Lovely area, a small park, we reserved and paid for parking, not crowded. Felt like real Hawaii.read more

On Monday took my wife to Iao Valley state Monument park. Luckily I did on an over cast day because…read morewe seen beautiful water falls . The river down below was very strong and rough I've been here while it was a sunny day and you can actually go down to the river bed . What a sacred place you just feel the power of ancient Hawaiian soldiers fighting in this Valley . When I was a kid that mountain peak called a Iao needle used to have a little hole on top of that peak . Just like a needle point where you thread it through the needle hole. Very relaxing Valley away from all the stress in life which I really need . Support local

** booked the trip through Cruiser Phil's but the storefront says Haleakala Bike Co,, the vans said…read moreBike Maui),This really should have been a fantastic time all around... that said, I did the full ride down years ago, my husband has never. First part was ok. Cory was very chatty and knowledgeable. We stopped to get helmets and jackets ( although the jackets were basically useless and not lined nor kept me warm). Arrived over an hour before sunrise... Cory's part ended and the bike portion started. To not rehash the entire thing, Russ was the leader and although he went over safety rules, he really didn't seem that concerned: big distances between riders, he mixed me up with another rider, chewed me out and told me I wasn't following directions and would not listen to me tell him otherwise;; later he said he couldn't tell us apart and I was the only one not in black/gray; it was a small group of 8 and there was a huge distance between the first two riders; he started off saying that the heaviest people would be the fastest-/ I was the lightest/ smallest and he told me I needed to go faster to catch up; he and the first rider who was a big girl and originally nervous and why she was in front were literally several hundred YARDS ahead of me ( and therefore everyone else); didn't go over speed bump navigation or hand signals until the last stop ( and there were multiple stops); I needed my bike adjusted bc the seat was too low and hurt my knees and he told me it was mostly cruising anyway and ignored my request after I told him I had had 2 knee surgeries.Appeared very condescending to me after the first incident. He also said if the directions aren't followed / he feels a rider is unsafe that he will have them sit in the van and that's the end of their ride---The sad thing was that one of the riders who went down literally less than a minute from the end and was taken away by ambulance..and she was the one he confused with me the very first part and obviously didn't follow his own safety instructions...but even their safety/ 911 protocol was unacceptable-- took them a while to call 911after she went down. Didn't seem like he knew how to handle the situation. Had two of the riders direct traffic using the companies walkie talkies and the batteries died ( aren't they supposed to be fully charged every ride???...)then Russ tells me after that he is certified as a first responder as he takes a 40 hour course yearly. Very pompous and showed no critical decision making skills the entire trip ( I am a physical therapist, 35+ years)....no tip for him. I highly recommend he be fired and welcome the owner to contact me through Yelp. Anthony, the assistant (driver) was very nice and helpful but the scary thing is he said that Russ is their best tour leader :0 Beautiful ride otherwise (5/5) DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY

This is an awesome organization. We did the Haleakala bike…read moretour and this group were awesome. They were organized, professional and very accommodating. Mike our driver very informative. Great guys overall. Our bike tour guide, I can't remember his name was also great. The whole groups are as awesome, I definitely recommend doing this excursion if your visiting Maui.

Pretty place to visit if you're waiting to go to the lava tubes. Otherwise, you're not missing…read moremuch if you skip it.

Three stars only because there's not a whole lot to see monument wise but the experience including…read morethe panoramic view of both the city and harbor make it worth stopping by. The no trespassing signs refer to vehicular traffic it is okay to park on the street walk up the hill and through the gates. The lava rock structures are located at two levels although only the one at the lower level is viewed as a monument. The rest were built as heiau (Hawaiian temples).

I love this highway a lot in my time in Maui. It is called the Hana Highway. I was a tourist there…read moreand I played one of the guided tours while driving this highway. The guided tour was on point with where I was on the highway. It played melodies and instructed turns and upcoming paths. Driving this highway was pretty difficult because there were narrow turns and everything was just narrow. Any slight mishap can land you down the ocean. The breathtaking part about this highway were the trees! I love the trees so damn much that I had all windows rolling down. There were mango and eucalyptus trees everywhere. I smelled mangoes and eucalyptus the whole time. The eucalyptus trees were a good refresher and awakening call! They also purified my car and got rid of any food odors from meals I had in the car! Thankfully they acted as a perfume and air freshener! The whole car ended up smelling like eucalyptus! Luckily these eucalyptus trees were everywhere in Maui! The whole ocean was all around the highway! The ocean water skep sparkling from the sun! The highway was very flat and not much hills. There were some parts of the highway that felt like I was driving on the ocean. There were people surfing. There were some points on the highway that allow you to go into the ocean and just take a swim or dive. I did stop in the middle of the highway to snorkel. There were so many colorful fish as you go down and deeper into the ocean. Very beautiful fish. The beach was also save because I left my belongings on the branches of a nearby tree and nobody stole it even though there were people chilling on the beach.

