In shortThere are three kinds. Cascades glimpsed between the bridges, where stopping is often not permitted; pull-off falls with a legal lot, such as Twin Falls at mile marker 2 and the pools at Puaa Kaa State Wayside; and hike-in falls at Kipahulu, where the Pipiwai Trail covers 4 miles round trip and 800 feet of climbing to reach 400-foot Waimoku Falls.
400 feetWaimoku Falls height
4 milesPipiwai Trail round trip
0.5 milesIn to Makahiku overlook
55 spotsTwin Falls parking, first come
Waterfalls on the Road to Hana come in three kinds
Sort them by access and the day plans itself. The first group is the cascades that show up beside the highway and under the bridges, watched from the car or from a few steps of shoulder where a marked stall exists. The second group has a proper parking area, a gate or a fee desk: Twin Falls at mile marker 2, the arboretum at mile marker 10.5, the small pools at Puaa Kaa State Wayside. The third sits at the far end, inside the Kipahulu District of Haleakala National Park at Mile Marker 41, and it needs boots and a couple of hours.
Addresses on this stretch are mile markers, and they count along Route 360, which picks up where Route 36 ends at Kaupakalua Road and finishes at Keawa Place just before Hana Bay. So a waterfall advertised at marker 10.5 is not ten miles from a Kahului hotel; it is ten and a half miles into the twisting half of the route, with the drive out of town still to add. The full 64.4-mile run of Routes 36 and 360 carries 620 curves and 59 bridges, 46 of them a single lane, which is how a short mileage becomes a two to four hour drive one way to Hana town and about four hours to Kipahulu.
| Falls or stop | Mile marker | Walk required | Water access | Admission or reservation |
|---|
| Twin Falls, Wailele Farm | Mile marker 2 | Short walk in from the gated lot | No swimming information published by the operator | $10 per car for one of 55 spots, first come, no reservations taken; gate 7:10 a.m., last entry 4:30 p.m., everyone out by 5:00 p.m. |
|---|
| Garden of Eden Arboretum | Mile marker 10.5 | 26 acres of trails, walk as far as you like | No swimming information published | $20 from age 16, $10 for ages 5 to 16, children under 5 admitted without charge; 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily |
|---|
| Puaa Kaa State Wayside | Not published officially | A few steps from the parking stalls | Small scenic waterfalls and pools per Hawaii State Parks | No fee listed, no reservation; daylight hours |
|---|
| Makahiku Falls overlook | Pipiwai Trail, Mile Marker 41 | About 0.5 miles in from the trailhead | Overlook only | Covered by the $30 Haleakala vehicle pass, card payment only |
|---|
| Waimoku Falls, 400 feet | Pipiwai Trail, Mile Marker 41 | 2 miles one way, 4 miles round trip, 800 feet of climbing, rated moderately strenuous | The park service does not recommend entering or wading in Kipahulu streams | Same $30 pass, valid 3 days across both park districts |
|---|
| Pools of Oheo, Kuloa Point | Mile Marker 41 | 0.5 miles total, 80 feet of climbing | Entry not allowed; viewing from the trail | Same park pass; the district is open 24 hours |
|---|
The cascades you watch from the car, and the parking rule
Much of what people remember as a road to Hana Maui waterfall is seen through a windscreen or over a bridge rail while the oncoming car takes its turn. Water drops out of the forest on the inland side, runs under the deck and falls again toward the sea. On 46 of the 59 bridges only one lane is open, so you are often stopped at the rail long enough to look properly.
Stopping is where visitors get into trouble. The official code of conduct tells you to use designated stalls only and warns that a vehicle sticking out onto the highway can be towed. It also asks visitors to keep away from sites on or beyond private property and from places with no signage welcoming them, which covers a good number of the small unnamed falls people chase on social media. No official source publishes designated parking for those, so if there is no marked stall and no sign, drive on.
The stops that do have legal parking and restrooms on this route are state-run: Kaumahina State Wayside, 7.8 forested acres with picnic tables and a northeast-coast outlook and no drinking water on site; Wailua Valley State Wayside, a 1.5-acre lookout over Keanae Valley, the Koolau Gap and the taro fields; Puaa Kaa State Wayside, 5.0 acres with the small falls and pools; and Waianapanapa State Park at Hana, which needs reservations for both entry and parking. Hawaii's transport department also has alternating single-lane work near Waikamoi between mile markers 9.79 and 10, at Keanae between 13.9 and 14.2 and at Wailua between 19.5 and 19.6, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., so expect waits on exactly the stretch where the roadside cascades cluster.
