Disclaimer: there is no A/C, no TV, and the mini fridge is there, but hidden.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO STAY AT THIS PROPERTY, TAKE THE ROAD TO HANA, NOT HIGHWAY 31. And go grocery shopping before hand.
Markus and Irish were responsive when I contacted them however, they were not transparent. We are from the mainland and were planning to stay at their place for three days (the whole time we were in Maui).
Shortly before arriving in Maui, we learned that the road to Hana is the 5th most dangerous road in the world and has frequent road closures. We messaged them about this concern and asked if there were any current lane closures, because we would have had to leave at about 2:30am the morning of our flight to make it to the airport in time. They said there were no road closures and it would not be an issue. Regardless, we cancelled our last night with them and opted to stay in town close to the airport. We were not advised on road conditions, despite our inquiry. We decided to take the road toward the south of the island (highway 31), rather than the road to Hana, which is to the north. IT WAS SO BAD. The road was a one lane road the majority of the way, largely unpaved, and wedged between and cliff on one side and a mountain face in the other with very sharp turns, meaning you could not see on coming traffic for most of the drive along this one lane, unpaved road. It took us 15-20 minutes to go one mile because the road was so rocky, bumpy and pot hole ridden.
Upon arriving at the air bnb, there were no directions on how to check in, we had not been notified on how to check in, and my phone was dead from the long drive, so I had no way of contacting them. We arrived about an hour before the check in time, but our room was unlocked and clean, so we went in to charge our phones and rest after a nauseating drive. The housekeeper hollered at us through the window to let us know that the room wasn’t ready yet and we needed to leave the room. I asked if we could explore the property and she said “umm, sure I guess.” So we went to explore. The farm was not in good condition, with rotting fruit all over the ground and the biggest mosquitoes we had ever seen (about the size of a nickel).
After this unsuccessful exploration venture, we decided to to find something to eat and get a few groceries for our stay. There were a few places to eat (mostly over priced food trucks with poor quality food, running about $20 for piss poor quality food) and two “grocery stores” which were more like gas station stores (think snacks located across from the fishing hooks and lures). Needless to say, we were disappointed with the town.
It was supposed to rain the day after next (aka the day we were schedule to check out), so we decided to leave the next morning (forfeiting our second night) because of the dangerous road conditions. I must say, the road to Hana was a much more pleasant drive than highway 31.
We were overall disappointed with the experience and glad to have made it out of Hana alive. Those roads are so sketchy. You’re one wrong turn, or one encounter with an idiot away from losing you life, literally. You also only one wreck away from being stranded on the east side of the island. If you do wreck or break down, good luck getting help. It’s so remote and the roads are so dangerous, it would take a very long time for a tow truck or first responder to get to you.
Proceed with caution.