Maui: The Road to Hana (and beyond)

There's a special place in my heart for Hawaii.  I've been to these islands more than ten times, and never tire of them.  I've made multiple visits to each of the four major Islands: Kauai, The Big Island, Oahu and Maui.  The order I listed them is how I rank them from most to least favorite. Why is Maui my least favorite of the islands?  Because they all simply can't be my favorite.

Easily my favorite experience on Maui is taking a day-long road trip along the coast to the remote town of Hana.  Honestly, there is nothing in Hana Town that warrants a visit, unless you are staying overnight, after a long day of exploring the sights along the way.  But this trip isn't about the destination.  It's all about the journey.  When you tell people you went to Maui, they probably won't ask if you went to Hana.  But they will ask you if you took "the road to Hana". 

The drive to Hana is a long and winding one, with many rewards along the way.  These come in the forms of lush tropical vegetation, beautiful waterfalls, sweeping ocean views and many hidden gems.  Hana Highway starts on Highway 36, which takes you through several small towns before Highway 360 begins (where the mile-markers start over after marker 16).  From this point, it's 34 miles to Hana.

This map shows the roads mentioned in this story.

Few of the sights along Hana Highway are "roadside".  Many require parking and walking (or hiking) to get to them.  In some cases, you may have to "break the rules" to get to certain spots.  Take the "Blue Pool" for example.  Getting here requires turning off of the road and driving through a neighborhood until you reach a small parking lot.  After you park, you will have to walk about a quarter-mile to get to the destination.  This isn't your typical tourist attraction.  No signs, welcome centers, restrooms, etc. are found here.  But you may encounter some unwelcoming locals who have lost the Aloha Spirit.

Photo of the Blue Pool from TripAdvisor

All will be forgotten when you reach the pool, and its beautiful waterfall.  Go ahead.  Jump in, and swim to the other side.  There's nothing like the feeling of a natural waterfall as it cascades down.  Be advised, that this is nature, and rocks can tumble over the falls.  Always be aware of your surroundings, and assess conditions before entering the water and venturing to base of the falls.  Climbing to the top requires experience and extra caution.  Staying at the bottom was plenty for us.

Back on the road, you will find plenty of other sights.  Many will require a map, or guidebook. I recommend "Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook".  This is part of a series of guidebooks about the islands.  Also known as "the blue book", these are mandatory for pre-trip research.  You should also keep them with you throughout your vacation. Each "blue book" shares information on some of the "lesser known" sights on all of the major Hawaiian Islands..

The "blue book" is my preferred guidebook
for all of the islands in Hawaii.

The Road to Hana has many twists and turns.

Parking and walking or hiking to your destination may be required.
Getting there can be part of the fun.

The Garden of Eden is an arboretum and botanical garden that you can choose to drive, or walk through.  There is an admission fee to enter, but we felt it was well worth it.  I highly recommend you park and explore the gardens on foot.  You won't regret it.  While services are somewhat limited, they do have restrooms and picnic areas.

A trail through a bamboo forest at the Garden of Eden

Get up-close to some beautiful tropical plants and flowers when you explore
the Garden of Eden on foot. 

You never know when you will encounter a waterfall.

Hiking through a bamboo forest.

Here's one of several overlooks at the Garden of Eden.

If I point out all of the sights on the road to Hana, this entry will never end.  There are several sights after Hana that justify continuing your journey beyond the town, and all the way around the southeastern portion of the island.  For many years parts of this drive were a bit treacherous, with unpaved roads, and limited to zero services. 

On our first trip to Maui (2005), we traveled all the way around, and encountered miles of gravel road with giant potholes.  The drive was a bit scary, especially since we were running low on fuel, and couldn't find a gas station anywhere.  Much of that is no longer the case, as the entire road is now paved, and a few services can even be found.  Most tourists will turn-around in Hana and take the winding portion of Hwy 360 back to Central Maui. This will give you the added advantage of no traffic as you continue your journey.

