Road to Hana

[ebenmax]

Our family is headed to Kauai and Maui after our week stay at Aulani. When we get to Maui, we would love to travel the Road to Hana (at least in part) and see some of the waterfalls and beaches. However, I use a wheelchair on occasion due to chronic fatigue. I can walk short distances - maybe a half mile or so.
Are any of the stops along the Road short enough that I could go without a wheelchair or paved so that I can take it?

Thank you for any insights!!

 

[Pete W.]

We've never done the Road to Hana before, but my understanding is that it can be a bit overwhelming to navigate on your own plus some rental car companies prohibit you from taking their vehicles on the road, so for our upcoming trip in April we've booked a private tour through Holo Holo Maui Tours (small independent outfit, not to be confused with other, larger outfits with same/similar name) based on a recommendation from the B&B we're staying at on Maui. It will be quite a splurge but we're looking at it as a way to truly see/enjoy the Road to Hana with a local guide who can customize the tour to meet our needs. Not sure if that's something you'd consider but figured I'd toss it out!

https://holoholomauitours.com/

 

[wanderlust7]

Our last trip to Maui, my DD was 1 year old. I think she got car sick from the winding road (kept crying), so we only got as far as the Garden of Eden. It was a nice stop. We picked up some lunch in Paia and had a nice picnic in their gazebo. Most of the paths are gravel but we were able to push the stroller on it. We only picked the easy trails and I don't recall anything being a long walk. They have multiple spots to park, so you could check out an area, then drive over to another area.

 

[cgattis]

We only drove it from the port to Hamoa Beach (past Hana but not all the way to the Seven Pools) and back--all of which is ok in a rental--and it took ALL day, including stops of course.

Most of the places we stopped had very little parking, so you might be parked in a ditch, down the road and walking back, etc. It was never very far but maybe uneven or muddy/gravel. Hope that detail helps a little....

We stopped at the free botanical garden (I'd have to look up the name), and it was definitely NOT good for limited mobility. Not paved, steep spots, tree roots, etc. But the Eden garden is paved, so that might be a good choice.

I wasn't looking for wheelchair/scooter access to the beaches we visited (Ho'okipa, (Waianapanapa, Hamoa, and Koki), but nothing jumped out at me. Waianapanapa had a big nice boardwalk and steps where you could get some great views, but the "sand" is really pebbles, so I'm not sure if a scooter would roll. But I highly recommend viewing it, even if you don't go down to the water. There are also good pull-off areas at Ho'okipa where you can watch the waves and the windsurfers from your car if you wanted, or just walk a few steps for a better view (very packed sand/gravel, easy walking).

I think you can still SEE a ton of gorgeous sights along the way, even if you can't hike down to the waterfalls, beaches, etc. Don't let that deter you. But it's still a long, tiring day. If you get carsick at ALL, take a Dramamine (or whatever you use). Take wet wipes and paper towels! Take big spray--and actually use it (sorry, son...LOL). And above all, take plenty of water and snacks; all the food stands are definitely "YMMV."

If you have questions about any specific spot, I'll see if I can remember or find pics.

 

[ebenmax]

Thank you for your insights!! I’m glad to hear some things are short distances!!

We are also concerned about time (and our 1 yr. old.) My adult son is leaving for the mainland late in the same evening, but wants to see the Road most of all, and we are not arriving in Maui (from Kauai) until 10:15 am.
So...will it be worth it to us to only be on the Road for a few hours? 4-5? My son also really wants to see the black sand beach, but it looks fairly far down the road. We aren’t planning to swim so I’m hoping that helps with timing.

 

[wanderlust7]

The airport is near the start of the Road to Hana. So you are saving time vs coming from Lahaina or Ka'anapali. My Maui Revealed guidebook says 130 minutes from Kahului to Hana with no traffic or stops. I think it's worth it if everyone feels up to it. The black sand beach is far, basically you're almost to Hana. You can just see how it goes and decide when you want to turn back. Depends how late the flight is too, you wouldn't want to cut it too close in case of traffic.

Or alternatively, if everyone's not feeling up to it, Iao Valley is lovely.

 

[cgattis]

Or alternatively, if everyone's not feeling up to it, Iao Valley is lovely.

Yes, it was still closed when we were there, but that was something we wanted to see. It does look gorgeous.

Personally--and I hate to say this--I don't think you'll make it to the black sand (assuming we are talking Waianapanapa and not some other one) and back in that amount of time. You'd really have to push it, and like PP said, you'd hate to hit a snag and miss a flight. (Stranded on Maui, you say?? Hmmmmmm...that'd be awful....lol) But it was seriously one of my very favorite parts of the trip, so i hope you can see it. I think you'll be ok with a 1YO; a 2-3YO would likely be much harder. I see some milk drinking and napping going on

 

[Murt17]

My opinion is don't waste your time especially with 2 kids in the car. We have been to Maui several times and this time was the only time we did the road. We took a tour van, so they didn't stop much - but I didn't really see much worth the hassle of trying to park the car along that road. It is a LONG day - take the kids to do something they will enjoy because whining children in the car would not make a happy day! Also - the road past the pools is closed during the week now, so if you were thinking of going all around - that would be a no.

