big island chocolate tour

Big Island Chocolate Tour at Lavaloha Chocolate Farm

Are you looking for the best things to do in hilo, hawaii keep scrolling to see how to do a big island chocolate tour at lavaloha chocolate farm., this review of the big island chocolate tour at lavaloha chocolate farm was written by hawaii travel expert marcie cheung and contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something from one of my affiliate links, i may earn a small commission that goes back into maintaining this blog..

Are you looking for a delicious Big Island tour that your kids will love?

Why not do a Big Island chocolate tour at Lavaloha Chocolate Farm in Hilo, Hawaii? This 60-minute tour will show you the entire process of making chocolate from the Cacao trees all the way to the kitchen.

Plus, you’ll get to taste the Cacao fruit, chocolate nibs, and their tasty finished product of chocolate bars.

You can do a walking tour or hitch a ride on their electric minibus, so this Hilo tour is great for kids of all ages. And the farm itself is gorgeous and has a massive waterfall and a sunken lava tube!

It’s really easy to sign up, and they have lots of tour times, so you’ll have no problem fitting it into your Big Island itinerary.

Keep scrolling for my honest review of the Lavaloha Chocolate Farm tour in Hilo.

Don’t have time to read many Hawaii blog posts and reviews? Here are some of our top picks for visiting the Big Island.

Popular Big Island Tours/Activities

• Manta Ray Snorkeling Tour (you can ONLY do this on the Big Island)
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• Mauna Kea Stargazing Tour (this is a cool adventure for teens and adults)
• Swim with Dolphins (this is a unique experience for kids of all ages and adults)
• Kona ATV Tour (we love this one because they also do cultural activities)
• Book a Photo Shoot (this is a Hawaii souvenir you’ll treasure forever)

Favorite Big Island Resorts/Hotels

• Hilton Waikoloa Village (this is a mega resort where you can swim with dolphins or just enjoy their massive pool area)
• Courtyard by Marriott’s King Kamehameha Beach Hotel (this is a moderately-priced Kona hotel right on a little lagoon)
• Fairmont Orchid (this is a swanky resort with an awesome pool area and beach)

Want to Rent a Car in Hawaii? One of the best places to rent a car in Hawaii is Discount Hawaii Car Rental because they get the best rates from top national companies like Alamo, Dollar, Thrifty, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, and Payless.

Want to skip all the planning and just access my detailed Big Island Itinerary, complete with daily schedules, kid-friendly activities, and travel hacks? Click the button below.

Where is the Lavaloha Chocolate Farm?

The Lavaloha Chocolate Farm is located at  1820 Amauulu Rd., Hilo, HI 96720 .  It’s actually just 10 minutes from downtown Hilo, so it’s super convenient to add to your Big Island itinerary.

Now, it is tucked away up in the hillside. You’ll want to follow your GPS and keep an eye out for the Lavaloha farm signs. Just follow the signs, and you won’t get lost.

How to Visit this Big Island Chocolate Farm

If you want to visit this  Hawaiian chocolate farm , you’ll need to book tickets for a tour ahead of time. You can do that on their website  HERE .

Honest Lavaloha Chocolate Farm Tour Review

So, I actually came across this tour from a Facebook ad while I was already on the Big Island. Obviously, I had been looking up  things to do on the Big Island with kids ,  and it popped up in my feed.

The main thing that sold me on this Lavaloha Chocolate tour was the photo of the minibus with beautiful scenery. I figured my 5-year-old would love the bus part, and I’d like the scenic tour. Otherwise, I really knew nothing about it.

It’s a super pretty drive up a country road from Hilo. At one point, you’ll turn off the paved road, but there are tons of signs to show you exactly where you’re going.  I’m directionally challenged, and this was really easy to find, thanks to all the signage!

After we parked, we were greeted by our tour guide and another staff member to help us fill out our waivers and make sure we were all set. There are restrooms here in case anyone needs them. They also asked us if we wanted to walk or hop on the electric minibus.

Electric Mini Bus vs. Walking Tour

There are two options for doing this tree-to-chocolate tour in Hilo: walking or taking an electric vehicle. This was a no-brainer for us because I knew my 5-year-old would get a kick out of riding in any sort of vehicle.

The mini-bus is completely electric, and there are even shades that can come down to protect guests from rain or the sun. Our tour guide Jess also brought along umbrellas and towels since we were there on a rainy November day.

Since it’s a working farm, I’d suggest closed-toe shoes if you’re planning on doing the walking tour. It tends to rain a lot in Hilo, and that makes the ground squishy.

I like having the option for both of these Lavaloha tours. Some people like to walk, while others need a ride.

Tour of this Hilo Chocolate Farm

This Hilo farm is really beautiful. There’s a collapsed lava tube that they turned into a neat garden with a duck pond. And you’ll definitely want to check out the gorgeous Hilo waterfall that you can only access if you take this tour.

We passed by lots of fruit trees and tons of Cacao trees on this Hilo farm tour.

Cacao Fields and Tasting

Our first stop was at a Cacao tree, where we learned about the three varieties of Cacao grown on the farm. Then, our tour guide Jess cut open a Cacao pod where we could taste the fruit inside. This is definitely one of my favorite parts about this cacao tour!

First, she told us just to suck on it to taste the fruit. It sort of tastes like lychee or mangosteen. Next, she invited me to try another one, only this time, I should bite into the Cacao seed. This was fairly bitter, and it was an interesting combination.

She let us keep the Cacao pods so we could either eat them during the tour or compost it later. The cacao farm part of the tour was definitely very cool.

Cacao Machinery

Then, we got to spend some time checking out the different machines used on the farm to harvest the Cacao.

Jess showed us some antique Cacao machines that probably got the job done but just not in the most efficient manner.

We then got to see their brand-new equipment for removing the Cacao fruit and seeds from the shell. It seems like a much better way of doing it!

We also got to see how they ferment the Cacao seeds before putting them on the drying racks. With Hilo having high humidity, the time to dry the seeds can vary by a lot!

Hawaiian Chocolate Tasting

Finally, it was time to taste the finished product! We drove over to their chocolate taste testing room. There are restrooms here and water.

Jess played a video that showed every step of the chocolate-making process, from the tree all the way to what we got to sample.

We started off with the chocolate nibs, which are very bitter but flavorful. My 5-year-old didn’t even want to try them.

Next, we tried their melted chocolate. It was sweet and creamy, and my son was ready to lick the entire cup clean!

Then, we moved on to the 90% Cacao, 70% Cacao, 50% Cacao, Orange Chocolate, and Sea Salt Chocolate. The sample sizes were just big enough for us to get a real taste of them and decide if we wanted to buy any of this delicious chocolate to take home.

We loved tasting some of the best chocolate in Hawaii!

For our last tasting, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the gift shop. We sat on the patio and got to taste their white chocolate with cocoa nibs. It’s sort of like their version of cookies and cream.

By the end of the tour, my son and I knew we needed to buy chocolate to take home. They have a really awesome gift shop that’s filled with not only their own chocolate products but tons of other locally-made items.

This gift shop is open to the public, even if you don’t do the tour. So, if you end up eating everything you bought before heading home, you can totally come back to re-stock!

Hawaii Chocolate Farm FAQs

When people think about Hawaiian chocolates, they usually think of mass-produced chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. These are the most popular. However, there are also lots of local Hawaii farms producing their own small-batch chocolate that is really delicious!

Out of all the states in the U.S., Hawaii has the best climate for growing cacao. You can find locally made chocolate on almost all of the Hawaiian islands; however, the Big Island of Hawaii definitely has the most Hawaii cacao farms in the state. Many of them offer Hawaiian chocolate tours.

People planted cacao trees in Hawaii almost 200 years ago. It’s mostly been small farms that grow cacao trees and produce chocolate.

Big Island Chocolate Tour in Hilo Wrap-Up

According to my 5-year-old, this Hawaii chocolate tour was the best thing he did on our trip to the Big Island. I think that melted chocolate really sealed the deal.

I love that this is a great activity for multi-generational travel in Hawaii. Little kids and elderly folks will appreciate the bus option. Plus, there’s really something for everyone, especially if you like chocolate!

My son and I both learned a lot about chocolate in a fun, engaging way. It’s one of the best Hawaii farm tours for families. We’d definitely do this tour again, especially if we were traveling with friends or family.

The tour guides are incredible, and I did enjoy the scenic drive, especially around the cacao orchards. And, of course, it is absolutely great chocolate!

It is definitely a favorite chocolate farm in Big Island, Hawaii. Check out these other fun chocolate farms Hawaii has to offer too!

Click here to book your Tree to Chocolate tours!

We had a great time and want to come back to visit with the whole family!

Looking for more things to do in Hilo Hawaii? Check out my posts about  Akaka Falls , the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo, Rainbow Falls, and the  Waipio Valley Shuttle .

Ready to plan your trip to the big island.

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Hawaiian Chocolate: Big Island Cacao Farm Tours & Chocolate Shops

Updated: Jan 4, 2024 by Max · This post may contain affiliate links · 10 Comments

Have you ever wanted to visit a chocolate farm, and try a fresh chocolate fruit straight off the tree? Of course you have! For those of you not in-the-know, the chocolate tree is called Theobroma cacao , and it grows within 25 degrees of the equator, putting Hawaii right at the edge of its growing region.

Hawaii is the only US state which can grow cacao, and actually has one of the highest concentrations of tourist-accessible farms in the world , with a huge chunk of them right on the Big Island. Chocolate makers are in high concentration here, as well, with most of them making chocolate from cacao tree to chocolate bar all in the same place.

