The comments I have read about this trip and the car traffic and crowds at sites is often mentioned. We plan on a day trip leaving early in the morning from Khiel. Would it make sense if we travel directly to the area near Lindbergh's grave and do the stops on the way back in order to be opposite the flow?

I don't think this will make much of a difference. Later in the day (afternoon) all the sites will be occupied. The only time it will be empty is early in the morning or perhaps very late (4 PM). When we went, we knew we'd be staying overnight, so we didn't get going til about 10 AM...stops along the way had several cars at them, but the only one that I'd call crowded was the 7 sacred pools, and that was because we arrived at 2 PM. It was still beautiful! Perhaps you could try a later departure, since most everyone tries to get on the road by 8 AM...

We did the road to Hana last week and went around the island, never again. I felt we were lucky Our car didn't loose parts from the bumpy roads and when you have to honk the horn to go around curves that's a little to sharp a turn. If there hasn't been rain for awhile, lots of the falls will be dry. Dave

If you go in the reverse direction by the time you actually get to the Road to Hana you will be too tired to get out of the car and explore.

I do NOT recommend doing the trip in the reverse direction. Many, many hairpin turns, with the road crumbling off of a cliff on the back side. You are putting yourself in danger from oncoming traffic if you do this. Also, be aware that the back side road is littered with razor sharp lava rocks that will burst your tire like a cheap balloon. If you lose one tire mid-way through, you will have a very nervous few hours trying not to lose another. Rental cars only have one spare, you know.

Oh come on! You are really exagerrating, folks. We drove all the way around in September, and yes it was slow going, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world! No roads were "crumbling off a cliff." We had no problem with our rented convertible, we saw a monk seal sleeping on the beach, arches, gorgeous views especially in contrast to the Hana side. Evelyn, do the drive in the regular way, and be brave and go all the way around - it's wonderful!

Razor sharp lava rocks ? Lava rocks are not razor sharp on the road to Hana or anywhere else !!! Sounds like this person just does not want people to drive the full circuit !

I agree - do not drive the reverse way. The dry side is quite a long drive, and you would be worn out by the time you got to Hana (or Lindberg's grave). You may want to do it if you are spending the night in Hana, though. Dont worry about the dry side drive. It is spectacular and not that risky or dangerous. I did it with 2 small kids & had no problems. Time is your worst problem.

How about driving from Kahului to Lindbergh's grave without stopping along the way and then visiting the sites we missed as we return from this last stop back to Kahului? Would it take three hours to get to the grave site? Would we avoid some of the crowds if we used this approach? We are not planning to stay overnight, but would like to enjoy this drive as much as possible. When I originally asked the question, some responders thought I meant to take the route along "the dry side" so this re-post is to clarify.

Same problem. After sitting in a car driving all the way to Lindbergh's grave you will be too tired to enjoy the Road to Hana on the trip back.

We just did the raod to Hana last week, all the way around. I would not recommend doing it backwards because we really enjoyed listening to the cd as we drove, which you cannot do backwards. (you can buy them at the shell station in Paia, but we borrowed one from a friend). If I could do it again, I would stay a night in Hana. We were disappointed at the crowds between 2 and 4 p.m. The sights along the road to Hana are the absolute best part of Maui. We especially enjoyed the beautiful views at Waianapanapa Park and swimming/boogie boarding at Hamoa beach. The drive past Hana was the best part. The evening sun lighting up the fields of wildflowers will not soon be forgotten.

I agree with the last poster: buying the CD is very worthwhile to listen to along the clockwise route; and we drove the "rough" road in May which i would highly recommend - gorgeous, rustic, a bit rocky but not as bad as we had anticipated. just go 10-15 MPH and you'll be fine. It is actually intermittently paved and yes, there are some big rocks but it ain't that bad. Of course only do this if it hasn't been raining.

evelyntrav, my personal opinion if I were to drive the road again(only drove it once) would be to start out very, very early. I'm talking about heading out from Kahului before 6am, or from the resort areas by 5am. Why? Many people stop a lot early and leave little time to see some of the really good stuff that appears later on in the drive. By the time we got to Lindburgh's grave and drove past it accidentally, it was 5pm, we were exhausted and could care less about turning around to see it. We left Kahului around 7am and still ran short on time. We went all the way around too, but that was actually very relaxing. Bumpy for awhile, but you can pull off to the side for scenic views without all the other people around. I could set up my tripod and pose with my wife with the ocean in the background. Anyway, as others have said, doing it in reverse would be too nervewracking because you must drive against the main traffic flow once you get on the Hana Hwy and you don't save much time that way. If you could, more people would go that way. It's not like others haven't thought of trying it, but you won't find many recommending it. No point.

Tried it once but it was difficult to see much scenecry thru the rear view mirror.

Thank you all for your feedback. We will take the usual path, rent the tape, and try to leave the condo by 5AM. Another question... do you recall which stops could be a "miss"? I know the great stops from reading other posts on this subject, but haven't been able to determine which ones we could skip in order to conserve both time and energy.