Everyone In Hawaii Needs To Take This Epic Drive As Soon As Possible
Found just east of the H-1 freeway in Honolulu is Pu’uohi’a, a majestic mountain that offers a sweet respite from the high rises and miles of boring sidewalks in Hawaiian’s capital city. The mountain is home to hiking trails, a close-knit mountain community, striking homes, sweeping views – and perhaps the coolest drive on all of Oahu.
The road is called Tantalus, and is a two-lane, ten-mile loop features a series of steep inclines, hairpin turns and blind corners that challenge even the most skilled drivers in the smallest cars you can find.
Once you turn onto Round Top Drive, which connects with Tantalus Drive, you will be met with driveways at impossible inclines, hairpin turns, sheer drops into rainforest valleys, and views of the city that cannot be beat.
But the views of Honolulu from the Tantalus Lookout are well worth the slightly nerve-wracking drive - on a clear day, you can see everything from Diamond Head and Waikiki to the east and Honolulu International Airport and Pearl Harbor to the west.
The lookout point isn’t the only place you’ll see phenomenal views - it seems as though there is another lookout point around every turn, and I can only imagine the drive being a photographer’s paradise.
The drive is picturesque, cool, woodsy - and often wet. Tantalus is not strictly classified as a rainforest, though it might as well be - the mountain receives approximately 160 inches of rain each year, a stark contrast to the 20 inches of rain measured in nearby Waikiki.
The awe-inspiring drive is covered by a shady canopy of kukui and banyan trees, as well as a variety of native Hawaiian plants and vegetation, including bamboo forests, wild coffee plants, guava, mountain apples and thimbleberries.
Tantalus Drive was a gravel road a century ago - in 1917 - but was paved in 1937. In 2007, a 7-mile stretch of the road was put on the State Register of Historic Places, and on the national register in 2009, the first road on Oahu to receive such a designation.
Today, you will find fewer than 200 homes off of this road, most of which have origins as small summer homes with corrugated roofs, built for families such as the Dillinghams, Bishops, Castles, Wilders, and Isenbergs. The homes were later expanded and renovated or rebuilt to the luxury structures you see today.
Oh, and did we mention that the lookout is an excellent spot to watch the sunset - or witness the sparkling lights of Honolulu?
Not only should Tantalus Drive be on every tourists’ Oahu bucket list, it should be a local go-to when you want to get away from it all. Something about driving the steep incline and hairpin turns – as well as the phenomenal views – makes you forget about all the stresses of life and truly live in the moment, if only for the duration of the half hour drive.
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With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
