• Introduction
• 1. Big Sur
• 2. Blue Ridge Parkway
• 3. Going-to-the-Sun Road
• 4. Hana Highway
• 5. Million Dollar Highway
• 6. Red Rock Scenic Byway
• 7. Sea Islands
• 8. Seward Highway
• 9. Sonoma and Napa Valleys
• 10. U.S. Route 1

Hana Highway

Driving Maui’s serpentine Hana Highway on the rural east side of the island provides a feel for Hawaii’s early days, when wild beauty and sleepy surf towns ruled. The famous road, also called the Road to Hana, starts in the town of Paia (about a 40-minute drive from Maui’s more developed southwest area) and wiggles east along the coast for more than 60 miles. The entire route can be traveled in about 3 hours but it’s better to allot at least a day to take in the rain-forest setting (and allow for traffic). Rent a convertible, slather on sunscreen, and start before dawn to catch the sunrise. With the route incorporating some 600 hairpin curves and dozens of one-lane bridges, the driving is as taxing as the sites are stunning. Leave some time to check out a few of the following: Keanae Arboretum, with an exotic botanical garden; Waikani Falls, a trio of crashing chutes; and Ka’eleku Caverns, an ancient site created from lava flow. Turn around at the peaceful village of Hana or, for the real finish-line reward, continue further to Haleakala National Park to camp among vegetation that grows nowhere else in the world.

Smart Splurge Hotel: A Smart Luxury Award winner, the remote Hotel Hana-Maui, with its spacious bungalows, is almost at the end of the Hana Highway and offers complimentary yoga, snorkeling, and tennis. www.hotelhanamaui.com

Great Value Hotel: An oceanfront condo-hotel on Hana Bay, Hana Kai Maui Resort is near the black-sand Popolana Beach. www.hanakaimaui.com

Find even more editorially-selected hotel recommendations in our Maui Travel Guide.

See Maui Travel Guide | See Montana Travel Guide | See Napa Valley Travel Guide | See San Francisco Travel Guide | See Sedona Travel GuideSee Sonoma Travel Guide