Is Honokaa Worth Visiting? 15 Fun Things to Do

Looking over your Big Island itinerary and wondering if Honoka’a is worth visiting? The answer is Yes!…but with a caveat. 

Honoka’a is a bit out of the way for most first-time visitors unless you’re taking the northern route from Kona to Hilo or doing a full island circle tour. Waipio Valley Lookout and Tex Drive In’s malasadas are the most popular reasons to visit this corner of the Big Island and isn’t worth driving all that way just for those two things. 

But if you plan it right, there’s actually a lot of other things to do here, from adventure and farm tours to secluded rainforest hikes.

1. Waipio Valley Lookout

The crème de la crème of visiting Honoka’a is seeing Waipio Valley Lookout, one of the most recognizable views on the island.

From the lookout, you’ll have a partial view down into a lush, emerald valley that was once home to a thriving Hawaiian community and extensive taro fields.

You can see the black sand beach from the lookout, and if it’s rained recently, look for waterfalls cascading down the distant cliffs.

On a clear day, you can also see Maui on the horizon!

If you’re not already in the area like taking the northern route from Kona to Hilo, I wouldn’t go out of your way just for this stop.

⚠️Please Note: Currently, non-residents are not allowed to drive or hike down to the valley floor. The only legal way to visit the bottom is to take the Waipio Valley Shuttle. 

2. Tex Drive In

Some say that the best malasadas on the island are at Tex Drive In. These square malasadas are the size of your head and are kept warm all day. 

You can order them plain with just a sugar coating or filled with different creams and jellies.

Their fillings flavors are usually:

• Bavarian Cream
• Chocolate
• Strawberry
• Apple
• Mango
• Guava
• Pineapple
• Banana

Personally, these are my least favorite malasadas. Punalu’u Bake Shop’s is by far the best, imo. But I encourage you to try them and decide for yourself as everyone’s tastebuds are different.

They also have an extensive Hawaiian plate lunch menu featuring local comfort foods like loco moco, Kalua pork, and teriyaki beef.

3. Honoka’a Chocolate Farm Tour & Store

Honoka’a Chocolate Farm Tour offers guided cacao farm tours and tastings just a short five-minute drive from their retail shop in town. 

The one-hour tour takes you into their orchard for an up-close look at cacao trees and the full chocolate-making process from growing and harvesting to fermenting, drying, and resting the beans.

After exploring the orchard, you head to the tasting area, where you can try fresh cacao fruit straight from the cacao pod before tasting it in its processed form. 

A guided tasting gives you samples of five of the farm’s award-winning chocolates. Similar to a wine tasting, you’ll learn how to taste chocolate like a connoisseur while hearing about cacao’s history, health benefits, and how chocolate is made from roasting to tempering.

I haven’t taken the tour, but I definitely visited their store for some free, chocolate chip-sized samples. 

Try different kinds like:

• Dark chocolate (i’m an 85% girly)
• Chocolate made with coconut milk
• Barrel aged rum and bourbon chocolates
• Regular and goat milk chocolate
• Drunken goat milk chocolate (made with Kahlua!)

Their chocolate bars for sale are displayed very tastefully, like you’re almost walking into a chocolate art gallery. And their prices match the aesthetic.

You might get a peek at their chocolate production through the windows too.

4. Hawaiian Vanilla Co. Tour

The Hawaiian Vanilla Co. offers a unique experience just outside Honoka’a. 

Their Vanilla Luncheon and Tour includes a three-course meal where vanilla makes a cameo in almost every dish:

• Vanilla lemonade
• Vanilla shrimp appetizer
• Vanilla bourbon marinated chicken sandwich
• Vanilla raspberry balsamic salad dressing
• Vanilla southwest rub on roasted potatoes
• Vanilla ice cream 

It’s all very unique and fun, and tastes surprisingly good too!

After lunch in their greenhouse dining room, you’ll take the farm tour where you learn how surprisingly tedious vanilla is to cultivate, requiring hand-pollination and months of curing before it’s ready to use.