The continuation of Highway 360 takes you along the southern coast of Maui, and around the above-water base of Mt. Haleakala.  Views here can be amazing.  You may also feel like you're on another planet, as the lush greenery gives way to a desert in the middle of the ocean, and a somewhat deserted environment.  The view up-mountain is desolate, while panning the opposite direction will give way to some breathtaking ocean views.

We stopped at Haukini Bay to see what appeared to be a black-sand beach from the road above.  When we parked in front of a natural berm, you could only hear the waves, and a constant thunderous sound I had never experienced before.  I walked over the hill of regular sand to find the "black sand" that I saw from above was actually an entire beach of large, black rocks  The noise I heard was the sound of thousands of rock being moved by the crashing waves.  It was a sight and sound I will never forget.

(1 of 3) The eastern edge of Haukini Bay with blue sky

(2 of 3) from the same, looking out beyond the shore.

(3 of 3) Same spot, same time, looking west. What a difference.

Continuing westward, Highway 360 briefly becomes Hwy 31, before turning into Hwy 37. You will be treated to more sites along the way.  Highway 37, climbs high into the up-country, where you will pass several small mountain towns, before starting your descent back down towards Central Maui.  This grand-circle tour has taken us around the entire eastern part of the island.

A partial rainbow appears during an isolated rain shower.

The Road to Hana is an adventure that is not to be missed.  It will probably be the highlight of your visit to Maui. Relax and don't rush. Take it all in.  Stop where you want and when you want to.  Make the most of this adventure.  You will love it.

JVPtravel Tips

Give It A Day: If you plan to take this drive, note that the earlier you start, the less traffic you will encounter along the Road to Hana.  I recommend leaving your hotel or "home base" early enough to arrive at the beginning of Hwy 360 after sunrise.  Have breakfast and grab lunch for a picnic along the way.  Allow four to six hours to get to Hana, with stops along the way.  Then plan on another two to three hours to travel the rest of the route. Unfortunately there is no way to connect to any of the leeward parts of the island from Highways 360, 31 or 37.  You will have to return to Kahului to get back to any of those areas.

Go Your Own Way:  Try to avoid stopping where all the other cars are.  Especially early in the drive.  Many people will stop at the first site of a waterfall.  The better stuff lies ahead.  Use the "Maui Revealed" guidebook to plan your adventure.

Lost in Venice

Originally published September 25, 2011
Updated December 3, 2018

There's something magical about visiting Venice, Italy.  This is not your ordinary city.  It's not even ordinary by Italian standards.  Venice is in a class all by itself.  Getting lost in this city of 118 islands where canals are the streets and bridges are the crosswalks is not something you try to avoid.  It's something you look forward to. 

When we were making arrangements for our three-day stay in Venice, the only plans we made were for transportation into and out of town, and where to stay.  We literally left the rest up to chance.  I knew we would visit famous landmarks like St. Marks Square and Rialto Bridge.  What I did not expect was how wonderful it felt to explore a city I've never been to without a plan.

Venice is like a maze.  The city has no streets and no cars.  Miles and miles of canals flow throughout the city.  These waterways are unlike anything you will find anywhere.  Some of the canals are no more than ten feet wide, while others are the width of most city streets.  And then there's The Grand Canal.  This massive waterway is home to beautiful palaces, four unique bridges, and plenty of water traffic.

Boats, water taxis and Venice's famous gondolas travel the canals.  They are the only motor-driven vehicles in the main city.  Sidewalks line many of the canals, and small alleys are everywhere.  More than four hundred small foot bridges connect the many small islands.  Navigating through this area is confusing at best.  And this is where the fun begins. 

