Booking choice: The Lydgate Farms chocolate tour, from $145 per person. Check dates Compare the options below
Lydgate Farms does not allow children under 9, including infants in carriers, because the three-hour tour is best suited to older children and adults. That rules it out for many families, but not for chocolate.
Families with younger children have three good options on Kauai: the Lydgate tasting room in Kapaa, Princeville Botanical Gardens and the organic fruit farm near Kilauea.
The quick answer
Lydgate Farms takes children from age 9, with a child fare for 9 to 13. Under-9s cannot join, but the farm's walk-in tasting room in Kapaa (Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 4 PM) welcomes them. Princeville Botanical Gardens has a child fare from age 2, and the Kilauea fruit farm tour is stroller accessible.
What is the minimum age for the Lydgate Farms tour?
Nine: the farm does not allow children under 9, including infants in carriers.
List your children's ages when you book; the farm checks the rule. The tour is about three hours, with a long walk on sloping grass before a seated tasting, which is why the farm sets the limit.
Kids 9 and up? Check weekday dates; the child fare covers ages 9 to 13.
Check dates for the Lydgate Farms chocolate tourDo kids pay less?
Yes: the child fare applies to ages 9 to 13.
Tips and farm shop purchases are extra, as for adults. For the full breakdown, see chocolate farm tour prices.
Will a 9 to 12 year old enjoy it?
Most do if they like food and being outdoors: they pick up fresh cacao fruit, honey and a lot of chocolate.
The catch is length. Three hours is long for some children, and a few adult reviewers say it runs a little long. Book the 9 AM start while they are fresh, bring water and bug spray, and check what to wear and bring.
What can you do with children under 9?
Visit the Lydgate chocolate tasting room in Kapaa town, which the farm itself recommends for families with younger children.
It is at 4-1379 Kuhio Highway in Kapaa, open Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 4 PM, with no reservation needed. You get the farm's chocolate without the three-hour walk, and it fits around a beach morning.
Is Princeville Botanical Gardens good for families?
Yes for children who can manage a three-hour walk: the child fare starts at age 2, and infants can come on a parent's lap.
Parents must stay with their children throughout, and the garden asks you to judge honestly whether your child will enjoy the tour. There are stairs and gravel slopes, so it is not stroller territory. Walking sticks, umbrellas and bug spray are provided, and one guest called it "fun and interesting for the whole family".
Travelling with under-9s? Princeville's garden walk has a child fare from age 2 and the tip included.
Explore the Princeville garden and chocolate tourWhat about the organic fruit farm?
It is the easiest farm tour with small children: two hours, 10 people at most, and stroller and wheelchair accessible.
Children 3 to 12 have a child fare, and kids get to pick and taste whatever is ripe from nearly 2,000 trees. You need your own car to reach the meeting point near Kilauea. It is a fruit tour rather than a chocolate tour, though cacao is among the fruit guests report tasting.
Toddlers along? The fruit farm tour is stroller accessible and takes 10 people at most.
Check dates for the organic fruit farm tourWhat about chocolate tours on the other islands?
They are more flexible on age: Maui's Ku'ia Estate takes children from 3, and Oahu's Kamananui orchard has a child fare from 5.
Both are 90-minute tours, easier for short attention spans than Kauai's three hours. One Oahu guest travelled with family members aged 8 to 67. See Hawaii's chocolate farm tours compared.
How do you plan a family chocolate day on Kauai?
Split the family if ages differ, or pick the tour that fits the youngest child.
- All kids 9 and over: the Lydgate Farms tour, 9 AM start.
- Mixed ages: older kids and one parent on the Lydgate tour, the rest at the Kapaa tasting room and the beach.
- Under-9s and a garden lover: Princeville Botanical Gardens.
- Toddlers or a stroller: the organic fruit farm near Kilauea.
Kids old enough? The Lydgate tour cancels free up to 24 hours before if plans change.
Check dates for the Lydgate Farms chocolate tourFrequently asked questions
Can a baby go on the Lydgate Farms chocolate tour?
No. The farm does not allow children under 9, including infants in carriers.
Is the Lydgate tasting room open to children?
Yes. The farm recommends its tasting room in Kapaa to families with younger children; it is open Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 4 PM.
Which Kauai tasting tour is stroller friendly?
The organic fruit pick and taste tour near Kilauea is stroller and wheelchair accessible. Lydgate Farms and Princeville are not.
What age is the child fare at Lydgate Farms?
Ages 9 to 13.
Ready to book
Choose your tasting
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every option. Prices are from-prices in USD and move with the season.
Kauai Chocolate Farm Tour & Tasting
- Three-hour guided tour of the Lydgate Farms cacao orchard and botanical gardens
- Tastes of estate honey, vanilla, tropical fruit and fresh cacao fruit
- Chocolate tasting, from chocolate-covered macadamias to the 70% estate bar
Princeville Botanical Gardens & Chocolate
- Guided walk through Princeville Botanical Gardens (terraces, creek beds, valley floor)
- Fruit and honey samples, then a tasting of single-origin chocolates from around the world
- Gratuity included; walking sticks, umbrellas and DEET-free bug spray provided
Organic Tropical Fruit Pick & Taste Tour
- Guided walk through the orchards and gardens of a nearly 30-acre organic farm
- Pick and taste the fruit in season from nearly 2,000 trees
- Small group of at most 10; wheelchair and stroller accessible