If you don’t have time for the full tour and lunch, you can still stop by their gift shop to browse locally made vanilla products like vanilla extract, body lotions, and seasonings. 

They also sell vanilla drinks to-go, though fair warning, I didn’t like my vanilla coffee.

5. Mauna Kea Tea Farm Tour

The Mauna Kea Tea Farm Tour is a peaceful, slow-paced experience that leads you through a native ohia forest and into the tea fields themselves. 

As you walk among rows of tea plants, you’ll pass fruit trees and wild vegetation, which you’ll get to sample. Enjoy wild orchids and other seasonal blooms, and make friends with the occasional farm animal crossing your path.

The walk ends at a small tea house with large windows overlooking the property. 

Here, you’ll sip artisanal green teas and enjoy light snacks served in the Japanese Senchadō style, a guided but casual loose-leaf tea ceremony that teaches simple brewing techniques and encourages you to use all your senses to appreciate your cup.

The tea is delicious, and the atmosphere feels incredibly calm and serene. 

They make different tea blends, including: 

• Coconut green tea
• Ginger turmeric green tea
• Orthodox black tea

Children under 5 are discouraged from attending so the experience stays quiet and enjoyable for everyone.

6. All About the View ATV Tour

The All About the View ATV Tour is a blast and not as commercialized like some other tours.

You’re riding in a covered UTV through a working ranch, sampling fresh fruit along the way, and learning about the history of the land and the sugar plantation days of yore.

The UTVs are easy to drive (or you can ride with someone if you’d rather not), but dress for dirt cuz this ride gets dusty! 

The route passes gardens and grasslands with a stop at a fishpond to feed ducks and tilapia. You can even try catch-and-release fishing the tilapia if you want.

Follow a path along the historic Hamakua Ditch and see the ranch’s herd of rescue donkeys, the Kona Nightingales, on your way to the coastline. 

The tour ends with a stop to enjoy the sweeping ocean views where you can see Waipio, Pololu, and maybe even Maui on clear days.

7. Waipio Valley Lookout Road Bike Tour

Big Island Bike Tours is a 3-4hour scenic ride that starts in Waimea’s paniolo (cowboy) country and ends at the stunning Waipio Valley Lookout. 

Choose between a regular bike or an ebike to cruise the backroads of Old Mamalahoa Hwy to Honoka’a before continuing the final stretch to the lookout, which is often described as one of the best bike rides on the Big Island. 

The full ride covers about 38 miles with a maximum elevation of roughly 2,800 feet. 

You’ll feel safe as the tour keeps the groups small with a max of six people, and is led by a CPR-certified guide while being supported by a SAG vehicle.

Included in the ride are a helmet, Big Island Bike Tours water bottle, Skratch hydration drink, a trailside snack, and rain gear if needed. 

8. Waipio Valley Shuttle

The Waipiʻo Valley Shuttle honestly surprised me with how incredible it was.

In an open-air 4WD van, they are the only company permitted to take visitors to the valley floor. 

The road itself is an adventure as it’s one of the steepest in the US, with a 25% grade (some spots up to 45%!). 

It winds down the cliff over lush jungle scenery, revealing parts of the valley you couldn’t see from the lookout.

I even spotted humpback whales breaching in the distance as we descended.

Once on the bottom, we stopped for pics of Hi’ilawe Falls, one of the tallest on the island, drove past residents’ homes, and took a break by a refreshing stream. 

What struck me most was how quiet it is in the valley. No hum of electricity, no traffic, not even planes overhead. Just perfect stillness and the sounds of nature.

For an extra fee, they will let you stay at the black sand beach for two hours and pick you back up with the next passing tour. 

9. Waipio Horseback Riding Tour

Waipiʻo on Horseback (run by the same company as the All About the View ATV Tour) offers guided ride.

After a quick safety demo at the stables, you’ll be paired with your horse before setting off on a relaxing ride through the working ranch, taking in the surrounding natural beauty overlooking ocean views, while learning about Hawaiian history and legends from your guide. 

⚠️This tour does NOT go down or near Waipio Valley like their website says.

