Wow where the hell did you drive to 629 miles in Maui
You lucky to get a Jeep, we were there in Feb and paid $230 for a full-size for a week. I am going back next week and paying $850 for a week
Our Jeep was about $750 for the 8 days we had it. I hear that rental car prices are crazy right now.
How did we drive 629 miles?
We were staying on the NW side (Kaanapali) at the Aston Mahana. The room was nothing special but had a full kitchen and bedroom and the building is located literally 40' from the water.
Day 1 - Arrive and get to the hotel, pick up the Jeep etc
Day 2 - Drive to Wailea for the sunrise snorkel at Molokini (
kaikanani.com)
Nice tour, we were the only boat at the snorkeling spot (there were about 3 dive boats much further out)
Day 3 - Drive the entire NW end of the island. The road on the north side past the blow hole is narrow (one way and many tight corners), but 100% paved. We drove it without any problems. I did have to wait about 3 minutes while another tourist learned to back up 100' in a straight line. This route may be "black listed" on your rental contract. So this is at your own risk.
Day 4 - We took the local catamaran tour from Lahaina to Lanai (Island). This tour left early and got back in the afternoon, it was a nice place to snorkel and seemed to have more species of fish compared to Molokini. They put the mainsail up, but there is apparently very little wind on any of the early morning sails.
https://sailtrilogy.com/
Day 5 - Drive to Haleakala for the Sunrise (This requires reservations and you need to leave EARLY in the morning). We left the room at 3:30 and should have probably left a little sooner. It was F-ing COLD at the top of the volcano at 5:00 AM. Take a coat and pants. After the sunrise, we drove back to Wailea to swim on the beach.
Reservations are released 2 days prior and are gone in minutes. Took us 3 days to get the ticket
https://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/sunrise-and-sunset.htm
Day 6 - The Road to Hana. We left the hotel about 7 AM and once again, we should have left earlier. If you want to see the "best" black sand beach (Waiʻānapanapa) it requires reservations. We didn't stop everywhere along the way and made it to The Pools at 'Ohe'o at 3:15 PM. The Pools were only open for viewing (no swimming) and we really wanted to see the Waimoku Falls. The park closes the parking lot gate at 5:00 PM and they say you will get a fine if you are late. The hike is 1.8 Miles one way and we hit the trailhead at 3:30 PM. We pushed pretty hard to get down and back by 5 PM.
After Waimoku falls we continued around the SE corner of the island. Once again, this is probably "Black Listed" by the rental car. The road is actually easier than the North Side, but there is maybe 10 miles of mixed dirt/asphalt/potholes. We had no problems in the Jeep and you are probably fine in most normal cars. We DID run into a guy heading the opposite direction in his rental car. He had a flat tire and there was no spare in the car. He was waiting for a tow truck and said he was fine. I bet that cost him hundreds of dollars. IF you want to drive this check for a spare
SO, if we had stopped anywhere else (like Waiamapanapa) we would not have had enough time. I suggest you get to Mile 0 by 7 AM at the latest if you want to see most of the sites.
Waiʻānapanapa Reservations :
https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/maui/waimoku-falls-via-pipiwai-trail?u=i
Day 7 - CHILL. We drove back to Polo Beach in Wailea to play in the ocean. Our room had beach chairs and an umbrella, so that was pretty cool.
Day 8 - Drive the Rental one way back to OGG and fly home.