Hawaii Plantation Village Reviews

Luv this tour, our tour guide, Bobbi was great. The history of the early immigrants and where they lived is great info. Make sure you have water and a snack. Tour is about 1.5 hrs and it may get a little hot. You walk alot outside from house to house touring the homes of the workers!
Loved it!

What a wonderful find! Special thanks to our giude Ken. Amazing infirmation about plantation times as well as the immigration of the Porteguese, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Porteguese and others to this multicuture stste of Hawaii. Ken was awesome and full of facts, info and history. For us we had a long tour of 2 1/2 hours and was so great!

A native Hawaiian docent conducts the tour, walking you through the various waves of immigrant sugar cane workers by showing homes authentic to the time and place of each group. Combine this tour with a trip to Highway Inn for authentic Hawaiian flavor.

We enjoyed touring the Hawaiian Plantation Village. The tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. She gave a continuous narrative as we toured through the restored and/or copy buildings.The tour was long and informative. The guide stated for those interested tourists, most guides will give great amounts of information. If the tourist is in a hurry, they will give only basic information. Our group was small and we were all fascinated so she really gave us a lot of information. I recommend this tour if you are interested in the history of the Hawaiian plantations. Your tour guide will tell you all about the immigrants that worked the plantations. They have antiques in some of the buildings which are very interesting to see. The guide was also very knowledgeable about the plant life in the Village. The cost is very reasonable.

This out of the way attraction can be easily reached. Nestled in a valley (I think north of Pearl Harbour) volunteer docents who love the Hawaiian way of life guide you through the history of a sugar plantation and the various ethnic groups who formed the work force. Why they came, what they found as their way of life, and how they fit into Hawaiian culture were explained as we explored their reproduced homes, full of authentic artifacts. Our docent, Gary was both humorous and a fountain of knowledge.
At the end of the tour we were treated to an unexpected lunch courtesy of Auntie Esty who is the docent for the earlier tour. Small groups, personal involvement, lots of laughs, who could ask for more especially for $12.00 (seniors) for a half day entertainment.

A must try. We had a lovely time here and the staff was wonderful. The food was fantastic and we also will come back again and again.

A very nice place to visit while you are in the area give you a good look at the way of life in Hawaii

Fred was our docent. The gents was fantastic is many different ways. Folks, in places that rely on the quality of the docent, that makes or breaks the visit. Read Hawaii by Michener and then go. If not interested in history, do not go

This place is a hidden treasure in Waipahu! We had the joy of being escorted by Charlie and his Pomeranian Tomo. Charlie is 90 and can truly "talk story" about growing up on a cane plantation and about Waipahu history. We learned a great deal about the major ethnicities who worked the plantations and saw how the houses were tailored to their cultures and needs. Our tour took about two hours. I'd rather learn in a place like this than idle at Waikiki!

Really great insight into plantation and immigration era. Our tour guide Charlie (and Tomo) were the best!! Very knowledgeable and interesting. Ironic that the Missionaries came to save the Hawaiian People, but many of the decendants of the Missionaries owned the plantations that exploited the labor of Hawaii and it's people (as well as immigrants).

Spent $13 per person to spend three hours finding out what trees are, basic functions of stoves and wanting to leave, yet was trapped - on a three hour tour - that could have taken one hour. The village looked really interesting, too bad the your went too long and we did not get to see all of it.

I've lived in Hawaii for 6 years now (Mililani) and have been many places in the military. Gotta say when I have to leave here the Haunted Plantation will definitely be something I will miss. I've gone every Halloween since I found it 4 years ago, and I've made a point to take as many friends as possible every year after the first time.

The long lines full of locals willing to wait sometimes over an hour to get into this thing should be testament enough to its greatness, but just in case that doesn't convince you - it's worth the wait (and that extra few bucks for a fast pass... yeah, it's annoying to pay more, but the lines... I always cave and get one). It's like 10 haunted houses in one cuz the plantation village is made of MANY houses, and you are led through several of them, all creepy as all get out! Then just when you think you're done, they chase you with chain saws. (I'm not spoiling anything, you can hear them roaring while you wait in line... you can hear the screaming too, and it's the customers - the actors moan and yell and shout, but it's the customers who scream.)

This is more traditional style haunted house, meaning they try to make it look HAUNTED, not like a slaughter or torture house. Full of ghosts and zombies and darkness and strobes and eerie mists and lots of great pop-out factor coupled with a little of "somebody's been following us for the past 3 houses now". These actors go all out too - not just with great costumes and make up (some of them even use contacts) but the more you scream the more they love messing with you.

They are good at finding great hiding places with low visibility to pop out or slowly, creepily emerge from, and regularly crawling up on the rooves of the houses to hang down and grab at you. They are good at being quiet to sneak up on you so you don't see til they're in your face. Last year I even saw an actor straddle-crawl up the wall so she had one hand and one foot on either side of a narrow hallway so she would be OVER the people behind us. Who would look *up* inside a one-story house? They are the best! It even scares the exchange students from Japan and Korea who are used to obake-style Asian ghosts and they thought it would be lame! So much screaming and holding to each other's arms for dear life, it was great! :D

Did I mention that unlike many haunted houses where you pay $30 and it lasts like 6-8 minutes, it takes a good 15 minutes to get through this thing? Up to 20 minutes if you get stuck behind people going slow because they're whimpering for dear life (happens sometimes). Loads of fun!

Oh WHP, I will miss you when I have to move next year!

Laid back atmosphere of yesteryear. Love to stories and care the staff has given this site. Very authentic, educational and enjoyable

Travel outside of Honolulu to Waipahu for this little gem. It is cultural attraction that highlights how sugar plantations impacted the development of the islands with a number of different ethnic groups over a period of a hundred years. Learn about the real Hawaii.

It's like "Meiji Village" in Japan. We collected and rebuilt the popular/famous people's buildings of Meiji era in one place.

Here, they collected and rebuilt the typical houses which used to be in sugar plantations in Hawaii.

Original houses of Portuguese, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Korean, Filipino and Chinese. They have a barber shop, a German shop, Japanese Shrine and a Japanese public bath, too,

English & Japanese Speaking guide show us around. It's 90-120 minutes tour.
But you'd better call to make sure if they are available before you visit since they are volunteer and sometimes doesn't show up

Public bus (The bus 43 from ) stops in front of the village.
From Waikiki, take the bus E and 10 minutes walk to the village. It's faster.

Good to learn the life for the people with different background whose job was the same.

愛知県犬山市にある明治村のように、元々いろんな場所にあった建物を一箇所に集めた村です。

全て１９００年代初頭にハワイのサトウキビ農場にあった家を中国人が買い取ったプランテーションに移築しています。ポルトガル人・プエルトリコ人・フィリピン人・日本人・韓国人等の家が並び、ハワイで同じ仕事をしていた人たちでありながら、自分たちの生活文化を元に生活していた姿を垣間見ることができます。また、厳しい労働条件・差別などもガイドが説明してくれます。

ガイドは当時を知る老齢のボランティアなので、突然お休みしてしまうこともあるようです。
日本語のツアーを希望の場合は電話で確認したほうがいいと思います。

バスは、ワイキキからだとEが多少早く着きますが、１０分ほど歩きます。
ダウンタウンで乗り換えて４３番のバスに乗ると、目の前に着きます。

The plantation village is a good place to learn about some of Hawaii's history. The admission is reasonable and our tour guide was great, very knowledgeable and answered our many questions. It has a nice little store with a variety of Hawaiian items and some handmade things that are truly "made in Hawaii" the sales of which benefit this museum village. Not your typical tourist stop, but it should be if you want to learn about life on the plantation.

This hidden gem is not widely promoted, it is not. Money maker but it is the best interpretive exhibit I have seen anywhere in the US. A guide take you through the homes of plantation workers from various backgrounds (Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese) as different immigrant groups worked on hawaiian plantations. Hard work and impoverished conditions--these were the roots from which many of today's leaders in hawaii have sprung.
The exhibits are moving, compelling and authentic. The guides are first rate at telling the story of the immigrant families. This is very much like the Tenement Museum in New York City's lower east side--also a great small museum.

Hard to find and there is little publicity. It is worth tracking down. It is west of the airport. Plan to spend a half day there. Or bring a picnic lunch. There is not much around in the way of food service. They do have picnic tables though.

If you have small kids like I do, they will love the maze and train ride. No kids, well, don't bother. The drive was far and there are far more exciting things to do if you are without kids. All the stuff they sell at the gift shop, you can purchase everywere else. But my kids (5 & 3) had such a blast! It was fun for them and cheap for me!

We arrived at 12:15 and had just missed the 12 PM tour. We looked in the museum until the 1PM tour. Both the museum and tour were very informative covering the migration of workers into Hawaii.

We enjoyed our 2 hours there and our guide fed the fish as we were passing the ponds so we saw a Kingfisher have a fishy snack.

I definite stop if you are interested in a bit more than sand and surf.

Not the easiest place to get to or find so be sure to use your GPS! There are guided tours of the village and without the narrative and the stories told by the guide, there is not much to see. Our guide was an 89 y/o Japanese gentleman who was a living history lesson. The "village" consists of many different structures that the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Koreans and Filipinos all called home while working the plantation. Each home is filled with many period artifacts used to make the dwelling their home. At the end of our tour, volunteers had several local fruits and sugar cane for us to sample. It was a very interesting tour and we are glad we made the effort to get there.

