Shaka Maui Audio Tour Guide Reviews

App was great for navigation and you download so you have it without service. Guide was good but felt he kept repeating same things. There were several things I thought were missing to better plan the journey. First, ability for it to recognize items you saved and announce those stops. We actually missed one because it was not an announcement. Two, wish I could have just said skip some stops which would allow me to better plan. But I had no idea what was coming until close to the stop not really allowing for planning out the day at least some. Also, I couldn’t zoom in prior to even try to map out as well. I do wish there were live updates, such as the fact pretty much none of the waterfalls have water or very little running. So majorly of stops were disappointing and definitely would not have gone to seven scared pools had they provided real time updates. Overall did the basics and had some good information. On the way back for some reason it had trouble and kept announcing stops already had even though it recognized I completed the road to Hana and was on my way back so shut it off and we just drove and hit a few spots that were busy and we skipped.

I debated between signing up for a tour or doing the drive myself since I have a car. I though buying a tour would be safer for a female lone traveler like myself but the tours are so expensive! I decided to download ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide & took the reverse route for a fraction of money that tours are charging . I made the best decision in doing that! ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide . goes over a lot of details esp. safety and timing . I had my own private guide in the car with me along the way. I even took a few wrong turns and it brought be back on track. It kept me on track with the time too, making me decide which stops to make or not . I left Paia at 8:00 am and was back safely before 6:00 , plenty of daylight! I have to tell you though , the guide is very concerned about your safety and the first part of the tour will warn you about driving through unpaved roads as the rental agencies strongly discourages it! I had to pull over and ask a tour bus driver (parked in one of their stops) if he thinks I’ll make it with the car I have. A regular 4 door sedan. Driver said don’t worry I’ll be ok. Well, I went through those roads with a sedan and did just fine ! I highly recommend ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide for anyone doing the road to Hana! I learned so much about the history of Hawaii along the way and the music they played in between points are impeccable! I had the best day in Maui today ! Thanks Shaka app for a stress free, and VERY economical way to the road to Hana!

As we had heard Maui was very crowded, especially the Road to Hana, my partner and I decided to do the reverse road to Hana tour to avoid crowds. We got this recommendation from someone on our scuba dives and decided to download it the night before without really knowing much. Best decision ever. This guide works flawlessly with or without cell signal. The stops are awesome, and remember, you can always skip stops on the way and just hear about them while driving.
We got to stop at the Seven Sacred pool and the trail over there before most people were there. By the time we finished, the parking lot was so packed. Also, I’m not sure if we would’ve been able to hike the trail going the normal route as you must start it before 3pm or they lock the gates on you! So, as far as doing the normal or reverse route, there are certainly pros and cons. The ride in the beginning can be precarious and there are cows and goats crowing the road in front of you. It felt really adventurous and fun though.
I wholeheartedly recommend ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. Just get it now! You don’t have to think about anything or bring any books, you just listen and the day is planned for you!

We used these apps on our Maui/Kauai trip. We started with the Gypsy app and switched to the bundled Shaka Maui and Kauai apps. We liked the Shaka apps better. I felt Shaka had more detailed stops on the road to Hana. It also plays Hawaiian music and has Hawaiian legend stories mixed in. This was extremely helpful on the road to Hana and made the drive more interesting. Tip- book a room in Hana and continue your drive the next day. Do the pipiwai trail hike (4 miles total) and start this hike before 3:30pm and bring bug spray for the bamboo forest. My kids are mosquito magnets. This was an amazing moderate hike that ends with a huge waterfall. I looked at reviews for both apps before we left on vacation and found that both shaka and gypsy had very good reviews. My family of 4 preferred the Shaka app tours because they were more entertaining and detailed. I would use them again on a return trip. On our Kauai trip it had us stop at moloa’a bay which is the location Gillian’s Island was first filmed. It played the theme music as we drove in. How fun! Get the Shaka apps, you will love the tour help on where to stop. We like to explore and it gave us lots of options to do so. 🌸