Iao Valley is open - much better choice with the kids - short drive, short exploration, back to the pool!!! (thinking of the kids).

 

[adamak]

Nothing is paved. And from my memory, the 'sidewalk' where you can park your car and walk is pretty narrow. Not wheelchair friendly. Also, the drive alone is pretty stressful at least for me. I absolutely wouldn't do Hana on the day of flight. You never know what kind of accidents could happen on that road and you can really get stuck.

 

[ebenmax]

The airport is near the start of the Road to Hana. So you are saving time vs coming from Lahaina or Ka'anapali. My Maui Revealed guidebook says 130 minutes from Kahului to Hana with no traffic or stops. I think it's worth it if everyone feels up to it. The black sand beach is far, basically you're almost to Hana. You can just see how it goes and decide when you want to turn back. Depends how late the flight is too, you wouldn't want to cut it too close in case of traffic.

Or alternatively, if everyone's not feeling up to it, Iao Valley is lovely.

The flight is 10:30 pm. Assuming we would want to be back from the Road trip by 6:00 to allow for any traffic issues, have dinner etc.

 

[cgattis]

The flight is 10:30 pm. Assuming we would want to be back from the Road trip by 6:00 to allow for any traffic issues, have dinner etc.

If you decide to do it, let me know which things you're most interested in, and I will go back through mybpics and see if I can find shots of the walkways. I can also check my Maui Revealed book if you don't have that for access info; they give some good details.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This waterfall is right by the road. We did a van tour last February. The road is hard to manuver.

 

[ebenmax]

This waterfall is right by the road. We did a van tour last February. The road is hard to manuver.

View attachment 301236

Perfect!! I will be able to walk a few steps to see that one! Thanks for posting your lovely picture!

 

[cgattis]

Three Bears (Waikani Falls) can be viewed from right on the road too. I just waked up and sat down There was a pullout that fit 2-3 cars, and 2-3 more could stop on a wide part of the shoulder. So at the most, you'd walk a few car lengths. (Or you'd have to pass it by--no other parking in walking distance.) You can go down to the falls (you can see the people) but it's just a dirt path scrambling down over rocks--not super easy even for fully-able bodies.

 

[ebenmax]

We are now running into another “road” block (no pun intended)...Where to store luggage for the few hours we are driving to Hana. Our Air BnB is about 30 mins each way from the airport (plus can’t check in until 4:00pm), so we didn’t want to waste an hour trying to drive down there to drop it off (if permitted). We called 4 or 5 places we thought might be able to hold it for us and no go! The mall nearby has a service but it closes at 4:30.
Does anyone know of a place near Maui’s airport where you can store luggage? This is causing us some stress! We can’t really change the date because DS leaves Maui the same night we arrive, and he is most interested in Hana.

Thank you for any thoughts!!

 

[olafLover]

.

 

[hopemax]

We did it 2013. Our goal was to do the waterfall hike at the "end of the road" at Kipahulu National Park. So we skipped most of the stops on the first third of the drive hoping to stay ahead of most of the tourist cars. We had picked up sandwiches in Paia and were on our way before 8AM. This worked very well, and we didn't run into crowded pullouts. We used the Maui Revealed guide to decide where to stop.

Our first stop was #11 Haipua'ena Falls. After crossing the road, I think we walked a couple hundred meters to see the waterfall.

2nd stop was Kaumahina State Wayside. They have bathrooms. There are some short trails, but I don't remember anything too spectacular.

3rd was Ke'anae Peninsula. This is a short drive off the main road, but once you reached the parking lot, I think it was a pretty short (maybe 3 min), and flat walk to the beach where you could see where a lava flow had come. I don't quite remember how much you can see from the parking lot. Looking at Google Maps, it looks pretty close https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ke‘Anae,+HI+96708/@20.8599481,-156.1442608,51m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x7954b4ad34ca4625:0xc88bb64d2da938e4!8m2!3d20.8590307!4d-156.148795

The book says there are two easily visited small waterfalls at Pua'a Ka'a State Park, but I don't remember the details.

We stopped in Nahiku, there are a few shops including a nice art gallery, and a supposedly pretty good Thai restaurant. While we were in the art gallery, Weird Al came in with his daughter looking for directions to the "watering hole the locals swim at." My DH didn't notice, and was wondering why I was making a bunch of gestures.

There were also several "on the side of the road" pullouts that we stopped at just to look at the vegetation and cliffs, but I don't remember where each of those was.

One of the highlights was the black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa Park. The beach itself, is down the cliff, several hundred meters, I think that path was actually paved (until you hit the beach) but it was pretty steep and not the best pavement, so I wouldn't recommend pushing a wheelchair. But there is a parking lot, and I think paved walkways to overlooks. Let's see if this Google maps link works, to show distance. https://www.google.com/maps/place/M...3e741dc113e7f!8m2!3d20.7983626!4d-156.3319253

In Hana itself, Hasegawa's General Store is supposed to a kick, just to see the variety of different things they stock. We were too tired after our big hike to want to stop, so I don't know if that's true.