Fran gave us an excellent tour of early sugar cane immigrant plantation homes and brought alive the lives and histories of seven early immigrant groups. Life, it appears, was similar to America's plantation south for these immigrants. Most interesting were how each ethnic group arranged their plantation owned homes and in particular the differences in the late 1800's/early 1900's kitchens and sleeping arrangements and plants different groups grew and used. We were so interested and asked so many questions we spent easily two hours at the village. I think a must see to get a feel for the history of Hawaii immigration.

Loved it! Knowledgable, friendly, engaging guide. Small tour groups taken on fascinating journey into the past where we saw the houses where sugar plantation workers lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries and many artifacts of their cultures. Many of the Asian ethnic groups represented as well as Portuguese. I now have a much better understanding of the multicultural background of Hawaii.

I think it's a shame that this site is overlooked when hotels make their tour recommendations. We much prefer this over the slick, over-marketed attractions that we have wasted our money on during our vacation to Hawaii and left disappointed.

Wouldn't recommend for young children but for intelligent, curious adults it is bound to be very appealing.

A great exhibit of buildings, artifacts, photographs and plants that defined Hawaiian plantation culture during the era when sugar and sugar cane was king. A visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center shows how early Hawaiian culture evolved. HPV gives Insite into how the economy of Hawaii developed and the plantation culture of immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, Okinawa and others blended to form "local" Hawaii. Their food, music, customs and politics blended and their decendents stayed to create the unique, multicultural society that is Hawaii. Volunteer docents give guided tours and our guide, Gary, was great! He provided both historical and cultural insight to plantation life and how it shaped Hawaii. My reason for not giving 5 stars to Hawaii Plantation Village is that this non-profit run attraction could use more resources. For example, they have been unable to replace flags that were stolen. While there are many plants, including Taro, a patch of sugar cane and pineapple would be a nice addition if resources were available. If you enjoy enjoy history and want insight into modern Hawaii, this is a do not miss attraction for you. Different levels of admission fees, all under $10.00.

Really interesting to see the homes of the plantation workers and hear stories about how people lived and worked. We were lucky to have guests on our tour who had grown up on plantations in the area so got to enjoy more first-hand stories. Had been here before but missed the tour the first time; the tour is definitely worthwhile. We started out with a sampling of tropical fruits - very interesting.

Our group of 6 (DH, me, 2 sons aged 8 and 14, grandma and grandpa) visited as a way to put the other sites we were seeing into historical perspective. We came the first full day we had on the itinerary, but arrived slightly after the last tour had left and weren't in the mood to read a lot of plaques to ourselves. We returned a few days later and took the guided tour.

The tour was supposed to last one hour and lasted over 2 instead. Whether it was worth all that time is a question that would get different answers from different members of our party. My 8 year old was bored out of his mind (so we handed him the Switch). My 14 year old is a history buff, so it was mildly interesting to him. My husband and I are of the age that we remember some of the old things in the sample houses, but not many (things like bottle cap string toys...anyone?). Oddly, my in-laws, though of a generation that should be very familiar with a lot of what was on display and talked about, didn't seem particularly interested. Who knows why.

I never knew so many groups emigrated en masse to Hawaii from so many diverse places. Did you know Norwegians came to Hawaii? (Surprise - they didn't thrive as they weren't used to the climate.) This explains why there's Portuguese Bean soup on the menu at Zippy's, and a Buddhist shrine in the Valley of the Temples. It was also interesting to see how the styles of housing offered were changed and adapted to different cultures as well as differing demands from the workers over time. Even comparing construction methods from then to now, or from that era in that climate to what I knew of that era in more temperate zones was fascinating. (HINT: These sorts of topics are mainly what this place and the tour is about - or at least what our tour was about. If these ideas are interesting to you, take the tour! If you'd rather be on an amusement park ride, there's a Wet 'N Wild a few minutes away by car.)

I enjoyed our tour, but do wish it went at a faster clip. I also think what an individual tourist will get out of it may depend greatly on the guide you luck into. I'm not sure but I think the place is run by volunteer docents, so you kind of get what you get. In retrospect, it may have been better for us to have just read the placards at our own (presumably faster) pace, walk thru the houses and do our own thing. I wouldn't want to discourage people from doing just that, especially if the tour isn't available or doesn't fit your schedule. I know they probably don't have the money for it, but one of those 'audio self-guided' thingies where you hold a phone up to your ear and it plays a recording of info would be ideal for this place.

It did have a rather unique gift shop. It has T-shirts and typical things you'll find in other gift shops, but it also has a plethora of items which are directly or at least tangentially related to the history of Hawaii, the cultures which make up modern-day Hawaii and the tour you just took. Better than that, these items are handmade by locals and their sale directly supports the museum. For instance, I picked up some potholders, a cushion for my back in the car and a Japanese neck pillow. They were items I needed anyway, the potholder was a simple example of Hawaiian quilting with a pineapple motif and the others are all Asian-themed. They're not typical souvenirs from Hawaii, but they're all beautiful as well as practical, I remember where I got them, I consider them authentic examples of contemporary Island craftsmanship and they will remind me for years of my trip to Hawaii and the Plantation Village. Besides- like I need another t-shirt????

I do think it's really important that places like this are here and supported. The plantation in the historical sense has left Hawaii, but that economic and social model informed so much of its history, I don't think it should all be swept under the rug, bulldozed and developed over. It's important to remember this. And as that lifestyle recedes farther into history, the need for places like it will only grow. Perhaps in the near future, this place can secure funding from the State to get one of those audio gizmo's and give the docents a break!

Off the beaten track, and well worth seeing. This is a fascinating glimpse of life on Hawaiian plantations from the point of view of the various ethnic groups who were brought over to work the fields. Homes and shops give a good perspective on culture and living conditions for the Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Portuguese, etc.

Admission is by tour, and the volunteers who take you around are knowledgeable and enthusiastic. This is an eye-opening opportunity to see the area's history in a comprehensive way not presented by other museums. Don't miss it.

For visitors looking for "the real old Hawaii" a trip to Waipahu's Hawaii's Plantation Village is a must. The Village is a living museum chronicling the 100 year history of plantation life in Hawaii. The recreation features the housing, plantation business offices, "saimin"(ramen) stand, worship temple, barber shop, general store and community meeting hall nestled in a taro-patch setting featuring spring water bubbling up to flood the field. Kids can "catch-release" fish in the pond.
Events are part of the "Plantation Life" at Hawaii's Plantation Village. Depending when you are there, you might go to the free entry events: Chinese New Year, Portuguese Day, O-Bon Dance event, or the "Haunted Village" at Halloween(entry fee for this event).
The Okada Educational and Administration building is closed right now but the HPV Board is working to have it re-opened. The building features arts and crafts, classroom area, historical exhibits featuring artifacts from the plantation life, and a store to purchase snacks, drinks and authentic craft items.

it was a quiet day at the village, we walked around the old cottages. It was very interesting to see all the different ethnic cottages, it brought you back to another time and for one of my friends it was memories of how it was growing up in Hawaii. this is something to teach the new generations of how things were.

Excellent personalized visit that explains a lot of Hawaiian history in a credible way. Our native guide had a great knowledge of the customs of the time including the vegetation in the area and the various immigrants groups from Hawaiian past, very interesting for adults.

Used to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center and thought that was interesting. Now it's SO commercial and SO expensive. Saw this little Waipahu gem in a magazine and we were very thankful we did! Very reasonable admission price and we learned such interesting information from our amazing tour guide Ken. We spent several hours walking and learning and got much more detail than from anywhere else we've been. Ken was also wonderful about answering questions and was well versed in many cultures as other reviewers have mentioned. We loved that we got natural and cultural history, flora, fauna; a really great mix of information. Agreed that it's not really good for small kids.

400,000 men and women came to Hawaii to live and work on sugar plantations from 1835 to 2016. They came as far away as Norway and Siberia to Japan, China, Korea, as well as Puerto Rico. At this museum you can view their working conditions, housing, in 20+ buildings. There were beautiful flora and working commercial farm. We were fortunate enough to have a tour guide named Robert who is also on the board who give us more than an hour tour of the facilities and the museum. He grew up near the area while his family was still working there.

This is off of the beaten path but well worth locating and experiencing. It is an "outdoor museum" of the life and times of the early sugar plantation workers.

This is a very laid-back way to explore some of recent Hawaiian history, namely that of the sugar plantations. This site has reconstructed houses, temples, and even a general store that largely represent the Hawaiian plantations around 1919. Although the various ethnic groups were originally on different plantations (to prevent labor organizing), here the houses are seen together: Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Okinawan, and even Puerto Rican! This site goes a long way in explaining the vast diversity that exists in Hawaii today.

The plantation is a little bit of a drive from Waikiki, about 30mins, but it is well worth it. Everything we read said the tour was about a hour, ours was 2 hours. We had a great guide, Charlie, and his little dog Tomo. He was extremely knowledgeable and had personal experience having lived on the plantation as a child. For us having Charlie as our tour guide and hearing his personal stories made the visit even better. It would have been nice to have had a few minutes to walk around the village houses our selves to get some good pictures, but, but your only allowed on the grounds with a tour guide. A definite must see!

We had a wonderful informative tour of the village by Espy, a docent who has done these tours for 20 years. She grew up as a child in a plantation and has many stories to tell about those days and the various ethnic groups who worked in the fields of Hawaii. Be prepared for warm weather outside and inside these various homes. The tour can easily by 2 1/2 hours long. You can buy water at the check in trailer where you buy tickets. You can also reserve tickets online.

