Road to Hana, Maui

About this drive

The Hana Highway stretches 52 miles along the northeastern coast of Maui, crossing more than 50 one-lane bridges and rounding hundreds of tight hairpin curves as it hugs cliffs above the Pacific. The road was carved through one of the wettest corners of the Hawaiian Islands, and the result is a corridor of uninterrupted tropical wilderness — dense rainforest canopy overhead, waterfalls tumbling onto black-sand beaches below, and the constant smell of plumeria and wild ginger in the air. The drive is best experienced slowly. Most visitors take the entire morning to reach Hana, stopping at Twin Falls near Huelo for an easy waterfall walk, pulling off at every roadside fruit stand for fresh coconut and banana bread, and pausing at Wai'anapanapa State Park for a striking black-sand beach framed by sea arches and caves. The road demands your full attention — the narrow bridges are single-lane and require right-of-way negotiation, and the blind corners can surprise even experienced drivers. Hana town itself is small and sleepy, worth a brief stop before heading on to the Pools at 'Ohe'o (the Seven Sacred Pools) at the base of Haleakalā National Park, a chain of freshwater pools descending to the ocean. Start early — ideally before 8 a.m. — to avoid the worst of the midday traffic. Fuel up in Pāʻia before you set off; there are no gas stations along the route.

Stops along the way

• 📸 Twin Falls · Scenic Viewpoint

  The first easily-accessible waterfall stop on the drive, a short walk from a roadside parking area near Huelo.

Featured in

• Top 10 Scenic Drives in the USA
• Best Coastal Scenic Drives in the USA