Hawaiian chocolate is hard to find off of the islands, since local demand is so high. Therefore, one of the most unique things you can do on your Hawaiian vacation is tour a cacao plantation.

But other than trying a fresh chocolate fruit, on each of these tours you'll also learn all the steps of chocolate making , the culture of Hawaiian cacao , and how making chocolate on Hawaii contributes to sustainable farming locally.

Unlike my other chocolate travel guides , this one has more of a farm focus than a shop focus, so only retail shops have their address written down (though the general area of each farm is marked on the map below).

Hawaiian Chocolate Culture

Big island travel tips, the locavore store, island naturals (3 locations), abundant life natural foods, foodland (3 locations), original hawaiian chocolate, red water cafe, kuaiwi farm, ocean grace farms, kona origins chocolate, hawaiian crown, mauna kea cacao farm, puna chocolate (2 locations), lavaloha chocolate, hilo shark's chocolate, kahi ola mau farm (honoka'a chocolate), hamakua chocolate farm, barefoot chocolatini, chocolate (kokoleka) farm, hilo chocolate & cacao festival, big island chocolate map.

Although the city of Honolulu, and Oahu as a whole, get much more tourism than the Big Island, I'd argue that the Big Island is a better chocolate destination. This is where the state's highest concentration of cacao farmers and chocolate makers resides.

Even though most all of the farms are tiny by world standards, they still have plenty of trees for demonstration & explanation. Some of the farms even have enough trees to do full fermentations by themselves, meaning that they now have material of good enough quality to turn into chocolate.

Hawaii is therefore the best place in America to learn about chocolate . The Big Island in particular offers great insight into how chocolate is made , and a wonderful opportunity to chat with cacao farmers one-on-one.

Also note that Hawaii's islands were formed thousands of years ago by violent volcanic explosions. There are still active volcanoes that make up parts of some islands, including three here on the Big Island.

Last year, Mt. Kilauea erupted violently, destroying many homes and farmland, and displacing lots of people. Some of this farmland included cacao farms, but farms and regions on the south side of the island are currently safe to visit .

Farm tours are on the expensive side, at $40-65USD per person, though kids are free on many of the tours. It's really a perfect family activity, and luckily the visits take up a whole afternoon, averaging two hours & choc full of samples!

Place names. For everyone else who just can't seem to remember the difference between all of the Hawaiian cities that start with K, here's a map of the Big Island. The Big Island is indeed the biggest island in the Hawaiian island chain, but its full name is actually the Big Island of Hawai'i (hence the nickname). Fun fact: w 's in the Hawaiian language are pronounced as v 's; don't let that throw you off when hearing location names.

The Big Island IS big. The island itself takes about an hour to cross at one of two or three points, and two hours to get up either coast. This doesn't sound like a long time, but it sure adds up if you're planning to visit more than one chocolate stop! Most places start to close around 4 or 5pm, as well, so be sure to start your days early.

Cell signal. It is horrible outside of Hilo, seriously, and at several points along the highway you won't get any signal at all. This can be scary if it starts raining and your car hydroplanes, like mine did at several points, so be sure you download Google Maps on to your phone before setting out and drive slowly.

Big Island Chocolate Shops (Retailers)

When you just don't have the time to go on a Hawaiian chocolate tour, or you want a nice large selection of makers, you'll want to visit a retailer. The shops below have a decently large selection of local Hawaiian chocolates, and are located across the big island.

If you want to get to the local selection as fast as possible, ask about Sharkey's or Pa’auilo Chocolate; they have the biggest distribution locally. Chocolate retailers are marked on the map in purple.

The smallest of all the Big Island chocolate retailers, Locavore only sells Hawaiian products, no exceptions. This means that for those of you with a penchant for supporting local businesses, but not enough time to visit them each individually, this is your stop.

Its location in downtown Hilo doesn't hurt, either. When I went in, I spent nearly $100USD on local honeys, jams, and chocolates, happily filling up an entire reusable bag (which I then bought). Be sure to ask for samples of anything you're interested in, as you never know what they've got on hand!

Address: 60 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo, HI 96720, USA

Hours: 9am-6pm, weekdays; 9am-5pm, Sat.; 10am-4pm, Sun.

This Hawaiian chain is like Whole Foods, but much smaller. They maintain a huge fruit & prepared food area, as well as a dedicated chocolate and sweets area, where several local chocolate makers are represented. But unlike the chain grocer's Foodland, they carry more "raw" and "super food" chocolates from around the US & abroad, and overall a larger organic food selection.

Address: 1221 Kilauea Ave, Hilo, HI 96720, USA (Hilo location)

Hours: 7am-8pm, Mon.-Sat; 8am-7pm Sun. (Hilo hours)

This is your local natural foods store, all organic with a focus on vegan & vegetarian options, and prepared foods for takeaway. They have a small selection of local chocolates, such as Sharkey's and Pa’auilo Chocolates, and ones imported from the mainland and abroad.

But the biggest pull for Abundant Naturals (as it's known locally) is that it's located right in downtown Hilo, along with Locavore. This makes it the most accessible as both a chocolate stop and a lunch break.

Address: 292 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo, HI 96720, USA

Hours: Mon/Tue/Thu/Friday, 8:30am-7pm; Wed/Sat 7am-7pm; Sun 10am-5pm

While Foodland is first & foremost a large grocery store, they also have a much larger than average selection of both local Hawaiian and regional American chocolates. If you're pressed for time, but know that you're near a Foodland, it's worth stopping in for a short perusal of the chocolate selection.

Sometimes they even have a special section for Hawaiian chocolate bars, so be sure to ask about that. If they take you to the Hawaiian Host chocolates, be more specific and as about "high end" Hawaiian chocolates, and feel free to namedrop "Manoa" (one of the easiest-to-find Hawaiian chocolates).

Address: 16-586 Old Volcano Rd #102, Kea'au, HI 96749, USA

Hours & Prices: 6am-10pm, daily (Kea'au location)

Waikoloa & Kailua-Kona Chocolate

Most visitors to the Big Island stay around Kona and Captain Cook, where many military families are also based. Lucky for all of you, the west side of the Big Island also has some beautiful cacao farms to visit! It's not all beaches, though those are beautiful, too.

This is the oldest still-standing chocolate factory on the Big Island. Started in the 1980's, the shop is bean to bar using only Hawaiian cacao, and now sells three types of chocolate designed to show off the terror of Hawaii as a whole: forastero milk, forastero dark, and criollo dark.

The company uses the cacao trees on their property, as well as cacao from local producers, to make their bars and other products. As soon as you walk into their shop, an employee will offer you a little paper cup with curated samples of each type of chocolate, which I'll let you judge for yourself, but I didn't buy much.

Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory tours are only offered twice a week, and I wasn't on the island either of those days, so I only visited their shop. But other visitors have had only good things to say, though it's on the shorter end of the cacao tour spectrum.

Advance reservations are required for all tours, which are held at 9am on Wednesday and 9am & 11am on Fridays. The tours cost $20 per person, and take place right next to their shop.

Address: 78-6772 Makenawai Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740

Shop Hours: 10am-3pm, Tue.-Fri.

A rather unconventional stop for a chocolate lover, Red Water Cafe is primarily a restaurant (and quite a delicious one, I might add!). But the owner, David Abrahams, also makes his own chocolate from bean to bar, selling it in the cafe & using it in the menu.

The chocolate itself is fine, very chocolatey and earthy, but the kava bar is bitter & numbing (apparently, exactly as it should be). The chocolate is good and made in-house, but I'd recommend the flourless chocolate cake above all.

Address: 65-1299 Kawaihae Rd, Waimea, HI 96743

Cafe Hours: 3-11pm, Mon.-Sat.

Una & Leon have had cacao trees since 2001, and have been adding to their cacao tree agroforestry plot for much longer. Each farm tour lasts 2 hours and takes you all across their well-used plot of land. The cacao trees are out back, but planted all around them, above & below, are different levels of flora.

From tall trees to coffee bushes and ground covering plants like turmeric or tomatoes, each patch of land has a purpose. Their plants work together in harmony, but I'll let Una tell you more specifics— she's been caring for the farm for over four decades.

At the end of the tour you'll get a taste of some of the chocolate products the couple makes on-site: chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, dried banana slices, and chocolate bars. Tours are offered by request, with at least a day's notice; they cost $15 and include a $5 credit towards purchases.

Pro-tip: don't use the address on Google for their farm, because it won't take you to the right place; pull over and follow their map once you reach Green Mountain Rd. Address emailed after booking is confirmed.

I'm reluctant to add Ocean Grace to the list, but I've been told that the family behind the operation is quite lovely, and thorough in their tours. I tried to reach out, however, and received no response.

But if you'll be in the immediate area and want to tour a cacao farm nearby, it's worth contacting them in advance. The farm's owners and main caretakers are husband & wife Marty & Nancy. Address emailed after booking is confirmed.

This family's business is cacao. They've been making chocolate for over half a decade, selling their creations at the weekly Keauhou Farmer's Market in Kailua. Alongside their chocolate bars, they also sell fresh cacao pods, roasted coffee, macadamia nuts, and a variety of seasonal fresh fruits from their farm.

Their chocolate bars range from a 51% milk chocolate to a 75% dark chocolate, with dairy-free options available, and domestic shipping if you order on their site .

