If you're headed to Maui on vacation, you have to check out the Maui Tropical Plantation Tour! This 40 minute tour is a fun adventure for families and adults looking for a fun tour. There are so many fresh flowers and fruit grown on Maui which is really exciting to learn about when you've just landed on an island. The tour of the plantation brings a sense of Hawaiian culture and the tour guides share all about the plants along the way. The tour also includes a coconut demonstration, which the kids loved!
All Aboard The Maui Tropical Plantation Tour
When you arrive for the tour, you'll take the Tropical Express to check out the 60-acre working plantation. This fun open-air tram is an adventure all on it's own for little kids. We enjoyed checking out all of the views from the Tropical Express. It is very wide open so you can see all the fruit and plants on both sides of the tram. Maui Zipline is also on the same property so you can watch as people zip by through the trees. I told the kids we will do this experience next time!
Fruit & Plants on the Maui Tropical Plantation Tour
We were excited to see so many different fruits growing on the trees in Maui. I loved taking the tour early in our Maui trip so we could spot the tree's we learned about from the tour, and know what they were. We saw red ginger, bananas, mango, jackfruit, pineapples, coconuts, coffee, papaya, guava, macadamia nuts and avocados.
If you're not looking to take a tour, you can also walk around the plantation to get the great views. You will miss out on learning the difference between medium and dark roast coffee, how to open macadamia nuts and all the fun jokes from the tour guide. We really enjoyed the tour and do recommend it, but if it's not something you're into, taking a walk along the gardens would also be amazing.
Coconut Demonstration
About 15 minutes into the tram ride, the tour guide will pull over to let everyone off the tram and check out a coconut demonstration. Our tour guide explained everything you would want to learn about a coconut. She shared how to open a coconut, which coconuts are best for eating or drinking. Green coconuts are young and good for drinking the coconut water, while brown ones are fully mature and better for eating the meat. She shared about the Hawaiian culture and how Hawaiians will use the husk of the coconut as rope and many other uses.
After the coconut demonstration, we finished up the rest of the tour and ended back at the store in front of the plantation. The Country Market has a lot of fun local ingredients. You can purchase many of the fruits from the tour, plus they have a coffee and tea shop. We had a papaya parfait which was delicious! We also picked up some small apple bananas to take back to the condo.
The Coconut Inc. Stop
The kids really wanted to have coconut after we went on the tour. We had passed by the Coconut Inc. yellow bus on the way to the plantation so we made sure to stop there after our tour. The coconuts were $10 each and full of coconut water. The kids loved the experience and enjoyed siting in the cute bus!
We hope you enjoy the Maui Tropical Plantation and don't forget to grab a coconut!
Maui Tropical Plantation
1670 HONOAPI'ILANI HWY
WAIKAPU, HI 96793
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