Going to Kalaupapa is a five-star experience almost by definition, and so I recommend doing it even…read morethough our tour experience was quite unimpressive. We went down on foot and met the tour, and the hike was part of what made it special. If you are reasonably fit I highly recommend doing it that way. Our guide was one odd duck. I was never really certain he really knew the history or understood Hansen's disease, but he sure liked to talk about himself a LOT. I mean really a lot. Like, I don't care that he has "DNA memories" that he's actually from ancient Israel. And had a bit of the class clown style of wanting to be humorous and entertaining rather than letting the place speak for itself. What about explaining what happened in 1866, 1969, and the opening of the park in the 80s? What about some more about Father Damien and Mother Marianne? Twice he made jokes about how after the advent of sulfa drug arrested the disease, all the residents wanted to do was party. Maybe true maybe not, but there are more substantive things to talk about. I suspect that most tourists spend the time and money for Kalaupapa for religious, spiritual, or historic reasons. We don't need a "show." So, yeah, I loved Kalaupapa but the $ to listen to that guy for three hours left me feeling a bit resentful.

Going to Kalaupapa was a once in a lifetime experience. Not everyone can go to Kalaupapa. Pretty…read moremuch the only way to go there is getting a sponsor who lives in Kalaupapa or you can book a Father Damien Tour. Once you book your tour or get someone to sponsor you, you can either walk/mule ride down the cliff (which takes about 1 hour down and 2 hours upward) or you can fly in by plane. We booked our flights online with http://www.molokai-outdoors.com/ Originally, they had no tours for the day we wanted to book for due to not having a driver but a few weeks prior, we checked the website again, and there was a tour for the day we wanted so we booked it. We flew in with a personal plane. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the person who will be conducting the tour. He took us on a old school bus. We headed into Kalaupapa and picked up the people who hiked down for the tour. The tour itself was wonderful. We saw many places and heard a lot of information about Kalaupapa and the story of Father Damien. Although Kalaupapa is small, the tour takes a total of 4 hours because there is a lot of stops and story telling. Bring water and a lunch with you. There is a small store that you will be stopping towards the beginning but that's about it. Bring a camera too to take pictures. They say don't take pictures of the patients at Kalaupapa but we didn't see too many anyways. We took pictures of scenery only.

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. :-)

Had a great trip. Highly recommend the experience of seeing the other side of Maui…read more .

Allan was absolutely the best. He was entertaining , knowledgeable and had a great personality. He…read morewas so considerate in asking our preferences and offerings options. He gave us plenty of time at each stop and shared his knowledge of the island and the area. He is a very safe driver and made sure everyone was comfortable. I have driven this road before and you have to keep your eyes on the road and missed most of the sites. This time I was able to relax and enjoy the beautiful features of the island.

Just Do It! First rate service and tour of Road to Hana! We…read morewere picked up promptly at our resort and our Driver/ Tour guide Tom was personable, fun and extremely knowledgeable about the islands history and the people of Maui. Food and drink were provided which was better than expected and plenty of it, along with plenty of bathroom breaks. The van was comfortable and limited to 8 guests and we had a good group. We were so glad we didn't drive it ourselves because Tom showed us sooooooo many things we would have driven right by. If you're not sure about taking the tour or driving yourself...do yourself a favor and take the tour and enjoy the Road to Hana!!!