Address: Keauhou Farmer's Market, 78-6831 Alii Dr, Kailua, HI 96740

Market Hours: 8am-12pm, Saturdays

Hamakua & Hilo Chocolate

Most of the cacao from the Big Island is from the eastern coast, especially around Papaikou and the Hamakua Forest Reserve. So it's no surprise that most of the Hawaiian chocolate tours are along that side.

However, the east coast is also home to a few tree to bar chocolate brands whose farms aren't really open to the public. Notably, Aloha Feels & Pa’auilo Chocolate are both making and selling chocolate, but don't offer farm tours at the moment.

This is a small storefront with a large, open work space where they make the chocolate. The shop is easy to miss if you're not keeping an eye out for it, but it is right along the main drag in downtown Hilo. When you first enter, look to the left on the counter and sample some of the chocolates in their line-up, ranging from 80% dark to 50% milks and sugar-free options.

The shop boasts a large coffee and chocolate drink menu, as well as bags of various coffee roasts & little baggies of chocolate-covered goodies. They're working on a CBD line of cacao-based products.

The owner, Tom Menezes, has been working with cacao for decades, and really knows how to work a bean into some good chocolate. Hawaiian Crown also has a shop on O'ahu and a farm outside of Hilo, which you can tour for $15 a person on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays at 2pm.

Address: 160 Kilauea Ave, Hilo, HI 96720, USA (shop location)

Shop Hours: 8:30am-5pm, Tue.-Sat.; 10am-4pm, Mon.

A relative newcomer on the scene, Mauna Kea Cacao has been offering farm tours since spring 2019, now in both English and Japanese. The young Hawaiian cacao farm was started in 2011, and has been expanded every year since then through the loving effort of the owners, Susan and John.

On their weekly tours, they take both kids and adults through the laborious process of growing and then making your own chocolate. The half-mile tour will take you across their beautiful farm, where you'll be able to pick & crack open your very own cacao pod.

Then you'll be taken over to the drying beds, and to see any active cacao fermentation they have going on. At the end, you'll get to try their award-winning cacao, and sample some chocolates made by American craft chocolate makers.

The cost of the 90-minute tour is $40 per adult & $15 per child aged 6-17. Small private tours can be arranged with a week or more of notice.

Address: 10 minutes' drive north of Hilo; address for GPS & directions emailed after booking is confirmed.

Hours: public tours offered at 10am & 1pm on Thursday (in English) and at 10am on Wednesdays (in Japanese)

Puna Chocolate is expanding remarkably quickly, now having 3 locations across the US. On my visit to their shop in downtown Hilo, a very nice young guy was managing floor, which also features other Hawaiian-made handcrafts, like instruments and non-chocolate sweets.

As soon as you enter you'll be offered a couple of samples of whatever they chose to open that day, giving you a good sense of whether or not you'd like to invest in a bar or two. Puna's lineup has a 70% dark or 50% milk base, as indicated by the color of their wrapper, and a variety of interesting local inclusions.

Of the bars I sampled and bought, my favorites were the plain Dark Milk and the dark Honey Berry Wine. They also have limited supplies of a 90% dark bar, which is neither sweet nor bitter and has a very strong base cocoa flavor.

Address: 126 Keawe St, Hilo, HI 96720, USA (Hilo location)

Hours: varied . Open at 9am Mon.-Sat. & 10am Sun; closed 6:30pm Sun./Mon, 7pm Tue.-Thu., 8pm Fri./Sat.

Formerly Mahilani, this 1000 acre farm holds a number of cacao trees, enough that they've been producing Hawaiian chocolate for many years. The estates actually also produce cacao products such as cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and cocoa tea.

So they must have a large enough swath of cacao growing to warrant buying a cocoa butter press (which is a very expensive machine). But honestly, Lavaloha doesn't have much of a presence beyond their products, and I couldn't find much information on their estates (beyond that they exist).

They hold regular tours of their plantation, and even have a little cart to take you from one place to the next. However, if you don't have time to visit then you can purchase their products in several different shops across the island.

Tours are offered four times daily, and cost $30 per adult and $5 for youths (6-12), with kids 5 and under visiting for free.

Address: 1820 Amauulu Rd, Hilo, HI 96720, USA

Hours: 9am-5pm, daily

Sharkey's, or Hilo Shark's Chocolate, is one of the more established Hawaiian chocolate brands on the Big Island. You can find their chocolates in shops across the island, but there's just something special about trying a chocolate fresh out of the melangeur.

Their farm tour takes you all around their cacao, coffee, and vanilla farm, located in the same region where most of Hawaii's commercial cacao is grown. With land so beautiful, it's no wonder the trees don't want to leave!

Some of their cacao trees are decades old, with younger ones being sprouted each month. At the entrance to their farm you'll spot some of those cacao seedlings, many of which will end up on other people's farms— Tom Sharkey, the owner, is often called the Johnny Appleseed of cacao.

The family started off in coffee decades ago, but they later got into cacao, and expanded into vanilla later on. They now work with local growers to ferment and dry their cacao to turn it into chocolate, right there on the farm.

You can purchase Sharkey's Chocolate from a number of shops across Hilo, as well as at the Hilo Farmer's Market, and from their cafe just north of Hilo, or after your farm tour.

Address: 1672 Old Mamalahoa Hwy #28, Honomu, HI 96728, USA (cafe address)

Hours: 8am-4pm, daily

This is the first Hawaiian cacao farm I visited. The owner, Mike, gave me a 1-on-1 tour during one of their scheduled tour times, though I'd have had companions if others had signed up. Our tour started over at their small chocolate shop, where Mike makes & tempers all of his chocolate by hand.

We continued down and then up the property, learning about the history of the farm its cacao grove, white pineapple fruits, and many varieties of cane grass. One of Mike's other jobs is actually as operations manager for Kuleana Rum Factory.

During my visit he was in the process of planting one of each existing cane grass varietal on his land, as a sort of living museum for sugar cane, including native Hawaiian sugar varietals.

There's basically one of each tropical fruit you could imagine on a farm, from coffee to banana to miracle fruit, and Mike can tell you about each & every one. His "white pineapple frosty" is not to be missed! Address emailed after booking is confirmed.

A post shared by Dan Corson (@hamakuadan) on Mar 14, 2019 at 12:08am PDT

Hamakua means "breath of the God (or ancestors) in the local Hawaiian language, referencing the trade winds along the Hamakua coast. They bring abundant rainfall and a tropical feel year round, which has made this region legendary for its wealth of fruits and beautiful flowers.

Hamakua Chocolate Farm is located less than 10 minutes north of Hilo, making it one of the most accessible cacao farms on the Big Island. They don't have a set tour schedule, but rather accommodate guests as they make requests— winter time on the mainland is high season, so be sure to book ahead at that time.

Tours take 2 to 2.5 hours, and include a look around their farm, an overview of how chocolate is made, and insight into the Hawaiian chocolate scene . The owners, Dan & Berndt, also have two rooms available for rent if you'd like to be even closer to nature. Address emailed after booking is confirmed.

Kalapana & Pahoa Chocolate

Right now the southeastern part of the Big Island is still recovering from the volcanic eruptions in 2018, but it is currently safe to visit. The area has two spots to check out, as well, with their own unique draws.

The woman behind the Barefoot Chocolatini brand is Maddy Smith, a chocolate tour guide now making her own tree to bar chocolate. Although she's based in the city of Kalapana, Maddy also works with small farms north of Hilo & Hawaiian Sanctuary in Pahoa to offer a variety of experiences related to Hawaiian chocolate.

These include cacao farm tours in Pahoa, and the Hilo Chocolate Bar Crawl and Bean To Bar Chocolate Farm Tours, all of which have rave reviews with good reason.

Maddy is very knowledgeable about the local chocolate & cacao scene, as well as the process of chocolate making from tree to bar, and she offers good perspective for curious visitors. Meeting place is emailed after booking is confirmed.

Read more about Maddy in my interview with her .

FARM TOUR IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE. Kokoleka Farm owner Lynda is one of the newest chocolate guides on the Big Island, but she's not at all intimidated by the undertaking of running a farm. Most of her cacao is about a decade old now, with some younger trees planted in just the last few years, adding layers of upkeep onto the whole operation.

On her tours you'll start with a little history on the farm, but quickly move on to some tasting. Over the course of the tour you'll have the chance to try seasonal fruits fresh from the trees, including cacao, passion fruit, and breadfruit.

Kokoleka is also currently the only cacao farm offering tours in Pahoa, making it quite the unique experience for those of you who headed south in order to commune with nature. If you're seeking nature and haven't booked accommodation yet, either, Lynda also rents out a room on her property. Address emailed after booking is confirmed.

A post shared by Barefoot Chocolatini (@barefootchocolatini) on Mar 23, 2019 at 1:04pm PDT

This is the first annual festival dedicated only to the Big Island's Hawaiian cacao farmers & chocolate makers, now in its second year. The festival is a coming together of most all the chocolate makers on the island, and a good chunk of the cacao farmers. It's put on by the East Hawaii Cacao Association, itself only about half a decade old.

Visitors can expect to have access to lots of samples of Hawaiian chocolate, cacao farmers from around the world, and knowledgeable folks in the Hawaiian cacao industry. Cacao seedlings will be given away to the first 750 guests, and farm tours will be available at a few points throughout the day.

