Introduction
Hawaii’s farm, chocolate and food tours offer a different way to experience the islands, with visits to cacao farms, coffee farms, pineapple fields, apiaries, botanical gardens and even a sea salt farm.
Blue Hawaiian Activities offers these experiences across Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island, ranging from a 45-minute tasting to full-day farm and sightseeing tours. Some are primarily tastings, while others involve several hours of walking through working farms and gardens.
This guide compares the options by island, including tour length, minimum ages and how active each experience is, so you can find one that fits your itinerary and group.
Guests book these through Blue Hawaiian Activities on all four islands.
Key Takeaways
- Blue Hawaiian Activities offers farm, chocolate and food tours on all four major Hawaiian Islands.
- Experiences range from 45-minute tastings to full-day tours combining farms, food and sightseeing.
- Minimum ages vary by experience, with some tours welcoming children as young as 3.
- Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island have several longer farm experiences, while Oʻahu and Maui offer shorter tastings and specialty tours.
- Walking requirements vary considerably, from short tasting-room visits to farm walks over gravel, grass and uneven terrain.
How Much Walking Do Hawaii Farm Tours Require?
Not every farm or food tour requires the same level of activity. Shorter tasting experiences may involve relatively little walking, while longer farm and botanical garden tours can include grass, gravel, inclines and uneven terrain.
Some of the longer experiences involve up to a mile or more of walking, while the full-day Historic Kona & Farm Tour asks guests to be comfortable walking up to 2 miles throughout the day.
Footwear requirements also vary. For working farms and botanical gardens, comfortable walking shoes are a good choice, and some tours specifically require or recommend covered or closed-toe footwear.
If anyone in your group has mobility concerns or uses a wheelchair, walker or scooter, check the accessibility requirements for the specific tour before booking.
O’ahu: Chocolate, Honey, and Whiskey
Chocolate Tasting & Tour is our pick at Blue Hawaiian Activities for the best chocolate tour on O’ahu, and it runs 90 minutes.
LONOHANA Estate Chocolate grows cacao on the North Shore and makes the chocolate in Honolulu, inside a renovated 1930s art deco movie theater. The walking tour runs seed to bar with a tasting at each stage, finishing in the 1930s-era lounge.
It runs Friday and Saturday only, arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, and it is not suited for children under 8.
You are given hair and shoe coverings and required to wear them in the production area, and parking is street only. Service animals cannot enter the production area, though the page says they can be accommodated in the tasting salon.
Bee Farm Tour & Honey Tasting runs daily at 9am and 3pm in Waialua, 1.5 to 2 hours. You suit up, walk a short distance through the banana orchard to the hives, and get to hold a frame of bees and raw honeycomb.
The suit, gloves and water are included. Three restrictions are stated plainly: you must not be allergic to bee sting, you must be 3 or older, and no strong perfume or cologne.
The Craft Distillery Tour & Tasting runs 45 minutes to an hour at a veteran-owned distillery in the Ko’olau foothills, where they handcraft Old Pali Road Whiskey. It covers mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling, then a tasting.
The page notes it is a guided walking and standing tour at an active distillery that is not air-conditioned.
Both listings are one tour at two levels. The base includes the guided tour and tasting, and the Premium Package adds a 750 ml bottle, a T-shirt and a collectible tasting glass.
Maui: Chocolate and Pineapple Farm Tours
The Maui Chocolate Farm Tour & Tasting is our top recommendation at Blue Hawaiian Activities for a Maui food tour, at 1.5 hours daily.
You check in at Ku’ia Estate Chocolate Factory in Lahaina, which the page calls the largest chocolate factory in the state of Hawaii. Your guide drives you to the private cacao estate in the West Maui foothills, described as over 20 acres of cacao trees.
It finishes with a nine-piece tasting. Children 3 and up are welcome, under 3 are not, and the page states the tour is not ADA accessible.
The Maui Pineapple Tour runs daily at 9:30am, 11:45am and 1:45pm from the Maui Pineapple Store in Hali’imaile, 1.5 hours, check-in 15 minutes prior.
It begins in an air-conditioned vehicle out into the fields, stops so you can taste several varieties, then walks you through the processing factory. Everyone takes home a boxed Maui Gold pineapple, which the page says travels through the airport to the mainland U.S.
Read the access note before booking this for older parents. It states the tour is not ADA accessible, that guests get on and off the bus over three large steps about three times, and that they must stand for about 20 minutes at a time, with no room on the vehicles for walkers.
Cards and digital payment are the only payment accepted.
Kauaʻi: Chocolate, Gardens and Farm-to-Table Experiences
Both Kaua’i chocolate tours below run three hours, so either is a morning rather than a stop.
Chocolate Farm Tour & Tasting at Lydgate Farms is the tour Blue Hawaiian Activities recommends as the best chocolate farm tour on Kaua’i, Monday to Friday, check-in 15 minutes prior.
It opens with a stroll through the botanical gardens, sampling their honey, vanilla beans and a tropical fruit tasting, then moves to the cacao trees. Umbrellas, organic bug spray and a cold water refill station are provided, and transportation to the farm is not.
Ages are structured differently here. The tour is open to adults 13 and up and children 7 to 12, no kids under 7, with one child allowed per adult booking.
The page describes graveled pathways on a working farm with some light walking required, and asks you to contact the farm about specific mobility needs.
