Maui’s famous Road to Hana isn’t just one of the best drives on the island, it’s one of the best drives in the world. The 50 miles from Paia to Hana (and beyond) are full of twists and turns, single lane bridges, jungles, gorges, panoramic ocean views, waterfalls, bamboo forests…everything your tropical dreams are made of. This iconic drive has become one of the most popular things to do on Maui, but it’s definitely not something you want to go into without a plan. 

For my favorite 1 day Road to Hana itinerary, read this post. 

This post here is a compilation of all of my best tips for driving the Road to Hana: when to go, what to wear, what to bring, how to not irritate the locals, where to eat, whether to take a tour or drive yourself, if you should spend the night, etc. 

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Road to Hana Tips

Here are my best tips for driving the Road to Hana:

Be Considerate. While driving along this BEAUTIFUL road is considered one of Maui’s top attractions, it’s still an actual road and there are people that live in these remote communities that use it everyday. They’re driving to work, taking their kids to school, going to doctor appointments, etc. They’re not on vacation. And while they’re very welcoming, they’re getting increasingly frustrated at the huge numbers of visitors coming to Maui (and the current infrastructure’s inability to handle them). 

So a few simple rules: Don’t trespass on private property. Don’t park illegally on the road (pay attention to the signs!!). Don’t stop in the middle of the road to take a picture of a waterfall, a rainbow eucalyptus tree, a gorge, an ocean view, a mongoose, a rainbow, or anything else. 

If you’re driving slowly and there’s a local behind you, pull over and let them pass. Even if you don’t think you’re driving slowly, pull over and let them pass. They have somewhere to be. Just be kind and aware of your surroundings and yield to the locals whenever possible. And remember, you are in their HOME so use those manners your mama taught you. 

Get an early start. This is my #1 tip for having a pleasant day driving the Road to Hana. I wouldn’t want to be leaving Paia any later than 8AM. Getting an early start will be the single biggest factor in having lower crowd levels at all of the stops along the drive. 

Have a plan. Yes, the fun is in the adventure, but you are going to have such a better adventure if you have a plan for it. The road is long (50 miles just to reach Hana plus more if you go beyond) and chock full of overlooks and little sites to see, hikes, waterfalls, pools to swim in, beaches, roadside stands, botanical gardens, etc. If you stop everywhere, it would take you DAYS to do the whole thing and if you only have one day and you spend the first few hours lollygagging around the first few stops you come to, you’ll probably end up missing out on the best stuff which is towards the end. 

Even if you’re using one of the GPS tour guide apps, you’ll need to have a rough plan of where you’re going to stop so you can budget your time. You don’t want to get past Hana and find out there’s a world class hike through a bamboo forest, but it’s getting dark and you don’t have time to do it because you spent too much time at Twin Falls at the beginning of the day. 

Make reservations for Waianapanapa State Park. Hey this is why it’s good to have a plan! Imagine rolling up to Hana’s spectacular black sand beach and finding out you can’t see it because you didn’t make a reservation. Womp womp. Starting March 2021, all non Hawaiian residents must have a reservation for parking and entrance to Waianapanapa State Park (the black sand beach). Reservations can be made 30 days in advance (and no later than the day before). Unlike reservations for sunrise at Haleakala, they don’t seem to sell out 2 minutes after they become available, but you definitely don’t want to sleep on it. You’ll make your reservation for one of four time slots: 7AM-10AM, 10AM-12:30PM, 12:30PM-3PM, and 3PM-6PM. They are strict with the entry and exit times. The two time slots in the middle of the day are the ones that sell out first. It’s $10/vehicle for parking and $5/person for entry and you have to pay for it all when you book the reservation. 

Fill up your tank. Make sure you have a full tank of gas when you leave Paia. There’s a gas station in Hana (where it’ll cost you quite a bit more), but that’s it.

Plan for motion sickness. I’ve been blessed with an iron stomach, but people who struggle with motion sickness say the Road to Hana is brutal. In fact, if you get severe motion sickness, it could make driving to Hana a dealbreaker, but if it’s mild to moderate for sure have medication (or arm bands or whatever you use) with you. 

Take cash. You never know when you’re going to need it. Many of the food trucks and spots in Hana take cards, but it’s definitely not the kind of place you’d want to be without cash. A lot of the roadside stands will only take cash (although more and more have Venmo set up). 

You don’t need four wheel drive. The road from Paia to Hana is completely paved and even beyond Hana you won’t need four wheel drive. Jeeps and Mustang convertibles are the most popular rentals with tourists, but I personally would not want to do this drive in a convertible. It rains too often and rockslides (even tiny ones) aren’t terribly uncommon. A Jeep is fun, but not necessary. Smaller cars (shorter length) are preferable to bigger cars for negotiating tight spots (this pretty much goes for anywhere in Hawaii).

Prepare for no cell service. You’ll have patchy cell service until you get to Hana, and no cell service on the backside past Hana. Download your Spotify playlists before you go, have a general sense of where the big spots you’re stopping at are. If you’re using a GPS app like Gypsy or Shaka, they won’t require cell service to run, but they will DRAIN your phone battery so make sure you have a charger. 