This is way out of the way village that really shows how the Plantation Workers lived. There are great examples of real living conditions. This is not Disneyland, there are no big attractions but it is real cottages,inexpensive, really fun to walk through, and the staff is really friendly

This could be a great educational venue for kids, but only with a lot of work. The site consists of a number of small wood houses purportedly in different ethnic bases, e.g. Portugese, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Most of these older structures need some mold remediation, although this will be most apparent to those with respiratory issues. There are some interesting trees and plantings, including swamp taro (Colocasia) and dry land taro (Alocasia), but these are not mentioned except in passing.

The real problem is that this is a volunteer/docent tour facility, and that means you're at the mercy of luck in terms of who shows you around. Let me mention how best a bad volunteer tour guide can ruin the visit. First, make sure you don't pay any attention to time and let your "hour" tour go on and on and on, up to 2 hours or more. Second, make sure visitors are insulted in a casual way. Third, don't learn the facts about what's on the tour and instead base your tour on your own life etc., Fourth, don't mention anything about the basics of Hawaiian plantation life, or at least not enough to teach visitors the realities of that life. Fifth, make sure you denigrate in the most slighting way Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander foods grown on the site, e.g. taro

If your tour guide does all of these things then I can guarantee that you'll wind up with bored and ready to go kids, bored and unhappy adults, and everyone feeling - when they finally figure out a way to bail or the tour eventually ends, that this was a purely wasted expenditure of time and money.

Good luck.

We took a tour of the plantation with Don, a kind woman of Korean descent. She described all the houses and ethnicities very well and really made us imagine what life was like back then.
The tour lasted an hour and 15 minutes and cost 15 dollars per person. We combined it with a visit to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
I can certainly recommend a visit here!

Shows you the history of how different ethnic backgrounds lived during the Sugarcane Plantation days in old Hawaii. Experience the different cultures and housing.Very neat learning experience and if youre lucky you may experience the supernatural. Ghost Hunters television show filmed here.

The informative tours are every hour (on the hour). They last about 90 minutes. You learn how each wave of plantation workers effected Hawaii. Each nationality brought with them part of their culture for example when the workers from Puerto Rico came they brought coffee. This is a popular place for school tours. There is a shaded area with picnic tables near the entrance. The small store at the museum sells locally made handicrafts and soda. This was an interesting place especially for history buffs but be prepared that you will be standing/walking for (most of) the 90 minute tour. Not strenuous but we have been spoiled with other museums like the Mission House and Iolani Palace that have many opportunities to sit while listening to their tour guide. While on tour I didn't notice a bug problem but the tour guide did remind everyone to carry their water bottles, sunscreen and bug spray with while on tour. The tour guide herself was wearing a 'clip-on mosquito repellent' by Off and she let us know she was carrying a Curel Itchy Skin Relief tube if anyone needed it.

Even though I wrote this review through Google Plus, since I can't link the two accounts, I'll do a rewrite, as you don't want to miss this one if you are on the island of Oahu. Let me begin by stating that we stay at the Hawaiian Princess property way out in Makaha, the poorer part of the island, where you are surrounded by diversity. Hawaii Plantation Village is about 20 minutes west of Honolulu, yet light years away in terms of pace, The last of the sugar plantations, this one closed after almost 100 years in the mid-1980's. The first imported workers came from China, the next from Portugal; this labor import continued with Japan, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, Korea, and the Philippines. On this site, they have reconstructed houses that represent each group, although in reality workers from each country would be sent to separate plantations (to avoid labor organizing). There is also a Chinese temple, a doctor's office, and a general store -- fascinating. It has to make you reflect on the vast change created by the sugar plantations to the population of Hawaii today.

We decided to take the tour to see the real Hawaii. As a walk-in--you are assigned to a tour "on the hour." You can't walk around the site on your own. We were the only ones in our group and were very interested in seeing what it must have been like as an immigrant to Hawaii brought to the island for a sugar contract. Our tour took 2 1/2 hours. The first 30 minutes was a lecture by our very learned tour guide while we sat at a picnic table. We thought that we would never start walking. We walked thru the tunnel and it was explained to us that we were going back in time to 1913 and would be walking for 27 years. (The last house was a depiction of what a house would have been like in 1940 for an immigrant family.) And yes--it felt like we were on the tour for 27 years--our guide talked and talked and talked about why Hawaii was not a melting pot, but was rather "multicultural." Despite the fact that my mother in law is 80 something and despite the fact that the tour could have been tailored individually to our group--our guide continued to expound on this topic until we started feeling like hostages. My mother in law--finally told him that she had to sit or else she was going to collapse--and even that didn't stop the lecturing. She then dragged out the orange juice and told him that she was dying of thirst and he still kept on talking. We would have preferred hearing more about the historical objects in the houses we went into, but frankly--I was afraid to ask any more questions for fear of making the tour even longer. This is an incredibly interesting site--but the tour was geared more to the sociology/history of the groups of immigrants who came to work on the sugar plantation rather than to what their day to day lives were like. This is absolutely not a site that children or teenagers would enjoy. (Or maybe they give the school groups a different type of tour.) The price was reasonable and after the tour I now feel qualified to deliver a lecture on the difference between a melting pot and a multicultural type of society.

Interesting review of immigration in Oahu, a nice few hours visit and walk. Small shop for tshirts, etc..

Lorena was our tour guide extraordinaire! She provided an excellent background, history and anecdotal stories of life on a sugar plantation in the 1800s and 1900s. Her parents came from Japan to work at the sugar plantation, and she had many interesting insights about plantation life. She described the fascinating history of the various immigrant groups that came to Hawaii to work on the plantation. She brought the history alive! The Village consists of replica houses of the immigrant groups, and each house contains interesting artifacts from the relevant time periods. Lorena also talked about the different trees, plants and flowers at the Village. She was an incredible wealth of knowledge. I was born and raised in Hawaii, and I still learned so much from Lorena. This tour completely took me by surprise - it was excellent, and I would highly recommend it to visitors. Nothing touristy about this tour - very authentic and interesting.

As someone who grew up in Hawaii with connections to plantation life, this was such a great experience! I recognized a lot of the styles, materials, houses, furniture, utensils, clothing, etc. With the end of the plantation era here, this museum will become more and more special and important to the descendants of plantation workers. What a gift this place is. I learned so much on my visit, thank you!

...if you have any interest in the history of Hawaii. If the Disney + Osmond's nature of the Polynesian Cultural Center turns you off, this is a much better option for learning about the culture of Hawaii. You will understand why Hawaii is a melting pot of people who all mostly get along. The early plantation days created the Hawaii as we know it today. Plantations drew from populations around the world to man the ever growing crop fields. See replicas of buildings that housed different peoples and hear stories about their lives. The 1.5 hour tour is offered a few times a day, take one. I don't think you will get much from a visit without taking a tour.

Our guide Gary was the epitome of a Hawaiian tour guide. He was intimately familiar with the island and could "talk story" for hours. He was very knowledgeable about the island's history, myths, and superstitions. I highly recommend visiting the Plantation and learning about the multicultural contributions to make Hawaii what she is today.

When we lived in Makakilo/ Oahu from 2004 till 2005 we went shopping a lots of times in Waipahu. On a weekend we visit the site. Interesting view back in history when Filipinos where working the pineapple and sugarcane fields.

So much to see. Leave time to listen and follow the docent. Our docent was an amazing person with so much historical facts and delivered in a way that came from his own experience having worked and lived on a sugar plantation. We had the added benefit of being the last tour with only me and my wife.

Tour exposed us to the life of immigrants to Hawaii! Read about this tour in travel book "Oahu Revealed". So happy we took the tour! Our tour guide Lorene was so knowledgeable and made the tour "come to life". Tour was two and a half hours (an hour more than advertised) and we enjoyed every minute! Would highly recommend!

I really struggle with this one. The "Village" has two parts; the "museum" where you check in, and the "village" where docents discuss plantation life. The "museum" part was very interesting, and we would have liked to have spent more time exploring it. The "village" part, not so much. The docent leading the tour needed more training on focusing on the matter at hand, not her personal experiences and life. What was expected to be a 90 minute tour stretched on, and we bailed after two hours, in order to catch the bus back to Waikiki before rush hour.

The village is definitely worth going to for the "museum" section, and maybe a self directed browse through the buildings, if that's even possible.

We took a bus from Honolulu to get here, and had to walk several blocks from the bus stop to the plantation village, but it was well worth it. Our guide, Ken, was a walking history book....his father was one of the plantation workers years ago so he had an insider's view as well as being extremely knowledgeable about the history of Hawaii in general. We were so enthralled that even after the walking tour was over, we visited with Ken for another hour. It was a "hands on" walking tour through a reconstructed village that was divided into sections representing each of the cultures that had been brought to Hawaii to work in the fields....Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Phillippino, Cubans.....people from all over were enticed there to work, and then often found their hopes dashed by the reality of the harsh life they often faced. Definitely worth the visit!

Booked the guided tour - TOTALLY worth it! It wasn’t just someone telling you history - our guide was sharing HIS history. His family lived the life and told the stories. Great “off the beaten path” place to get a feel for what Hawaii was really like over a century ago.