Festival Venue: Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, 71 Banyon Drive, Hilo, Hawaii

Date: Saturday, April 13th, 2019 (entrance is free)

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Reader Interactions

July 18, 2019 at 11:52 am

Aloha! I'm reaching out on behalf of Lavaloha Chocolate Farm. We are now open 7 days a week and offer tours for $30 per person. Youth 6-12 are $5. Children 5 and under are free!

Would you be able to update the info in our listing above?

Mahalo nui loa and have a beautiful day!

July 18, 2019 at 4:53 pm

No problem, Napua! Now updated.

March 31, 2019 at 5:33 am

Oh my gosh! This is calling my name so loud! I lived in Hawaii, on Oahu, as a child and it pretty much ruined me for the cold. We visited the Big Island just before Mt. Kilauea erupted and it was a bit smoky, but so interesting. I just read your post and then told my husband we have to go in April next year or the year after. I want to attend that festival. I see a whole chocolate vacation in my future!

March 31, 2019 at 2:34 pm

This was my first trip to Hawaii, so I'm not sure what exactly ruined me for the cold! Hilo Chocolate Festival is a great excuse to visit the Big Island, but unlike some other places, you can visit the cacao farms & chocolate shops across the island just as easily throughout the year-- anytime is chocolate season on Hawaii!

March 31, 2019 at 1:14 am

What an incredible experience! I Love chocolate and Hawaii is a dream so i should definitely visit!

March 31, 2019 at 1:21 am

You definitely should, Dominika! Hawaii is a beautiful place. 🙂

March 30, 2019 at 9:02 pm

Great post! We're headed to Hawaii this summer and want to check one of these places out!!

March 30, 2019 at 9:16 pm

You definitely should, Elizabeth! It's hard to pass up the opportunity to try chocolate fresh from the grinder, and fresh off the farm. ?

Zaneta Baran

March 30, 2019 at 8:54 pm

Wow, I didn't know about chocolate culture in the Hawaii! It has to be such a great experience. Hawaii is still on my list of places to visit 🙂

March 30, 2019 at 9:14 pm

It's on the up & up for sure! I do hope you get the chance to visit the islands and experience a cacao farm tour for yourself one day. 🙂

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SHARK'S

 Coffee

Hawaiian 

Agri-tourism from the source.

TOUR SHARK'S WORKING COFFEE, CACAO AND VANILLA PLANTATION

ON HAWAII'S BIG ISLAND

Tour a working Coffee, Cacao & Vanilla Plantation

Learn the fascinating process of seed-to-bar chocolate making!

Coffee, cacao, vanilla..., how do they grow, interactive learning opportunity for students of all ages.

AirBnB  EXPERIENCE

5-star reviews, "i had a wonderful time seeing all the different types of plants and trees. even the rain pouring created a mystical element to the trip, overall, sensational"  ~roma, learning never tasted so good.

VISIT A WORKING COFFEE, CACAO AND VANILLA PLANTATION AND

Learn the fascinating process of seed-to-bar chocolate making.

A born story-teller, Farmer Tom will take you on a walk through his orchard where you’ll discover how coffee grows and see vanilla vines growing right up the trunks of cacao trees (Vanilla hand-pollination February/March). You'll learn about the "Three Ps" (Propagation, Pollination and Pests) and the challenges of growing crops in a tropical setting.  Next, we tour the greenhouse where you're likely to find coffee and cacao seedlings just beginning their journey, growing alongside large screens filled with freshly harvested coffee beans and fermented cacao drying in the sun until they're ready to be roasted and finally transformed into the chocolate we all know and love.  

Next stop, Chocolate Kitchen, where you'll see how we process nibs into pure, dark Hawaiian chocolate.  Finally, you'll take home yummy treats to remember your day by!

This is a great tour for families and individuals interested in learning more about where some of our favorite foods come from.

Allow 2-3 hours for your tour

You are welcome to stay a bit longer and talk story, or reserve the Cacao Ceremony; a quiet time to sit in nature, reflect on what you've learned and enjoy the nuance of simple pleasures performed with awareness, intention and gratitude.  (Please reserve in advance)

*Note:  We are in a tropical rainforest setting and there is always a possibility of rain.  We have plenty umbrellas but you may wish to bring a light jacket.

Best Chocolate Farm Tour on the Big Island, Hawaii

Disclosure: Advertising and affiliate services, including Amazon Associates, help the cost of running my blog. Clicking ads or making purchases through affiliate links may, at no additional cost to you, earn me a small commission. I appreciate your support .

When I thought of Hawai’i I thought of tropical fruit like pineapples and bananas. I did not think of them as one of the most luxurious chocolate producers. But in my research ahead of my island vacation, I found out about the cacao plantations that are growing in Hawai’i. My research led me to Hawaiian Crown Plantation and Chocolate Factory , and I’m sure glad it did. A chocolate farm tour was right up my street.

Why do a chocolate farm tour?

First question should be why not do a chocolate tour?! I was over the moon thrilled to find out this was an option. For anyone who has a sweet tooth like me, a chocolate tour is the best way to find out about your favorite food group. Sure, you can grab a Cadbury bar at your local 7-11, but how does that chocolate bar get made? Where does chocolate come from?

I had no idea the process that goes into making chocolate, so for me this tour was all about satisfying that curiosity. OK that was the second reason, I just wanted a good reason to try more chocolate and call it “learning”.

Can cacao plants really grow in Hawai’i?

They sure can. As we learned on our tour, the cacao plant can only grow within 20 degrees of the equator North or South. And it just so happens that Hawai’i falls just around that distance. That makes it the only state in the USA that cacao plants can naturally grow.

We found a number of farms are starting to jump on the cacao plant bandwagon, and these plantations are popping up all over the state. But Hawaiian Crown has one of the oldest cacao orchards in the state, and they are proud to tell you how they do it.

Where is Hawaiian Crown Plantation and Chocolate factory?

They are located on Hawai’i island itself, otherwise known as the Big Island. The chocolate factory where the magic happens is in downtown Hilo, on the Eastern edge of the island. The plantation itself is just outside of town, a few minutes North of Hilo .

We were staying in the North of the Big Island at the Fairmont Orchid . So for us the drive to Hilo was around an hour and a half drive. We decided to take the time driving through the island, stopping at some of the volcanic areas on the way. We even made a visit to Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park.

The plantation was where we would start our tour though. This was a “tree to bar” tour so we had to start at the beginning. We would learn about the cacao plants themselves before we could get to the good stuff. The good chocolaty stuff.

Read about my experience at the Fairmont Orchid Resort in Hawaii

The basics on the chocolate farm tour

The tour runs three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). It’s an hour long tour starting at 2pm, although we ran about 10 minutes over. We also had time to buy some delicious products at the end.

The tour is $15 per adult with senior, military and Hawaiian resident discounts offered at $12. Child rate is $5.

Because the Big Island is so…well, big, you will likely need a car to get to the farm and to Hilo from wherever you are staying. The tour starts at the farm itself, in the orchards. After learning what goes on there, you make your own way to the chocolate factory in Hilo and rejoin the guide for the rest of the tour.

Tree to bar chocolate farm tour

Now you know where Hawaiian Crown is and the general info on the tour let’s get to the tour itself. We booked our tour a couple weeks in advance which is recommended. We thought we might have to change our plans and when we contacted Hawaiian Crown it turned out their cancellation policy is really good. They told us we could change the date or cancel with a refund if done with at least 48 hours notice. Luckily we were able to make it.

Getting to the plantation

After we booked, the email detailed the directions to the farm. But we had our Google maps to help us along the way. Turning into the road for the chocolate farm we passed signs saying “no trespassing” and other such warning signs. I started to get a little worried we were crashing someone else’s property. Just a couple of crazy tourists looking for a chocolate tour. But it turns out we were in the right place.

Parking is basically towards the top of the hill alongside the road, no official parking space. Since most people need a car to get around the island, it is pretty much expected you will be driving there.

Touring the cacao and banana orchards

Kenta was our amazing tour guide for the afternoon. He met us and introduced himself. His passion for his work shone through and we felt really lucky to have such a great host for the duration of the tour.

We started off at the orchards where Kenta told us about the apple bananas (so called because of their apple-like smell and sweetness). The chocolate farm produces bananas which are sold locally. We started by learning how they grow, and the ways to protect them and make sure the crops are perfect for selling.

Moving further into the orchard, we went in search of cacao. We found some of the 1000+ cacao trees with vibrant yellow and orange colored cacao pods hanging off of them.

It’s worth mentioning here that this being a veritable buffet of delicious grub for insects, we encountered a number of mosquitoes. Make sure you have thoroughly doused yourself in repellent prior to the tour. And you might want to wear longer clothing if the mosquitoes love you as much as they love me.

Tasting cacao straight from the pod

Kenta showed us how to crack open one of these giant cacao pods, holding up to about 60 cocoa beans.

They kind of look like an ear of corn when cut open but the cocoa beans are tightly held together by a white pulp. We pulled off the beans one by one and were able to taste it. It’s kind of a weird squishy texture, like an overripe banana but with a subtle chocolate like sweet taste. We were warned not to bite down on the bean itself. Mostly because they are pretty bitter until later in the chocolate making process.

Honestly I don’t really know if I imagined that chocolate started out as anything less than a foil wrapped bar. But here I was tasting the unprocessed seed of one of my favorite foods, straight from the plant. So you pretty much just pick the pods, take out the seeds, mash them up and make a chocolate bar, right? Not quite. Turns out there’s a lot more to it than that.