I’m in Maui with my mom and brother. The concierge at our condo said that of we did the Road to Hana on our own, we’d probably see 3 things maximum on our trip before we’d have to turn around to get back before dark. We were considering booking a tour van for that reason, and then we found ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. It saved us $600 and the experience was wonderful! It worked offline- using GPS- so even once we lost cell service it continued working because we downloaded it beforehand. We saw 9 different places along the way, including the black sand beach and many waterfalls. And those 9 didn’t include all the bathroom pitstops and the other places we could have seen if we didn’t get a late start. The guide let us know when we might want to skip the stop if we needed to conserve time and it gave us time to discuss it before we’d have to turn. Anyway, such an awesome app! I’m so glad I found it! We were nervous because of how the concierge talked about how difficult finding the stops would be and how “crazy” the road is, but the reviews for ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide reassured us and we are so glad we didn’t let her salesmanship get to us!

Must have for anyone planning a trip on the Hana Highway. (Even if you already have a great book about Maui (e.g. "Maui Revealed"). It really was like having a tour guide in your car. Since cell service is basically non-existent through the rainforest, it was nice that this worked without data. The tour guide's instructions for pull outs were SPOT ON, and he gave good advice on what was not to be missed and what you could skip for the sake of time. We used ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide in addition to the book "Maui Revealed" and felt it vastly improved our trip. You don't want to spend time with your head down in a book during this tour for a couple of reasons. 1) You could miss something, and 2) you could get car sick. So if you have that book and think you don't need this... you may want to reconsider.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to download ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide AND the tour (purchased in-app after it installs) before you go. It takes a while for the tour to install, and I had to give it several attempts because of the spotty internet service at the resort. I recommend doing it a day or two in advance (or at home using your own wireless network before leaving for your vacation).

Truly can’t say enough about how wonderful ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide is. We had initially downloaded it for the Road to Hana tour, but also ended up listening to the Sunrise Haleakala tour and the West Maui tour. We really enjoyed the recommendations for spots to see as well as the great stories, history, and music in ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide . The tour guide really did feel like another buddy in the car! We even ended up changing our plans and spending additional time in upcountry Maui after ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide recommended visiting Makawao after the sunrise at Haleakala. While there a local artist gave us a hand drawn map of Kula, which we used as a guide for the rest of the day. Truly a unique experience that we would not have had without ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. Would recommend getting the tour bundle because it is cheaper and you will want to use it! My only suggestion for improvement is that sometimes the driving directions come a little too close to the turns, which can be a little stressful. We had google maps up in the car as well so we could try to guess the directions before they popped up. Will be recommending ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide to everyone in the future!

Shaka is amazing! We were able to hit so many more spots than we had originally planned. It was great & totally worth the $10. If you are going on the road to Hana, I absolutely recommend ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. We purchased the “Classic” tour. We did it in 6-7 hours. Did I already mention It was amazing?!?! If you start in Kahului, you should leave at 9am. If you are starting in Paia, you should leave about 10am. ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide wants to start you in Kahului, so just hit the second option to “join tour” where ever you are because it will wanna backtrack you to Kahului. We started in Paia. ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide is amazing! It even tells you where you can get food and gas. It also has an offline map because there isn’t much cell signal on the road to Hana. We enjoyed it very much. We left Paia close to noon because we stayed a couple days in Hana. For those who are driving back, you’ll wanna start your trip at about 9am. You don’t have to stop at all the spots but the voice on ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide (we named him Billy) will let you know of the places you might wanna skip if you got a late start. Buy ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide! My boyfriend and I had a lovely trip to Hana. The bamboo forest is a must see. The entrance it hella sketch but it’s all worth it.