After you find your hotel, it's time to head out to see what Venice has to offer.  As you stroll the sidewalks along the canals and alleys on foot, you will almost certainly find yourself lost.  Restaurants, cafes, pubs, bakeries, and gift shops are everywhere.  Beautiful Gothic palaces line the Grand Canal, smaller buildings house apartments, and hotels.  And individual homes, churches, playgrounds, piazzas and more fill the city, which is home to more than 250,000 residents, and visited by more than 3 million tourists each year.

Boats park in front of local businesses.  It's like a street, only
without those pesky parking meters.  

The commute home involves boats, bikes or
just, plain walking. Who wouldn't want to
walk home in Venice?

You will encounter something different  across each bridge and around every corner of Venice. Here, you might stumble upon a courtyard filled with playing children, or a small piazza where locals mingle.  And your are sure to see (and hear) locals sing or play musical instruments for their neighbors and passers-by.

Strolling musicians are common in Venice.
The piazzas are their front yards.

Locals gathering in a local piazza

  

Tourist areas are plentiful in Venice.  St. Mark's Square is a giant piazza, lined with restaurants and cafes along the perimeter of the square.  Here you will find street performers, and plenty of people strolling the area, or enjoying a meal or beverage at one of the outdoor establishments. 

St. Mark's Square is also home to three of Venice's major landmarks.  Basilica de San Marco is a massive church, complete with no less than five copulas, incredible architecture, mosaics and an incredible collection of artwork.  The history of basilica dates back nearly one thousand years. 

The Campanile rises above St. Mark's Square.  Across from the tower are
the copulas (domes) of the Basilica, located behind Doge's Palace

Doge's Palace is located next to St. Mark's Basilica.  This gothic building is now a museum that celebrates its history that goes back more than five hundred years.  The architecture is stunning.

The Campanile rises three hundred twenty-four feet above St. Mark's Square.  The tower in its current form dates back to 1912, but the Campanile itself was first built in the 12th century.  Today it is the tallest structure in Venice, and offers an amazing view from the observation area near the top. 

As you make your way to St. Mark's Square from other sections of the city, you will most-likely cross the Rialto Bridge.  One of four bridges that cross the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge was built in the late 16th century.  It's the most popular bridge in Venice with tourists for obvious reasons. 

The famous Rialto Bridge is one of four crossings over the amazing, and
equally famous Grand Canal of Venice.

Hop aboard a water bus for a short cruise to Venice's Northern Lagoon, where the neighboring islands of Murano and Burano await with charm and surprises of their own. Murano is famous for glass-blown art, with several glass factories, a glass art museum, wonderful restaurants, churches and more.

Murano is very similar to Venice, although its canals
aren't quite as busy as its neighbor.

A giant glass structure sits inside a small Murano courtyard.

Today, Burano is a quaint fishing village. It is well-known for lacemaking, with tiny shops located throughout the small business district, where women still hand-tatt lace the way it has been done for generations.         

This small island also has a distinctive look that sets it apart from Venice and Murano.  The small houses that line the canals are all painted different colors, giving this intimate island a very unique and intimate feel.

Some of the famed multi-colored houses that line the
canals of Burano.

Small shops dot the walking pathways of Burano.

Navigating these waters means trying not to run into
one of your neighbor's boats.

We loved our three days in Venice, and found that this was a perfect amount of time to devote to this area.  I expected Venice to be one of the major highlights of our visit to Italy, and it certainly did not disappoint.  There's more to getting lost in this beautiful city than the bridges and mazes of alleys.  Getting lost in Venice is an experience, and a feeling I will never forget. 

Capping-off our first day in Venice with a wonderful meal at 10pm.

JVPtravel Tips

Dining: If weather permits, try to enjoy most of your meals outdoors.  The Venice Canals are lined with outdoor restaurants and cafe's.  A cappuccino and croissant for breakfast along a canal is a great way to start your day. For lunch, grab sandwich or small bite from from a local café or street vendor and enjoy in a piazza or a park.  Italians eat dinner later in the evening.  So wait until after dark and head to a restaurant away from the busy tourist spots for a fine meal at a restaurant with an outdoor eating area. 