This village is a re-creation of a historic sugar cane plantation with houses that show the differences of the cultures of several different nationalities of workers. It is accessible via guided tour. Our guide was quite knowledgeable but a little difficult to understand with a heavy accent. But he was friendly and patient with the good sized group that toured with us. We particularly enjoyed the general store with it's antique products. Each house is furnished with the type of sleeping quarters and cooking styles of the diverse peoples who occupied them. A couple of the buildings are undergoing restoration. There is a very small two-room museum at the visitor center and we found their displays extremely interesting also. They have a large staff of volunteers who look after the property very well. There was a modest entrance fee that covered everything.

The plantation village is a little difficult to spot. We drove past and had to turn around. So glad we did. There are a series of houses that have been reconstructed to illustrate different building and cultural styles of the many different people who worked in the plantations. It is a must do to gain an insight into the history of this significant part of Hawaii's history. There are guided tours and they are inexpensive. The tour guides (probably volunteers) add their anecdotal accounts and it is a colourful tour with a lot of history to sift through. We really enjoyed the visit.
The shame is that the village is showing the effects of low funding. I suspect that the admission fees are the only source of income and the volunteers are limited in their capacity to really maintain the village as well as it should be kept. This is an important part of Hawiian history that should be preserved.
Having visited the Dole Plantation, it was refreshing to see a real exhibition that was not focussed on grabbing dollars.
In summary, take the drive out to this exhibition and see real history in an informal and pleasantly relaxed atmosphere.

After the $150 disaster of an evening at Polynesian [Mormon] Cultural Center yesterday, we struck out in a different direction today. We visited the Hawaii's Plantation Village, where, as out-of-state seniors, we paid ten bucks apiece for a small group tour that lasted about three hours. Our docent, Lorene, was personable as well as knowledgeable, weaving in her own (interesting) family lore and personal knowledge with the village narrative. We learned more than we'll be able to remember, and we had a great time.

Hawaii Plantation Villages showcases the diversity of the cultures that make up Hawaii.
It is not glitzy, nor glamorous, but very unique. I read Alan Brennerts Honolulu & after our tour here I could put pictures to his words.
The tour is quite leisurely & the lady who was our guide really seemed to enjoy our input with questions we asked.
I have a better understanding now of Hawaii & her people & cultures having visited here.
This place warrants better recognition.

If you want a good taste of Hawaiin history and cultural aspects go see the sugar cane Plantation Village in Waipahu. I had good directions from mapquest, but the tour guide says that even Hawaiins don't visit the Plantation very often because they can't find it. Spent almost three hours there with a very good tour guide. He knew lots of factual information, and some fun tidbits as well. Most of the buildings on the plantation are reproductions but there are many authentic plantation village artifacts to be seen. The history of the people that worked on the plantation was particularly interesting.

A great tour of the history of the ethnic make up of workers who arrived from 1850-1946. The discord between the different ethnic groups in each culture was amazing. The use of pigeon to communicate when ever they had free time helped to keep the owners at bay, They all belonged to the firm and were paid at different rates by nationality. The guide was excellent and explained how the workers developed their homes and how the houses changed during the 100 years. A great tour with so much information.

Our tour guide was very good and introduced a lot of personal information. Advertised as a 90 minute tour, he kept us interested for 2 hours. He took us through homes representing each of the ethnic groups--Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Okinawan, Portuguese, and Puerto Rican. At the end of the tour you get a taste of the various fruits available. Tour could be long and boring for small children, but appropriate for middle school and older.

I arrived at the Plantation Village and signed up for the next tour--the tours start on the hour between 10 am and 2 pm. I was the only one there, so I received a one-on-one tour. Gary, my tour guide, mentioned that the tour could take up to 2 1/2 hours. He said he could provide me with a condensed version of the tour in 30 minutes. I said why don't we see how things go...and make the call as we go along. In the end, my tour was nearly 3 hours!

Once my tour ended, I was invited inside for a home cooked meal! This far exceeded my expectations--and I'm sure this doesn't happen all the time. I'm sure it had something to do with me being the only visitor that afternoon.

The tour was relaxed and informative. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the sugar plantations or the general history of Hawaii.

My husband and I decided to tour on Monday based on the reviews of Espy as a docent and we were not disappointed. This lady has story upon story of her life as a child growing up on a plantation. She was upbeat and very informative and funny. The website says there are hourly tours but you really need to arrive for the 10 AM tour because if you come at 11 they just tell you to catch up with the 10 AM tour and you miss the beginning. The area traveled is very compact but if you are using a walker, wheelchair or oxygen or cannot stand for 3 hours or cannot tolerate heat if it is hot that day this is not for you. It involves climbing stairs to get into the various buildings and only twice do you sit for a short while. The rest is standing in the buildings or around various trees or shrubs while the docent tells you about them. You will learn things you never knew. Espy offered home made food before the tour and lunch after. Very nice touch. This tour also is not suitable for children unless they are at least high school age and have a real interest in history.

I think this is one of the best educational tours in Oahu. They have recreated plantation living using the immigrant group timelines. The guide we had (Fran) was very knowledgeable as her family came from the plantations. They grow their own typical Hawaiian fruit and produce for the purpose of the tour and sampling for the tourists. To really get the benefit of information from the tour allow at least a couple of hours to meander and look around.

We took a morning and visited the Hawaii Plantation Village, not knowing what we would find. We were very happy we visited. We were given a tour with our guide, Norm. He was very informative with the history of the plantation and the story of the immigration that took place. He had stories of the people who worked there and their families. He was enjoyable to be with and we have a better understanding of the history of Hawaii. We would highly recommend visiting this open air museum.

Found about a paragraph on this place in the Oahu revealed guidebook. They raved about it. So we went over for the 12 noon tour, one that was supposed to be 90 minutes. Ended up spending three hours there. Kenneth, our guide, was the fountain of knowledge on the history of Hawaii and also the history of the world. Great insight into the plantation culture and history of Hawaii and all the ethnicities and different groups that came.Going to go back tomorrow for the Korean new year celebration. Don’t miss it if you’re a history buff.

This visit was interesting and educational but the location is showing it's age and it's lack of upkeep.

We were looking for something to do in Waipahu and stumbled upon this treasure. They offer hour long tours each hour. When we arrived, we had to wait a few minutes because the portable trailer that serves as their office was closed while the one employee was on her bathroom break. As we were paying for the tour, it began raining, so they provided umbrellas for each of us. The tour takes you through homes that belonged to the various cultures and time periods of the yesteryears when the plantation was operating in full swing. It also gives a great history of agriculture of and immigration to the island. My 13 year old niece learned a lot and seemed to really enjoy the tour as well. We learned that in October they host a haunted plantation which is based on a true story. Because my family lives on the island, I was able to pay kame'aina (resident) rates of $8. I'm not sure what the tourist rate is. It was well worth the price for the tour we received.

Plantation Village is a combination of a museum describing the waves of workers who came to work on the sugar plantations and examples of the different types of houses and community buildings. Our tour guide was wonderful: very knowledgable and eager to share stories from his family and friends. Although not mentioned among the most popular or "must see" Hawaii attractions, Plantation Village is at the top of my list of places to go to learn about Hawaii, far beyond just the sugar industry. Just be aware - the guide books said that the tour is 90 minutes; we were there for three hours. You certainly could leave, and other guides might move more quickly, but we did not find the time excessive.

My friends and I were the only ones to visit the plantation today and the staff was so happy to see us! Lance gave us a wonderful tour and was very knowledgeable, adding anecdotes of his personal experience. He was so personable and really demonstrated the spirit of Aloha.talking story with him was a highlight of my trip!

Because of Covid they have very few visitors. This is a safe, outdoor, place to witness realistic replicas of the plantation dwellings. I learned so much and really recommend the tour to anyone who wants to learn more about Hawaii’s diverse history— great for kids too!

This was a fabulous experience! When we arrived a nice lady greeted us and helped us get in on a tour even though we hadn’t made reservations. Another lady offered us a sample of a local dip she has made. Someone took us into the museum where they have a Japanese internment camp. She told us about growing up Japanese in America at the time of Pearl Harbor and her personal story. Next we were assigned Gary the tour guide. Let me tell ya, I’ve traveled the world and taken a lot of tours and this guy is by far the best tour guide ever. He is hilarious and also smart as a whip about the history of the area. Unfortunately we only got about 1/3 of the way through the tour when it started to downpour. The paths were starting to flood and for safety reasons they drove vehicles down and picked us up and took us back up. We’re very bummed we missed the rest of the tour as there was so much more to learn but we are also very grateful they got us out in time as shortly after leaving down the road we came across rushing waters across the road. This was absolutely fabulous! History come to life! So much to look at and see and hear!

Sometimes the beauty and exotic landscape of the tropics makes the paradise-like backdrop take over from the reality of history. At the Plantation Village I got to grips with the reality of native Hawaiian decimation, the history of exploitation and neo-slavery (indenture) of migrants and the facts around the Asian Exclusion laws. At the same time I got to understand the divisions and unifying forces that moulded modern Hawaiian society and its culture. All this from a volunteer guide who embedded her family history into the story. A fantastic experience.

Such an interesting place to learn about different cultures and how people ended-up on Oahu. Gary our guide was wonderful. He shared factual information in a fun way that was very engaging. We even learned about different plants, and tried to guess what they were by their smell. This seems like a hidden gem, and more people need to visit here!