At Kipahulu, there is a small visitor's center that is easily walkable. The Seven Sacred Pools is where most people go, but that is a bit of a walk. Oh, looking it up on the NPS website, the pools are closed indefinitely due to rock slides, so you wouldn't have to feel bad about missing them.

The two bolded areas are the places we enjoyed the most, that I think should be manageable. But the road really is beautiful and unique. My DH and I grew up in the PacNW and there is a famous road their called Chuckanut Drive. A bunch of car commercials get filmed there. So we were quite familiar with tight, twisty roads, high on a cliff with water down below. So we didn't have quite the white-knuckled experience that everyone described it as. The one lane bridges were new though. On our way back up, we left after 4PM, so most of the tourists were ahead of us. No one was on the road but locals and we had an absolute blast driving it as fast as we could (although the locals were going faster than we were).

 

[ebenmax]

We did it 2013. Our goal was to do the waterfall hike at the "end of the road" at Kipahulu National Park. So we skipped most of the stops on the first third of the drive hoping to stay ahead of most of the tourist cars. We had picked up sandwiches in Paia and were on our way before 8AM. This worked very well, and we didn't run into crowded pullouts. We used the Maui Revealed guide to decide where to stop.

Our first stop was #11 Haipua'ena Falls. After crossing the road, I think we walked a couple hundred meters to see the waterfall.

2nd stop was Kaumahina State Wayside. They have bathrooms. There are some short trails, but I don't remember anything too spectacular.

3rd was Ke'anae Peninsula. This is a short drive off the main road, but once you reached the parking lot, I think it was a pretty short (maybe 3 min), and flat walk to the beach where you could see where a lava flow had come. I don't quite remember how much you can see from the parking lot. Looking at Google Maps, it looks pretty close https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ke‘Anae,+HI+96708/@20.8599481,-156.1442608,51m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x7954b4ad34ca4625:0xc88bb64d2da938e4!8m2!3d20.8590307!4d-156.148795

The book says there are two easily visited small waterfalls at Pua'a Ka'a State Park, but I don't remember the details.

We stopped in Nahiku, there are a few shops including a nice art gallery, and a supposedly pretty good Thai restaurant. While we were in the art gallery, Weird Al came in with his daughter looking for directions to the "watering hole the locals swim at." My DH didn't notice, and was wondering why I was making a bunch of gestures.

There were also several "on the side of the road" pullouts that we stopped at just to look at the vegetation and cliffs, but I don't remember where each of those was.

One of the highlights was the black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa Park. The beach itself, is down the cliff, several hundred meters, I think that path was actually paved (until you hit the beach) but it was pretty steep and not the best pavement, so I wouldn't recommend pushing a wheelchair. But there is a parking lot, and I think paved walkways to overlooks. Let's see if this Google maps link works, to show distance. https://www.google.com/maps/place/M...3e741dc113e7f!8m2!3d20.7983626!4d-156.3319253

In Hana itself, Hasegawa's General Store is supposed to a kick, just to see the variety of different things they stock. We were too tired after our big hike to want to stop, so I don't know if that's true.

At Kipahulu, there is a small visitor's center that is easily walkable. The Seven Sacred Pools is where most people go, but that is a bit of a walk. Oh, looking it up on the NPS website, the pools are closed indefinitely due to rock slides, so you wouldn't have to feel bad about missing them.

The two bolded areas are the places we enjoyed the most, that I think should be manageable. But the road really is beautiful and unique. My DH and I grew up in the PacNW and there is a famous road their called Chuckanut Drive. A bunch of car commercials get filmed there. So we were quite familiar with tight, twisty roads, high on a cliff with water down below. So we didn't have quite the white-knuckled experience that everyone described it as. The one lane bridges were new though. On our way back up, we left after 4PM, so most of the tourists were ahead of us. No one was on the road but locals and we had an absolute blast driving it as fast as we could (although the locals were going faster than we were).

Thank you so much for such awesome details about your drive!! We are very excited to do it...just have to get all of the details worked out. Reading this helps me realize it will be so worth it!!

 

[Amw1064]

I see 2 waterfalls in pictures that we did not even find. Kind of funny. We stopped at Twin Falls and another one with 3 waterfalls but lots of climbing over rocks to find them. We also stopped at a "black sand beach" that the locals used and they looked at us like why are you here. We turned back at the Halfway to Hana sign. In the video in the link in my signature, Maui is about 1/2-3/4 of the way in the video if you want to see some examples of hiking conditions.

 

[cgattis]

We went to Hasegawa's, but it really didn't look any different than lots of other old country stores with OLD junk still hanging around. Nasty-looking old coolers full of food, dusty stuff on shelves, etc. I certainly wouldn't bother again. If you just want to go in an old store, go in Komoda Bakery--at least there's a massive payoff there!! Donuts on a stickkkkkkk....YUM!