Gondolas: Nothing is more romantic than a gondola ride along a quiet canal.  Of course at €80 to €100 for a 40-minute ride, there isn't much in Venice that's more expensive either.  If you want to splurge, go for it.  But if you want to experience a gondola ride that won't break the bank, try the Traghetto.  This is a service that provides gondola rides across the Grand Canal throughout the day.  Traghetto crossings take about three minutes, and cost €2 per person.

I DID IT! 6 Disney Parks in 1 Day!

Originally published to Disney Park Fan Blog on August 12, 2015

July 17, 2015
This is a very important day in Disney theme park history.  On this day, in 1955, Walt Disney presided over the gala, invitation-only grand opening of Disneyland.  It was the first Disney theme park, and would forever have the distinction of being the only Disney park Walt, himself would ever walk in.

Sixty years later, there are Disney theme parks all over the world, with the biggest concentration of them being in the United States.  I decided that to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Disneyland, I would visit all of the Disney theme parks in this country on the actual anniversary of Walt's original park.

To be fair, other people have visited all of these parks in one day.  But to my knowledge, nobody has attempted to do it the way I intended to, or on such a special day.  The six parks can be found at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California (two theme parks), and the Walt Disney Resort near Orlando Florida (four theme parks).  I started my day in Florida, and ended in California.

The goal was to enter each theme park, and take at least one photo inside the park.  Then I would experience one original attraction from each park's opening day.  If time permitted, I would do other things.  Here's how the day went:

7:30am
I departed Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort via Walt Disney World bus to Magic Kingdom Park.  My outfit for the day included a Disneyland 60th Anniversary lanyard, with some twenty-eight collectible pins.  I also wore a Diamond Celebration t-shirt with a custom-printed message on the back (see below), and a Disneyland 60 baseball cap.

8:00am
I entered the Magic Kingdom, and stopped for photographs on Main Street U.S.A. and at the Central Plaza "hub" (in front of Cinderella Castle).  I then made my way to Be Our Guest Restaurant for my 8:15 breakfast reservation.

8:50am
The Magic Kingdom officially opens to the public, and I am in the Liberty Square section of the park, awaiting the opening of The Haunted Mansion.  This attraction opened on October 1, 1971 (Walt Disney World's opening day).  I rode the attraction, and then headed to the park exit, to board a monorail for my next stop.

9:30am
I arrived at Epcot, which opened on October 1, 1982.  This was the second theme park to open at Walt Disney World, and my second park of this day.  I took a photo in front of Epcot's signature icon, and opening day attraction, Spaceship Earth.
I then rode the classic attraction.










10:30am
I arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios via Walt Disney World bus, just in time to catch the Frozen Royal Welcome parade on Hollywood Blvd.  For this park, I took advantage of Disney's Fast Pass Plus service, and scheduled two attractions to experience.  The first one was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  This iconic attraction is one of the most popular rides in the park.  Up next was The Great Movie Ride.  This journey through the movies opened when this park first opened as the Disney/MGM Studios on May 1, 1989.

12:00pm
My fourth Disney theme park of the day was the fourth park to open at Walt Disney World.  Disney's Animal Kingdom opened on April 22, 1998, which is also Earth Day.  This is the largest Disney park in the U.S., and is easily the most beautiful.  I stopped for a photo in front of the park's icon, "The Tree of Life", before heading under the roots of the tree to experience the 3-D attraction, "It's Tough To Be A Bug."  This opening day attraction features the characters from the Disney/Pixar film
"A Bug's Life".

Shortly after It's Tough To Be A Bug, I departed Animal Kingdom, and boarded a Disney bus back to my resort.  I had completed the Walt Disney World portion of my one-day adventure, including four of the six Disney parks on my list.  Soon, I would be heading across the country, to the Disneyland Resort.