Really enjoyed our Docent who lead our tour. Restored and preserved buildings and housing of the various immigrant workers...many donated with such interesting stories... Our tour had just 4 people, so we were able to enjoy a leisurely narration and personal sharing from our tour guide, a wonderful volunteer with great stories and personal insights. All of us enjoyed the tour and gained much appreciation for the various peoples of Hawaii and the contribution each group of workers brought to the present day Hawaii. There is a small museum but very rich in information.

The Hawaii Plantation Village outside Honolulu provides an unforgettable insight into the daily lives of the plantation workers in the 19th century. The village recreates the cabins that the plantation workers from many different cultures lived in, complete with furniture and artefacts. We went on a Monday and Espy, our volunteer guide, was herself born and raised on a sugar plantation on the island of Kawai'i. The story of her life with her Philippine family brought the past alive for us. She also surprised us by providing a delectable lunch of many traditional foods from the plantation cultures. That makes Mondays, her day, particularly special. Highly recommended!

This was a good place to learn more about the everyday life of people who were the backbone of the Hawaiian plantations. Our family (Dad, Mom and two sons (12 and 10)) chose to walk around by ourselves. I may have chosen differently to have a guide because my sons may have been more interested in someone else talking about the history rather than boring, old Dad. The people in the office were very nice.

We recently hosted some family visiting from the mainland, with this being the first visit to Hawaii for one of them. Since they were coming from Waikiki, we were wondering what they might enjoy on this side of the island. They had already visited the Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin, and the USS Missouri and they were scheduled to visit the Stadium Swap Meet another day. Then, we thought of the Waipahu Plantation Village. I had visited the Plantation Village shortly after they opened, and it had been awhile, so I had forgotten what a wonderful place this was. I'm so glad I took this opportunity to go on the tour with our visiting family because it was fantastic. I wholeheartedly agree with another reviewer who called this place a "hidden gem." It's a great way to step back in time to understand what it was like during the plantation days, with a variety of cultures living in Hawaii. Our tour guide was Robert, and he was fantastic. He used to live in the area, so his knowledge of the place was not just informative but personal. The tour begins on the hour, and we caught the last tour of the day. Our family was the only group on the tour, so we had a great experience and were able to ask questions and interact with Robert. The Plantation Village has replicas of the types of homes each ethnic group would live in, and it's neat because you can actually go inside the home and see how the rooms might have been set up. I don't cook, but I enjoyed going into the kitchens and trying to imagine what it must have been like for the people getting up early to make the meals for the day. All in all, the experience is done extremely well, and I can't imagine a better way to get a feeling and appreciation of the plantation days than with this tour. In addition to visiting the homes, Robert also shared with us about the trees and plants growing in the area. That was very interesting, too. It was a complete tour, and it's something you can't find elsewhere. For a visitor or a resident of Hawaii, to me, it's a must-see. The price is also very reasonable. For us, as kama'aina, it was only $7. There are so many great places to see in Hawaii, and I think that the Waipahu Plantation Village very much belongs high-up on that list. It was not crowded, and that just adds to the experience. If you're looking to appreciate Hawaii's history and gain an understanding of Hawaii today, definitely make the drive to Waipahu. It's slightly off the beaten track, but easily accessible and a unique, not to be missed experience. It is a walking tour, so there are not many opportunities to sit. But, if you're okay with a bit of walking, you'll be just fine. I'm glad I had a chance to visit the Plantation Village and be reminded of what a neat place this is for learning and experiencing.

I saw some things in here that I had not seen before. I recommend seeing this place.

We drove to the Hawaiian Plantation Village and we enjoyed our walk into the life of each ethnic group who journeyed to Hawaii to work the sugar cane fields. We learned that the people of Hawaii are a blend of several nationalities and in this village you are able to see how each group was able to maintain their own personality and religion. What an experience to walk through each house and see the artifacts. The rooms are decorated by time period and it is like walking through a time tunnel. Wear comfortable clothes, shoes, bring mosquito repellent and come prepared to take numerous pictures. As other reviewers have indicated, our guide, Ken, possess a passion for the history of the Hawaiian people given that his father was one of the plantation workers. We enjoyed learning the cultures of each group and we have a better understanding of the challenges the workers faced. The staff who operate the museum are super friendly and their showed us the ultimate in customer service. They actually made us feel as though we were being welcomed into their home. We found $3 off coupons in the tourist magazines and the next time we are in Hawaii, we will visit again.

WOW! After meeting someone whose parents emigrated from the Philippines to work on the plantations in Hawaii and reading the book 'Honolulu' (about a Korean girl who came as a 'picture bride' to marry a Korean man and her experiences on the plantations,) I was anxious to learn more about life during this time in Hawaii's history. At this museum of sorts, you will be led on a tour through typical houses fully furnished as they would be then. Our guide did an excellent job telling us all about the different Asian (as well as Portuguese and Puerto Rica) immigrants. If anything, she talked too long. That was my only issue. She had lots of knowledge, but I think the tour could run a little faster. Be prepared for hot weather. Dress for the heat and bring water. We took our 9 and 10 year olds - they enjoyed it, but were getting very antsy by the end. So was I! I highly recommend the book 'Honolulu' if you have an interest in this topic. The author is Alan Brennert.

Get the non-tourist view of the real Hawaii and learn why Hawaii's golden people are the way they are. It all starts with the importation of people from all over the world starting during the 1850's for cheap labor to farm the lands for sugar. Sampling of physical buildings give a flavor of plantation life during the 1900's but talking story with volunteer docents will give you an idea as to how people from China, Portugal; PuertoRico, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Germany, Spain, Norway, Philipines;USA made an impact on the 50th state's culture when the state was still the Kingdom of Hawaii or a Territory of the USA. The grounds are lush with vegetation from all over the world introduced by those who left home with plants native to their land. Just as the laborors transplanted to Hawaii, so did their fruits, vegetables and trees. Give yourself at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a leisure tour. Best to go early morning, Village opens at 9am Lots of free parking. Also accessible by bus. Wheel chair accessible pathways. Lots of "local" style restaurants in the community. Ask the staff or volunteers for a place to eat.

To be honest - this was a last minute stop after visiting Dole Pineapple (tourist trap -but we still go for the pineapple soft serve) and we really didn’t think we were going to do the tour as we drove in. We searched for museums on our way back to Ko Olina on a rainy day and had such a wonderful learning experience about not only about the sugar cane industry, but the immigration associated with the sugar cane industry and how this shaped modern day Hawaii. Yes there are examples of various ethnic camp homes from the work camps, but for us, this was just a small part of the experience as the highlight was the history and knowledge we gained from our guide - Uncle Ken. I highly suggest doing the in-person narrated tour and make sure you call ahead to make sure that Uncle Ken is working that day - thankful that we did and would recommend you stop in and learn a bit more about Hawaii from the friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Worth taking this trip but make sure you have water etc as you walk a lot.

Four adults and a four year old...with something to interest all of us. We did not take the organized tour due to the youngster wanting to move along faster. Many buildings to visit, from housing to businesses, places of worship to taro fields. We appreciated being able to actually go right in and see things up close, not just from a window or doorway. There is a visitors center with more information and films, plus a small gift shop and picnic grounds. Many parts were not easily accessible if one has limited mobility.

This 70 to 90 minute tour takes you through tine timeline of different ethnic groups and their structures as they arrived to work on a sugar plantation. The tour is the story of the different people and their individual cultures who adapted to the sugar plantation community camp. The structures represent the 7 varied major ethnic groups that came to work in the sugar plantation from 1823 to 1910. In addition, you tour buildings common to plantations, such as the camp store , infirmary, & camp office.
If possible, try to get tour guide Norm who grew up in Waipahu. Norm was wonderful to hear “talk story “ as the actual experiences and stories from his past brought a reality to our afternoon that was truly amazing .
Be sure to wear good walking shoes, wear sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat.
The village office has umbrellas to protect against the hot sun and rain.

We visited the planation today and had a tour with a group of about 10 adults and 4 kids. You have a guided tour around the plantation that includes replicas and one original house from the sugarcane plantation days in Hawaii. They range from a grass hut (original hawaiians) to a two bedroom house with a flush toilet and a phone (Okinawan immigrants in the 1920's). The guide explained about when and where each group of workers came from and how they lived and were treated by the plantation management and one another. It was very interesting. The various groups of workers were paid and housed differently, and since they spoke different languages they were unaware of some of the inconsistencies. The stories were told without rancor or blame. Our guide was a retired teacher and was was full of knowledge and jokes. He not only told you about the lives and living conditions but also about the plants growing on the property. It was really a wonderful insight into the history of Hawaii. And the gift shop was incredibly well-priced handmade goods!

We took the kids here a couple years ago while staying at Ko'o lina. It was easy to find and very interesting. Close to both Honolulu and the west coast resorts. The guise had actually lived there as a child and was extremely knowlegable about the history of the place and Hawaii in general. They have the original buildings, furnished with original items, so it is like stepping back in history. I recently sent my sister and her kids there. They loved it too.

I have lived on Oahu since 1984. I had no idea the Plantation Village existed until I had a guest and happened to look on Trip Adviser for some suggestions on things to do. It offers a fantastic history lesson and the reconstruction of the houses and businesses was done remarkably well. The location offers some shade and very well kept walkways, all next to beautiful taro patches. It is amazing to see how some of the people who came to Hawaii to work the plantations lived. They have an exceptional product to work with and share with the public. The tour is guided and I am sure all the guides are probably volunteers. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the different cultures but offered too many of his own opinions and personal stories, especially on politics. He was very proud of the fact that President Obama is from Hawaii and, unfortunately, almost seemed to give him credit for those plantation workers coming here from all the different parts of the world. With such a good product to share, it's a shame to leave the subject and go into areas where there are so many differing opinions. Had the guide stuck to the subject, I probably would have given the tour a 4 or 5 rating.

