Hana Highway - Tourism

Tourism

The Hāna Highway is a popular tourist attraction in Maui. Guidebooks often devote large sections to traveling the highway leading to the eastern side of Maui and document the many waterfalls and attractions that can be found along the way. Some of these attractions lie within or through private property and will often have "no trespassing" signs posted or even signs claiming that the attraction does not exist. All beaches in Hawaii are public. Some guidebooks document the "keep out" areas and ways past barbed wire fences and locked gates to reach attractions.

At the end of the Hāna Highway (actually past Hāna in a clockwise direction around eastern Maui) is the ʻOheʻo Gulch, also known as the "Seven Sacred Pools". This series of waterfalls and pools is located inside the Haleakala National Park.

Occasionally the dirt road past Route 31 is closed to traffic due to landslides. Most major rental car contracts forbid driving this section. However, although it is somewhat rough in places, it is by no means a daunting or particularly dangerous road if taken slowly. Some parts are washboard-like and require speeds of 5 mph (8 km/h) or less in order to avoid damaging the suspension of a rental car. This prohibition in rental car contracts seems more related to the remoteness of this section of highway; in case of a breakdown, there is very little in the way of passing traffic or inhabitants around, and no cell phone service in parts.

Scenic turnouts abound, including one for Wailua Falls near the Seven Sacred Pools in Oheʻo.