United States
Hana
Sixty-four miles of switchbacks, bamboo forests, and waterfalls ending at a black sand beach.
The road narrows to a single lane. Bamboo closes overhead. A waterfall appears around the bend, then another, then another — fifty-four pull-offs in sixty-four miles, each one daring you to stop. By the time the road ends at Hana's black sand beach, the drive itself has become the destination, and the town's quiet feels earned rather than given.
Hana is a town at the end of one of the world's most celebrated drives on Maui's eastern shore. The Road to Hana crosses fifty-nine single-lane bridges and passes waterfalls so frequently that after the first dozen, you stop counting and start choosing. Wai'anapanapa State Park's black sand beach — covered in wave-polished lava spheres and sacred to Native Hawaiians — now requires reservations to manage visitor numbers. The town itself has no traffic lights, one hotel, one bank, and one petrol station. Hana has actively resisted development for decades, maintaining a pace that feels closer to 1950s Hawai'i than anything on Maui's west coast. Beyond town, the Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe'o Gulch cascade through a bamboo forest so dense it produces the sound of rain even in dry weather.
Couple
The drive itself is the romance — stopping at empty waterfalls, sharing banana bread from a roadside stand, arriving at a black sand beach at golden hour. Hana rewards couples who value the journey as much as the arrival.
Friends
Split the driving, share the discoveries, and argue about which waterfall was the best one. The Road to Hana turns a group into co-pilots, co-navigators, and co-adventurers in equal measure.
Family
Road to Hana with waterfalls and pools, black sand beach
- The Road to Hana crosses 59 single-lane bridges and passes 54 waterfall pull-offs in 64 miles — the drive itself is the destination, and the return via the southern route is a different road entirely.
- Wai'anapanapa State Park's black sand beach is covered in wave-polished lava spheres and is used as a sacred site by Native Hawaiians — visitor numbers are managed by reservation.
- Hana has no traffic lights, one hotel, one bank, and one gas station — the town has actively resisted development for decades.
- Seven Sacred Pools at Ohe'o Gulch, a short drive from Hana, cascade through a bamboo forest that produces rain sounds even in dry weather.
Banana bread from a roadside stand that appears and disappears with the weather.
Plate lunch of kalua pork, rice, and mac salad on a picnic table in the rain.
Fresh coconut water hacked open with a machete at a fruit stand.
Hideaway Island
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Post a waterproof postcard from the world's only underwater post office, then snorkel its coral reef.
Porquerolles
France
Car-free island trails through umbrella pines to beaches with Caribbean water and no crowd.
Benagil
Portugal
A sea cave with a collapsed dome ceiling letting sunlight pour onto a hidden beach below.
Farasan Islands
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Gazelles graze between Ottoman ruins on a Red Sea archipelago ringed by untouched coral.
Sequoia & Kings Canyon
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Trees wider than your house and a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon, side by side.
Sedona
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Red rock cathedrals rising from the desert floor where energy vortexes hum underfoot.
Joshua Tree
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Twisted trees and boulder piles under a night sky with more stars than dark space.
Hoh Rainforest
United States
Moss hangs so thick from every branch that the forest floor never sees direct sunlight.