Called to plan my trip and arrange for a docent tour. Even though it was only myself and my wife We toured the site with a docent. She provided both history and stories fo the various buildings. We would have missed a lot if we toured on our own. A wonderful history of cultures on the island. A GEM not to be missed.

The train ride through the fileds was very disappointing, jsut a ride through unplanted fields with an audio about how things were in the past. The maze was tought to find the hidden items, but the child had fun there. Otherwise, the plantaiton was gift shops and food to sell you. Tried the ice cream and pineapple slices was surpised the sliced were mostly the hard center. Would not recommend to folks.

We really liked this place.

About a 40 minute drive from Waikiki or about 20 minutes from the Pearl Harbor area. Free parking, admission is $13.00 for adults, kids less. With military or State of Hawaii Id, only $7.00. Free restrooms too.

Starting thru the Time Tunnel, buildings dating from 1850 to 1940...Halau Waa, Hale Moe, Chinese Society Building, Portuguese House, Puerto Rican House, Japanese Duplex, Barber Shop, Okinawan House, Korean House, Wakamiya Inari Shrine(very pretty), Filipino House, Sumo Ring, Saimin Stand, Infirmiry, Camp Office, Fish Pond, etc. Set up as The Village or Camp for the immigrants who were brought over to work the sugar plantations throughout Hawaii in the early 1900's. You will learn about their struggles, hardships and adjustment to their new lives in Hawaii. What the typical work day involved and what they were paid. Our docent guide was well versed and so friendly. Another guide there has been doing tours for over 10 years! How dedicated is that...

Plan about 1 1/2 to 2 hours here. Open Monday - Saturday, with docent tours from 10-2pm on the hour. Tour is about 1 hour and then walk around on your own. Small gift shop and picnic tables if you want to have lunch or a picnic snack.

Young children may be bored but older ones will find it interesting. A very nice diversion from the beach.

5 STARS.

This is a collection of buildings showing the progression of living conditions of workers brought in to work the sugar plantations. The fee was nominal and there were stairs to the second floor in several buildings. Our guide, Howard, was very informative. The buildings could use an infusion of cash but the tour was interesting. We also took bottled water.

While this attraction is open during construction, with plenty of things to view, the main visitor’s center is closed. Only SOME of its items are on display, in the Chinese social building. We would have benefited from seeing the unavailable, 20-minute introduction video.

Here is some information to help make your experience more enjoyable:

Before going, to avoid being disoriented, familiarize yourself with the attraction by watching youtube videos, about the plantation. Also, read the literature on the plantation website, ahead of time.

Bring sun block, insect repellant, a hat, sun glasses, extra water, a heat resistant snack, a notepad and don’t forget your camera.

Wear comfortable shoes, as you will be walking in and out of buildings, up some stairs and standing. There is no place to sit, once the tour starts. Also, the beautiful taro crops, in the working farm, are grown on land containing underground springs, so your shoes may become muddy.

Allow for extra time to see this attraction!!!!! The website stated each tour is 1 and ½ hours long, but our tour lasted at least 3 and ½ hours.

The best time to go would be the 10:00 a.m. tour, as the weather will still be relatively cool and there is no air conditioning inside the plantation village.

Plan where to have lunch ahead of time because the picnic table area maybe closed, due to construction.

If possible, go by car with a g.p.s. or take a MapQuest printout, instead of by bus.

We met our tour guide outside the trailer housing the gift shop and administrative office. Before entering the village, we passed by flags from each plantation laborer’s country of origin, representing the work force. There is a memorial stone dedicated to people who died, without families, while working on the plantation.

By this area, there are two smiling Korean totem poles, erected to symbolize peace and happiness for everyone. The totem guardians are believed to ward off evil and disease.

Next, there is a display of sugar cane stocks, contained inside four wooden posts in a square, to show how tall the crop can grow. Our guide said sugar can reach a height of 12 feet, but there are records of growth at 20 to 30 feet, in different parts of the world.

Nearby is the, “time travel tunnel”, created out of concrete and metal and imbedded into a dirt embankment. It was fun to suspend disbelief and pretend to travel 100 years, back in time, to the early 1900s.

Although exploitation was mentioned briefly, the emphasis is on life styles during different time periods, (1900s to 1940s for ethic housing), religious freedom and how the people peacefully coexisted and shared despite different cultures, beliefs, cuisines, customs and languages. In an effort to communicate with one another, Pidgin Hawaiian developed. This hybrid language stumped the Germans, during World War II.

People coming to the plantation for a new start and better way of life were met with harsh conditions, little or no pay and long hours of hard, manual labor. This speaks to the fortitude of the immigrants, to endure abuse, through a strong work ethic and make the best of a bad situation. A sense of community developed in the camps that, sadly, no longer exists in some places today. There was an emphasis on education, in some of the cultures, which later helped in overcoming adversity and creating skills.

Forced to live on low income, the laborers became efficient, innovative and creative. Flour sacks were used as a baby’s hammock bed, as seen in the Puerto Rico house and there is a luggage trunk used for a hope chest. Different homes used empty flour bags, as curtains, for windows. A book case is utilized as a shoe rack, in the Korean home. Each dwelling had a sewing machine and women would make extra money as seamstresses. Works of art were made with needle point and oil paint or a combination of both. People created their own entertainment at home and social dances, by playing musical instruments, from their different countries of origin.

A botanical garden is incorporated into the out-door museum, between houses and the grounds. Living frugally meant living off the land.

Here are some flora examples as follows:

Food: People eat fruit and vegetables from trees such as papayas, Gandule peas, grapes from vines, leaves from the Ben tree, seasoning from the Pias tree. Berries were eaten from the Naupaka Kai shrub, which has large leaves and a half-flower bloom that is connected to a legend of unrequited love.

Perfume: Room scents were made from Plumeria and Pak Lan trees’ flowers.

Food dye, spice, cosmetics: The lipstick plant’s seeds are used as food coloring and spice. Its ground seeds can be used for rouge or actual red lipstick.

Religion: The Bodhi tree is an important symbol in Buddhism and is a good source of shade.

Household and personal items: Haha tree leaves can be woven into hats, mats and parts of the fruit can be made into paint brushes. Silk Oak wood can be used to carve bracelets and polished for jewelry. The Calabash tree’s fruit shell was used to make cups, bowls and containers. Canes were made from bamboo palms.

Medicinal purposes: Popolo berries are used to treat asthma and the mashed leaves treat inflamed eyes. Juice from both the berries and leaves were used to treat coughs. Aloe plants were used to prevent scarring, treat burns, cuts, scrapes and athlete’s foot. The periwinkle flower was used for anemia.

Workers, who were able to pool or save their money, started businesses outside the plantation, such as barber shops, mainly dominated by Japanese. Some of the plantation descendants still have family bakeries and restaurants on the islands.

Here are some, limited, general, examples of some of cuisine the immigrant groups bought to Hawaii:

Japanese: Tofu, tempura style (deep fry) cooking, sashimi, and noodle soups.
Okinawan: Spicier food than Japan, goya, (bitter melon or squash), rice shaped like tacos.
Chinese: Char su, stir fried style cooking, chow main, dim sum, sweet and sour sauce.
Puerto Rican: Meat pies called pastels, dough with green bananas called masa.
Portuguese: Forno, (beehive shape) ovens, sweet bread, malasada, tomatoes, chili peppers.
Filipinos: Peas and beans, adobo style cooking with vinegar, garlic.
Korean: Kimchi, barbeque pits for marinated meats, bulgogi cooking style

The upper level of the Chinese social building, (1900s), contains ornately carved wood shines. Downstairs is the community kitchen and a bed.

The Portuguese home, (1918), has moveable slats for cooling in warm weather, so look up at the ceiling. The Puerto Rican house has a very primitive looking kitchen, (1900s), and a guiro with a scratcher on the wall. The Filipino home has a 1927 refrigerator.

One of the Japanese dwellings, (1910 to 1930s), has a shire to Buda, another has a kimono doll. The Okinawan home has a beautiful flower-robed doll, sword, and Sanshin box for music.

The Korean house has the custom of baby’s first birthday, where items are placed on a table and the baby chooses one. If the baby touches the doll, it indicates she will be a good parent or if thread is picked, she will be a seamstress. If a boy and he touches coins, he will be a banker, a hammer indicates a builder and choosing a small hoe means he will be a farmer. Also, there is a life-sized boy and girl doll, in native Korean clothes, on display.

Each building is very authentic looking with attention to detail, time periods, customs, religions, kitchen’s appliances, utensils, foods, household items, tools and personal items, like board games, reading glasses, family pictures, etc. Some of the places could use more paint and dusting.

On site there is a community bath, with the women’s side smaller, because there were fewer females. Another building is the company store, from the 1900s, complete with an old-time cash register. The dentist office and the infirmary look brutal, from a medical standpoint, of modern times. The camp office has, among other items, a saddle, an old typewriter, a hat and a horn.

Usually, only the foreman’s house had a telephone. At the end of the tour, I was glad to have all of the conveniences of modern day technology.

Since only my husband and I were in the tour, the docent personalized the information, asking what we were interested in and making sure to comment on those topics. Our guide, Cassie, was extremely informative and knowledgeable, with a sincere desire to preserve invaluable Hawaiian history, for future generations.

