Maui, Hawai'i (Day Seven): Road to Hana & Wai’anapanapa State Park
If you missed day six of our trip to Maui, go read that post first!
By far one of the most famous activities to do on Maui is to drive the Road to Hana, a 64-mile stretch of highway along the coast, connecting Kahului to Hana. While the drive technically only takes three hours, what’s special about it is the number of roadside stops to see waterfalls, buy fresh banana bread, and take dips in the ocean. so plan on spending much more than a few hours on this excursion. While ideally you would stay the night in Hana to maximize your time for pit stops, it is possible to hit some of the highlights in a single day.
It’s also a good option, depending on your finances, to book a group tour—this cuts down on the number of tourist cars blocking the road and creating traffic for locals, and it gives you access to a guide with insider information about each stop.
Waterfalls: Upper Waikani Falls, Hanawi Falls, & Pua'a Kaa State Wayside Park
One of the distinguishing features of the Road to Hana is the number of waterfalls you’ll pass. The narrow highway passes over countless bridges, many of which provide a view back into a valley or waterfall, and this is a source of constant frustration for locals, as tourists love to either stop their cars entirely on the bridges, blocking traffic, just for a picture, park in no-parking areas, creating dangerous driving conditions, or to walk in the middle of the road and almost get hit. Do your research beforehand! Guides to the Road to Hana will tell you whether there is parking available to access a waterfall, or you might need to master the passenger-takes-a-photo-out-the-window-while-still-driving-an-appropriate-speed skill.
Our abbreviated one-day drive began with a stop at Upper Waikani Falls, or Three Bears, which is at mile-marker #19. There is a small area to park at up past the waterfall, but it does require that you carefully walk down the road, hugging a rock face, as there is virtually no shoulder. Hanawi Falls at mile-marker #24 was one that I photographed while Ryan continued to drive. And finally, on the way back, we stopped at Pua'a Kaa State Wayside Park (mile-marker #22), where you can take a short hike out to a beautiful waterfall and swim in the pool beneath. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I would call hot the day we did this, so I didn’t fancy a freezing dip in the pool. Ryan braved it, however, and looked miserable while doing it.
LUNCH: Hana Farms & Huli HULI Chicken
For lunch, we first stopped at Hana Farms, where they serve pizza featuring produce grown on their farm. This breadfruit pizza was excellent. We also sampled their chocolate chip banana bread, and even though I don’t usually like bananas, this was moist and delicious! Ryan was enticed by signs along the road advertising huli huli chicken (essentially barbecued chicken with a special sauce), a local Hawaiian dish he hadn’t yet gotten a chance to try. It turned out to be advertising a stand on Koki Beach that actually featured on Gordon Ramsey’s Uncharted. It didn’t feel quite up to health codes to me, but Ryan enjoyed it.
Wai’anapanapa State Park (Mile Marker #32)
This state park, like others we visited on this trip, is only open to non-residents via reservations. Its most notable attraction is a black sand beach named Pa'iloa, which abuts a kind of cove. Unfortunately, like I said, it wasn’t very hot that day, and the waves were also pretty strong. I opted to dip my feet in the water and watch as lots of people were wiped out by the waves. One of the other cool features of the park was a cave (accessed via the beach) that led to a closer view of the natural sea arch.
Rainbow Eucalyptus Grove (Mile-Marker #7)
These are Eucalyptus Deglupta, also known as the Mindanao Gum or Rainbow gum trees, and they were one of my favorite sights along the Road to Hana. The outer barks sheds to reveal bright green inner bark, which then reacts to the air and sunlight to become various shades of orange and maroon, looking like some kind of expressionist painting. The Rainbow Eucalyptus tree is actually not native to Hawai’i; it was first planted on the islands in 1929 at Oahu’s Wahiawa Botanical Garden as part of Oahu’s reforestation efforts.
Dinner: Leilani’s on the Beach
For dinner that night, we were hoping to get a last-minute cancellation spot at the always-booked Mama’s Fish House (the most popular restaurant on the island), but we were instead rewarded with what turned out to be both of our third favorite meals from the trip. Leilani’s was a random choice from OpenTable or Yelp, and while the touristy mall location had me worried, the food was spectacular. I had the special, which was a snapper with the most amazing purple sweet potato mash (I tried to recreate it once I got home—that’s how good it was—but I could not do it justice), and Ryan got the herb roasted monchong.
Thanks for reading!
Up Next: Our Final Days in Maui & the Big Island