Fermenting the cocoa beans

Much like you don’t just mush up grapes, stick them in a bottle and call it wine, cocoa beans have a longer process to get to bar form too. Fermenting them was something I didn’t know actually happened. This is a rather small scale operation so bigger plantations probably have more tools than this. But at Hawaiian Crown plantation the cocoa beans, newly stripped from their pods are thrown into a tub. Essentially a plastic cooler like you would use for picnics. With all their pulpy, sweet goodness, they are locked in tight to sweat it out in the Hawaiian sun.

The pulp creates a type of alcohol that mixes with other natural chemicals. This ferments the beans to bring out the flavor. The process takes a few days with the beans periodically moved around by hand. This ensures the process keeps working and that they are all evenly fermented. We saw the mess of a mixture, and it still didn’t put me off chocolate, so you’ll be fine. The heat, vinegar like smell, and the swarms of flies trying to get to it were something else. Not what I would previously have associated with delectable chocolate.

Drying out the cocoa beans

After the fermentation is complete, the beans are taken into the greenhouse area. They are spread out to dry in the sun and heat. The greenhouse was ridiculously hot. I tried concentrating on what Kenta was telling us instead of the increasing temperature and overwhelming smell from the fermented beans.

The cocoa beans at this point resembled almonds a little bit. They looked a lot more chocolaty colored than they did before, and it was kind of mesmerizing looking at them all. We got to pick them up and when you smelled them up close you could almost get a hint of chocolate.

The drying out process usually lasts a few days and the beans are checked often to make sure none are getting moldy. The moisture content in the beans has to significantly reduce during this time so that the flavors can develop.

Roasting the cocoa beans

The chocolate farm part of our tour was complete. We all got in our cars and drove to meet Kenta in Hilo town at the chocolate factory. This also doubled as a cafe and shop for selling the finished product.

The roasting machine was a small machine that roasts at 400F, getting the beans to an internal temperature of 230F. The beans are rotated constantly in the roaster to make sure they are evenly cooked. We then saw the machine next to it which is the one that shells the cocoa beans. We got to see some of the roasted beans and shell them ourselves to taste.

The beans (or nibs as they can be called at this stage) were still quite bitter. There was a definite cocoa taste though. What I did find cool was that every part of the bean is utilized. The shell can be used to make chocolate flavored tea. It was at this point we met the owner Tom who was walking by. He told us that they even sell it to a local brewery that uses it to make a chocolate beer.

Making chocolate at Hawaiian Crown

Now the beans are picked, fermented, dried, roasted and shelled, it’s time to make some delicious chocolate. Kenta took us indoors to the small kitchen in the shop/cafe. It is here the beans are first pulverized then ground again and again for days to make the sooth chocolate paste. They are mixed with cane sugars and milk (for the milk chocolate) and churned over to make sure the chocolate is incredibly smooth.

We also learned about the tempering and cooling process that gives the chocolate that irresistible looking shine to it. Next they showed us how they pour the chocolate into moulds to shape it ready for selling. We were given samples of both the dark and milk chocolate and I have to say it was incredible. Knowing how the process works and seeing it from start to finish is fantastic. It’s amazing that all this is accomplished by the hard working, passionate team of people at Hawaiian Crown .

Kenta was the perfect host for the afternoon, answering all of our questions and really making the chocolate process interesting to learn about. I bought some items from the shop including some chocolate turtle shapes, caramel filled chocolates, and a gluten free chocolate brownie. My only regret is that I didn’t buy more, because I would not hesitate to recommend this chocolate tour for anyone visiting the Big Island.

If you’ve enjoyed this post please leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you done this tour or a similar chocolate farm tour? What did you find most interesting?

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11 thoughts on “Best Chocolate Farm Tour on the Big Island, Hawaii”

This sounds like my kinda activity. I love chocolate and it’s so interesting to experience how it is grown and made.

I definitely want to do this next time we go to the Big Island!

What a great and informative article. Always wondered how the chocolate is made. Thanks so much for sharing! Farm tour seems like a great way to spend some quality time in Hawaii 🙂

Such a fun post! I’ve spent a lot of time on the Big Island but haven’t done this. I love chocolate so this would be right up my alley! 😁

Interesting! I have been to a chocolate museum in Hamburg last year and I love the experience definitely! But yours are one-step more as to see how the trees and the seeds are! Lovely!

The chocolate making process is quite complex! I think the kids would love to see this whenever we visit Hawaii. Pinning this for future reference!

Oh dear. I’m heading to the Big Island in TWO weeks! And this tour is calling my sweet tooth! Uh oh!!!

Great post! I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii. I’d love to visit one of the chocolate farms.

What a fun activity! I’ve never been to Hawaii but this will definitely go on my list for when I go.

I’ve only been to a chocolate farm in Costa Rica, but it was no where near as in depth.

Congrats on your visit to Hawaiian Crown Chocolate! I haven’t been to that plantation, but was at the Original Chocolate Factory on the Kona side of the Big Island. Hawaii grows amazing cacao that tastes like no other.

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Lavaloha Review: Chocolate Farm Tour on the Big Island HI

Are you looking for a Big Island chocolate farm tour and want a firsthand Lavaloha review? Well I took it and want to let you know if it’s worth it. 

I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest chocolate fan. I like dark chocolate, but if given the choice I will always choose fruity over chocolatey. 

So why would I go on a chocolate tour?!

Because I’ve visited coffee farms and macadamia nut farms, but hadn’t yet taken a chocolate farm tour on the Big Island, even after living here for a year, so I had to rectify that. 

I chose Lavahola because of the close proximity to Hilo plus I was feeling lazy and wanted to take a tour that drove me around the farm so I didn’t have to walk it.

So was Lavahola chocolate farm tour worth it? Spoiler: it was!

>> Check Rates and Availability for Lavahola Here! <<

In this post I will share with you:

• a tip on driving to Lavahola
• reservations and check-in
• things you’ll see and do on the chocolate farm tour
• my favorite chocolate sample

Lavaloha Review Summary

Real quick, before I get into the nitty gritty details of my Lavaloha review, let me summarize the experience and list some pros and cons.

Lavaloha chocolate farm is just outside Hilo and offers tours daily and last for 1-1.5hrs . You get to sit and relax on a golf cart bus ride while they take you around their cacao farm, show you the processing center, and of course, try chocolate samples.

Pros and Cons of the Lavaloha tour:

✅ Pro: Learn how chocolate is made from tree to bar ❌ Con: Similar to a coffee farm tour, generically speaking

✅ Pro: Try every chocolate flavor they sell ❌ Con: If you’re in it just for tasting samples, it’s a spendy way to try a few bites of chocolate

✅ Pro: One of the cheapest chocolate farm tours on the Big Island ❌ Con: Not the cheapest farm tour on the island

✅ Pro: Sit in a golf cart bus during tour ❌ Con: Not a walking tour, if that’s what you’re looking for

Where is Lavahola?

The Lavahola farm is about 4 miles outside of Hilo . If you’re coming from the Hilo Farmers Market and the shopping area there, it takes 10-15min to drive there .

You’ll head up the mountain, passing many fields and farmland along the way, including O.K. Farms’ shop which I highly recommended stopping at before or after your tour.

There comes a point in the road where a sign for Lavahola points going forward on Amauulu Rd but Google has you turning left on Maukalani St. I suggest following Google because you’ll stay on a paved road the whole time rather than drive over 2 miles on dusty gravel.

It might seem counterintuitive, but trust me, it’s just easier on the car and even a hair faster. 

As you reach the row of palm trees along the road, you know you are almost there. The shop is on top of the hill with plenty of gravel parking.

Check-in for Lavahola

I was a little confused where the front entrance for the shop was.

Technically it’s under the carport where the golf cart buses are parked but I walked around the deck to the back entrance sliding door.

No way is really wrong.

Due to the size of the bus, only 9 people are allowed per tour so I highly suggest making reservations ahead of time to guarantee a spot .

If you try walking in, there’s a high probability the tours for the day will be full.

There are 4 tours per day and they run every 2 hours , so if you have to wait around for the next tour, you’ll be stuck with a good chunk of time to kill.

>> Book your Lavaloha Tickets Here! <<

At check-in you’ll be asked to sign a waiver , basically just saying you won’t sue the farm if you get hurt.

Depending on how early you arrive, you’ll have time to browse the gift shop, seeing all the different flavored chocolates you’ll be sampling on the tour as well as find other locally made products.

I was so proud of them for supplying the best macadamia nuts on the island from Paradise Meadows !

Check out the high powered telescope on the back deck, looking down to Hilo. I could almost see people walking the deck of the Norwegian Pride of America cruise ship that was in port, except the wind that day was making the telescope too shaky. 

If you have not arrived for the tour 10 minutes prior to departure, expect them to give you a call to make sure you are on your way. They try to stay punctual and be considerate of the other guests who did arrive on time.

The Lavahola Chocolate Tour

When it’s time to load up on the golf cart bus, you get to pick your row: 3 rows facing forward, 1 row facing backward.

These busses are so bougie ! They provide umbrellas and towels for every row in case it rains. And there are roll-up shades in case the sun shines too bright in your eyes. 

I had Jess as a tour guide and she was very friendly and knowledgeable. She talked pretty fast, cramming in a lot of information, which was great, I just wish she had left some more space for questions, although I did manage to squeeze some in. 

We learned about how the 1,000 acre farm was started in 2002, experimenting with different plants to see what would grow best on the property. When they found that cacao trees did great, they went that route. 