We left understanding more about the people and culture of Hawaii of the present day. We will return when the main visitor’s center is open.

My 14 yr. old granddaughter really enjoyed this tour. My husband and grandson thought it was a little long. We had a guide whose parents came over to work and live on the sugar plantation. She gave a very good tour. There were just the four of us on the tour, so we could ask all the questions we wanted.

Interesting way to spend the afternoon. Place is very open and walking is required. Somewhat hot in summer time. However, there are many interesting things to see and the atmosphere takes you back to Hawaii's plantation past. Educational as well!

After small pox decimated Hawaii's population, plantation owners needed to find new sources of cheap labor. They imported hundreds of thousands of workers from other countries. They lived in small houses similar to those recreated here. There are approximately 25 buildings including homes, cook houses, temples and shops. Each building is filled with authentic antique furnishings.

Our tour guide told us about each wave of immigrants and specifics of each type of house (more or less designed for each country of origin) and how homes and living conditions evolved over most of the last century. He also told us about indigenous trees and how they were used.

I cannot recommend this unique cultural attraction enough. There are many black and white photos taken of the old plantations that also help to tell the story. This extensive re-creation succeeded in giving me a glimpse into Hawaii’s difficult past.

Tip: When we arrived, we were told to catch up to the tour that had already begun. We soon discovered that they were at the end of their tour, so be sure to request the Next tour. Tours start each hour so you might have to wait, but it’s worth it. Depending on your tour guide, tours last approx. 60-90 minutes.

Because most of our tour group were high school students, their obvious interest leads me to recommend this tour for teenagers, as well as adults.

You can drive from Waikiki in about 45 minutes. You can get there by bus, as well. In Waikiki, take Bus #42 to Waipahu and stay on the bus until the Waipahu Transit Center. Exit and wait there for Bus #43 (Mon-Fri) or Bus #432 at Waipahu Transit Center. The first stop on Waipahu Street is Hawaii's Plantation Village.

As a history buff, I was looking forward to this place. The indoor museum exhibits were excellent, but unfortunately we arrived too late to browse at leisure before our tour. The tour of the village was interesting; the buildings are historically accurate and furnished with authentic items. However, our guide was new and couldn't answer many of the questions asked (and also talked about herself a bit too much). Perhaps why some people left early - our group dwindled from 8 down to 2 (my party). Minus one star for that. (I hope this was a fluke; if not, the museum needs to improve their guide training. If they can't answer a question, they can offer to check and get back (via text/email), or refer the person to another staff member, etc. - instead of leaving us wondering (or possibly feeling brushed off).)

If you book a guided tour, come at least an hour early to thoroughly browse the museum before the tour, to get historical/cultural context for what you'll see in the village. The village homes are modeled after "camp" housing where field laborers lived (engineers and managers lived elsewhere). The museum exhibits are great; there is even one on Oahu's WW2 internment camp. If you book the 10 am tour and are driving from Waikiki, allow ample time as Honolulu has heavy traffic during morning hours (at least until downtown Honolulu; after that you'll be going against traffic).

If u are interested in learning about local culture, try this place. The houses are like tiny museums filled with actual utensils used by plantation workers. Each house reflects a different culture that made up the various people who worked on the plantations.

Local people visit here during Halloween when it becomes a popular Haunted House. Ask about the ghost stories if u like a little scare. If u see it at night or twilight, it's easy to imagine that the ghost stories are real. I live in the area and I still get chills every time I drive by at night. No way would I walk by!

Plantation Village is set up to show how people from different countries came to work the fields and coexist. There were houses staged on the inside to show how different cultures lived and what knowledge they brought with them, how to make tofu, how to make bread in outside ovens, what they grew, how very different they were. A docent takes you on a narrative walking tour explaining everything you see, a temple, a barber show, a bathing house, a general store, the gardens around the houses and their significance to each culture. A small walk-thru museum describes picture brides, the pay system, and other things.

Since I was by myself I received an exceptional tour with lots of time for questions and answers. I'l plan on at least an hour there.

I took the bus from Waikiki,rode about an hour, transferred to another bus in Waipahu for about a 5 block ride and got off at the Village. Got there at the start of the day and was provided with a docent within 15 minutes. Pretty sure he lived nearby and they called him in. (This was about 5 years ago, and you should probably call ahead or look at their web page to make arrangements.) Afterwards, the same docent saw me waiting at the bus for my return to Waikiki and offered me a ride down to the bus transfer station...what a very nice man with the Aloha spirit!

I enjoyed all of the buildings, and all the historical items inside. Learning about plantation life for the Japanese immigrants was enlightening. The docent was very informative, entertaining, and kind. I definitely learned a different side of history of the islands.

We never visited this attraction when we lived on Oahu but were glad we took the time during our last vacation. Our 86 year old guide had lots of interesting info about life on the plantations in the early 1900's and took time to share her experiences. This is not a glitzy, tourist oriented attraction but a volunteer organization trying to keep their history alive. There are around 25 buildings that simulate a village, plus lots of interesting plants, trees, etc. It's a leisurely walking tour that could be challenging for some folks, because of the small rooms, steps, etc. Their gift shop had a good selection of handmade items, not the foreign made gift shop stuff, and it helps support the program.

This attraction is located in Waipahu, generally a very hot and dry area of Oahu so be sure to bring water. Tours are held hourly Monday-Saturday, 10-2. Our tour lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. Hawaii's first real sugar plantation began in 1835, 50 years later most plantations provided housing, some food, and limited medical for an average of $9 per month for men and $6 a month for women. Plantation life was difficult and regimented. Workers were brought from Portugal, Japan, China, Korea, and the Philippines. Replicated homes from the 1900-1930 period are furnished with items found in typical ethnic homes. An interesting look back into history. There is a bit of walking and some parts are not paved so would be a bit difficult for a walker or wheelchair, plus the heat can be overwhelming. It's something history buffs would find it interesting and I enjoyed it.

This is an easy and informative walking tour for all ages. Step back in time and into the homes of workers on an early 1900's sugar plantation. The architecture of the homes with open fire kitchens and designs for "natural air conditioning" are fascinating. You also can gain an appreciation for the melting pot of cultures in Hawaii - Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Filipino, etc. This tour is well worth you time. (Do bring along some bug spray. We saw a few mosquitoes during our tour.)

We've been to Hawaii many times but had never heard of this amazing place. A dear friend grew up in one of these villages, so I was so grateful to visit and learn. Our tour was fantastic! Lance is a master--he has a depth of knowledge and first-hand affection for the plantation villages. We learned so much here. This tour tells a don't-miss story of hope, determination, creativity, and community, unlike any other.

Exdcellent day out driver very informative see my full review on outrigger on the reef

My wife and I grew up in the Hawaii plantation days, and my wife was a plantation kid. Now that whole history and lifestyle are rapidly being paved over and consigned to the back pages of even Hawaii history book. Thank goodness for the Plantation Village. Most of the people who volunteer are relics themselves, holdovers from an age and industry that is already fading fast. Thank goodness for the Village and its volunteers, so that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren can still get a glimpse of the hard times that their ancestors had to overcome

A great place to see how immigrants impacted the development of Hawaii. They moved from the sugar cane fields to become more integrated into Hawaiian society. Consider bringing your family here to see how they retained their culture despite being thousands of miles from their homeland.

Easy to find - west of Honolulu and well worth the visit. We were very lucky to go on a Monday morning and to be there at 10:00 for a tour. That is the tour that Etsy does once a week. She is the sweetest 80+ year-old lady that actually grew up living in the village when it was active in the early 20th century. She abounds with enthusiasm and stories of the life of the immigrant plantation workers of Chinese, Puerto Rican, Okinawa, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and her ancestry Filipino. These were hard labor times for these immigrant peoples, with their cultures, supplanted into the Hawaiian landscape working the sugar cane fields. The village exhibits all the different buildings, customs and communities built by each ethnic group. Also included are all the varied plants brought with each culture. Again, Etsy makes it special with her special presentation. And she is a fantastic cook. She brings lunch for her tour group of special breads, salads, pulled pork, sushi and sweets. And if you're lucky, you can be there at 10:00 on Monday for her group tour. The plantation village is a learning experience for all ages and is a highly recommended piece of Hawaiian history.

My experience at the Hawaii Plantation Village was something else. I learned so much about the culture and origins of Hawaii and its sugar plantations. Our guide was knowledgeable and passionate about spreading the true "Aloha spirit," something which he fears future Hawaiian generations will forget. There were replica and original homes of immigrant plantation workers on-site, and the stories that went with them were fascinating and sometimes saddening. For any tourist, this is a MUST-visit to get a large dose of history and culture in your trip.

It was interesting to learn more about the origins of Hawaiian plantation culture and the ethnicities/cultures that make Hawaii as diverse as it is now. I would highly recommend booking a guided tour as there is so much information you will miss if you choose to walk through on your own. Our guide Robert was extremely knowledgable of the history and kept us interested throughout. Keep in mind it is a fairly long guided tour - ours tour ran almost 2 hours long, but I believe having a guide really made the ticket price worth it. Additionally, my tour was quite personal as it was just my family of four and another couple. Be sure to have some water with you as the tour takes place outdoors and in various (non-airconditioned) houses/buildings.

