagine if you are seriously questioning the journey you are pretty aware of what the road is so we will not go in too deep here. as Upcountry. Driving the stretch takes more than two and a half hours, even with no stops, because of the narrow, winding road and nearly 60 bridges with 46 that are one lane only. Its the quintessential Hawaiian mom and pop shop and its a great place to grab a cold drink and use the restroom. This is a tough and fairly common problem. The road is such a stunning journey through the most amazing landscape we just want everyone to experience it. (The other is the crater at the top of Haleakala .) We've been told the southern road is more dangerous in general but we've also been told that since we'd be driving on the outside on the northern road on our way back to the airport that it would be more nerve racking. The Pools at O'heo. At this historic store you can purchase snacks and use a restroom if you are a customer. Here the road is exposed to some fairly large drops, however, these are all behind Armco rails and there are no large unprotected drops. The Road often apps up in worlds most dangerous roads lists, along with other such shock journalism. EVERGLADES FL IDAHO The Road to Hana is one of the best things to do in Maui! Well, you get the picture. It has 600+ curves, and many of them are hairpin. Along Maui's rugged eastern coastline is the peaceful town of Hna, considered one of the last unspoiled Hawaiian frontiers. In terms of the road, no there aren't cars falling off of it all the time (I mean, it happens, but) and it's not that scary to me if you are used to winding mountain roads. The most dangerous part of the Road to Hana is the back road to Hana because this is where you will find one-lane roads with no shoulders and a cliff that drops off right alongside the road. Thanks for sticking around and reading this whole post! Road To Hana (Maui) - Toughest Section DrMKC 739 subscribers 56K views 7 years ago This is the dashcam video of the toughest 30 minutes on the famous Road to Hana in Maui. Our Hawaiian Food Guide to Hawaiis Must Try Foods, Best Beaches in Maui, Hawaii Our Ultimate Maui Beach Guide, How To Visit Maui on a Budget Saving money on your Maui, Hawaii Vacation. 5) Is there any general safety advice you guys would give? Alelele Falls is a short hike that takes 15-20 minutes to reach. I personally dont like to be on the road after dark at all, but once I make it to Kula (really even Ulupalakau), its fine driving back in the dark. While a lot of the guides/apps say to try to be the first car in a line while driving through the frontside so you dont have to watch their brake lights too closely while youre looking around, I think the opposite is true when youre driving past Hana. We hoped to stop at the garden of eden but it had a long line of cars so we kept going, we made a reservation at the black sand beach. 9) Is there anything I'm not considering that I should be considering? We go into detail in the linked article, but, Spoiler alert! But really, we want people to experience the road for themselves. This is why we find it a little odd so many are utterly petrified of the road. The Single file traffic is easily regulated with simple give way systems and you just wait your turn at the give says one each side of the bridge until it is your turn to cross. Parking can be bad later in the day, but this stop is worth it. Starting your journey to Hana on this side is a great way toexperience this side of, Day 256 of traveling the world full time! So take the time to research the road in advance and be . The Kipahulu district of Haleakala National Park is past Hana town and well worth the additional drive. *Update when I was here May 2021 during a weekday around noon they were closed. Your other option is to turn around and drive back the way you came or continue around the island on the Hana Highway a.k.a. I did not want to drive this most scary and dangerous part, and I walked part of the back road to Hana. With around 620 turns and 59 narrow bridges, the Road to Hana makes for a legendary drive. While the area around the falls is inside private property (Wailele Farm), it is easily accessible to the . The most iconic part of Bayburt-of Road is called Dereba Turns. Ewa Beach, Oahu Robert Linsdell/Flickr The National Drug Intelligence Center mentions the high use of methamphetamine in Ewa Beach as well, and according to AreaVibes, you have a 1 in 27 chance of being a crime victim. This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in Canada. I thank you in advance. This being said, travel at your own risk. Malama Aina which means take care of the land. Just before mile marker 15 is the Maui-Grown Market and Deli (tel. Full Gas Tank - You most likely won't need a whole tank, but just in case. The photo slideshow below shows each of these stops. I just drove this twice in May when traffic wasn't heavy as it is now. Need a coffee or fresh fruit after your refreshing waterfall plunge? One of the leading causes of accidental deaths anywhere in the world is Road Traffic Accidents. How necessary is it to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle for this drive? 1. 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