j_the_p

Sure, but a Jeep is soooo much more fun. Go for the Jeep.

mr.brodie

For the Kaupo - Kula leg, there are pot hole patches on top of pot hole patches (repeat 2 more times). In other words, the road is "bumpy" and is so over extended distances. If you are sensitive to rough roads, I therefore suggest a soft riding vehicle over a sporty hard riding one.

Jon Maiman

I drove it in a Dodge Caravan Minvan. I saw many "regular cars" driving the road and doing just fine (e.g. Malibu's, Mustang Convertibles, Sebrings). Bottom line, any car should do, just don't try to go to fast on the dirt section of the road. Enjoy....


--Jon

P.S. mr.brodie is correct about the pot hole patches. Again, just don't try to go to fast and you'll be fine.

gardener

+1

This one makes the road to Hana a Sunday drive. I had to have someone else back my car up because the lady in the oncoming car was afraid to back up 10 feet to a turn out and I was afraid of backing off a cliff.

mr.brodie

There wasn't much traffic on the Kaupo - Kula leg so I was able to pull over at a vicious switchback in a lava rock walled ravine. Dry Gulch would aptly describe this little piece of Paradise.

As I gazed about, I spotted 2 cars maybe 400 feet down a steep embankment below the road out of Dry Gulch. The 2 cars were at least a 1/2 mile away. My immediate reaction was that there had been a serious car accident.

But it turned out that the cars had been abandoned and simply driven over the cliff. So sad.

Orchids

Years ago we drove from Wailuku, and when we got to the Ritz-Carlton, I looked at my husband and said--well, if we died, at least we went to heaven.

ctownflyer

Just did the drive today in a Mustang.
Definitely drive back via Kaupo, such a great drive!

CPRich

From my experience this summer, keep an eye on the clock as you drive. We left Ka'anapali at 7am and were getting in our car at Oheo Gulch at 6pm. It was a race to get past the twisty roads before dark (missed by 15 minutes) the traditional way, so we didn't contemplate continuing south/west in the fading light.

broadwayblue

How many hours of actual driving is it between Ka'anapali and Hana? I'm thinking about doing the drive in March and wanted to plan our stops accordingly.

Coconut Travel Hawaii

Also keep in mind that days are short in winter! Right now, it gets light late in the morning and is pretty dark by 6 PM. Compare that with the summer time: light by 6 AM and dark around 8 PM. I personally would not really want to drive on that road after darkness. The road is also used by folks who live there. They know the road inside out, tend to drive fast, and get inpatient if some tourists are driving slowly in front of them.

84fiero

This past July I learned a lesson when we were returning from Hana (traditional route) right around sunset... check how clean the inside of your rental car's windshield is before committing to a long drive facing the sunset. Darn windshield had a really dirty "film" on the inside, which wasn't really noticeable normally but became a real hazard with the glare right in at the worst possible angle. We just found a place to stop until the sun finished setting, since I didn't exactly have a bottle of Windex handy! But if we would've had a deadline to keep it would not have been fun fighting that glare!

We had a blast on the road to Hana. Would love to try Kaupo-Kula next time, if the wife is up to it and time allows.

Suzyrox

We did the drive last week starting at Kaanapali. 2 hours to Hana and almost 4 hours from Hana going through Kaupo on the Southern route. Surprised how long it took. Well worth the time, but please do not underestimate the drive or the time it takes.

codex57

I consider it very much like going up the Empire State building. It's a landmark tourist attraction. One of those things you just gotta do once.

Is it worth it? Not in my opinion. Just like the Empire State building. However, it's not so bad and it's so iconic that I think you should do it once in your life.

The road is very windy. DW and MIL both got car sick and started barfing on the return trip. And we only made it to the black sand beach (pretty cool; only really cool stop we had IMO). I think we started at that sandwich stop around 8am and got back around 5pm or so. It is an ALL day thing if you stop to take pics and stuff.

We were all so traumatized by Road to Hana that we skipped going to see the volcano after I took a look at the map (also very windy roads).

Oh, and I drove a Chevy Venture minivan. Crap vehicle, but I didn't think there were any problems driving the Road to Hana in that thing. I mean, commercial trucks drive that road.

arcticgrin

I went all the way around starting from the Northern part of the Island. I stayed 1 night in Hana and did the Southern part after the "7 Sacred Pools". I enjoyed the trip back more than the trip there. There way less cars and more scenic views. I do recommend getting a All-Wheel-Drive car since parts of the road are totally dirt. I was driving in a mitsubishi eclipse, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride.

jerseygirl

we took the road past the 7 pools and continued around only once. The place where it was one winding lane on the side of a cliff, no guard rails, and unpaved convinced us never again

Is that part still the same?