You HAVE to do the road to Hana. I’m talking you have to do it. It was one of my favorite things we did in Maui. AND! I would recommend doing it the first day you’re in Maui. BECAUSE!!!! On the road to Hana, you pass by villages and towns near and far from your hotel. AND they give you all the best recommendations. You’ll be with your tour guide all day and you can ask them all the questions. This is a real Hawaiian. They will know all the secrets. Our tour guide was Eric and he was incredible!! He took tons of pictures of us! No need to research because I know who you need to book it with. Book it with Valley Isle Excursions.. They pick you up from your hotel and take you to the road to Hana, then take you back to your hotel!!
It’s a 13 passenger air conditioned bus. First, you will start with a delicious breakfast overlooking mountains and the most beautiful scenery. THERE WILL BE POG. And jellies. Oh the jellies. Guava jelly. Lilikoi jelly. Pineapple jelly. The jellies and the POG. EVERYTHING IS SO FRUITY AND CLEAN TASTING. Then after a glorious breakfast you will embark on the road to Hana. First you will stop at a beach with the most beautiful rocks. Huge black rocks. The ocean hitting these rocks is unreal. The shear force of the ocean and the sprays of water. I could have stood there for an eternity. Then you will head to an actual black rock beach!!! With a LAVA TUBE!!! A lava tube where you can go through the lava tube!’ It’s awesome! Go through the lava tube. It’s amazing. Awesome pictures. Then from there just when you’re getting hungry you’ll stop at a little hut where you’ll be able to get a pineapple smoothie with fresh Hawaiian pineapples or a cup of shaved ice. REAL HAWAIIAN SHAVED ICE. Then you’ll make stops at WATERFALLS!!! So many waterfalls. I’m talking like 4 waterfall stops. And they stop and let you get out of the bus. You’ll have plenty of time at every stop. BATHROOMS!!! They stop at stops that have nice bathrooms!! It’s amazing.
Then you’ll make it to the halfway to Hana hut. This is the most wonderful fruit hut. GET. THE. BANANA. BREAD. GET. THE. BANANA. BREAD. Oh the banana bread. Buy 2 loaves. Maybe 3 or 4. Maybe 5 or 6. We bought the banana bread then ate on it for the rest of the vacation. It was so good. And the fruit at this hut. The tour guide buys everyone local Hawaiian fruit and you get to eat it right then and there. It’s unlike any fruit I’ve had. It’s so good. So flavorful. Get the LYCHEE!!! This fruit is wonderful. And even better in Hawaii. Where its fresh. Then from here you’ll head to HANA!!! Where you’ll eat lunch at the cutest little house with the cutest little Hawaiian making all sorts of goodies. They have benches to the side of their house under this awning and they’ve made you lunch and it’s DELICIOUS. Ours was chicken baked in Hawaiian pineapples. And sweet potatoes. AND REAL HAWAIIAN JUICE!!! And the best part is this isn’t a tour that’s just the “road to Hana” YOU GO TO HANA AND GET OUT. We were eating lunch in Hana!!!! Hana is beautiful. It’s so cute and just a little Hawaiian town. But the road there is magnificent. Waterfalls. PICTURES!!!!!!!!!! Pictures for days. All the best picture opportunities. Then you’ll head home from the road to Hana going the OTHER DIRECTION!!! With stops!!!! So you don’t just go to Hana then turn around and go home. You go completely around the island!!!! After this tour you will have literally traveled around nearly the entire perimeter of Maui.
Then after Hana you’ll stop at the grave site of Charles Lindbergh. It was here that our tour guide took us over to a field with growing shampoo ginger. This is where Mr Paul Mitchell comes to get the shampoo ginger used in his shampoos and conditioners. And the tour guide knew what was allowed to be plucked and what wasn’t!! So I plucked 5 shampoo ginger and stuck them in my bag. Then when I got back to the hotel I squeezed these shampoo gingers in my conditioner bottle and it lasted me 6 months!! And it made my hair really really shiny. My hair was so silky and smooth!!!!!!
Then from here you’ll stop at a national park where we saw this incredible beach where a waterfall meets the ocean. There were rocks and swimming areas and the most magnificent bridge hanging just in front of the waterfall. It looks like something out of a painting. And doing it your first day really allows you to take in the majestic scenery. You’ll be completely amazed. It’s amazing. THEN JUST WHEN YOU THINK THE TOUR IS OVER YOU STOP AT A HUT SELLING HAWAIIAN HONEY. Oh this Honey. It was SOO DELICIOUS. We still have some of this honey. Fruit honey and floral honey. Then you make one more stop at the highest cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With lava rocks and black cliffs. The deepest color of blue ocean you’ve ever imagined. THEN the tour guide gives you HAWAIIAN CHOCOLATES to enjoy on the ride home. It was incredible. There are not enough adjectives to describe it. Then you head back to your hotel with all the goodies you accumulated on the road to Hana to enjoy on the rest of your vacation. So!!!!!! Day one I recommend be The Road to Hana. AND GUESS WHAT!!! DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU’VE READ ABOUT THE ROAD TO HANA. My husband gets motion sick every time we turn around. AND HE DIDN’T GET SICK!!! It’s really not bad. And this is why I’m recommending Valley Isle Excursions. You’re in a small bus. Like a church bus. 13 people. It doesn’t make the turns bad. And it’s driven by someone whose driven the road to Hana a million times. This is the most glamorous way to do the road to Hana. Total for the excursion was $375 but it was SO WORTH IT. I could have left Hawaii after the road to Hana, that’s how satisfied I was with this excursion. Hands down, no question. YOU HAVE TO DO THE ROAD TO HANA WITH VALLEY ISLE EXCURSIONS.
Bathrooms: So you have one at breakfast, one at the stop with the black rocks and the shear force of the ocean knocking against them, one at the black rock beach, one at lunch, one at the national park, and one at the honey hut. I don’t remember there being one at the halfway to Hana stop but I also didn’t look for one because I was so mesmerized by the fruit. So there are at least 3 before lunch, one at lunch, and two after lunch, a total of at least 6.
The waterfalls didn’t have bathrooms because you just pull off to the side of the road. There actually may have been one bathroom at one waterfall but it wasn’t a clean one that I would go to.