In response to the owners lies - (Original reviews in…read morephotos. Yelp said I reached my character limit capacity. Added more photos for our proof). There was no one else on the tour except one couple, whom we had no issues with. The 7 people on the bus was my family of 5 and one couple. 1. There was a hiccup in your booking system, you allowed us to book a tour because you did not close your online reservation window. If you were sold out why did the website allow us to make a reservation? Hence the "hiccup". After we booked the tour, we did move a flight around so this person could make the tour that we had a confirmation email for. Very unprofessional to email the next morning saying you were sold out AFTER we made the booking. Yes we did book late but if you were sold out you shouldn't have allowed us to make the booking plain and simple. We called multiple times because we were asking about pick up arrangements and were told to keep calling back to see when/if the tour filled up, because only then would they be able to tell us what pick up rotation we would be in. I wanted to know what hotel would be the first pick up, etc. I didn't care that our two parties were not on the same bus, which was why I didn't mention it in the booking. 2. Since you claim to have the proof that he wasnt speeding, why dont you show it? It absolutely does corroborate with the Google maps picture. I did move the camera to get a video of how bumpy the bus was DUE TO HOW FAST THE DRIVER WAS SPEEDING! But I'll include another video straight ahead where you can see how fast he flies past the mountain. As for your lies, you need to come up with better ones. I asked for a Spanish translator due to the fact only ONE person in our party spoke Spanish. The fact that you guys said we were speaking Spanish all day is hilarious because NO ONE IN OUR PARTY SPEAKS SPANISH except my mother in law, who didn't speak the whole trip. Let's add more proof that you guys are racist - when the driver picked us up II asked about the Spanish ear piece translator before my mother in law was there. The driver said no, he said I speak a little Spanish so I will do my best to speak to help you guys out. 5 minutes later he came up to my husband and started speaking Spanish. My husband told the driver he speaks ENGLISH. Louie said oh you were quiet miguel so i figured you were the spanish speaker. we were asking about translation for my mother in law. I'll also add he made multiple claims about how Latinas were "so violent" and people had to watch out for us. let's add to the review that not only are you guys liars, you are racist liars. Your tour driver is a liar, we were all sleeping on the drive back due to how sick/tired we were. Your tour driver is clearly lying to cover his mistakes. 3. We didn't ask the tour driver for ONE illegal thing AT ALL. Due to the fact he was an arrested convict (which you can find proof of by googling it) he made illegal stops on his own! He even mentioned how the rangers loved him and when HE chose to make the illegal stop in front of the waterfalls, the ranger allowed it bc they told him make it quick. We appreciate the opportunity but never asked him for one illegal stop. 4. I never said we missed anything, I said I couldn't help but wonder if we missed something. Since you want to be so detailed, we actually DID miss Ohe'o Gulch / Seven Sacred Pools (D) Charles Lindbergh's Grave / Palapala Hoomau Church Kipahulu scenic ocean views, St. Joseph Church Kaupo Ranchlands / Haleakala backside views / Maui's Last Lava Flows (D) Maui's Upcountry / Kula (S) 6. The entire tour WAS my family. Let me also add one thing I forgot to the review someone in your company gave our tour guide my number and he texted me twice asking me for his tip which was EXTREMELY unprofessional. This is an extreme safety violation. He unprofessionally texted me "This ***** Just making sure I did venmo right.. If sent tip, I have not recieved..." at 7:27pm. And "If you could let me know.." at 7:56pm. For my safety, I should NEVER have received text asking about a TIP! Even if he was wondering about the tip because he wasn't used to electronics, you still should never text someones personal cell phone number. Since he did mention multiple times that he was a liability I was scared he was going to show up to our hotel since he knew my number, hotel location, etc. Where is the response to the bulk of my review??? Do you have an explanation for how we know all this information about him being fired from his last tour job? How the current owner was only allowing him to drive as a fill in driver as a favor? Why was he a liability? Bc he speeds and risks the lives of passengers? In one of my videos I do have him talking about the story of how his dad gave him money and guns to illegally transport. As I have over 500 videos from this tour, you guys are lucky I don't want to go through and find the hard proof I have. Where is your hard proof?

It was our first time in Hawaii and this was a great way to learn about the island, we highly…read morerecommend the Road to Hana tour! We created tons of cool memories and had new experiences thanks to our tour guide Keone. It's a smaller mom and pop type tour company, which we liked. The tour groups r smaller; we were supposed to have a group of 3 joining our group of 3 but they cancelled so we had the tour all to ourselves! Be ready for a full day; they picked us up from our hotel around 9am and got back to our hotel in the evening. They provide lunch and snacks. Also be ready to get your shoes dirty! Bring layers for the ever-changing rainforest weather and bug spray if mosquitoes like you. It seems like they will customize the tour according to the group and likes/dislikes. My group consisted of three 29 year old adventurous active ladies but i think it would be good for families too. We went to a local market, Buddhist temple-like place. We went on a hike through a bamboo forest, saw rainbow eucalyptus, banyan trees, ate guava and flowers (that's right, we ate ginger flowers!) that were growing in the fields. We saw beautiful colorful tropical birds. We did a short hike to a waterfall and then went swimming in the waterfall. We went to a black sand beach which we had all to ourselves. We went to a beach full of turtles on the sand. We tried lilikoi and fresh homemade banana bread. We moved at our own pace; if we wanted to stay at one place longer, we could. We spent quite a bit of time in the car (I took Meclizine to avoid motion sickness from the windy road) but Keone spent that time to educate us on... EVERYTHING Hawaii! We learned tons from Keone and he made us feel taken care of. We thought about driving Hana Road on our own but I'm SO glad we decided to take this tour. Take the tour to make some awesome memories, be safe (the road has many one way parts and u want to be able to enjoy the beautiful view), and learn all about the rich Hawaiian history and land. It's SO worth the money, I don't think you'll be sorry :)