First Stop on the Chocolate Tour

After a 5-10 min ride, we stopped by one of the cacao rows and got out to get up close and personal with the trees.

We learned that there are different varieties of cacao and Lavaloha grows two of them: forastero and criollo . Both varieties were growing next to each other so we could see the difference between the two.

Jess then cut open a criollo cacao pod for us to try the raw fruit inside . I really liked the white cacao flesh around the beans. It didn’t have a super distinct taste, it was just sweet and juicy. 

The crunchy cacao bean, however, was dry and earthy tasting, not chocolatey at all.

Jess let us eat as much of the fruit as we wanted. Most people didn’t want more than the one bean, but I took a few more to suck on the fruity part.

We all loaded back on the bus and drove down to the processing facility.

Lavaloha Cacao Processing Facility

Here we saw three people rhythmically working in an assembly line:

• First person was splitting the cacao pods open
• Second person was scooping out the beans
• Third person made sure the pod was completely empty and disposed of the shells 

We then proceeded to the expansive drying “room”, which is basically a greenhouse oven, where long drying tables were laden with countless beans undergoing the drying process.

I think Jess said that the temperature can reach up to 150°F in there, which I believe as it was way too hot for me; I had to stand by the door for air. 

Here she explained the drying process and how each cacao bean has to be hand sorted, making sure no cracked beans get into the roaster.

HAND SORTED!! Can you imagine?!

It is at this stage that the beans start to give off that familiar chocolatey smell. We were allowed to pick some beans from the table to crush in our fingers and smell the chocolate aroma.

Lavaloha Chocolate Sampling

Next, we were escorted to the tasting room, which is a converted garage with couches and chairs set up like a living room.

As guests are not allowed in the actual kitchen facility, Jess played a video of the roasting, melting, and candy production. The video was muted and Jess gave a live narration.

Finally, the samples came out! 

Jess passed them around on a tray.

The first sample was the 70% dark chocolate in liquid form ; we had to eat it with a popsicle stick. This was actually my favorite sample out of everything. It was just smooth, pure chocolate.

Next we got to try the hardened dark chocolate plain and with sea salt .

I would’ve liked to have had more salt in the bar, but I wonder if mine just didn’t have much in that bite. Later in the gift shop I could see how patchy the salt was distributed in the chocolate, so that could be why.

If you like Christmas chocolate oranges, then you’ll undoubtedly like the orange dark chocolate . This flavor combo never did anything for me, but I could tell it was a good quality. 

We then moved on to milk chocolate samples, plain and sea salt . 

Usually they also serve a white chocolate sample, but this time they were out as they were in-between productions due to a machinery changeover.  

One Last Stop on the Lavaloha Tour

Once we all had a taste of every type of chocolate Lavaloha makes, we piled back on to the golf cart bus and headed back to the gift shop for one last sample.

We sat on the back deck and tried their coffee bar , a cup of coffee in bar form using 100% Hilo coffee.

I like sipping and savoring my coffee, but if you need to have your caffeine on the run, this is a great way to take it! 

And that was the end of the tour!

>> Find Tickets for Lavaloha Tours Here! <<

We could now shop and buy our favorite chocolates to take home. They even sell insulated bags to help keep the chocolates from melting in your car. 

Pro Tip: the coolest place I found to keep the chocolate was in the trunk of my sedan car. You might also consider keeping it at your feet with the AC on, then transferring it to the trunk when you make stops. 

Watch my Instagram reel of my Lavaloha tour! ➡️

Lavaloha Review: Was the Chocolate Farm Tour Worth It?

Yes! I believe the Lavaloha tour is worth doing , especially if you are a chocolate lover! 

I think it’s important to learn how foods are made, not only so you know how it is sourced but also so you have a stronger appreciation of where it comes from. You won’t be as irritated at that pricey bar of chocolate when you realize all the tedious work involved into making it!

Another point to note is that the Lavaloha tours are one of the cheapest chocolate tours on the island. A lot of the other ones run $70 and up, and you have to walk on those lol!

Other Lavaloha Reviews

Now that you know what my review of Lavaloha is, let me share what others have said about the tour:

“ So happy that we booked this tour!! It was a beautiful day and our tour guide Phil made the tour even better with all of his knowledge. You can tell he loves his job! Would definetely recommend this tour for anyone visiting the area. Thanks!! ” – Tamara

“ We had a wonderful time on the farm. Loved to see the chocolate making process and loved the samples even more. Everyone was wonderful. The only down side was that we spent a bit too much in the shop. ” – Karen

“ Our tour guide Leigh was very informative and guided us through the farm with expertise and ease. We enjoyed learning all about chocolate & cacao and enjoyed the gorgeous farm and views! We loved the chocolate too! Thank you!! ” – Lori

Read more reviews

You Might Also Like These Other Big Island Farm Tours: • Kona Coffee Farms • Ka’u Coffee Farms • Macadamia Nut Farms • Vanilla Farm

🌺 Big Island Travel Planning Guide 🌺

🚨  Should I buy Hawaii travel insurance?

YES  — I recommend Travel Insurance Master because you can compare multiple options with one click. With plans starting at $5/day per person, why not give yourself piece of mind? Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!

 🚗 Is it safe to rent a car on the Big Island?

YES — It’s totally safe to drive on the Big Island. And unless you plan to chill by the resort pool the entire time, renting a car is pretty much a necessity on the Big Island! Jeep rentals are popular . I recommend Discount Hawaii Car Rental , as they have some of the best prices around.

📞  Will my phone work on the Big Island?

PROBABLY  — Most, if not all, cell providers work on the Big Island. However, be prepared for some dead spots in the more remote parts of the island. For example, I always lose service driving through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park .

🛏️  What’s the best way to book my Big Island accommodations?

For Big Island hotels,  Booking.com is amazing because you can often reserve your room with no money down. If you are looking for an Airbnb condo with a kitchen and more space, don’t forget to check VRBO  for potentially better prices and options.

✈️  What’s the best site to buy Big Island flights?

I recommend looking at Skyscanner for finding cheap flights. Pro Tip : check if flying into Hilo is cheaper than flying into Kona.

🛂  Do I need a passport to visit Hawaii?

NO  — If you are a US citizen, you do not need a passport as Hawaii is part of the United States . If you are from out of the country, the same passport and visa requirements are the same as entering anywhere in the United States from your country.

🧳 What should I pack to the Big Island?

Pack for tropical weather but also prepare for colder than expected nights and early mornings, so a light sweatshirt is recommended. Check out this list of 5 Things Not to Forget to Pack .

Aloha! I'm Tabitha, an ex-travel agent turned travel blogger. I've lived from fire (Big Island Hawaii) to ice (Alaska) to the lukewarm (Washington State). I've traveled Europe, Scotland and England being my favorite, Costa Rica, Cancun, Canada, various US states, and more. No matter if it's a staycation or international vacation, every trip I take there are things to explore and discover! I'm here to take what I learn and help others think outside the box when composing their own travel itineraries.

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Cacao in Paradise: Hawaii Chocolate Farms

With its rich volcanic soil, plentiful rainfall, and ideal growing conditions, cacao thrives on the Big Island, providing the sweet raw material for some of the best boutique and handmade chocolate you’ve ever tasted. Hawaii is famously the only US state with commercial cacao farming – today, cacao-growing flourishes at several family farms spread out over the Big Island, from the coastal Puna region in the east to the secluded northern coast and south of Kona in the shadow of Mauna Kea. 

Far from the massive factories that create big-brand chocolate, these are all family-run operations on five acres or less, making “craft” chocolate with unique flavors alongside classic dark and milk chocolate. When you tour their properties – which all require online reservations beforehand on their websites, linked below – you’ll see how the unassuming cacao fruit (much sweeter than you think) transforms into the divine and silky-smooth chocolate we all love.

Two of these farms are less than an hour’s drive away from Volcano Village, while the other two are within two hours, and all of them have points of interest along the way to add to your day trip. Charming and beautiful Hawaii chocolate farms surround our Volcano Bed & Breakfast , so get ready to indulge your sweet tooth and learn firsthand how the Big Island chocolate-making magic happens.

Puna Gold Estate

Start with the chocolate farm closest to our location in Volcano Village, Puna Gold Estates , where owner Stephen grows cacao and coffee interspersed with over 20 veggies in their garden and cinnamon and vanilla, making their grounds extra fragrant. They also plant and harvest several varieties of tropical fruit like lilikoi and mango, both of which play a starring role in some of their delectable fruit-chocolate blends. Although their farm tours have been temporarily suspended, check for updates about when tours reopen – in the meantime, stop at their Pele’s Kitchen outpost in nearby Pahoa, where you can sample some of their fresh fruit and chocolate. After getting a choco-fueled buzz, head to nearby Isaac Hale Beach Park , where you can get a rare and unforgettable volcanic black sand beach experience.

Hamakua Chocolate

The tagline at Hamakua Chocolate , just 35 miles from our location and just north of Hilo, is “the breath of the Gods,” showing their reverence for chocolate’s historical importance and complex flavors. The Hamakua founders got into the chocolate business in 2009, turning a former sugarcane plantation into a true tropical oasis with spectacular gardens among the rows of cacao trees. On your tour, you’ll pick fresh cacao when they’re in season while whimsically passing by alpacas and crossing a suspension bridge leading up to a treehouse overlooking the property. One of the owners, Dan Corson, gained international acclaim as a visual artist before changing lanes into running a chocolate farm – his artistic eye shows in their elaborate and stunning botanic gardens, a sight to behold while tasting one of their many signature chocolates (their Caffe Latte is a classic mix of coffee and creamy chocolate, while more inventive choices like chili pepper and rum raisin chocolate blends are sure to impress). Tours are on hold until October 25th, 2023, but will resume on Wednesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m.