This was the greatest experience ever!!!! My daughter and I took the day to explore the famous road to Hana. A friend told me about ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide and recommended it to help guide us through the sights on our trip.
The trip was amazing, breathtaking views and the most amazing beaches and agriculture we have ever seen. BUT, it would not have been the same experience without this tour playing along as we made the journey. The guise was spot on every single turn, the music made it seem like we were in the middle of some historical Hawaiian musical and the narrator was so engaging. There were times we both looked at each other and said, “what is happening and how do they know every single turn”!?!? Toward the end even, as you’re driving back, the story they tell and the music that accompanies you is like the ending to some magical tale of Hawaiian battles and royalties. We were laughing because it was such a perfect fit and we almost felt sad that it was over. We definitely lived in the moment as they instructed.
We will not be leaving home in another route without Shaka tours. Was such a great experience that we will talk about forever.
Aloha !!!!

We are a family with 3 teens. Hawaii is expensive and we had to carefully pick where we spent our money for the best value. We bought the full package of Maui guided tours. By far our best vacation investment. The music was excellent and really added to the ambience or “vibe” of our drives. The tour helped us survive a very long road to Hana and kept us laughing and learning about the rich history and culture of the Island. If you are thinking… “what?…5 people, 3 teenage girls, all in a car winding and twisting through dangerous jungle conditions for 13 hours?” The answer would be-yes- and so glad we did it. it is absolutely no joke though. Be on the top of your driving game and don’t do it without your Shaka guide. We started at 6AM and finished just in time to see the sunset over Mama’s Fish House. We did have some upset stomachs and occasional whining along the way, but we made great memories. After 10 beautiful days in Hawaii, our 18 year old sited the Shaka guide tours as one of her biggest highlights. You could not get a higher compliment! Thanks for being such a special part of our very special vacation! Do NOT hesitate to buy any of these.

We were recommended to ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide by a friend, and we did the Road to Hana, Maui. It was scary! The music did get annoying on the way back so we would pause it, and then the tour guide would start back up again automatically.
You should preview the spots on the tour 2 days before you plan to go, and make your reservations. Also, do your research—certain days of the week may be less crowded.
If we knew that we would preview the spots on the listing ahead of time the night before, perhaps we would have booked the black sand park reservation ahead of time. Unfortunately, we passed the black sand park and did not have a reservation, but felt frightened enough of the road that we did not go back. We went all the way past Hana and did not reach the seven springs. We appreciated the reminder to turn around, providing us a time estimate for the way back. We were able to visit a public waterfall that people were swimming in. It was very far to get there. Heading back west toward the OGG airport on the road to Hana, was tricky since the stop sign for the one way roads favored the East bound traffic as they could come closer to the stop. It is dangerous to go in reverse.
Overall, we survived thankfully and mostly in part a great thanks to the tips on tracking time and ensuring we have enough drive time for the journey back.

We took our second tour of Hana Hwy using the Ap going the reverse direction this time. Can’t say enough good things about the tour…. Music, history, points of interest were all right on! We took our first Shaka tour 6-7 years ago and my family still imitate the narrators voice and his little sayings!
I agree with another reviewer that it would have been nice to have a quick update at the very beginning of the tour saying what places were closed. I downloaded the ap the day of the trip so there was no time to read an email that supposedly talked about the changes (like 7 pools not open for swimming).
The other thing that made us miss some spots was when he’d say something is coming up in 3 miles , for example, the next time it was announced was when we were right on top of the stop! Maybe we were driving too fast but it seems like an earlier “final call” might make things easier to find.
Also, adding a visual map to the program would be hugely helpful! Even if it was a picture of what the next stop looked like would be great!
Overall this ap is awesome! I recommend it all the time! Thanks for a great day!!

