Road to Hana Stops in Order: From Mile Marker 2 to Kipahulu

Road to Hana stops in order: the first stretch, mile marker 2 to 13

Mile markers are the addresses on this road, and they belong to Route 360, which picks up where Route 36 finishes at Kaupakalua Road. The count restarts there, so a stop at marker 10.5 is not ten miles from a Kahului hotel. Paia arrives before any of that numbering, about four miles east of Kahului, with rustic storefronts, galleries and the Paia Fishmarket, and the National Park Service puts the last gas station on the highway before Hana there. Just past town, Hookipa Beach is described by the state tourism site as the windsurfing capital of the world, with dangerous winter surf and swimming possible in calmer summer months.

Twin Falls at mile marker 2 is the first gated stop and the reason the opening miles clog. Gates open at 7:10 a.m., the last admission is 4:30 p.m. and everyone is out by 5:00 p.m. There are 55 paid parking spots on a first-come basis with no reservations taken, roadside, bridge and street parking means being refused entry, U-turns are banned, and Uber and Lyft drop-offs are not accepted. Out-of-state visitors cannot enter on the first Saturday of any month, which is kept for Hawaii residents with a valid Hawaii licence.

Above Twin Falls the road climbs into the Waikamoi forest, where the Waikamoi Ridge Trail appears on the state's Na Ala Hele trail list and where the transport department currently has alternating single-lane work between mile markers 9.79 and 10, weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Garden of Eden Arboretum follows at mile marker 10.5, 26 acres of trails at 10600 Hana Highway, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily, $20 for age 16 and over and $10 for ages 5 to 16. Kaumahina State Wayside, listed by the transport department between mile markers 10 and 13, is the first stop with legal parking and restrooms: 7.8 forested acres with picnicking and a northeast-coast outlook, daylight hours, no entrance charge and no drinking water on site.

The rainforest and valley overlooks in the middle

The middle of the route is valley country. The transport department marks Keanae between mile markers 13.5 and 16.2, with Honomanu Bay at 13.9 to 14.2 inside the same notice, and the Keanae Arboretum Walk is on the state's Na Ala Hele list. The peninsula turn-off also holds Aunty Sandy's banana bread stand, a left off the highway just after mile marker 16, Monday to Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and closed on Sunday.

Two more state waysides come next, both with legal parking and restrooms. Wailua Valley State Wayside is a 1.5-acre viewpoint into Keanae Valley, the Koolau Gap in the Haleakala rim and the taro fields of Wailua village; the Wailua area runs from mile markers 18 to 20 and carries soil stabilisation and guardrail repair at 19.5 to 19.6, weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Puaa Kaa State Wayside covers 5 acres of small waterfalls and pools. Neither charges admission and neither takes bookings, which makes them the dependable stretch-the-legs stops when the ticketed places are full.

Further east the transport department lists Nahiku to Kaelelu between mile markers 25 and 31, with guardrail landscaping closures 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coconut Glen's dairy-free coconut-milk ice cream sits in that stretch at mile marker 27 and a half, and Entabeni Gardens at Nahiku offers weekday tours from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Weed spraying adds a second layer of roving shoulder closures from 12:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., and the five segments it covers, 3 to 6, 10 to 13, 13.5 to 16.2, 18 to 20 and 26 to 30, overlap nearly every cluster of stops listed on this page.

Hana and its coast

Kahanu Garden at 650 Ulaino Road is the stop that breaks the most plans. It runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday only, with all guests out by 3:30 p.m., and the garden puts about an hour on the self-guided route as a recommended minimum. Admission is $18 for adults and $10 for kamaaina with a Hawaii State ID, children 12 and under and Hana residents are not charged, and guided visits can sell out, so the garden asks for online reservations. What you walk out to see is Piilanihale Heiau, the stone platform held to be the largest ancient structure anywhere in Polynesia.

Waianapanapa State Park is the only stop on this road with a timed ticket. Gates stand open from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and the day inside them is carved into four slots, each needing a booking that covers both entry and a parking space. Those bookings appear 30 days before the date, one date at a time, at midnight Hawaii Standard Time, and the park sells nothing on the day itself. Arrival has to happen by 5:30 p.m. at the latest, and the end of the slot is when visitors leave. Non-resident entry is $5.00 per person and children 3 and under are not charged. The park holds a small black sand beach, sea stacks, blow holes, a natural stone arch, a native hala forest, a heiau and a seabird colony, with the ancient Ke Ala Loa O Maui and Piilani coastal trail running from it toward Hana. It is also one of the four state stops with legal parking and restrooms.

Hana town itself is a short list with no gates. The farm stand at Hana Farms, 2910 Hana Highway just past mile marker 31, keeps 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours Saturday through Thursday and stays open until 8 p.m. on Friday, while the Bamboo Hale grill on the same site fires pizza from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday through Thursday and until 8 p.m. on Friday, walk-ins only. The tourism authority points visitors to St Sophia's Church, Hana Beach Park and Hamoa Beach, and names Hasegawa General Store and Hana Ranch Store among the town's services. Hana Fresh sells produce at 4590 Hana Highway, the farmers market fills the field below Hana Ranch Restaurant on Fridays from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and Hana Cultural Center on Uakea Road requests a $3 donation per person, though its own notice says the museum and gift shop remain closed with visits by request; check that one on the day.