1:30pm
I left Walt Disney World in a rental car that I had for my entire stay at Saratoga Springs Resort, and drove myself to Orlando International Airport.  My cross-country trip would take two flights on American Airlines.  The first leg was from Orlando to Dallas.  The connecting flight went directly to Orange County Airport in Santa Ana, California.  I landed at Orange County airport at 8pm.

After retrieving my luggage from baggage claim, I was picked-up outside the terminal and headed home to Irvine (about 15 minutes away).  There I dropped off my luggage, and drove myself to the Disneyland Resort (another 15 minutes).  I had been monitoring Disneyland social media all day, to see if there were any heavy crowds on this anniversary day that could result in park closures due to capacity.  It seemed pretty apparent that crowd-wise, this was just a normal summer day.

9:30pm

I arrived at the main entrance "esplanade", which is the area between the two theme parks at the Disneyland Resort.  I headed directly to Disney California Adventure, which would be closing at 11:00.  Disneyland Park would be open until midnight.  Once inside California Adventure, I grabbed a commemorative park map for each park, and headed to the Storytellers' statue.

From there, I made my way to Soarin' Over California.  This opening day attraction debuted with a very different Disney's California Adventure on February 8, 2001.  I was fortunate to only have a ten-minute wait for this ride. While in line, I met a young woman named Kirsten, who (like many others on this day) noticed the printing on the back of my shirt, and asked me about my adventure.  She was thrilled about what I was doing. and she gave me a "I was there" commemorative button that had been given to guests earlier in the day.  We rode Soarin', and then I had some time to head over to Cars Land to squeeze in another ride.

When I got to Cars Land, I headed straight for Radiator Springs Racers.  I entered the single rider line, and was riding in about fifteen minutes.  Throughout the day, I was posting reports about my trip on Twitter and Facebook.  I heard that there were thousands of people following my journey, as my fellow Disney Travel Specialists from Magical Vacation Planner were sharing my posts.  By now, it was past 1am on the east coast, and people were still following along.  I had completed five Disney parks, with one more to go.





10:40pm
I entered the gates to Disneyland with one hour and twenty minutes until closing.  I stopped in front of the Mickey Mouse planter below the Main Street Train Station to take a photo before walking through the tunnel to Main Street U.S.A.  I was expecting huge crowds on Main Street for the 11pm "Paint The Night" parade.  But the parade was moved to midnight on this evening.  This was great news to me. I headed straight to Fantasyland, where I had my choice of opening day attractions.

I had wanted to ride Peter Pan's Flight.  This is by far the most popular attraction in Fantasyland.  And after a recent refurbishment, the ride seemed even more popular.  Fortunately I had already ridden this ride a few weeks earlier.  So I opted to go right next door.  Because so many Walt Disney World fans were following me on this day, I decided on a ride that would allow them to share in the nostalgia of this day.


Mr. Toad's Wild Ride opened exactly sixty years ago on this day, making it one of the original opening day attractions at Disneyland.  My Walt Disney World friends enjoyed this attraction at the Magic Kingdom there, until it was closed in 1998, to make way for The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh.  I waited in line for less than ten minutes before boarding my car for my journey "to nowhere in particular".













When my trip on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was finished, I had completed my goal of visiting every Disney theme park in the United States in one day.  And I still had one hour left before Disneyland closed.  I boarded the Disneyland Railroad (another opening day attraction), for a ride to Main Street U.S.A.  The train traveled past Tomorrowland before passing through the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas (which were added in 1958 and 1966, respectively).



Once back on Main Street, I made my way down the street to Jolly Holiday Bakery, where I purchased some Diamond Celebration sweets to take home.  I then headed back to Town Square, where I shopped for commemorative t-shirts at The Emporium, before grabbing a spot along the square for the midnight showing of the "Paint The Night" parade.

All in all, my big day was a huge success, and very special to this lifelong fan of Disney theme parks.  I'd like to thank everybody who followed this amazing journey on social media, and cheered me on.