Maui's known for lots of things—particularly massive waves and bed-bound honeymoons—but roads probably aren't high on the list. But the best things in life are rarely on the list...
The road is the Hana Highway and it's the island's equivalent of the Pacific Coast Highway, beefed up with a few waterfalls, a dense bamboo jungle, and 46 different one-lane bridges. If you happen to be in Maui for either of the aforementioned reasons, you owe yourself a drive or two.
You'll start out from Pa'ia on resurfaced roads, but things get thicker—er...more scenic—pretty quickly. Before you know it, you'll be pulling hairpin turns through eucalyptus groves, pulling up alongside waterfalls and mini-cascades, and maybe even checking out a local roadside fruit stand. The road traverses the wet side of the local crater, Haleakala, so don't be surprised if things seem a little moister than usual. The full drive takes almost three hours, depending on how often you stop, but it's as good a daytrip as you're likely to find in the area, and it'll take you to a part of the island that most surfers and newlyweds skip.
Towards the end, you'll want to stop for the main highlight of the road: the Oheo Gulch, also known as the Seven Sacred Pools. The "seven pools" are actually a series of cascading pools and waterfalls ripe for exploration, and they aren't so sacred that you can't indulge in a little swimming, an impromptu shower, or a bit of even-more-impromptu cliff jumping, depending on how adventurous you feel.
And, of course, no daytrip would be complete with a place to rest your head at the end of it all. We recommend a beachfront spot near Pa'ia called the Blue Tile Beach House where you can experience some of Maui's more conventional pleasures. After this road, we imagine you'll need it.
Blue Tile Beach House
459 Hana Highway
Paia, Maui , Hawaii
Tel: 808.579.6446
Info@beachvacationmaui.com