Found ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide while researching for guides for the road to Hana. All the five star reviews drew me to the Shaka Maui guide. ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide is a free download and then you purchase individual tours (usually $20 each). At first I said, 20 bucks!! But it is well worth the price. The guide is funny (some corney jokes) and the music that played along the way added to our experience. The guide is so informative and will tell you stops that you can skip if you are short on time and stops that should not be missed. On the way back the guide let is know about stops the we skipped which was very helpful to let us go if we wanted. The guide tells about the history and interesting facts. The guide led us on an unexpected side trip off the road to Hana and it was well worth it, so listen to the guide… you never know what new thing you will find!
Lastly, the guide will tell you to be sure and plug your phone into the car’s charging port. Do this for sure as ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide takes a lot of power to run. Also you can launch the car play and play ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide through the car’s speakers. This was great!
Do recommend ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide and will look at Shaka’s other guide offerings for future trips.

At first, we were a little bit skeptical about doing this tour ourselves without a guide. We didn't want to miss out on anything. However, we decided to just be adventurous and give ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide a shot. Let me tell you, best decision ever... we were able to enjoy every single stop, go on our own pace and not have to worry about paying for a guided tour which would've made us have to stick to their schedule and itinerary. With ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide, we were able to find two of our favorite spots. 1) the lava cave which is so much fun. We recommend you to go all the way in. You'll find a gorgeous little river pond. 2) the hidden Venus pool. This is a bit tricky and we would've never been able to even know it existed if it wasn't for ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. Listen carefully to ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide instructions to be able to find the secret entrance. Once you find it... you'll find yourself walking into a clear blue swimming pond paradise. If you're a savage swimmer lol then go ahead and jump right in from the big rocks. If not, carefully go up the rocks and you'll find a tricky pathway to get down to the low waters.
Anyway, this just shows how much we really loved ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide and were so happy we didn't pay for a guided tour.

The valet at our hotel asked what we were doing that day as he pulled up our car. When we mentioned we were driving the road to Hana, he recommended ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. It MADE our trip perfect. It felt like we had the most experienced tour guide in the world with us. In addition to being very detailed and explaining each site we were coming up to, it also made recommendations on when to stop and when to keep driving (“this waterfall is ok, but you will see much better in 30 minutes...recommend not stopping“), it was also smart and funny! If you drove past a scenic spot ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide knew this because the timing of the GPS indicated we kept moving, so it would say “ok, so I guess you didn’t want to see that”. Kept us engaged for 6 or 8 hours as we drove along. At one point we stopped at an overlook after we just heard the story of a church built with coral and there was a tourist with their tour guide standing next to us, and he was stumbling for a good explanation about the church, so I just started to repeat all that I just heard on ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide and the tourist asked how I knew all that, and I explained about the great app while the tour guide (who knew next to nothing and was really just an overpaid Uber driver) scowled at me! Anyway, GREAT app!

This tour was inexpensive and totally worth every penny, for the info on available restrooms alone!! My fiancé and I drove all the way to Ohe’o Gulch and back and we didn’t leave Paia until about 9:45. We had done the road to Hana before but never made it to Ohe’o Gulch so that was our goal. We didn’t make a lot of stops on our way there, since we had done many before, but even still made the time to stop at the black sand beach near Hana and some of the waterfalls. It’s definitely possible to do the whole trip starting that “late” we were sure to leave Ohe’o by 4 and were set up having dinner at Momma’s Fish House by 630!

This guide is awesome! It turns itself on and off based on your location, is full of helpful info (bathrooms for sure) and made the trip far more enjoyable. We had some technical difficulty the first time we turned the car off and drove for a few minutes without the guide but quickly pulled over to get it reset. We missed it! ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide even has trouble shooting built right in. For me, shutting off my iPhone and restarting it did the trick.

The guide had just the right tone and amount of info, even the interesting historical stories for the way back. I would definitely purchase another guide from Shaka Guides again!

