Road to Hana is the scenic drive along the northeast coastline of Maui, from Kahului (where the airport is) to the town at the east tip of Maui island. This winding 64.4 mile (103.6km) highway is narrow, with 46 one lane wide bridges along the way. With the blue ocean, rocky shoreline, breaking waves on one side, lush green tropical forest, gulches, water falls on the other side, there are many options for stops along the way … one has to pick and choose so that at least one way drive can be completed before dark!
We adjusted our plan according to the weather to truly appreciate the beauties along the road to Hana. We drove on the road on our fourth day at Maui, started early in the morning.
Our first stop was Ho'okipa Beach on high way 36, before the official road to Hana starts on highway 360, well-known for its surfs and sea turtles. We stopped at around 7 miles marker again, to see Painted Bark Eucalyptus trees. The trees have unique barks that have shades of red, purple and green, which seem to be hand-painted! We stopped at a few vistas before our main stop, Garden of Eden. The Garden is the only fee-required stop along the road, $20/person. This is very beautiful place, many beautiful tropical plants, and spectacular views of the ocean and three water falls, which were viewed from above! We spent nearly 2 hours at the garden, thoroughly enjoyed it; it was well worth the entrance fee.
Ho'okipa Beach
Painted Bark Eucalyptus trees
A gulch
one of many water falls
Garden of Eden
Rocky shoreline along the road to Hana
Hana forest and Haleakala (to the upper left corner of the photo)
Rocky shore
We took a break from the road to Hana around 1pm, detoured to Ke'Anae to buy some lunch at Aunt Sandy's Banana Bread. We enjoyed the expensive bread, and a close up view of the rocky shore and breaking surfs. We arrived at Hana after 3pm, and visited Koki Beach Park, which has red sand and a view of ‘Ālau Island Seabird Sanctuary. We got to our last stop, Haleakala National Park, Waimoku Falls area, for a hike and view of awesome waterfalls.
On the way returning to the rental home at Lahaina, it quickly turned dark and later became rainy.
It was a marvelous scenic drive, a feast to sensory!
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