The road to Hana is a very narrow and windy adventure. You will come across lots of lookouts, a…read morehidden lava cave, a few snack shacks, hikes, and several waterfalls all right along the highway. If you want to go all the way to the town, you'll be spending the majority of the day getting there and back. But if you just want to get a hike in and see all the waterfalls, it'll take half the day. Also there are no street lights, and it can start raining, so if you want to make it back before sundown, get out there early. Most of the road is through a tight & curvy mountain highway with lots of one car bridges. You'll be going between 10-20 mph for miles and miles. You may even see an accident like we did. There is a reason why they coined the phrase "I survived the Road To Hana." I have taken a tour out here, and driven it myself in rental cars, and I recommend both. Although if you're a hesitant driver, or if you get car sick, it might not be the road to take. It's an amazing experience though, and I will always make it out here when visiting the island of Maui.

Relaxed self paced viewing of bird reserve. Easy parking. Nice covered cabana…read more Great views.

When we have a few extra minutes in Kahului, we like to stop off at Kanaha Pond to enjoy the birds…read more There were mostly ducks and stilts today but we have seen Nenes, or Hawaiian Geese (the state bird). One time, there was a family with several little goslings. We stopped on the path to the shelter and let them decide if they wanted to pass us in the other direction. The male gave me a stink eye as they walked by and started hissing at me after they got a little ways past. It was funny that he became more macho after getting a little distance. Anyway, I always enjoy the Ae'o, or Hawaiian Stilt. They wade through the shallow water with such long legs, in search of food. Their chirps warn others of our presence. There are benches in the small shelter, where you can sit in the shade and watch the birds do their bird things. There also is a gate on the back side of the pond, near the water treatment plant, that lets you in to the dirt roads that were used to access a series of WW2 storage bunkers. There are other ponds back there, too. It's a nice area to walk through.

A week before our trip to Maui I had a question about changing into swimsuits for our scheduled…read moreRoad to Hana tour and sent an email to the company. I received a reply within 30 minutes. The answer was Yes, one can change into swimsuits during lunch before the black sand beach visit and then change out of them at a stop after the waterfall stop to be dry for the ride back to the hotels. A few days before our tour I received an email confirmation that included other useful information, such as bring along swimwear, towels, water shoes and a light jacket for the air conditioned van. I had not considered the A/C and I'm always cold, so that is a very welcome heads-up. On the day of our tour we received texts that the driver was on his way. Pretty close to the scheduled meeting time the van pulled up to our resort. The van was spacious with huge windows. Our tour was full with all 12 passenger seats occupied. Our driver/guide was Travis. He was born and raised in Hana and was a wealth of knowledge about Hana, Maui, and Hawaii. He seemed to be related to all the locals he passed on the road. There was not dull moment. Among the stops along the way were Maui Tropical Plantation for breakfast, Auntie Sandy's Banana Bread stand for those that wished to purchase, Wai'anapanapa State Park (black sand beach, also with a lava tube and a blow hole), Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park (usually calm enough to swim but the falls were roaring due to rain earlier in the day), and Ho'okipa Beach with turtles on the beach. Travis was an excellent driver and guide. We got great value from the cost of the excursion. One minor thing did bother us. We are Jewish and were uncomfortable during the praising Jesus sing-along. Regardless, we recommend this tour and especially Travis as a guide.

