This is a MUST DO! In fact, when my Mother and I were talking about going to Hawaii I told her that I wanted to go to Maui and the reason I chose Maui is because of the Road to Hana. This road is 52 miles long and zigzags all the way. You cross over 52 bridges and see many waterfalls. We chose to do a "tour" and went in a small passenger touring van that had huge windows all around it for viewing. The reason I chose to do the "tour" is because the drive is NOT for the faint at heart. The road is very narrow and in some parts, you have to pull over to the edge of a cliff so oncoming traffic can pass. Also, you may experience something along the lines of "sea sickness" because of the constant curves. If you start to feel queasy turn up the A/C or ask your tour operator to turn up the A/C. Our tour operator told us that having the A/C very cold cuts down on the queasiness, and he was right!
Our tour started out by being picked up at 5:30am at our resort. He then drove us somewhere for breakfast where he picked up a "catered lunch". We then set out for Hana. It was wonderful! We stopped at a national reserve, we visited what used to be called the 7 sacred pools, a black sand beach, and stopped at a little house owned by "Ginger" where we ate our catered lunch. Our lunch consisted of Hawaiian Barbecue chicken, kalau pork, a green salad, macaroni salad, rolls, and drink of your choice. It was very good! Ginger presented all of the ladies with a red ginger flower. The flower does not smell until you squeeze it and what a heavenly scent it is!
After we left Ginger's house we headed into the "desert" land of Maui. It is very rough roads that you are forbidden to drive rental cars on; so don't even try. I am 95% sure that you would break the axle on the car. We went to the Vineyard on Maui and sampled wine. I even bought a couple of bottles to bring home with me. Of course, they all have a slight pineapple taste! We were returned to our resort at about 6:00pm. A truly wonderful day on the beautiful island of Maui!