When our cruise ship arrived in Maui I stumbled upon the guy selling this tour company in a mall…read more He was very personable and certainly a great sales person. He showed us large colorful photos of the six or seven places we would see on our reasonably priced tour. With our group of six he told us we would have our own private van and tour guide. The flyer stated we would have a healthy organic snack and beverage included although the salesman said the van would stop at the Mano Market and we would purchase our own snack. He also said he would have a table and chairs for us to sit on at the scenic lunch stop. We went for it at $65 per person for the Half-way to Hana Tour. When we met up with our tour guide the next morning she was very friendly and personable and on time. The van was new, seat belted and she was a very good driver. The rub was we though we would be stopping every ten or 15 minutes for some sort of tour site. We stopped briefly at an overlook of the beach where the seal turtles come in and the guide said we would return to that spot later at the end of the tour to see the turtles. soon we stopped at the Mano Market to pick up our food and drinks. There was no ice chest or any other means to keep our food and drink cool. I was concerned about possible food poisoning with the food in a hot storage area with out a means to cool it. Then we continued on up the road to Hana. It is an endless serious of very sharp turns that go on forever. We made no stops for at least 45 minutes and by that time two out of the six in our group had motion sickness and did not want to go on. Consequently we went no further than that one stop. This wasn't the fault of the tour company but had we known we would be driving around such a windy road without a stop every 15 minutes or so we probably would not have signed up for it. We opted to eat lunch at this stop but there were no tables and chairs. There were a couple of park benches but only one was in the shade and it was occupied. We ended up sitting on wet grass in the shade eating our now warm drinks and sandwiches. Not a comfortable situation for senior citizens. When we finished eating we headed back to the sea turtle area and took a long break there and saw the sea turtles. It it hadn't been for that the tour would have been a complete bust. Although all of us liked the young friendly girl who was our guide, she was not able to offer up the kind of informative, educational information about the things along our route that other tour guides offer up in a more professionally operated tour. She was just a very nice friendly young girl who was a good driver. The bottom line is we payed $65 each for a drive up a windy road to eat warm sandwiches, drink warm sodas, and set on wet grass, see several sea turtles, and spend some time in a bar drinking a beer to use up the extra time that we had because we couldn't take the drive half-way up to Hana. With a guide with more information on local history and lore it might have been okay but that was not the case. My recommendation is pay a bit more and get a "real" tour.

I had a beautiful beach day. Ellie is a wonderful guide and so personable that you feel like you're…read morespending time with a good friend.

Met Ellie as we got off the ship. She was very friendly and knowledgeable. She loves Maui and has…read moreso much information about the history of the island. The rate she charges is reasonable for a private tour. She provided drinks and excellent hospitality. Thank you Ellie for making our trip so epic!!!

We had the most amazing time! You haven't lived until you roll with Bobby and Sam! Don't leave…read morethe island without this experience. I'm going to post pictures, so you really see what Bobby/and Let Me Show You Maui is all about. I wrote a caption for each of the pictures. Please read them if you want to know what/and where each picture is. We did a full day and a half day with Bobby and Sam. We did the West Maui Mountains, Haleakala, and Hana. The price is really not that much more than going on a bus with 12+ other people. This tour is totally custom, tailored to you and what you want to do and see. If you want incredible pictures, that are just raw and in the moment, Let Me Show You Maui is where that will happen. The entire tour is photographed. So you get to keep those authentic moments!!! It's like they say on their website, "If you have the will, we know the way." You'll see, understand, and experience Maui in a deeper way. You'll get to know it like the locals. Bobby's philosophy is about taking each of his guests to their own Everest. When you talk to Bobby on the phone, he is so full of life, and absolutely exudes this through the phone. He is absolutely an incredible person and hilarious! Like I told him, "You had me at Hello!" Roll with Let Me Show You Maui, and get your Aloha On!!!!

Generally don't write reviews unless I feel strongly about something but I was feeling compelled to…read moresince it has been a couple of days and I'm still awestruck from the experience... so many great memories! I ended my five day Maui trip with a full day trip to Hana and back. I came to the experience with a handful of things I wanted to see but I suggest you leave the days plan to being an organic creation between you and your guide. Matias, our guide, was knowledgeable and entertaining. Not a moment went by where I wasn't engaged. No tourist traps and no crowds. He had an amazing grasp of the local culture and imparted a respect for the land I just wouldn't have gotten from a large outfit. The ride was comfortable and well stocked with everything you need, towels, water, bug spray, first aid kits, etc.. General amenities aside, we were able to let loose, explore our own spots, follow our trusted guide, taste the legit local foods, and have a blast doing it. Mahalo to Matias for the safe passage around the full Hana circle, and mahalo to Rick @ the Montage for our #1 recommendation while in Maui. "So much ALOHA"