Pull-off falls with a legal parking area
Twin Falls at mile marker 2 is a gated property rather than a lay-by. The operator keeps 55 paid spots at $10 a car, hands them out first come with no reservations, and refuses entry to anyone who leaves a vehicle on the street, the shoulder or the bridge. U-turns are not allowed, Uber and Lyft drop-offs are not accepted, oversized vehicles cannot be taken, groups above 12 need approval in advance, and on the first Saturday of each month the property is open only to Hawaii residents with a valid Hawaii licence. The gate opens at 7:10 a.m., admission stops at 4:30 p.m., and the property clears at 5:00 p.m. Get there in the first hour or you will be queuing for a space at the very first stop on the road.
Garden of Eden Arboretum at mile marker 10.5, 10600 Hana Highway, is the manicured version: 26 acres of trails with waterfall views, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day, $20 from age 16 and $10 for ages 5 to 16, with discounts listed for groups of five or more, military, students, AAA and kamaaina. It suits a short leg-stretch on a wet morning, when the unpaved tracks elsewhere turn slick.
Puaa Kaa State Wayside is the gentlest water on the route. Hawaii State Parks describes the 5.0-acre site as small scenic waterfalls and pools, it keeps daylight hours, there is no fee listed and no reservation, and the falls sit a short step from the stalls. If your party includes anyone who does not want a trail, insist on this waterfall stop.
Half day, first mile markers, private vehicle
If the falls you want are the gated and roadside ones in the opening stretch rather than the 400-foot drop at Mile Marker 41, this 4 to 5 hour private trip from Paia covers that ground and has you back for the afternoon.
★ 4.9/5 · 127 reviews
The best waterfalls on the Road to Hana sit at the end of a trail
Waimoku Falls is the tall one, 400 feet, and it stands a long way past Hana town. You reach it at the top of the Pipiwai Trail in the Kipahulu District of Haleakala National Park, 12 miles beyond Hana at Mile Marker 41, which the National Park Service puts at about four hours' driving from Kahului. Seeing it costs $30 for the vehicle you arrive in, a pass that stays good for three days and also covers the Summit district, and the booth will not take cash, only a card. The district has no closing hour, so daylight and your own turn-around time set the limit.
Reaching the base of the falls means 4 miles of walking there and back with 800 feet of climbing, which the park service files under moderately strenuous. The Makahiku Falls overlook arrives about 0.5 miles in, which makes a one-mile round trip for anyone who wants a waterfall without the climb. Boardwalks through the bamboo forest start about a mile in, and the Waimoku viewing area is at two miles one way. Budget two and a half to three hours on the trail, and be at the trailhead by about 1 p.m. so the drive home is not done in the dark.
Sturdy hiking shoes are highly recommended by the park service, which notes the trails can be steep with loose rock and that rain should be expected in any month. Rock fall is listed as a hazard in the gulches and below the falls themselves, emergency medical help out here is at least an hour away, and no food is sold in the park, though drinking water can be refilled at the Kipahulu Visitor Center.
If you reach Kipahulu late, the Kuloa Point Trail still earns the drive: 0.5 miles total with 80 feet of climbing, from the visitor center out to the coast, the archaeological sites and the overlook above the Pools of Oheo. Getting into those pools is not an option; entry is barred on safety grounds, and the trail is the only place the park service expects you to see them from.
Swimming, and the days to stay out of the water
Official water access on this road is narrower than the photographs suggest. The Pools of Oheo are closed to entry outright, the park service does not recommend entering or wading in Kipahulu streams at all, and it lists leptospirosis and E. coli among the water-quality hazards in the park's streams and pools. The shallow water at Puaa Kaa State Wayside, described by State Parks as small waterfalls and pools, is the paddle-depth option a short walk from legal parking.
Rain changes every fall on this coast within hours rather than days. A wet night in the uplands arrives at the bridges by morning, a brown roadside trickle turns into a wall of water, and pools that looked inviting at breakfast are moving too fast to stand in by lunch. On the park service's own figure an East Maui stream can gain 4 feet of water in 10 minutes. Hawaii's code of conduct puts it plainly: stay out of streams during heavy rain or flash-flood conditions.
