Thinking of driving up to see the sunset instead of the sunrise at Haleakala in Maui....is it just as nice..less crowds? Don't have to get up as early....Let me know what you think...

Hi Nancy. We opted for sunset instead of sunrise because, like you, we didn't want to miss half a night's sleep. I think it is the way to go...there were no groups up there waiting to bicycle. Just a handful of people (in late September, anyway). Be sure to bring warm clothes, and a blanket to sit on and snuggle up while watching the spectacular sunset. We took our time driving up - wish we had gone earlier so we could do some hiking - next trip. I have three pictures on our Webshots Maui album. If you want to see them, go to:
http://community.webshots.com/user/maggiwun

Sounds like a good plan to me...we are traveling with 22 year old and 21 year old so they like the idea of sleeping in!! A bottle of wine and a blanket sound great!! Anyone else do the sunset?

What's the road like driving there? Is it winding with high drops and no guardrails? If we do sunset, what's it like coming back at night? Thanks.

Ok...we will do sunset....what time should we get there...we want to do some hiking first. We are going in June

Well I did the sunrise this past Dec. We woke up at 3 am after just getting there. At the time I thought we are crazy but there were lots of crazy people up there too. It was raining and very cold and we thought we're never gonna see a beautiful sunrise. Surprised I was as the sun was rising. It was such a cool feeling watching. Got some great photos one with a rainbow. It's something I'm glad I did and I did it once to say I did it! Be adventurous. I came back and hung out on the beach and relaxed.

Have done the sunrise, but not the sun set. Seems to me the sunrise is most recommended because of the sight of watching the clouds that settle in the crater at night, rise out of the crater in the sunrise, which is a nice sight.
But other than that sunset would be great too.