The Kipahulu end, 12 miles past Hana

Kipahulu is the last block of stops and it sits 12 miles beyond Hana town. The National Park Service puts the drive from Kahului at about 4 hours by Route 36 to 360 to 31 and gives Mile Marker 41 Hana Hwy as the GPS address. The district is open 24 hours, so daylight and your turn-around time set the limit rather than a gate. The entrance fee is $30 per private vehicle, valid 3 days and covering both the Kipahulu and Summit districts, and the park takes credit or debit cards only, with no cash accepted; the $55 Hawaii Tri-Park Annual Pass covers Haleakala plus Hawaii Volcanoes and Puuhonua o Honaunau for 12 months.

Two walks leave the visitor center. Kuloa Point is 0.5 miles total, gains and loses 80 feet, and reaches ocean views, archaeological sites and the viewpoint over the Pools of Oheo, which the park service says cannot be entered for safety reasons. The longer option, Pipiwai, measures 4 miles there and back with 800 feet of climb, rated moderately strenuous; the Makahiku Falls overlook arrives about 0.5 miles in, boardwalks cross a bamboo forest around the one-mile mark, and the 400-foot Waimoku Falls closes the walk at two miles one way. Wear sturdy hiking shoes on both trails, and rain is possible in any month.

Plan this block around what the park does not sell: no food, no fuel, nothing to buy inside the boundary, although bottles can be topped up with drinking water at the Kipahulu Visitor Center. The park service also states that the nearest emergency medical help is at least an hour away. The water hazards are specific here: streams in East Maui can come up four feet in ten minutes, leptospirosis and E. coli are listed for the pools and streams, and rock falls are listed for gulches and the ground below waterfalls, which is why Hawaii's code of conduct is blunt about staying out of the water in heavy rain or flash-flood conditions. For anyone staying over, Kipahulu Campground has 21 sites with vault toilets, no water and no showers, camping is capped at 3 nights in any 30-day period, and only the $30 park entrance fee applies.

The visitor center area is accessible, with accessible parking and restrooms nearby linked by a paved path, while the trails toward the pools and the bamboo forest are muddy, steep and rocky.

Road to Hana map with stops in order

The map on this page plots the stops west to east in the sequence above, with the mile marker attached to each one. Three clusters show up quickly: everything between markers 2 and 13 in the first hour out of Paia, the valley and waterfall stops from 13.5 to 31, then the Hana and Kipahulu block at the far end where the single timed ticket and the national park sit.

Mile-marker addressing carries on past Hana, which is why the national park publishes Mile Marker 41 as its GPS address even though Route 360 officially finishes at Keawa Place near Hana Bay. Use the map to see which stops fall inside the weekday single-lane work zones at 9.79 to 10, 13.9 to 14.2 and 19.5 to 19.6, because those three stretches are where an hour quietly disappears between markers.

Why one day cannot take in every stop

The constraints collide. Measure the route and Hana sits 52 miles from Kahului on the tourism authority's figures; time it and the same source gives two to four hours one way, because 620 curves and 59 bridges stand in between, 46 of those bridges one lane wide where oncoming traffic takes turns. The park service adds roughly another hour of driving to reach Kipahulu. Kahanu Garden closes at 3 p.m. and only opens Monday to Friday, Twin Falls stops admitting at 4:30 p.m., Waianapanapa closes entry at 5:30 p.m., Aunty Sandy's shuts at 2:30 p.m., and in late December sunset at Hana is around 5:48 p.m.

Guided days answer this by picking a lane and committing to it. A half day works the opening markers and turns back; a full day runs the length of the route with a handful of stops held long enough to be worth getting out of the vehicle for, and the operator handles the park fees and the parking question rather than you discovering which pull-outs are designated stalls. Hawaii's official tourism page states plainly that it would rather visitors came on a permitted guided tour than drive the road themselves.

Match the length to the cluster you actually came for, using the tours on this site:

• First stretch only, half a day: 4 to 5 hours, from $279, 4.9 ★ (127 reviews). Private air-conditioned vehicle, starting at Island Fresh Cafe in Paia with reserved secure parking, snacks, soda, coffee or tea and boogie boards on board; meals are not included.
• Whole route on the shortest clock: 7 to 8 hours, from $200, 4.7 ★ (159 reviews). Island guests are met at 7:20 a.m. in Kahului, cruise passengers at 8:30 a.m.; the morning brings spam musubi or yogurt, midday a 6-inch turkey, ham or roast beef sub or a gluten-free vegan veggie wrap, with chips and water in between. There is no minimum party size, so one person can travel.
• Smallest passenger count on a full day: 8 to 10 hours with 6 to 8 passengers, from $282, 4.6 ★ (1092 reviews). Pickup and drop-off at your hotel, Maui-baked pastries and fresh fruit to start, a hot Hawaiian BBQ plate lunch made to order with 48 hours' notice for vegetarian plates, Maui potato chips, water and tropical fruit drinks all day, fees and taxes covered.

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