Plan the day around the drive and the trails, and treat a swim as the bonus it is. If getting into the water matters to you, book a tour whose itinerary names a swim stop and leaves the judgement to a guide who has seen the stream that morning. The half-day private trip on this site carries boogie boards in the vehicle, which tells you what sort of stop it is built around.
Pick a tour by the falls on its itinerary
Duration and starting point decide which falls you actually see. A four to five hour day that begins in Paia works the first cluster of mile markers, the bridges and the rainforest above Twin Falls, and comes nowhere near Mile Marker 41. A full day of eight hours or more is what buys the far end, and the Pipiwai Trail needs that length plus an early start. Read the itinerary before you pay and check it names the waterfall you came for. On a wet forecast the case for being driven gets stronger, and Hawaii's official tourism page already steers visitors toward a permitted guided tour instead of their own car, which puts the streams and the one-lane bridges in somebody else's hands.
The tours on this site, by how far east they reach:
- Half Day Private VIP Road to Hana Tour, 4 to 5 hours and from $279, rated 4.9 ★ (127 reviews). The vehicle is yours alone, with air conditioning, snacks, soda, coffee or tea and boogie boards aboard, and the day begins at Island Fresh Cafe in Paia where parking is reserved and secure; no meals come with it. Best for the early mile markers, a cruise call or small children.
- Maui: Small Group Road to Hana Tour, 6 to 8 passengers, an 8 to 10 hour day from $282, rated 4.6 ★ (1092 reviews). It collects you at your hotel and returns you there, puts out a continental breakfast of Maui-baked pastries and fresh fruit, cooks the hot Hawaiian BBQ plate lunch to order with 48 hours' notice needed for vegetarian plates, pours water all day and has every fee and tax already covered. No wheelchairs, scooters, walkers or crutches on board, and bags must fit under the seat.
- Maui Tour: Road to Hana Day Trip from Kahului with Lunch, Water, Chips, 7 to 8 hours from $200, rated 4.7 ★ (159 reviews). Air-conditioned vehicle, breakfast of spam musubi or yogurt, a 6-inch sub or a gluten-free vegan veggie wrap, chips and plenty of water, with no minimum so one person can travel. The start is a meeting point rather than a hotel door: 7:20 a.m. in Kahului for island guests, 8:30 a.m. by the Burger King parking lot for cruise guests.
Questions people ask
How high is Waimoku Falls and where does the trail to it start?
Waimoku Falls, at 400 feet, at the top of the Pipiwai Trail in the Kipahulu District of Haleakala National Park. It is two miles one way from the trailhead at Mile Marker 41, with the Makahiku Falls overlook about half a mile in and the bamboo boardwalks at roughly a mile. There and back that is 4 miles of trail and 800 feet of climbing and descending.
Do any of the waterfall stops need a reservation?
The waterfall stops themselves do not. Twin Falls takes no reservations at all and runs its 55 paid spots first come, the arboretum at mile marker 10.5 sells admission at the gate during opening hours, and Haleakala charges $30 per vehicle on the day by card. The reservation system on this road applies to Waianapanapa State Park, where both entry and parking must be booked ahead, released 30 days out one date at a time at midnight Hawaii Standard Time.
How soon do the falls change after it rains?
Within hours. Rain in the uplands works down through the gulches, and the same drop can go from a thin ribbon to a heavy brown flow in a single morning, then settle again over a day or two of dry weather. That speed is the hazard: the park service has clocked East Maui streams gaining 4 feet of water in 10 minutes, which is why the official code of conduct asks visitors to keep out of streams when rain is heavy or flash-flood conditions are in play.
Can I pull over on the shoulder to photograph a roadside waterfall?
Only where there is a designated stall. The official code of conduct restricts parking to marked stalls and warns that a vehicle protruding onto the highway can be towed, and it asks visitors to avoid private property and anywhere without signage welcoming them. Twin Falls goes further and refuses entry to anyone who has parked on the street, the shoulder or the bridge.
Where are the restrooms and drinking water near the falls?
Four state-run stops along the route pair legal parking with restrooms: Kaumahina State Wayside, Wailua Valley State Wayside, Puaa Kaa State Wayside and Waianapanapa State Park. Kaumahina has no drinking water on site, so carry your own. Past Hana, the Kipahulu Visitor Center is where bottles get topped up, and nothing edible is sold anywhere inside the park.
Read also