You’ll get to see lots of wild and ranch animals and try fresh seasonal fruits from their property.

The tour lasts about 2 hours and is open to ages 7 and up.

10. Eucalyptus Trees

You’ll probably spot the eucalyptus forests driving up along the Hamakua Coast. The stretch towards Waipio Valley was hand-planted by a Japanese farmer over a hundred years ago. 

You might find a place to pull over on the side of the highway to take a look, but I did find an easy road where you can leisurely drive through the quiet forest with endless eucalyptus trunks. It’s labeled on my Big Island Travel Map.

⚠️ Please Note: these are NOT rainbow eucalyptus trees.

11. Waipio Fruit Stand

The Waipiʻo Fruit Stand claims to be the “world’s cutest fruit stand”, and I’d have to agree! 

It’s a flamboyant, fun place to chillax for a bit before continuing your drive.

Grab a seat at a picnic table or kick back in a hammock while taking in the ocean views across the road. You might even make some feathered friends, as muscovy ducks often wander around the property.

The fruits are harvested on property, so everything is as fresh as it gets. 

Whether you’re looking for a whole coconut to drink, a seasonal fruit bowl, refreshing cane juice, or banana bread, they’ve got ’em. Just be warned the menu is a bit pricey.

12. Alualoa Family Farm Store

Alualoa Family Farm has its macadamia nut and coffee orchards spread along the Hamakua Coast, with a small retail store and commercial kitchen right in Honoka’a, set inside a historic sugarcane haul truck fueling station.

The shop is cozy, lined with rows of roasted Hamakua macadamia nuts and bags of their own Hamakua coffee. 

The sweet owners offer free samples of their nut flavors, which include:

• Sea salt
• Chocolate
• Lilikoi
• Chili spiced
• Maui onion & garlic
• Pineapple & coconut
• Coffee liqueur
• Cinnamon spice

Personally, I find the flavors more on the subtle side, pleasant enough though. I still prefer Paradise Meadows macadamia nuts down south, but it’s fun to taste the variety here.

They don’t offer coffee samples, but you can buy a to-go cup of their smooth roast while you browse.

13. Kalopa State Park

Tucked inland and a bit off the beaten path, Kalopa State Park is a peaceful 100-acre park that preserves a slice of native Hawaiian forest. 

Peaceful and uncrowded, these trails wind through a lush native forest with no big views, just pure greenery (kinda reminds me of the Makaula O’oma Trail).

Because of its elevation and location on the wet side of the island, the ground here is rarely dry. Expect puddles along the trails and wear sturdy shoes you don’t mind getting wet. 

💁‍♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: You might also want to bring insect repellent as the mosquitos are known to be bad here (they leave me alone though for some reason).

The park also offers cabins and tent camping with a permit if you are looking for a cheap place to stay.

14. Shopping Downtown

Downtown Honoka’a has an eclectic mix of boutiques, antique stores, and small gift shops. You never know what you’ll find.

You could easily spend an hour or two browsing shelves filled with Hawaiian-made goods, quirky souvenirs, or fine art.

There are other places in town to find lunch with a variety of choices.

💁‍♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: Shops here keep relaxed hours (and some close midweek), so if there’s a store you’re excited about, check their schedule before you go.

15. Donna’s Cookies

Donna’s Cookies have a bit of a cult following among locals and repeat visitors. 

The shop sits just outside of Honoka’a, in what feels like the middle of nowhere along the highway. Blink and you’ll miss it.

You’ll order through a small window where fresh cookies are baked daily in varieties like:

• Shortbread
• Chocolate chip
• Macadamia nut
• Peanut butter
• Candied sprinkles
• Chinese almond
• Oatmeal raisin
• Corn flake
• Coconut 

Sadly, they don’t offer samples.

You can buy a small bag of cookies or mix and match your favorites into half-gallon or gallon-sized jars or buckets.

Personally, I still prefer the shortbread from Big Island Candies, but I’ll let you be the judge.

To be more efficient with your travel schedule, you might want to combine your visit to Honoka’a with a visit to the Kohala Peninsula and/or Waimea.