Honoka’a Chocolate Company

You’ll find the Honoka’a Chocolate Company farm along the lush and secluded Hamakua coast on the northern tip of the Big Island, a 90-minute drive from Volcano Village but one of the more scenic road trips you’ll take anywhere. Owner Mike Pollard will show you around their 2.5-acre spread of cacao. It’s remarkable to see how much chocolate they produce from their humble 750-ish cacao trees, grown and processed sustainably, winning their farm several awards for their expertise and top-quality craftsmanship. You’ll see the intensive process of harvesting a cacao pod – picked by hand, then fermented, dried, and finally processed into five signature chocolate bars. One of the highlights is tasting all the different chocolates, led like a wine-tasting by your tour guide, with an in-depth discussion about their subtle taste profiles and variations. Tours happen Tuesday through Thursday at 2 p.m. – due to their popularity, they recommend booking at least a week in advance. As you return to Volcano Village, stop for a waterfall-viewing pitstop at Akaka Falls – it’s one of the Big Island’s most magnificent waterfalls and just off Highway 19 on your way.

Kuaiwi Farm

Kuaiwi Farms may be the most quaint of all the Hawaii chocolate farms, a tiny and welcoming family operation run by owners Una and Leon. Their name pays homage to ancient field mounds that demarcated this historic farming area south of Kona, where they have proudly worked the land sustainably for over 45 years. They grow their cacao, coffee, banana, and guava without pesticides, committing to homespun composting and a back-to-the-earth ethos. Their dedication pays off in their chocolate and coffee’s deep and rich flavors, for which they’ve won numerous accolades. On their tour, offered on Sundays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m., you’ll get to crack open fresh macadamia nuts, sip coffee grown and roasted on-site, and savor bites of their chocolate – it’s hard to imagine a more decadent combo. Because their farm is on the opposite (Kona) side of the Big Island, it’s a two-hour drive each way. But take Highway 11 along the southern part of the island and make a day of it by stopping at the southernmost tip of land in the United States and checking out the only-in-Hawaii Papakolea green sand beach .

Stay with us and explore the many Hawaii chocolate farms, a feast for the senses and a delight for your taste buds!

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Big Island Chocolate Festival

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Welcome to Big Island Chocolate Festival

2024: Mystical Chocolate Masquerade

Imagine even more food booths at the 2024 Gala event, promising unlimited tastings at 15-18 chef food stations featuring delectable sweet and savory offerings, along with unlimited beer and wine pours from our generous sponsors.

Elegant Chocolate for Everyone!

Join us for an unforgettable experience filled with chocolate cooking demonstrations, cacao growing presentations, and the most festive gala of all galas!

Mystery & Fun for Every Body!

Enjoy the rhythmic beats of a lively DJ or live music, explore a fabulous silent auction, and immerse yourself in all-around chocolate-themed fun. Don't miss the chance to make your life even sweeter by joining us at the most savored event of the year!

Ticket Information

2024's Theme is Mystical Chocolate Masquerade: Bring a mystical mask to wear and enjoy a mysterious, elegant atmosphere.

• A range of ticket options, including VIP+, VIP experiences & seminars
• Opportunities to participate in unique chocolate-centric events and tours 

Celebrated Chefs who Love Chocolate

Enjoy the best chocolate has to offer.

  At the heart of the BICF 2024 are our featured chefs, true maestros in the art of chocolate cuisine. These culinary wizards will dazzle your taste buds with their innovative sweet and savory creations, blending traditional techniques with modern twists. Experience live cooking demonstrations and witness the passion and creativity that these chefs pour into every chocolate masterpiece. 

Apply to be One of Our Culinary Chefs

Support the Next Creative Generation

• Engage with renowned chefs specializing in chocolate-inspired dishes.
• Witness the art of chocolate cooking through live demonstrations and interactive sessions.
• Experience a blend of traditional and contemporary chocolate culinary techniques.

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BICF April 26-27, 2024 - Tickets on Sale NOW

2023 CHEF WINNERS Congratulations to our wonderful chef participants for 2023! We could not do this without you. 

On Island Cacao & Chocolate Factory Tasting Tour Mahalo to Honoka'a Chocolate Company in Honoka'a for hosting our cacao tour for 2023. Stay tuned who we will have hosting in 2024! 

Friday Cacao Farm Education Mahalo to our wonderful educators for sharing your wisdom and knowledge to support the mission of KCA to grow local cacao demand! 

April 26-27, 2024

Our Gala is approaching and the O'hana is getting ready.

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Please reach us at [email protected] if you cannot find an answer to your question.

Big Island Chocolate Festival is known for its exquisite fine dining experience and its authentic cuisine that is made with the freshest ingredients available.

Yes, Big Island Chocolate Festival offers plates and desserts a vegetarian would love.

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Honokaa Chocolate Co

The most awarded chocolate bars in all of hawaii. visit our flagship store or buy online. branch to bar chocolate, chocolate tastings and farm tours on the big island..

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OUR CHOCOLATE

Visit our farm.

Visit our historic farm on the picturesque Hamakua coast of the Big Island of Hawaii and enjoy a truly special, intimate chocolate tasting and tour. You’ll learn about the century-old history of this incredible farm and the care and passion that owners, Mike and Rhonda Pollard, pour into creating exceptional chocolate that is authentic to Hawai’i.

Shop our chocolate

Our chocolate is made from scratch - bean-to-bar - in small batches, using the highest quality ingredients, sourced locally from the Big Island of Hawai’i and from around the world, including the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Honduras to name a few. We use Native brand Turbinado style Organic cane sugar sourced from sustainable farms to add just the right amount of sweetness, but still allowing the plethora of flavors to shine through.

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Happy Merrie Monarch - we have new cocktail and cafe offerings inspired by the celebration this month.

HILO:  277 Keawe St, Hilo, Hawaii 96720 7am-9pm

KONA: 74-5606 Pawai Place, Bay 8, Kailua Kona, Hawaii 96740 8:00am-9:30pm

KONA CHOCOLATE FARM: 78-6537 1 Road, Holualoa, HI Visit By Reservation Only

Kainaliu Hale Cocoa: 79-7378 Hawaii Ring Rd, Kealekekua, HI

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1.5 hour tour that includes outdoor exposition on how cacao orchards are planted plus tasting and discussion how chocolate is made and what affects chocolate flavors. Visit a Hawaiian Cacao (or Cocoa) Orchard just 15 minutes south of Kona. This is a pristine, mature tropical farm with nearly 600 cocoa trees, 2,000 coffee, 400 macadamia and numerous Hawaiian and tropical plants under a refreshingly cool natural canopy. We will stroll a section of the farm with cocoa (cacao), coffee, macadamia and view how cocoa is grown and where your favorite food, chocolate, comes from! Then we will visit the sheltered area to taste dark, milk, and white chocolates all crafted from fresh cocoa beans. Tour will be entirely outdoors with about 200 yards of walking on uneven, vegetation/farm land. FOR QUESTIONS, CONTACT [email protected]. MEET AT ORCHARD, not at shop.

This is at the orchard above, however it accesses more scenic areas of the orchard with a higher climb. There is a 300' elevation walk and over 400 yards of walking.

The Kurtistown orchard has 1800 cacao trees, a cocoa nursery and our "fermentory" where we take fresh cocoa beans, ferment and dry them in much the same way humans have fermented for hundreds of years. We will also explore Macadamia Nuts, Coffee, and Bananas. You might even see our goats! Puna has a lot of rain - we have umbrellas and shelters however we strongly recommend closed-toe shoes. Farm trail can be slippery when wet and we do not recommend this experience for folks who need level, dry ground.

What's the big deal about Kona Coffee? One of our baristas will show you why coffee and Kona are amazing. You will taste 5 "pulls" of various Hawaii-grown coffees in various roasts. Become an expert in only 45 minutes and take home your own espresso drink at the end. Limit of 6 people.

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Big Island Hayride Farm Tour, Chocolate Tasting & Pizza Lunch - Pali Nana Farms

3.5 hour(s)

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Make your way across the many orchards at Pali Nana Farms, and see a wide variety of different tropical fruits and plants like dragon fruit and lychee, and have the opportunity to plant your own cacao seedling too. Afterwards, hop on to the hayride for a fun and scenic ride back to the guest center.

Head to the open air lanai (balcony) at Pali Nana Farms, and learn how a local farm crafts delicious artisanal single origin Hawaiian chocolate. You will see the step-by-step process as the cocoa beans are transformed into a rich and delicious chocolate bar that you can taste and savor the flavors.

Take your pick from a variety of different options, and enjoy a toasty and tasty wood-fired pizza for lunch. Each bite will explore with flavor as you bite down on the chewy crust, melting cheese, and fresh toppings that are packed with flavor. Refreshing non-alcoholic beverages will also be served.

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• Guests with neck, back or joint problems are not permitted to participate in this activity.
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9 Tasty Hawaii Chocolate Farm Experiences Worth Doing

If you are a lover of chocolate, you have to keep looking down to learn more about some of the best hawaii chocolate farms you need to check out., this list of the best hawaii chocolate farm experiences was written by marcie cheung (a hawaii travel expert) and contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something from one of my affiliate links, i may earn a small commission that goes back into maintaining this blog..

