Pāʻia

Pāʻia is a tiny north-shore Maui town with a population around 2,500. Once a sugar-mill town, it became a hippie + surfer haven in the 1970s and never quite let go. Today it's a strip of organic cafés, surf shops, art galleries, and reggae bars.

Hoʻokipa Beach Park is 5 minutes east — the windsurfing capital of the world. The trade winds funnel here, the swell wraps in from the north, and on a good day you'll see kite-surfers 20 feet in the air.

Pāʻia is also the LAST gas station before the Road to Hāna. Fill up here. The road ahead is 64 miles, 620 curves, 59 bridges (47 of them one-lane), and 12 waterfalls. No gas station for ~3 hours.