Wear the right clothes. I dress for hiking, getting in and out of the car a lot, and being generally pretty grubby. I don’t dress for the beach. There are freshwater pools and ponds that people like to swim in (everybody wants to swim under a waterfall don’t they?), but I can’t think of many things more miserable than being in and out of the car all day in a wet swimsuit. I also don’t get in the water at the black sand or red sand beaches in Hana (again I don’t like being in the car in a wet swimsuit but they’re also not good swimming beaches). So I usually wear a swimsuit under my clothes because you never know, but I’m not running around in a coverup and flip flops all day. The most important thing for me is sturdy shoes (they can be sandals, but they need to be strapped onto your feet) that you don’t mind getting muddy and wet. 

Pack a bit of everything. I do take towels or a beach blanket and you’ll for sure want sunscreen and bug spray. I’ve actually never been bothered by mosquitos in Hana (they don’t like me though), but I know people who have been absolutely eaten up at different hiking spots. If you have a cooler, it’s not a bad idea to bring water or snacks although there are plenty of places to stop (if you’re going past Hana though you’ll definitely want to stock up there). Hats, sunglasses, baby wipes, phone chargers, etc. I’d take a mix of hiking and “going to the beach” gear. 

Get back before dark. I don’t like being on the road after dark so that’s why I always like to have a plan for where I’m going to stop and how long I’m going to spend at each place. 

Take a tour or drive yourself?

I’ve personally never done a Road to Hana tour, and I’ve driven this road a dozen or so times. 

Some people are tour people and some people are not. The good news is that you can easily do the Road to Hana either way. If I were going to do a tour, I would book with Road to Hana Tours. They have a TON of options so you can find exactly what you’re looking for whether it’s a basic on/off bus tour of some of the major tourist sites or one that takes you hiking in the National Park.

If you want to do the drive yourself, but still have a bit of a tour guide, there are a couple of very popular GPS apps that you can download. Shaka Guide and Gypsy Guide are the two big ones. 

They both work pretty much the same. The app will narrate your drive turn by turn, let you know when picture worthy vistas are just ahead, guide you to the best hidden waterfalls, and provide a lot of information about the island. I used the Shaka Guide app on my last drive to Hana, and it was interesting. I honestly didn’t love it, but I can see how it would be helpful to people who haven’t done any research. 

You download the tour before you leave so you won’t need cell service, but it will EAT your phone battery so you’ll want a car charger as well as a USB or AUX connector if your car doesn’t have Bluetooth (don’t assume the rental will). It’s a little clunky, and in my experience, the passenger has to spend a fair amount of time messing with it, but it does provide a lot of value. 

However, I still don’t think you can download the app and strike out without a plan. The narrator sometimes makes suggestions about whether or not you should stop depending on the time or what else you plan to do, but you could get in a jam where you spend all your time at the front end and don’t have time for some of the best stuff at the end. So I recommend still knowing roughly where you want to stop and managing your time so you’ll be able to fit everything into your day.

Should you drive the backside of the Road to Hana?

Most people drive to Hana (or just past to the National Park) and then turn around and retrace their route back. But you can actually drive an entire loop around this part of the island, which people usually refer to as the backside of the Road to Hana. I’ve written a whole post about it here. 

What about driving the Road to Hana in REVERSE?

So here’s the scenario: People read about long lines of cars, limited parking spaces, and crowded hikes, waterfalls, etc. at stops along the Road to Hana and they wonder if they start in Kula and do a reverse loop around the island if they’ll run into fewer crowds and get a head start on their must see list. I guess depending on what you’re most interested in seeing/doing you could try this (I’ve done it), 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) You’ll be on the inside lane the whole way around (no hugging the tight shoulder where there’s a 100 foot drop off mere feet away from your tire) which is a bigger deal when you’re driving on the road past Hana. 2) You’ll experience the best part of the drive (what you’re most expecting to see…crazy lush vegetation, wild jungles, waterfalls, etc) early in the day when you’re still fresh and excited (and not 6-8 hours in when you’re starting to run on fumes energy wise). 

Besides that, I just don’t think you’re going to make that much of a difference on the crowd levels at each stop by doing it in reverse. 

How to Avoid Crowds along the Road to Hana

The Road to Hana is not undiscovered anymore and there are just people everywhere. But here’s the thing…it’s still not really unpleasant unless you know what it used to be like before there was the surge in tourists. The average visitor is not going to think twice about the number of people they encounter along this road unless they were truly thinking they would be the ONLY ones driving to Hana. So just drive the route that’s going to give you the best overall experience and don’t be worried about trying to be too strategic.

I’ve had a few people recently ask me about starting in Paia and driving ALL the way to Hana without stopping and then turning around and doing their stops on the way back. Their reasoning is that the popular sites closer to Hana would be less crowded by getting there earlier and then I guess they think that the crowds at the stops closer to Paia will have moved on towards Hana so by the time they retrace their steps they’ll have all the popular spots to themselves. 

Here’s the thing…this isn’t Disney World. You don’t really need a touring plan for the order of how to hit all your must see spots. 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 be “crowded.” So many people don’t 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 #1 best thing you can do to avoid crowds along the Road to Hana BY FAR is just getting an early start. If you leave Paia by 8AM (and hey earlier is even better), I promise you that you’ll be ahead of 90% of the people planning to drive to Hana that day. If you have a solid plan for where you want to stop and you just keep moving along, you’ll stay in front of the “crowds” all day and you’ll have a great time. 

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