Iao Valley State Park

[aiminoh]

Anone take the rainforest walk and interactive museum tour offered at the park? Should we just go and explore on our own and save the money? How long can we expect to spend at the park? Would 3 hours be enough time to enjoy it? Thanks for any input!

[lambs2]

We rented a car and drove to Iao Valley and the Iao Needle. It is free and only takes about 1/2 hour-45 minutes to do the nature walk there and see everything. There are signs posted in numerous spots along the walkway loop. It is a gorgeous spot - reminds me of something like Jurassic Park and you can readily see why the early Hawaiians found the spot so sacred! Not sure about that tour, perhaps someone else knows more about it and whether it is "worth" your time and money or not. We loved having a car and doing our own thing, but everyone is different!

[Spikesgirl]

We did the park on our own, but sort of trailed after a tour group and listened. There was a lot of Hawaiian history offered to them. You can always get a book and read up about the park, but it is sort of nice to have the info presented on the spot. When we were there, a couple was having their wedding pictures taken there - it is still a spot that is treasured by the locals.

 

Charlie

[fiddledisney]

We stopped at the museum and just thought it was so so. DD is teenager and 2 adults. Not a lot to do for the price. I know that there is a walking tour from the museum but we didn't go on it. There is also a beautiful garden right below the museum and we did take a minute to enjoy that, it is divided into different areas but immigrants to Maui. Oh, I think that three hours is probably a little long at the park itself unless you are really into hiking.....

[aiminoh]

Thank you for the info! We are renting a car, so I believe we will just go on our own. We are not into hiking much, so the shorter time exploring the park will suit us perfectly.

[tomluvsaida]

We rented a car and drove to Iao Valley and the Iao Needle. It is free and only takes about 1/2 hour-45 minutes to do the nature walk there and see everything. There are signs posted in numerous spots along the walkway loop. It is a gorgeous spot - reminds me of something like Jurassic Park and you can readily see why the early Hawaiians found the spot so sacred! Not sure about that tour, perhaps someone else knows more about it and whether it is "worth" your time and money or not. We loved having a car and doing our own thing, but everyone is different!

How long did it take to drive there from the ship or where you picked up the car?

[Ine]

If you drive from Lahaina to Iao valley you will also pass Maui Tropical Gardens, which are free. It is really worth to make a stop there and walk through the gardens and to the pond.

 

In Lahaina we did rent a (not very new, but o.k. for 2 people) Jeep through

http://www.islandriders.com/location.html

As most rentalstations are near Kapalua (a few miles more north ) they are in Lahaina. After our call they picked us up at the pier (5 minutes drive).

[lambs2]

We were docked at Kahalui. We had rented a car from Thrifty so took their free shuttle from the dock area to their location near the airport to get our car and that took us less than 15 minutes. We had no paper work to fill out because we are Blue Chip members. From there we drove first to Iao Valley and I would say it took us less than 20 minutes. It is not far at all but I did not keep track of mileage. Thrifty gives you great maps in each port (magazine style with all kinds of articles and local ads).

[tomluvsaida]

We were docked at Kahalui. We had rented a car from Thrifty so took their free shuttle from the dock area to their location near the airport to get our car and that took us less than 15 minutes. We had no paper work to fill out because we are Blue Chip members. From there we drove first to Iao Valley and I would say it took us less than 20 minutes. It is not far at all but I did not keep track of mileage. Thrifty gives you great maps in each port (magazine style with all kinds of articles and local ads).

 

Thanks! That sounds perfect for the first morning we are on Maui.:) We will be taking a shuttle into Lahaina in the late afternoon and sticking around for the Lahaina Luau.