Shaka Guide Maui Audio Tours

I found this app while searching for travel safe app for our trip to Hawaii and really enjoyed reading the raving reviews. I downloaded this app and told my partner all about it and right when I bought the Road to Hana tour while in Maui, he said “you shouldn’t have bought it, it’s a waste of money.” What a turnaround it turned out to be after listening to our tour guide navigate us on the road to Hana! We had lots of laughs, enjoyed our tour guide’s humor, and felt like we had another buddy on our trip. The recommendations on activities to skip or do were very helpful because we were short on time since instead of starting at 8am, we started at 12pm! Shaka Guide kept us company during a tough time during our drive home at NIGHT! We started the tour a little late and even when the sun was starting to set, we still pushed on full speed ahead! So even when driving on the winding and rollercoaster ride of a road out of Hana to reach civilization in the dead of night. We were extremely informed by the interesting legend stories and legendary history. The music playing along the road made us feel so at ease; it was very soothing and relaxing to drive to 🤗 You know how you wish there was a theme song for your life and every moment of your life? That’s what this tour did for us. It really set the mood for the day and helped us enjoy this trip to the fullest. Thank you, SHAKA GUIDE! 🤙

I’ve done the road to Hana on 3 different trips and this app definitely makes it easy and enjoyable. I bought the whole package, even though I knew we’d probably just do the classic road to Hana. Better to have options. 2 things however that you need to know. 1) If you want to go to the Black Sand beach, Wai’anapanapa state park, you will need advanced reservations for a specific time slot prior to your trip to Hana (No same day reservations). The first time I opened the app, I didn’t see anything, but when I opened it the next day, there was a pop-up with that info. 2) The O’heo pools, Seven Sacred Pools, have been closed to swimming for a year and a half. The ranger there told me they don’t have enough staff to be able to manage allowing swimming. It is pretty there and probably worth checking out, just don’t expect to swim. Don’t worry though, the Shaka guide has a secret pool you can swim in near there that is definitely worth it. I can’t recommend the guide enough. The stops there were amazing. His info and enthusiasm was awesome. Just enough so you don’t get burnt out by the end. We skipped all the stops he recommends skipping. As good as the guide there was, the trip back might’ve been even better. Usually the trip back is just kind of a monotonous, though still pretty, long journey back to the resort. However, the guide has some awesome stories and Hawaiian history. Loved it! Thanks for doing this app. Definitely worth the purchase. Actually, probably worth more!

Please note that I never write reviews but this app was extremely helpful. The app works well even when there is no cellular service, just make sure to download the offline map. The narrator gives extremely helpful tips regarding driving through the difficult road to Hana and taking care of your personal belongings. There are many fun facts and a lot of history that the app includes while traveling between sites. We would have missed soo much without this app. A couple of things to note the drive is very demanding so please be sure to drive carefully and safely as the drive has extreme curves with bends that you cannot see around with oncoming traffic. Some of my favorite sites noted in this app are the black sand beach, the red sand beach and the Venus pool. Both The Venus pool and red sand beach are hidden paths but they are totally worth the short hike. The Venus pool is a good alternative to the 7 sacred pools which are at the end of the tour and require an additional 45 minute drive after Hana town with roads that are even tighter and more difficult to drive along. Try to start your journey as early as possible as there is much less traffic and you can enjoy the beauty of the drive instead of staring into some else’s bumper the entire time up. Also there is less traffic coming down earlier. Do not attempt to travel to Hana and travel back down at night it’s way too dangerous. Overall great app I highly recommend it. The price is cheap! For what you get.