Small-Group Road to Hana Tour with Pickup and Lunch

What this road to hana tour with pickup covers

The day runs 7 to 11 hours and starts from $210. That four-hour spread is normal on this route: the guide adjusts to roadwork, rain and how long the group wants at each stop. Pickup is the part most people book it for. Listed properties from Kapalua down to Wailea get a door pickup, the earliest at 5:50 a.m. in Kapalua, with later times for addresses closer to Kahului. Island guests who would rather drive to the start meet at 7:00 a.m. at 434 Kahiki St in Kahului, and cruise passengers meet at 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot next to Burger King near Kahului Harbor.

The vehicle is air-conditioned and the group stays small, with a professional driver and guide narrating in English. Bottled water and chips are handed out through the day, and several stops sell snacks. Breakfast is spam musubi or yogurt, lunch is a turkey, ham or roast beef sandwich or a veggie wrap. Both are ordered in advance, so book at least a day ahead if you want the food included; bookings made after 3:00 p.m. the day before do not get breakfast.

Hawaii's tourism authority puts Hana 52 miles from Kahului and the one-way drive at two to four hours, over 59 bridges, 46 of them one lane wide, where oncoming traffic has to take turns. Hawaii's official tourism page encourages visitors to do the road as a permitted guided tour rather than drive it, and after about mile marker 16 you will understand why: the curves come faster than the places to pull over. Two guests are the minimum on this tour, so a solo traveller needs the Kahului day trip from $200 instead.

How the day runs, stop by stop

1. Hana Highway - Road to Hana 300 min
   About five hours of the day are spent on the highway itself: 64 miles, 640 turns and curves, and 59 single-lane bridges of concrete and steel built in the early 1900s. Sit on the ocean side if you can and keep the window seat for the bridges.
2. Bamboo Forest
   A stand of bamboo growing right beside the highway, seen as the vehicle passes.
3. Ho'okipa Beach Park 10 min
   Ten minutes at mile 9 on Hana Highway, with windsurfers, kiteboarders and surfers working the shore break, and Hawaiian green sea turtles feeding along the waterline and resting on the sand. Surfers have used this beach since the 1930s. The stop is made on request.
4. Waikani Falls
   Also called Three Bears Falls, three parallel drops beside the road, seen from the moving vehicle.
5. Pua'a Ka'a State Park 40 min
   Forty minutes at a 5.0-acre wayside with two waterfalls and pools on the mauka side, used by local families for swimming. Wear your swimsuit under your clothes before you leave the hotel and bring a towel, dry clothes and water shoes. Stay out of the water if it has been raining hard: East Maui streams can rise 4 feet in 10 minutes.
6. Wai'anapanapa State Park 45 min
   Forty-five minutes at Maui's black sand beach, where the sand and rock come from a lava flow about 10,000 years old. You can walk the edge of the bay, look into the freshwater caves and lava tubes, and watch the blow hole, which on the right day sends water about 20 feet up and mist 200 feet sideways. The guide tells the story of Princess Popoalaea, and at certain times of year red shrimp colour the cave water. The park is open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
7. Ke‘anae Point 30 min
   Thirty minutes in the village of Keanae, reached by a road on the left just past mile marker 16. Taro fields are still worked here, and the shoreline is jagged black lava with heavy surf. There is no swimming at this point.
8. Local market stop 20 min
   Twenty minutes at a market where the goods are made in Hana or nearby, which is the straightforward way to leave money with the people who live along the route.
9. Wailua Valley State Wayside Park 10 min
   A ten-minute lookout over Wailua Valley, the taro fields and the Koolau Gap inland. The wayside is 1.5 acres and the view takes in Keanae Valley as well. Ask the guide in the morning if you want this one.
10. Ice cream and coconut stop 20 min
    Twenty minutes for coconut-milk ice cream at the stand at mile marker 27 and a half. Raise it with the guide at the start of the day.
11. Aunty Sandy's banana bread 15 min
    Fifteen minutes at Aunty Sandy's stand in Keanae, left off the highway just after mile marker 16, open Monday to Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Gordon Ramsay filmed part of Uncharted here. Buy two loaves; one will not last the drive.
12. Rainbow eucalyptus trees 10 min
    Ten minutes at the tallest rainbow eucalyptus on the route, where the bark peels in green, orange and grey strips. Request the stop with the guide on the day.

What is included

Meeting point and pickup

• Island guests: meet at 7:00 a.m. at 434 Kahiki St, Kahului, parking on the cement facing the house.
• Cruise guests: 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot next to Burger King. From the ship, walk out to the main road, cross at the signal, then go right about 100 yards to the next signal. The start time shifts with your ship's arrival, so confirm it by text with the operator.
• Hotel pickup times are set by area: about 5:50 a.m. in Kapalua, 6:00 to 6:05 a.m. in Napili, Kahana and Honokowai, 6:05 to 6:15 a.m. in Kaanapali and Lahaina, 6:10 a.m. in Wailuku, 6:30 to 6:40 a.m. in Kihei, Maalaea and Wailea, and 7:10 to 7:20 a.m. for Paia, Kuau, Haiku, Kula and Kahului addresses, several of which meet at the Safeway in Kahului instead of at the door.
• If your resort, hotel or condo is not on the pickup list, add the property name in the booking comments and the operator will arrange the pickup point.
• Minimum two guests per booking. Ages: child 3–11, adult 12+, senior 61+.
• Last-minute bookings may be asked to meet at 434 Kahiki St, Kahului, and are confirmed by message rather than automatically.

Other Road to Hana tours with pickup, compared

All five of these include pickup, and the real differences are the length of the day and how many people share the vehicle. This page's tour starts at $210, matched only by the 8-hour shore excursion built around a ship's schedule, and it carries far more reviews than the rest at 3642. The 11 to 12 hour option gives you more of the route for $294, while the private pair, from $400 for 8 hours and $698 for 10 to 12 hours, put your party alone in the vehicle and let you set the pace of the stops.

Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 22 October 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.

More ways to plan your visit

Waianapanapa black sand beach

Waianapanapa black sand beach

The stops in order

The stops in order

What to pack for the day

What to pack for the day