{"id":17317,"date":"2014-04-01T05:30:35","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T05:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?p=17317"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:40:09","slug":"the-back-road-to-hana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/","title":{"rendered":"The back road to Hana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Maui rental car companies and the local convention and visitor\u2019s bureau will tell you that there\u2019s only one way to Hana\u2014the 36-mile Hana Highway that starts in Paia and hugs the twisty-turvy northeast coast from there.<\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But there\u2019s another route to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/Maui-Island.d180073.Destination-Travel-Guides\">Maui<\/a>\u2019s most secluded spot: the Pi\u2019ilani Highway that encompasses highways 31 and 330, and stretches from outside of Kula for 45 miles along the south coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Many refer to this thoroughfare as \u201cthe back road.\u201d For years\u2014basically since the road opened in 1937\u2014locals were the only ones driving it. In recent years, as a preponderance of tour buses has made traffic on the Hana Highway intolerable, a growing number of tourists are ignoring warnings from local rental car companies and giving the Pi\u2019ilani a try.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Viewfinder Tip: Don&#8217;t be scared away by rental car companies; every vehicle can drive the Pi&#8217;ilani Highway just fine. <br \/> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>To be fair, these warnings aren\u2019t for naught; one section of the road traverses a dry river bed, a few sections are unpaved, and a few other sections are so poorly paved they might as well just be dirt. Still, a drive on the Pi\u2019ilani introduces visitors to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/Maui-Island-Hotels.d180073.Travel-Guide-Hotels\">Maui<\/a> many never see. For this reason, it\u2019s worth the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The drive begins in Keokea, a tiny town on the southeast shoulder of Mount Haleakala. Here, at Grandma\u2019s Coffee House, stop for a char siu (barbecued pork) omelet and a cup of house-grown coffee. Portions at this Greasy Spoon bakery are so large you won\u2019t need to eat again until Hana, especially if you buy a home-baked cookie for the drive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After Ulupalakua Ranch\u2014home to Maui\u2019s only winery\u00a0\u2014the topography changes dramatically. Green trees disappear. Volcanic desert takes over. Five miles out and you\u2019re not sure whether you\u2019re still on Maui or you\u2019ve been transported to Wadi Rum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>(Thankfully, the Pokowai sea arch and blossoming wiliwili trees remind you this is not the desert.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Next up is Kaupo, one of the oldest settlements on Maui. Here, leave time to stop and marvel at St. Joseph\u2019s Church, a stone chapel that has been standing in the same spot since 1860. Another step back in time: The Kaupo Store, a family-run grocery that sells snacks and cold beer by the bottle, and displays a number of antique cameras which date back to when the place opened in 1925.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<div class=\"vertical-image-container lansdscape-3b4533a7-50ee-63e1-bbde-ff000073f150\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/default-source\/user-matt-villano\/maui_brhana_content-[size_235x380].jpg\" id=\"landscape-3b4533a7-50ee-63e1-bbde-ff000073f150\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Title\">The church in Kaupo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Unpaved and poorly-paved stretches of road (which, at some points, narrow to one lane) connect Kaupo to the southeast corner of the island, where lush tropical forests return. This region, dubbed Kipahulu, is home to Palapala Ho\u2019omau Church, burial site of Charles Lindbergh (yes, that Charles Lindbergh), and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/hale\/planyourvisit\/kipahulu.htm\">section of Haleakala National Park<\/a> that includes a cascading waterfall known for its seven pools. It\u2019s also where you\u2019ll find the organic Laulima Farm; volunteers lead tours here every Monday morning, and a farmstand (that used to boast a bicycle-powered blender now) sells everything from jackfruit to fresh arugula.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><br \/>\n<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hana is another 30 minutes from here\u2014a winding drive that curls past more waterfalls, more beaches and thousands upon thousands of guava trees. Celebrate your arrival with a Maitai in the bar at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/Maui-Island-Hotels-Travaasa-Hana.h933.Hotel-Information\">Travaasa Hana<\/a>; while all of the other day-trippers hurry to beat return traffic on the Hana Highway, you can linger to the sounds of live ukulele music, knowing that on the Back Road, it\u2019ll be smooth sailing all the way home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span><strong>What are some of your favorite off-road road trips? <\/strong><br \/> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exploring a new part of Maui on the back road to Hana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1789,1782,1775,1890,1788,1891,1774,1779,1818,1825,1776],"tags":[607],"authors":[2227],"class_list":["post-17317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-destinations","category-fall","category-hawaii","category-interests","category-maui","category-occasions-and-seasons","category-road-trip","category-summer","category-tropical","category-type-of-vacation","tag-labor-day","authors-matt-villano","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The back road to Hana | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The back road to Hana | Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exploring a new part of Maui on the back road to Hana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expedia Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jamie McNeely\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e\"},\"headline\":\"The back road to Hana\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":601,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Labor Day\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Adventure\",\"Destinations\",\"Fall\",\"Hawaii\",\"Interests\",\"Maui\",\"Occasions and seasons\",\"Road trip\",\"Summer\",\"Tropical\",\"Type of vacation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/\",\"name\":\"The back road to Hana | Expedia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg\",\"width\":1230,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/the-back-road-to-hana\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Explore\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interests\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/interests\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Adventure\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/interests\\\/adventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The back road to Hana\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/\",\"name\":\"Expedia Travel Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e\",\"name\":\"Jamie McNeely\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jamie McNeely\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.waveinteractive.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.expedia.com\\\/stories\\\/author\\\/jamie-mcneely\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The back road to Hana | Expedia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The back road to Hana | Expedia","og_description":"Exploring a new part of Maui on the back road to Hana","og_url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/","og_site_name":"Expedia Travel Blog","article_published_time":"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1230,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jamie McNeely","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie McNeely","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/"},"author":{"name":"Jamie McNeely","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e"},"headline":"The back road to Hana","datePublished":"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/"},"wordCount":601,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg","keywords":["Labor Day"],"articleSection":["Adventure","Destinations","Fall","Hawaii","Interests","Maui","Occasions and seasons","Road trip","Summer","Tropical","Type of vacation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/","name":"The back road to Hana | Expedia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg","datePublished":"2014-04-01T05:30:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-28T16:40:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/maui_brhana_header-size_1230x400.jpeg","width":1230,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/the-back-road-to-hana\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Explore","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Interests","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/interests\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Adventure","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/interests\/adventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The back road to Hana"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/","name":"Expedia Travel Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/593dbd40dd1d061c8d049105752b2c5e","name":"Jamie McNeely","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a581e979bc96a716fdbd9d7330ef740dc6f94cc89734ed152c9c0d8682acb42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jamie McNeely"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.waveinteractive.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/author\/jamie-mcneely\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55497,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317\/revisions\/55497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17317"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=17317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}