Chocolate lovers, this one is for you!

Did you know that Hawaii is the only place in the US where cacao can grow? And that means some of the best chocolate in the world comes from these islands.

If you want to learn more about where your chocolate comes from (and maybe get a taste test), then keep reading.

You might wonder about my credentials – well, I’ve been to Hawaii 40+ times, ensuring an expertise that stands out.

There are tons of farms on the Big Island, but there are also farms located all across the Hawaiian islands. No matter which island you’re on, you’re sure to find a delicious chocolate farm waiting for you.

Keep scrolling for my list of the best chocolate farms in Hawaii worth checking out!

See the top-rated Hawaii chocolate tour HERE !

Want to skip all the planning and just access my detailed hawaii itineraries complete with daily schedules, fun activities, and travel hacks click the button below..

Which Hawaiian Chocolate Farms Are Worth Seeing?

Here are some of the best Hawaii chocolate farms that you need to check out to get your sweet fix!

1. 21 Degrees Estate Cacao Farm

If you want to get a taste of some authentic and local chocolate, the two-hour Cacao Farm & Chocolate Tasting Tour is a great way to learn more about how exactly chocolate is made.

As you go along the tour, you will get to learn more about the farm’s history along. Plus, you’ll find out what exactly “canoe crops” are. These were first brought to the island by the original voyagers when they set foot on the islands. Check the latest rates and availability .

The coolest part is that you will even be able to get a taste of some of the amazing chocolate that they have on the farm. If that wasn’t enough, they even have baby goats that you can interact with in the Yoga with Goats and Chocolate Tasting Tour !

2. Mauna Loa Visitor’s Center

Having recently opened back up as of September 2022, the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory Visitor’s Center is one of the coolest things you can check out!

They operate as a macadamia factory but with the special twist of coating them in chocolate. And they have tons of small gift packs that you can use as the perfect gift.

3. Lavaloha / Mahilani Estates Cacao Farm Tour 

The Lavaloha Farm is found just a couple of minutes away from Hilo. Here you can learn all about the chocolate-making process on the Tree-to-Chocolate Tour . And you will even get to take a pod from one of the trees as a souvenir!

Find out the steps taken to make a chocolate bar along with what challenges the cacao industry is facing today. You will learn and do so much on this tour that only lasts an hour! Check out my in-depth review of it HERE .

Also, you hear the secrets of why cacao beans in Hawaii make some of the best chocolate in the world. Plus you’ll find out the trick to getting rid of the bitterness that is often characteristic of raw cacao.

The guides here are super knowledgeable and will teach you all the things you might want to know about how chocolate here is made. And of course, you get to finish the tour up with some delicious complimentary samples of chocolate. Each person is going to be $39 for admission, and travelers under the age of 12 will be $7.

4. Ku’ia Estates Chocolate Factory

One of the coolest Maui chocolate tours is the Ku’ia Estates Chocolate Factory in Lahaina. They will give you all of the production details about chocolate. It starts at the farm and ends at the bar. Check the latest rates and more information .

There are tons of activities for travelers of all ages. You will get to learn how these seeds go from the ground to the most fantastic chocolate! In the end, you’ll even get the chance to try out all the different kinds of chocolate flavors!

5. Lydgate Farms Kauai’s Premier Chocolate Farm

While this cocoa farm is small, they have the huge goal of making chocolate bars in a sustainable way that will help preserve life for generations in the future.

Their tour is extremely popular with all kinds of travelers. Their in-depth three-hour tour costs adults $125 and it’s $95 for kids older than seven.

You’ll take a look at their amazing botanical gardens where the cocoa is grown. Plus you’ll even get the chance to get a taste of their famous honey. And they have tons of delicious fruits grown right on the farm.

The farm is open year-round, rain or shine. But it is a good idea to check the website before you make the final choice. Check out my full Kauai chocolate farm tour review .

6. Puna Chocolate Co

Puna Chocolate Co has tours available in both Hilo and Kona. So you can pick which site is going to be the best for you. On a 1.5-hour hour tour, you will hear about the chocolate production process and get to taste it for yourself.

The Kona Cacao Orchard Tour will show you how cacao trees go from beans to bar. There is not a dearth of trees. The entire farm is home to more than six hundred cacao trees! Each adult will be $30 for a tour.

At the Hilo location, you will find that the Kurtistown orchard has over 1800 cacao trees. Plus they have other cool plants like banana trees and coffee trees. And if you love animals, they even have a family of goats on the farm. It is going to be $25 for each adult to go on the Hilo Caco Orchard Tour . 

7. Honoka’a Chocolate Co 

The fantastic hand-crafted chocolate on the Honoka’a Chocolate Co farm is just as stunning as the incredible views you can see around the property.

Despite being a small, family-owned company, every step of the way in the chocolate-making process, you can see their dedication to a quality customer experience.

The farm’s tours are $60 for each person, and travelers under 10 years old pay $30 for each person. Kids under five can get in for free.

The farm organizes Big Island chocolate tours and tastings that cost $60 per person. Children under the age of 10 pay $30 per person. But it’s free for kids under 5 (the tasting isn’t included). 

You will get a firsthand look at all the amazing produce that is grown on the farm, with all sorts of exotic fruits and plants, like avocadoes and turmeric. They even grow different kinds of sugar cane!

Don’t worry if you were wanting a taste of chocolate. You will get a taste of chocolates from different countries so you can taste firsthand how soil affects the flavor of this tasty treat.

8. Mauna Kea Cacao

If you want to learn even more about the history and flavor of Hawaain chocolate, the Mauna Kea Cacao Farm tour is a great way to see this firsthand.

The farm uses a special heating process that molds the chocolate paste into chocolate with the perfect texture to truly make the flavor shine.

After all of this, you are left with some deliciously sustainable chocolate!

On their tours, you will get to learn about the process of how cacao is grown. You’ll even get the chance to sample some fresh cacao from one of their 1,800 cacao trees.

The entire hour-and-a-half tour is $40 for adults, $15 for travelers under 17, and free for those under the age of five.

9. Hana Gold Chocolate

Francine Frost was inspired by an incredible article they read detailing Waialua Chocolate. This is why she ended up founding Hana Gold so she could try the cacao growing process herself.

The Hana Gold Plantation was originally created in 1978 and has been creating natural and luxurious chocolate products ever since.

You can visit the plantation on the Hana Coast of Maui and learn all about how the cacao beans are provided excellent fertilizer by the naturally nutrient-rich volcanic soil. This is their secret to creating some of the most unique chocolate in the world.

You can enjoy their chocolate knowing that the process to make it was environmentally friendly. You can learn more about the plantation by emailing [email protected] . Alternatively, you can call them from Monday to Saturday.

Hawaii Chocolate FAQs

While cacao can be found all across the island, the largest producer is the Dole Food Company on Oahu’s North Shore, which is the largest in the state at a whopping 80 acres!

According to a Hawaiian Cacao Survey in 2020, Hawaii harvested about 133 acres, which equates to about 32.8 tons of total dry beans!

Despite Hawaii’s reputation for cacao, it isn’t a plant native to Hawaii and was likely first introduced from a Guatemalan import.

Where Can You Buy Chocolate from Hawaii?

There are all sorts of places you can get chocolate online, but one of the most popular places you can get chocolate-covered macadamia is from Mauna Loa found here .

Big Island Candies is also another great place to get chocolate, and you can take a look at some of their chocolates here .

If you want a taste of some more luxurious chocolate, you can go to the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory, which is on the Big Island. You can also order chocolate from the comfort of your own home here .

Hawaii Chocolate Farm Wrap Up

Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to check out a chocolate farm in Hawaii on your next vacation! We’ve visited many of them and it’s always fascinating and delicious!

Looking for more things to do in Hawaii? Check out the best Kona coffee farms , where to go ziplining in Hawaii , and the best Hawaii waterfalls worth visiting !

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Hamakua Chocolate Farm

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Hamakua Chocolate Farm - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• Sun - Sun 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
• Mon - Sat 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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Farm Tour & Chocolate Tasting

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Add a "Chocolate Stop" Farm Tour to your Hamakua Coast drive. Mauna Kea Cacao is conveniently located off of Highway 19 between Pepeekeo and Akaka Falls. The farm is a 15-minute drive from Old Town Hilo.

Farm Tour Description

Public farm tours are offered Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. During the 90-minute tour, you will:

• Explore a cacao orchard.
• Harvest, crack open and taste your own cacao pod (in season).
• Learn how award-winning cacao is grown, fermented and dried.
• See and smell drying cacao beans.
• See DIY craft chocolate making equipment.
• Taste commercially produced chocolate made from our single-estate cacao.
• Enjoy farm-style Hawaii chocolate.

This tour is suitable for people who can walk 1/4 mile on uneven surfaces that may be wet, muddy and/or slippery. Weather is changeable and rain may occur at any time. Covered structures protect visitors from rain at several tour stops.

Tour prices are $45 per adult and $20 per child (5-17 years of age). Children under 5 are free. Hawaii tax will be added.

Reserve Tickets

For best availability, please purchase tickets in advance. Full refunds will be provided if tours are cancelled at least 1 hour before tour start time. We appreciate your consideration in cancelling as soon as you realize your plans have changed. Mauna Kea Cacao LLC reserves the right to cancel tours and will provide full refunds if tours are cancelled.

Directions to the farm and additional information will be provided after ticketing.