Hi We're going to Maui in Feb 2004. Of course we are gong to do the trip around the island. The question is Should we do both the Crater and the drive around thru Hana on the same day? Sort of taking a detour to the crater when we get to that point. Or do them on separate days? Not sure if we want to do the sunrise thing. thanks

The trip to Hana and back is really an all day affair. I did the crater as a seperate trip which turned into an almost all day thing too. If you like to hike you will want to plan some time to hike in both places. Consider spending the night in Hana. I love Hana and have spent a whole week there, but an overnight would make the drive over a bit more fun. Have a ball!

Hey purple,

I agree with bquarre in recommending doing Hana and Haleakala on separate days. They both take time and you wouldn't be doing either justice if you try to squeeze them in on one day. I also concur with bquarre in that if you enjoy nature, hiking, et. al., you should consider staying over a night in Hana. It allows you to break up the drive and casually enjoy the scenery....this way you don't have to rush through.

And if I can put a vote in, I'd recommend the sunrise....it's one of those things you gotta do at least once. Just realize that you have to get up at around 3 in the morning to get there with enough time to get a prime viewing spot.....probably easiest if you do it the first morning you're there as your clocks will still be on mainland time. And dress WARMLY.

I agree.

purple- do exactly as Doug says. When you get to Maui, tell your hotel you are going to the crater early in the morning. They will pack you a picnic breakfast (ours also gave us a blanket).

Leave the hotel about 3am (if you are coming from the East Coast, this will be easy because of jet-lag - you'll be up anyway). It takes about 2-3 hours to get up there, if you can believe that. When I was there, it was 80 degrees at the beach and about 30 degrees at the top of the Crater.

I have some of the BEST sunrise pictures I have ever taken from up there. It is SO worth it!

Karen

You don't say where home is; I'm from the Chicago suburbs. The most impressive thing to me about the predawn trip to Haleakala Crater wasn't the sunrise, but the night sky before first light. I have never seen so many stars, ever! Don't short change yourself, do Hana one day and Haleakala another. We also took the bike trip down Haleakala and drove around the south end of the island from Hana. Obviously I shouldn't recommend either for insurance reason, but I'm certainly glad that we did both!

I personally can't imagine doing both on the same day, but I guess anything is possibly...

we did sunrise haleakala on day 1 and the road to hana day 2

had we to do it over again....sunrise haleakala would still be day 1 but we would spend more time up there, hiking etc, possibly horseback ride into the crater. We take the road to hana later in the week and spend at least 1 night there.

aloha!

I was just there last week. Agree with the others - do not do on same day... you will be exhausted. The routes, although not much by mileage, are tedious and require "thought" while driving.
I have done the Haleakala sunrise 3 times. I still think it is fabulous. Each time has been a different experience. Last week was the "warmest" of my experiences, though we still wore jeans, sweatshirt and borrowed the blankets from our hotel room. After the sunrise, we hiked 2.5 miles down the Sliding Sands trail into the crater. Wonderful. Though, the hike back out of the crater can be tiring if you aren't in shape and prepared for it. After the hike, we then stopped at the Kula Lodge near the end of rt 378 on the way down for a great breakfast. The place is always wonderful. The view from the restaurant is amazing. Also, by taking the 2-3 hours to hike, we avoided having to deal with lots of bicyclists on the drive down from the top. We were back to Kaanapali and on the beach by 1pm.
This trip we did a shortened Road to Hana (didn't have too many days on Maui and wanted to relax on beach). We only drove to mile marker 11 and then turned around. We did hike back to the falls set back (I think around mm 4) which was nice - with the bamboo forest around you.

Enjoy.

If driving yourself to Haleakala, be certain to drive down in a low gear. We didn't, the car brakes overheated and failed and we had a major accident. Fortunately, I was the only one hurt, in the rear seat, NO seatbelt! Spent 10 days in the Maui hospital, then had to spend another 3 weeks in Maui. It's good to have extra time in Maui but not that way. Low gear, seat belts!