The Botanical Garden Walk & Chocolate Tour covers Princeville Botanical Gardens on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9:30am, check-in 30 minutes prior. Seasonal fruit and homemade honey samples come during the walk, and a half-hour tasting covers the cacao tree and chocolates from around the world.
The page does not recommend it for children under six, because of the length. Tours run rain or shine, so bring long sleeves, good walking shoes, a sun hat and rain gear, and expect muddy shoes in wet weather.
For something built around the meal, the Farm & Food Experience at Common Ground pairs a one-hour tour of the food forests with a four-course prix fixe meal.
It runs Monday to Friday on season-dependent windows, and all ages are welcome.
All the food is gluten free with no bovine dairy, and vegan diets are accommodated with notice at booking. Requests not on the reservation cannot be handled on the day.
The Farm To Table Dinner & Lei Tutorial pairs a farm-to-table dinner with a one-hour lei making tutorial, Monday to Friday on season-dependent windows. Our ranking of top things to do on Kaua’i sets the wider plan.
Hawai’i Island: Chocolate, Coffee, and Salt
Blue Hawaiian Activities books six of these on Hawai’i Island. Two come off the same 33-acre family farm at Honoli’i Orchards near Hilo, and the difference is the farm walk.
The Farm Tour & Craft Chocolate Tasting runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00am to 1:30pm, 3 to 3.5 hours. It includes a guided 10-bar tasting, unlimited samples, the farm tour, cacao juice, cacao tea, seasonal fruit, umbrellas, bug spray and sunscreen.
The age floor is 9, and they ask you to flag allergies.
History of Chocolate & Tasting is the shorter one at 1.5 to 2 hours, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:45am, Tuesday and Thursday at 9:45am. Same 10-bar tasting plus cacao fruit and fermented beans, and the age floor drops to 5.
The only physical requirement stated on that page is being able to walk up the ramp to the tasting room, and the inclusions list no guided farm tour.
Coffee Farm & Mill Tour at Island Sun Coffee runs 45 to 60 minutes, Tuesday to Saturday at 9am, 10am, 11am and 12pm. Family-owned since 1998, it grows shade-grown coffee minutes from Kailua Pier.
Tastings of the Kona coffee, chocolate and local treats come free.
Kona Salt Farm Tour is 45 minutes on 7 oceanfront acres at the Hawaii Ocean Science & Technology Park, weekdays at 9:00 and 11:00, weekends at 10:00 and 12:00.
The salt is hand harvested from water drawn 2,200 feet below the surface of the Kona sea, and you taste the pure and flavored salts at the end. The page bills it as the only salt farm on Hawai’i Island and notes it was featured on Guy Fieri’s series “Guy Hawaiian Style.”
The Kona Sunset Salt Farm Tour is the same 45 minutes with the sunset added, on days and times that vary by season. Both state only that some walking is required, no distance given.
The Historic Kona & Farm Tour is the full-day version, Monday to Saturday, starting around 7am or 8am. It pairs ancient Hawaiian sites with two farm stops: Big Island Bees, making organic honey since 1972, for a beekeeper talk and honey sampling, and a Kona coffee farm for tasting and lunch.
Snacks, beverages, a picnic lunch and hotel pick-up in Kona or on the Kohala Coast are included. Among the tours here, this is the only page that includes hotel transport.
The page asks that you walk steadily for up to 2 miles across the day and states it cannot accommodate wheelchairs, walkers or scooters. Children must be at least 5.
It lists roughly 7 to 8 hours at the top and a full 12-hour day further down, so keep the day clear. See our Big Island highlights for the rest.
Conclusion
Hawaii’s farm, chocolate and food tours range from quick 45-minute tastings to several-hour farm walks and full-day sightseeing experiences.
When choosing, consider how much time you want to spend, the amount of walking involved and the interests and ages of everyone in your group. Shorter chocolate, coffee and salt tastings can fit easily between other activities, while longer cacao, botanical garden and farm-to-table experiences can become a larger part of the day.
Blue Hawaiian Activities can help you compare the options and find a farm or food experience that fits your island and itinerary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best farm, chocolate, and food tours in Hawaii?
The best experience depends on what interests you most. Oʻahu offers chocolate, honey and distillery tours; Maui has cacao and pineapple farms; Kauaʻi combines chocolate, botanical gardens and farm-to-table dining; and Hawaiʻi Island has chocolate, coffee, honey and sea salt experiences.
How much walking do Hawaii farm and chocolate tours involve?
Walking requirements vary considerably. Some tasting experiences require only limited walking, while longer farm and botanical garden tours may cover a mile or more over grass, gravel and uneven terrain. The Historic Kona & Farm Tour asks guests to be comfortable walking up to approximately 2 miles throughout the day. Check the requirements for your specific tour before booking.
Are Hawaii farm and food tours suitable for young children?
Some are. Minimum ages vary by experience, with several tours welcoming children as young as 3, while others require guests to be older. Tour length and walking requirements are also worth considering when choosing an experience for younger children.
Do Hawaii farm tours include transportation from your hotel?
Most farm and food experiences require guests to reach the tour location on their own. Some full-day experiences include transportation from select resort areas, so check the individual activity page for current transportation and meeting-point details.
How much do farm, chocolate, and food tours in Hawaii cost?
Prices vary based on the island, tour length and what’s included. Short tastings and farm visits are generally different experiences from longer tours that include meals, transportation or multiple stops. Check the individual activity page for current pricing and inclusions.