This was my second "Road to Hana" tour. I won't review the places the tour stopped at or visited. I…read morewill review the tour company and the services. Pickup was on time although they text us that morning saying the pickup would be 5-10 minutes early. While I appreciated the company's responsiveness in honoring my special seating request, our front (first) row seats on the bus labeled "Alaka'i" had a very narrow window that required us to strain our necks to see the views outside. I noticed that the other three Valley Isle buses on tours that day did not appear to have this issue. I provided the company feedback regarding this seating issue. In our humble opinion, these seats should not be sold. My advice: to avoid the kind of disappointment we experienced, you should always ask for seat reservations and note clearly and specifically to the company that you do not want the first row seats on a bus with seating configuration like Alaka'i's. If you don't and you are picked up last, you will risk getting stuck in these seats from sunrise to sundown. Regarding the amenities, the breakfast was underwhelming, consisting only of a pre-arranged plate of a few pieces of fruit and 2 small muffins. The driver did remind us this was going to be a continental breakfast. There are many versions of continental breakfast but this one truly disappoints. Additionally, the lunch provided, though delicious, was not from the "world-famous" Huli Huli chicken location as the guide led everyone to believe; instead, the guide brought pre-packaged boxes of food from another source. (Please see similar experience from earlier reviews.) My advice: feed yourself before they pick you up or bring something more fulfilling to eat on the bus between breakfast and lunch. Finally, while our driver was incredibly knowledgeable about Maui's culture and history, his demeanor was sometimes overbearing. He frequently called out guests for yawning or dozing off and insisted on undivided attention during his occasional politically biased historical recount. All this made part of the tour experience feel more like a classroom than a tour. He also ridiculed all the not-so-nice reviews he has received. He will probably tell you about this one, too. So buyers beware: your Valley Isle guide could be a bit too much fun for you. :-)

After checking out of our hotel, we had some time to kill before our red-eye flight out of Maui, so…read morewe stopped by Surfing Goat Dairy Farm. We had visited once before back in 2012 and remembered it being a great experience, and it's nice to see how much the farm has upgraded since then. They offer goat and cheese tours that you can sign up for online. This time, we just wandered around the grounds and relaxed while watching the goats and baby kids play in their pen. We also bought a $10 bucket of hay to feed the goats off to the side. We were told they were under a year old, though they were already pretty much adult-sized! They were extremely enthusiastic about the hay, and the bucket was gone in no time. It was such a fun and wholesome experience, for both me and the goats. Definitely a cute stop, and I hope to come back next time and sign up for one of the tours next time in Maui.

We decided to go last minute after ending up with more time than we thought while exploring the…read morearea. We didn't reserve a tour ahead of time, and the next one was not for over an hour, so we decided to just walk around the grounds on our own. We started with the cheese tasting. They offer 2 different options, and we chose the mixed. Between 2 of us, it was plenty. I would say even 3 people could share. We enjoyed most of the cheeses - a few were definitely unique. They have a patio area to sit at, and they just call your name when your tasting is ready. They give you information with the cheeses, so you know what you are trying. The shop had a nice assortment of other gifts, as well as the truffles. The truffles were definitely my favorite. You can just get one if you want, or you can pick out several to make a box to take home. We walked around and saw the area where the babies/young goats played on the surfboards, which is super cute. The adults are all over in different areas, and you will even see them on the roofs of different buildings. The tour would have been nice to learn some history and information, but it is still really nice to go without the tour. It was a fun and peaceful little experience.

Gorgeous property in the country side of Maui. My family and I enjoyed the various flowers and…read morescenery. We purchased lots of lavender gifts to bring home, and ate the delicious lavender scones with spreads.

We love lavender and being able to visit a lavender farm sounded like a great idea! So glad we did…read more Upon arrival we were greeted by the very nice person in the booth. We paid and drove in and parked. There was no problem finding a spot. There wasn't a whole lot to see as far as the lavender growing or blooming, but we enjoyed what was available. We stopped in the market store and bought some organic lavender tea, brownies, and candy. I bought a sticker and my DIL also bought a couple of things to bring home for friends. There is seating with umbrellas which we enjoyed. It was another beautiful day in Maui. After the grandkids were finished, we went out to the large field. The adults enjoyed sitting in the grass and kiddos enjoyed rolling around in the soft grass.

Picturesque and quaint MUST VISIT bohemian town between Kahului Airport (less than 15 minutes away)…read moreand the beginning of the infamous Road to Hana. We happily spent about 2 hours to strolling through the pretty streets, enjoying the mountain views and the variety of stores largely presenting hand crafted local goods. Cute clothing stores, coffee shops, dessert shops and food haunts abound. The handmade ukelele shop is definitely a must stop because it is Hawaii afterall. Just lovely.

Small little town with some shopping and restaurants. We ended up parking in a free public lot that…read moreapparently gets filled up fast. There are plenty of paid lots however. Ended up buying some shirts at a discount and eating at Paia fish market.