I lived on Maui for almost a year about 30 years ago but decided it would be fun and helpful to have an app guide on our recent vacation and road trip to Hana. The Shaka Guide App was the perfect combination of map, guide, places of interest, humor, music, culture, language, history, and what I might call local knowledge. We LOVED ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide! The guide/narrator gave great insight, helpful hints and plenty of silly jokes that you might expect from any in person tour guide. I especially appreciated when the guide made suggestions about what sites could be skipped and what sites were not to be missed. On our return trip from Hana, we listened to the history portion of the journey and I was amazed at how much we learned from the small soundbites. Hearing this history is so important in a place like Hawaii and should not be missed if you use ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. Besides the content of ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide , we were very impressed with how ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide functioned as it followed our journey with many stops and slow downs. With only a few exceptions the guide/narration followed us perfectly on our journey. By the time we finished our trip I think we were honestly both a little sad to turn off ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide . I would recommend ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide without hesitation for anyone visiting Hawaii!

ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide was so helpful. We did this tour on our first day in Maui and actually missed our “tour guide’s voice” the rest of our trip. (We even gave him our own name “Oggie” because I didn’t read the email entirely to the bottom to find out his real name lol). He was funny, accurate and so informative. My new fiancé =) was even debating on when to propose during this trip and because of something that was mentioned he found exactly when and where to propose. We didn’t get to make it to all the stops but we followed the tour’s advice and made it to all of the most spectacular sites. Time flew by rather quickly and because of his advice we were able to make the most of our time. For the rest of my trip, I even recommended ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide to other tourists and visitors who were planning to do the Road to Hana. It definitely beat being on a tour bus. This gave us guidance but also the freedom to come and go as we pleased. On the drive back to our hotel, ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide also gave us such an entertaining and valuable history about Maui and Hawaii. We are so grateful we used ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide, we really got the whole package with ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide. Not only did it guide us on the Road to Hana but it guided the road to my boyfriend’s proposal! =) Thank you Shaka Maui! You made all the difference in our trip! Until next time...Mahalo! - C&E

We recently used the Shaka app to take multiple tours on Maui, Oahu and the Big Island and they totally made our trip! Very easy to use and incredibly informative, they made planning our day trips a breeze. In fact, no planning was necessary because they tell you exactly where to stop and what to do. It came in especially handy on the Road to Hana where there is way more to potentially do and see than you can get done in a day. Also loved the Haleakalā sunrise, North Shore Oahu, Volcanos National Park and Kohala Coast tours. There was no fear of missing out knowing that the Shaka Guide would take us to the best attractions and give an honest assessment of which ones could be skipped. We felt like we got way more out of our travels than if we were to just drive around looking at stuff. We and our kids learned a ton about Hawaiian history and culture and there was no need to mess with maps or cumbersome 200 page guidebooks. Works best if you have a rental car than can stream through the stereo via Bluetooth. Our rental Jeeps on two of the islands didn’t have this and it would not play properly through a USB connection or at all through a portable Bluetooth speaker for some reason. Maybe a technical issue to resolve but certainly not major - we just listened through the phone speaker and kept it charged. Very highly recommend.

We drove the full loop to Hana and back yesterday. We had a guide book, but ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide was essential. There are so many options and stops which do not have any signs or markers. ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide lets you know in advance and tells you where to stop. For example, there is a lava tube cave, which is unmarked and on the road to Hana. No cars were stopped there and it was just a small hole in the ground, until you go inside. The detour to Nahiku was worth the time. In addition to an incredible view of the shore and crashing waves, we walked down the rapids to a beautiful crystal clear pool. Don’t let the closed, dilapidated bridge scare you off from proceeding. My wife loved the wild pig which darted across this isolated road in front of our Jeep. The “rental car-violating” portion of the drive was not too bad (My wife tolerated it...which says a lot.). In addition to sharing a single lane with oncoming cars, at one point our Jeep was surrounded by cattle. It was like running with the bulls in Pamplona. The music and stories kept us amused during the white-knuckle driving times of this 12-hour day. We had a great time, but could not have done it without the guidance of ShakaMauiAudioTourGuide.