Things to do on Maui: what to put around a helicopter tour

The Road to Hana. 620 curves, 59 bridges, ten to twelve hours if you stop — and stopping is the entire reason to go. Waianapanapa, the bamboo forest on the Pipiwai trail, the pools at Ohe’o, the banana bread stands. A guided version starts at $199 and removes the driving, which for many people is the better version.

Haleakala at dawn. An alarm at three, a reservation booked in advance, a coat in July, and one of the great sunrises anywhere. Also a two-hour drive up from the coast, which is the part people underestimate.

The west side. Lahaina, Kaanapali, the snorkelling and the beaches, and the northern loop road around the West Maui mountains if you like narrow roads. A day, easily.

Each of these is a day. The flight is a morning. That is the whole of the scheduling advice: four units, and most trips have room for three of them.

Early in the week, because Maui operators cancel and rebook rather than fly into windward cloud. A flight booked for the last morning of the trip has no second attempt.

Early in the day, because orographic cloud builds on the windward side as the ground warms, and because the light is better for photographs at a low sun angle.

Not on the same day as the road, because ten to twelve hours of driving plus a flight is more than one day holds, and the flight is the part that gets remembered through a fog of tiredness.

A shape that works: fly on the second morning, drive the road on the fourth, take the summit at dawn on the sixth, and leave the west side for the days in between.

Day one: the west side. Arrive, stay near the coast, do nothing ambitious. Jet lag and a 620-curve road do not mix.

Day two: the flight. First slot, early in the week so there is room for a weather rebooking. You are back by mid-morning, which leaves the afternoon for the Iao Valley or the beach.

Day three: recover and snorkel. Molokini, or the south coast.

Day four: the Road to Hana. All of it, starting early. Guided from $199 if nobody wants to drive it.

Day five: Haleakala at dawn, then sleep in the afternoon.

The flight goes on day two for one reason: every helicopter tour Maui operators fly is weather-dependent, and day two leaves you three more chances.

Day two, first slot. A helicopter tour Maui booking made early in the trip leaves room for the weather rebooking that a fair number of visitors get.

Not the same day as the Road to Hana. Ten to twelve hours of curves and a helicopter tour Maui flight is more than one day holds, and the flight is the half that suffers.

Not the last morning. A helicopter tour Maui listing cancelled on your departure day is simply a refund and a regret.

The rest of the island — the road, the summit at dawn, the west coast — is a day each. The flight is the only one of the four that gives you your afternoon back.