One of our favorite activities that we did in Maui was visit the Maui Tropical Plantation. Most people I know that travel to Hawaii hang out at the beach the whole time. We did our fair share of exploring the beach, but we also wanted to experience some of the other sights. And what better sight (and smell) than seeing where tropical plants grow.
We discovered the Maui Tropical Plantation one rainy afternoon when we were looking at TripAdvisor. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were so glad that we made time to go check it out.
The Tour
Admission to the Maui Tropical Plantation is free, but to really experience it I recommend going on the tram tour. It takes you through the park and a tour guide points out different plants and interesting sights. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. Around the half-way point she got out and did a demonstration of cutting open a coconut. (Around this time it also started pouring down rain. Good thing we had ponchos in our backpacks!) Even though the tram/train ride is under cover, the sides are open and when it started pouring, we would have gotten soaked.
Even with the short downpour, it was still a really fun tour and we enjoyed it. Some of the scenery right after it rained reminded me of the Jurassic Park movies.
After our tour, we got free fresh fruit from the gelato/fruit stand. (It’s included with the price of your tram tour). The fruit was gorgeously displayed and yummy!
There are fun gift stores to browse, a large pond with ducks, and a lot of other interesting stores. They also had a zip line throughout the park which looked like a lot of fun. We got island-made gelato (dairy-free!) and it was amazing. A year later and my family still talks about that amazing gelato.
The Mill House Restaurant
Since we were enjoying ourselves so much and it was almost dinnertime, we decided to check out one of the restaurants (the Mill House). We were so glad we did. It was one of our favorite meals on Maui. Most everything was either farm to table or local and delicious.
If you’re in Maui, I highly recommend you check out the Maui Tropical Plantation. We enjoyed our time very much, even though it was raining off and on most of the time we were there. It was also January so not all the plants were in bloom. It was still a great time and we highly recommend it.
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