Are you the kind of person that looks forward to just getting to Hawaii Island and finding a lounge chair and living in it for a week or do you like to get out and experience and explore?
LUVA Vacation Rentals understands the need to take a break from the stress of your workaday life, but we encourage you to get out of your chair a few times while you are visiting and discover some of the exciting tours and places to “taste the island” while you are here.
From chocolate to rum to honey to coffee, you have opportunities to meet farmers, understand growing and producing techniques AND taste farm fresh products that will make you very happy that you let your taste buds lead you on an adventure!
Here are four farms and tours you should consider:
Kuleana Rum Experience:
BRAND NEW: Discover the history and beauty of the Kohala Coast while tasting Hawaii Island’s first rum farm, distillery and restaurant. This exclusive farm-to-table rum experience starts with a scenic drive up the Kohala Coast to take in breathtaking views of Pololu Valley and see historic Kapaau town. Next, stroll through Hawaiian heirloom sugarcane, learn of the 40 different varieties and taste sweet cane juice. In Kawaihae, taste the evolution of sugarcane juice as it becomes rum. The tour concludes at delightful Kuleana Rum Shack in Waikoloa Resort. Select a flight of signature rums or cocktails and enjoy uniquely authentic island cuisine.
The tour, offered by Kailani Tours, includes a luxury Mercedes 15 passenger minicoach, sugar cane juice tasting, distillery tasting, rum cocktail flight, and gourmet Hawaiian-style restaurant lunch at Kuleana Rum Shack. Cost $229 -Book Here.
You can also go directly to the Rum Shack restaurant and taste flights of rum and enjoy the delicious menu.
Chocolate Tasting and Farm Tours:
Tour a cacao farm and taste bean to bar chocolate in Kona at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate plantation and factory. Your visit includes a one hour walking tour of the orchard and factory and of course, includes chocolate sampling! The owner of the plantation, Bob, conducts an informative and entertaining tour full of information about every step in the chocolate making process, from growing the trees to molding each handmade delicious bar. If you have never seen a cacao pod, you will enjoy seeing the inside of the pods and learn that chocolate comes from a tropical fruit!
TOURS: Offered Wednesday mornings at 9:00am and Friday mornings at 9:00am and 11:00am. Tours are $20 and kids under twelve are free.
If you want a more extensive exotic fruit farm tour and chocolate tasting, take a drive along the Hamakua Coast to the Honoka’a Chocolate Company and visit the Kahi Ola Mau Farm.
The farm tour includes a walk to a cacao orchard with nearly 500 trees, 1,600 white pineapple plants, turmeric, vanilla orchids, 40+ varieties of exotic/tropical fruit and avocado trees, coffee, and native Hawaiian varieties of sugarcane (Ko).
The tastings include select chocolates from around the world (including Hawai’i), allowing you to experience how a particular region’s climate, soils and terrain affect the taste of the chocolate. All of the chocolates are made on the farm starting from dry beans. You will learn the history and process of making chocolate from tree to tasting, and you’ll get to view the chocolate-making facility. Here is a video showing you the farm and the farmer!
TOURS: Monday thru Saturday from 2 to 4pm. Tour fee is $40/person, kids under 10 are $20/each, kids under 5 free (no tasting is included)
Tasting includes award-winning craft chocolate, farm-fresh honey, in-season fruits, including our special “Phrosties” made only from frozen white pineapple grown right on the farm.
Big Island Bees Tour and Honey Tasting
Located in Kealekekua in South Kona, Big Island Bees is as tasty as it is educational. Visit the museum and tasting room to explore the amazing world of bees and enjoy free sampling of raw organic honeys. Taste the flavor of the beehives! Rich, velvety, dark-as-chocolate Macadamia; light, floral, delicate Lehua; and spicy, amber Christmas Berry (Wilelaiki). Each honey variety is very different from one another, attributable to the type of flower from which each honey is made. If you love honey, this intense flavor profile is what makes Big Island Bees honey so unique.
TOURS: Experience an open beehive demonstration where you will explore an actual hive and learn where the queen resides, how honey is made, and what makes bees so special and interesting, all from behind a safe, screened area. Tour duration is approximately 1 hour.
Adults $10 (with Hawai‘i ID $8) | Youth (9 to 18) $8 | Children under 9 are free.
You can also browse the store full of honey, beeswax products and beekeeping memorabilia.
Kona Coffee Tours
If you come to Kona and love coffee, you should consider seeing how coffee is grown and get a chance to taste bean to cup! Did you know that Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee and cacao? Here are some suggestions for local coffee farms and tours.
LUVA Vacation Rentals hopes that these suggestions are helpful on your next trip to West Hawaii! If you are looking for a fantastic place to stay, please browse our vacation rental properties!