Road to Hana Banana Bread and the Food Stops Along Route 360

Where to find Road to Hana banana bread

Aunty Sandy's sits on the Keanae Peninsula, reached by turning left off the Hana Highway just after mile marker 16 onto Keanae Road. The stand bakes six days a week, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and takes Sunday off. That short detour down to the peninsula is also the single best reason to leave the highway in the valley stretch, so time your morning to arrive before the mid-afternoon close rather than hoping to catch it on the way home.

The second loaf is at Hana Farms, 2910 Hana Highway, past mile marker 31 and on your right just after the Welcome to Hana sign if you are coming from Kahului. The farm stand bakes its banana bread fresh daily and opens Saturday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Friday running 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If you only want one, buy at Keanae on the way out and at Hana Farms on the way back, because the Keanae stand shuts first. On a Sunday the choice makes itself: Keanae is closed, and the loaf that people call the best banana bread on Maui that day comes from the stand outside Hana town.

Road to Hana food stops, segment by segment

Paia is the town at the start of the drive, about four miles east of Kahului on the official tourism site's reckoning, with rustic storefronts holding galleries, boutiques and restaurants; the same page recommends the Paia Fishmarket. It is also where the National Park Service says the last gas station before Hana sits, which makes it the natural place to eat breakfast, fill the tank and buy whatever you intend to carry.

Through the valleys the food is roadside and seasonal: fruit, smoothies and bread sold from stands beside the highway, plus Coconut Glen's dairy-free coconut-milk ice cream at mile marker 27 and a half, which solves the usual dairy problem on this road. Hours on these smaller stands are not published on any official page, so treat the ones below as the reliable fixtures and anything else as a bonus if the shutters are up.

The table lists what has published hours. Hours on this road change with weather and staffing, so check on the day where you can.

Eating in Hana town

Hana is the only place on the route with a real choice of meals. The wood-fired pizza at the Bamboo Hale grill, attached to Hana Farms, runs 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday to Thursday and until 8 p.m. on Friday, walk-ins only with no reservations taken. For something that is not baked or fried, the Hana Fresh stand at 4590 Hana Highway puts out what the farm cuts that week, drawn from a planting of more than 100 varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs and traditional Hawaiian food and medicinal crops.

At Hana-Maui Resort, The Restaurant serves breakfast 7:00 to 10:30 a.m., the Hana Ranch to-go window runs 7:00 to 11:00 a.m., and Hana Ranch Restaurant covers lunch and dinner from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with happy hour 2 to 4 p.m. The Paniolo Bar opens Wednesday to Saturday, 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., and is open to visitors as well as resort guests; the Pool Bar runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

For anything you want to carry onward, Hawaii's tourism authority names Hasegawa General Store and Hana Ranch Store among the town's main services. Friday afternoon adds the Hana Farmers Market, 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the field below Hana Ranch Restaurant, which accepts SNAP, Da Bux and WIC. A Friday market stop puts you on the road home late, so decide before you commit to it.

The last 12 miles sell nothing

Kipahulu, the far district of Haleakala National Park, lies 12 miles past Hana town at Mile Marker 41 Hana Hwy, and the park service is blunt about it: no gas and no food are available in the park. The district is open 24 hours, so the gate is not your constraint, but a late arrival with an empty bag is. Water is the one thing you can pick up out there, because the visitor centers, Kipahulu included, have drinking water for refilling bottles.

Add the distances before you plan a meal out there. Getting to Mile Marker 41 takes roughly four hours of driving from Kahului on the park service's own estimate, and the Pipiwai Trail at the end runs 4 miles round trip with 800 feet of elevation change at a moderately strenuous rating. Emergency medical assistance is at least an hour away from that stretch of road. Buy lunch in Hana or carry it from Paia, and keep more water in the vehicle than you think you need.

Where to pull over, and what the official code asks of you

The official Road to Hana code of conduct makes two requests that bear directly on eating along the route: support the farms, botanical gardens and fruit stands you pass, and use State park and County rest facilities rather than roadside stops. Parking is covered as well, with stalls marked for the purpose the only place to leave a car, and a vehicle sticking out into the highway while you queue for bread can be towed.

Four state-run stops on the route provide legal parking and restrooms. Kaumahina State Wayside is the pick of them for a picnic, 7.8 acres of forest with tables and a view down the northeast coast, open daylight hours at no entrance charge, though you carry your own water in because there is none on site. Smaller and quicker, the 1.5-acre lookout at Wailua Valley State Wayside suits something eaten standing up while you take in Keanae Valley, the Koolau Gap and the Wailua taro fields. Puaa Kaa State Wayside runs to 5.0 acres of small waterfalls and pools, also daylight hours and no charge. Waianapanapa State Park is the fourth, open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with reservations required for both entry and parking.

The gardens are the other side of that request. At mile marker 10.5 the Garden of Eden Arboretum asks $20 from age 16 and $10 for ages 5 to 16, and its 26 acres of trails are walkable any day between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., which makes it a sensible leg-stretch between the Keanae bread and lunch. Kahanu Garden, at 650 Ulaino Road, charges $18 for adults and runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday with everyone out by 3:30 p.m., so it drops off a weekend itinerary entirely.

• Sunday: the Keanae stand is closed, Hana Farms is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Friday: the one evening the road has, with the Hana Farms stand and the Bamboo Hale grill both serving to 8 p.m. and the farmers market open 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• Payment: the national park entrance takes credit or debit only and no cash; roadside stands do not publish their payment methods, so carry small bills as well as a card.
• Water: Kaumahina State Wayside has none, the Kipahulu Visitor Center has drinking water, and nothing is sold in the park.
• Long day: if your plan runs past Hana to Mile Marker 41, pack lunch from Paia or Hana rather than counting on a stand being open on the way back.

Which guided day covers the meals and the stand stops

Guided itineraries on this site handle the eating problem in one of two ways: a breakfast and a cooked lunch built into the day, or a packed picnic plus water and snacks carried in the vehicle. Either removes the risk of arriving at Keanae after 2:30 p.m. or at a stand that is dark. Feeding a carload on a route with this few open counters is one reason Hawaii's official tourism page asks visitors to take the road with a permitted guide instead of driving it themselves.

For a hot plate rather than a sandwich, the 6 to 8 passenger day of 8 to 10 hours starts from $282 and carries a 4.6 ★ (1092 reviews) score. It includes hotel pickup and drop-off, a continental breakfast of pastries baked on Maui with fresh Maui fruit, a hot made-to-order Hawaiian BBQ plate lunch, a selection of Maui potato chips, all-day water and tropical fruit drinks, and all fees and taxes. Vegetarian plates need 48 hours' notice.

Staying on the west side points you to the 9 to 10 hour Mercedes van day, from $250 and rated 4.8 ★ (1278 reviews), maximum 14 people, with picnic-style homemade deli sandwiches from a local deli in ham, turkey or veggie, plus snacks, water, Hawaiian cane juice and pastries. Boarding is 6:00 a.m. outside Cannery Mall Lahaina, 6:30 a.m. at Maalaea Park & Ride, 6:40 a.m. at Kahului Park & Ride, and no special diets are catered for, so bring your own food if you need one.

Travelling alone or working with a shorter day from Kahului, the 7 to 8 hour trip from $200, rated 4.7 ★ (159 reviews), has no minimum party size. You pick spam musubi or yogurt in the morning and, at midday, a 6-inch sub in turkey, ham or roast beef or a veggie wrap that is gluten-free and vegan, with chips and water coming round all day. The meeting point for island guests is in Kahului at 7:20 a.m., while anyone off a ship gathers by the Burger King parking lot at 8:30 a.m.

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