Need advice-from Hana to Kahului

We will be staying in Hana 2nts (Sat. and Sun.) in October at the end of our trip. We have 10am reservations for powered hanggliding Mon. Should finish ~12:30-1pm. My question - Should we drive to Kahului airport for 6:30pm flight on Hana Road or go south and thru upcountry? Or does it even matter? We will have already done our exploring so that is not an issue. We will probably be in line with most daytrippers if going south. From reading and searching on this extremely helpful forum, seems each route should take ~3 hrs. Any recommendations appreciated.

Need advice-from Hana to Kahului

From the airport it will be faster back to town if you go Hana Hwy.

Need advice-from Hana to Kahului

I tend to agree, from there the Hana Hwy will be your fastest return route and definitely the smoothest driving.

If you have yet to do the south route I would recomend this route. It really is not that bad at all. If you can make it to Hana then you can make it around the south part. We just did the road last week and were expecting large pot holes and extended periods of rough roads. We were surprised to find a very few bumps and even very little gravel roads. You can expect portions of the south section to even be paved. There were convertible mustangs doing the trip! Great views of the Volcano and of the south shore are plenty. You even end up passing the Winery. The drive time should be approx 2.5 hours.

A more realistic estimate from the Hana airport via Pi`ilani would 3.5 hours, and if you hit bad weather or get behind a slow moving vehicle it could be more. I%26#39;ve been stuck behind people who would not pull over to allow others to pass, holding up a line of cars miles long. With a 6:30 flight you%26#39;d be risking it.

Thank you all for your feedback. I think the Hana Hwy. is the best bet for our situation unless I get earlier reservations for flights in Hana. We will be exploring the area south of Hana on Sunday and we are going to Haleakala on Wed. so we could drive south to check out geology. We will miss part of ';circle'; but oh well. Hey, I get to spend a couple of nights in Hana so I%26#39;m still smiling. Thanks again, Mindy

Another reason to plan a trip back. There%26#39;s always something. Happy trip.