I've got much of my planning done for my September Honeymoon and decided we would NOT to the Haleakala Summit in the morning as it will be many days into our trip and getting up at 4 am just doesn't excite either of us. So we are so far planning to go up for sunset but......

After watching sunsets at Ke'e Beach on Kauai, walking the Kailea Trail, Hiking the Canyon and helicopter ride.

Then off to BI for trips to the Volcano and to the Mauna Kea Summit to look at the telescopes.

On Maui will we fly in to Hana and drive in revserse to West Maui.

And on Molokai will probably hike down to the peninsula and fly back to the top of the sea cliffs.

This seems like a lot but we have at least on day in between activites to just relax and enjoy the beaches.

We want to spend a mid day in Wailea (we are staying in Kaanapali) and then thought we drive up to the summit and watch the sunset, but it is a long drive up and back. Should we skip this or is the view something we will always remember as awesome. Will it be unique from what we will see at the Mauna Kea on the Big Island?

A relaxing afternoon visit to Wailea and a nice dinner and then back to the Sheraton sounds nice. But if you think the summit shouldn't be missed - please tell me.

I like Haleakala, and I've never seen a sunrise or sunset from there. You gotta be nuts to get up a 4 A.M. But the crater is fascinating, and fun to hike down into.

Which tour are you taking to Mauna Kea? Most of them (at least the three we've been on) included a sunset viewing from the summit. Haleakala is a somewhat different experience than Mauna Kea, because it has a huge caldera filled with cinder cones.. very striking visually and well worth seeing. But personally I wouldn't go out of my way to do sunrise at Haleakala if your tour to Mauna Kea includes a sunset.

I agree with Les. I've never made a trip to Maui without driving up to Haleakala crater. Forget the sunrise stuff. Driving up through Kula and seeing the panoramic view of the island where West and South connect is great. AND it's the only place in the world where the Silverswords grow. They live 100 years, bloom, and then die. When I see one of those large blooms I feel that I've been blessed!

Should we just go in the middle of the day and forget about sunset time. Just not excited about waiting for the sun to set at 7 pm and then driving 3 hours back to the Sheraton. If we could make it part of our day trip to include driving over the top of west Maui (1 1/2 hours), exploring Iao Needle (1 hours), drive up to Haleakala (2 hours) for a short hike into crater (1 hour) and back to Kaanapali (2 1/2 hours). Thats 8 hours.

If we leave around the hotel around 9 am and give us some breathing room and time to get a bite to eat - we could return around 9 pm.

Does that seem reasonable. We'd like to fill the day with travel so that gives us some days of pure relaxation. Instead of a little going here and there everyday.

We drove up to the top around noon one day & it was fine. Great views both from the summit as well as the road up & back.

If you're planning on stopping at all on the drive over the top of West Maui it'll take you longer than 1.5 hours. I think I spent about a half hour at the blowhole and the Olivine pools each. THey are both worth the walk/scramble from the road though.

I did Volcano and Mauna Kea and for that reason I skipped Haleakala. So I can't tell if that was the right decision, but I don't feel like I missed out on anything.

By the way, silversworlds also grow on Mauna Kea and probably Mauna Loa.

Nancy: I am not a morning person at all but I really enjoyed the bike trip down Haleakala at sunrise.

I got talked into it by my hubby's family and, like you, was horrified at the idea of getting up at 4:00 a.m. But I ended up loving everything about the trip - a van picked us up at the hotel, we arrived at the summit before sunrise and watched the sun come up as we wound our way down the mountain - spectacular!

The ride ended in a flat area that went through some beautiful rural scenery. We then were all taken to an IHOP (!) for breakfast - I couldn't beleive how much fun I had!

Just a thought - you're on your honeymoon so don't feel obligated to do anything but relax and enjoy each other. Congrats!

Nancy,
We went on an afternoon and it was very foggy/misty at the summit that day so we weren't able to see much. I would take the weather into consideration when deciding if it's worthwhile.

Nancy, make it part of a day trip. I think you'll be glad you did.

Yesterday's weather report called for snow at the summit. I haven't checked yet today if it we actually got it! Too many people rush up to the summit for a sunset or sunrise and miss everything else that there is to see on the way up. If you decide to go up, take some time to expereince the different micoclimates. Stop and smell the smells, feel the cool breezes, see the nene and silversword. Then please fell free to take as many mongoose home with you as you'd like. We have plenny.

I've been to Maui twice, once to get married 15 years ago and once a year and a half ago for a vacation with my family.

When my wife and I got married, we limited our time to Kaanapali and Lahaina. We threw in a boat trip and some snorkeling, but for the most part we didn?t venture too far. This was due primarily to our (lack of) money situation at the time. But, it was nice and relaxed and gave us wonderful Hawaiian honeymoon memories.

Last year, I coaxed my wife and kids into doing the sunrise at Haleakala. They grumbled and complained, but it was something that I really wanted to do. It was easily one of the highlights of the trip. Even before the sunrise, the beauty of the night sky from up there was overwhelming. Also, the sunrise itself was as spectacular as everything you may have read about it ? just wonderful! I think these people who are saying that it?s not worth it either haven?t done it themselves or were unlucky enough to have had some bad weather at the top.

Afterwards, we stayed around for a good chunk of the day and did some hiking around the visitors center. In my opinion, it had a different feel than the hikes around Kilauea on the Big Island. In a lot of ways, I didn?t like the hiking aspect quite as much as Kilauea inasmuch as I didn?t find as much diversity in landscape, but it was fun nonetheless (that?s probably more due to the fact that I didn?t have my kids with me at Kilauea spent more time wandering aimlessly).

Over a year later, the one topic that consistently comes up when my family discusses the Maui vacation is our trip to Haleakala. It really stands out as a highlight.

All of that said?. For what it?s worth, I would still recommend against packing too much into a honeymoon. And, I think getting up at 4:00 and six hours of driving definitely qualifies as packing a lot in?.