This attraction is an area that recreates the life of early immigrants who came to work in the sugar cane fields. Each building represents the home one of the groups that came over including Korean, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan, Puerto Rican, and Filipino. Inside the buildings are some antiques that were used in that time as well as traditional clothing and some old pictures. You check in at the office and tours are offered on the hour, but no matter when you arrive, you are invited to join a tour in progress and the tour guide will catch you up. In addition to the buildings, there are a variety of interesting plants with signs that tell you the name and something about them. There are also signs in front of each house that gives a description. It was a very interesting tour.

There is nothing fancy about Hawaii Plantation Village, but any adjective short of "fantastic" would not do the place justice. The HPV (regrettable acronym, but what can one do?), recreates the plantation residences of different cultures who immigrated to Hawaii to work on the plantations over the years, as well as a few ancillary buildings such as a plantation store and office. Many of the docents actually lived/worked on a plantation, a pretty remarkable fact if you do the arithmetic, but true nonetheless. Our docent, Charlie (and his dog Tomo) was a delight. His explanations of plantation history, of the details of the recreated houses and of the social realities of life on a plantation were as magical as they were informative and they were enriched by the fact he lived through much of it, from a pre-war explosion that killed dozens of sailors near the HPV site, to the bombing of Pearl Harbour to working part-time on a plantation as a high school student to help the war effort. We've been to all of the "major" Oahu sites over the course of our visits to the islands and if there's one thing we've learned it's that, however important and interesting the WWII sites are (and they are fascinating), there's a lot more to Hawaii than one nasty day in 1941. We left here feeling very much better for the time we spent. I think you will also.

I came here this time because I wanted to know the history of immigrants in Hawaii. Here we could see the housing and history of Asian immigrants. Japanese shrines and places for sumo wrestling were also reproduced. If you don't rent a car, you'll find it difficult to get here, but there are few tourists and it's a good place to go.

Let’s begin with…you need to be interested in Hawaii’s agricultural history, I.e. sugar plantation and how it influenced immigration by the Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Puerto Rican people in order to enjoy this tour. It is run by a nonprofit so not polished, not rehearsed and not choreographed - just plain history about hardworking people, the discrimination they faced, their hard lives and their culture. Take was our guide today- knowledgeable, well paced and so very patient with the group of 9 peppering him with questions. Informal, interesting and low-key.

This is something that you might consider as a must see. It is so informative about the history of HI and how it became a tiny melting pot for different cultures.

I can not recommend this place. I had been looking forward to going to the Hawaiian Plantation Village since we got here a year ago and hoped to go back with family when they visited from the mainland. Not only will I not be going back, but I can’t recommend it and will redirect whoever I can to a better, friendly and more knowledgeable place to learn about Hawaiian history and the immigrants…like the Bishop for instance. I love learning about the Hawaiian history and in this case…the immigrant’s history. My son loves to experience new things and learn as much as he can about the places he lives in. The tour started 16 minutes late and that was ok. Normally that is a sign that the tour guide takes their time, answers questions and cares about the visitors. That wasn’t the case here. The tour guide seemed to be nice and offered to answer questions. However, if he didn’t like your question then he was rude and/or just made you out to look like an idiot for asking. For instance, on a fluke I asked him if it was true about ghost being there and he informed me that he didn’t give ghost tours. I DIDN’T ASK THAT!!! I asked if it was true. .OK, so he didn’t want to answer that. I asked him a question about the outdoor oven and he ignored me. I asked him quite few other little questions and he said it wasn’t part of the tour. But if something is in the house, on the property, etc. and you want to know about it…isn’t that in the tour? I’m just curious and trying to learn. Why have the items there then? Equal with my son…it is even more rude to ignore the question of a child…they are trying learn! It is people like this rude tour guide that make children not want to ask questions and learn. Due to how my son was being treated he became visibility bored. I did feel badly about that and he even yawned at one point, but after being treated so poorly and rudely by the tour guide he was just trying to exist for the rest of the tour for my sake. In the end, I braved asking another question after taking a final picture as were a few others. The tour guide informed me he already said it when I was “over there”. That was uncalled for and there was no reason to be a jerk other than he didn’t want to repeat himself again. I cut my losses and we left the tour after he said that. If you tell people they can ask you questions then you should answer them to the best of your ability…not ignore them, be rude or make them look like an idiot for asking, etc. If you don’t want to do your job, then say so. And heaven forbid if you have to make the tour guide repeat themselves!!! Buildings were being locked up as we past each one since they were closing. We paid money to go in there and deserved a good tour just like the one before us. The tour guide rushed when it suited him and slowed down when it suited him. If you don’t want people taking time out for pictures then you say so. If your tour guides don’t really want people asking questions then you need to let them know. But the most important thing is…let people know that the tour guide loves to be rude when they have to repeat themselves.
For the site itself: If you are strictly from the city and have not ever experienced or been exposed to anything in the country EVER…then go…you may learn something. Just be careful and pre-warned about asking questions or making the tour guide repeat himself. Most of us know that people used to use an outhouse, cook outside or in a summer kitchen…sleep on the floor, etc. If you’ve never been exposed to this then again…go, you may be enlightened. In general, you spend more time learning about the personal experiences of the tour guide than the people that used the homes and other facilities that were relocated there. To me, you can learn more at the Bishop Museum. Likewise, there are similar places to this village on the other islands that will gladly answer your questions and are grateful that you are there.
I am shocked that this place received an award by Tripadvisor. With a tour guide like we had perhaps they feel they no longer need to impress anyone. My guess is that they don’t really want any business or people to visit. I felt like I was totally bothering this tour guide for even being there.
The only plus I can give this place is that the ladies in the office were nice and the lady locking up the buildings behind us was very nice. That’s it!
Take a look at my pics and pics of others and you've practically been there. You are not missing anything!

My husband and I were on the 10 am tour. The final tour of the day starts at 2 pm. There are tours every hour on the hour. Our guide was Roy, a retired educator. He was very knowledgable. The first thing he showed us after his introduction was the Bodhi tree, which had started out it's life as a cutting from the original Bodhi tree the Buddha sat under in India. We continued on through a tunnel under the driveway that led to the buildings that the various groups from around the world who came to work in the sugar fields had occupied. Workers came from China, Okinawa, Japan, Puerto Rico, Korea and the Philippines. Their individual cultural ways of cooking, worship and entertainment were part of the relics furnishing the various structures they had lived in or which had been constructed to represent the originals are laid out along a few sidewalks that parallel each other. The upper sidewalk allowed my husband access to most of the structures in his wheelchair. In addition to the various examples of housing, there was also a barbershop, general store and religious and social
structures. There are well labeled flowers and trees, of particular interest is the cannonball tree. Parking and restrooms are handicapped accessible. The shuttle from the Waikele Factory outlet shopping center also drops off tourists and there are city bus stops nearby.

I took this tour in September 2016 and despite the rain enjoyed the tour. It's not cheap at $15 usd, but they have a number of replica buildings they have to maintain, so i can see why the ticket price is that much
We were lucky it was just me and my travel partner on the tour. Our guide, an elderly Japanese gentlean was great and knowledgeable. I learnt alot about the different people from all over the world who emigrated to Hawaii to find work on the sugar plantations. By looking at the replica buildings we got a taste of the living conditions they had to endure. We learnt the stories of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese migrants etc, it was fascinating.

If you're interested in different cultures and their history then i thoroughly recommend going. We managed to just show up and get on a tour, it didn't seem that busy, but i would advise checking the website for tour times. You'll probably also need a car to get there but according to the website there is a bus that will get you there.

We learned a lot about the many cultures brought to Hawaii to work the plantations. Our docent, Take, was outstanding. The tour lasted just under two hours, primarily due to Take taking the time to answer our questions with interesting stories.

This village comprises a comprehensive collection of buildings representing those used by various nationalities in the early sugar plantations. The guide was a wealth of information. It does not appear on the schedules of the large tour operators. We used the public transport system "The Bus" to get to a stop nearby and then a short walk.

To appreciate the melting pot that HI is, try to carve out a couple hours to visit the rather 'out of the way' plantation village. It really brings alive for you (because you are with a very well-informed docent) what life was like for the workers on the various crop plantations throughout the islands in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Visually it is a diamond in the rough, but let your imagination take flight, listen to your docent, stop to smell the flowers, and appreciate how hard these men and women and children worked after arriving in the islands.

This was a very enjoyable experience. The tour guide was very informative, funny, and interactive. They had umbrellas to borrow as it was raining so it did not inhibit our enjoyment of the village. There are examples of living quarters for the immigrant groups that came to work in the sugar cane fields. I had no idea there were so many. The price is reasonable and would be great for a family with school age children.

I am so glad that I stumbled across this place!

The cost is reasonable (ask about military and local discounts). Our tour was not overcrowded and very personable. There is plenty of parking.

While waiting for our tour we met Espy, who had given the tour earlier that morning. She was a gem! She prepared food for guests on her tour and was full of information. We were lucky enough to get some samples - DELICIOUS.

Our tour guide, Gary, was just as informational. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the island and very entertaining. While touring, Gary interacted and included all his guests. (Perhaps the years of teaching assisted him in making the experience/learning a lasting one.)

There are original and replica buildings and items through different time periods of Honolulu. One will leave the tour with a deeper appreciation of the culture of Honolulu.

What a wonderful wonderful experience! Brenda our tour guide was a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of the plantation and the many waves of laborers brought in to work the fields. We loved all the history.! Thank you Brenda and Hawaiian Plantation Village.

The buildings and the associated history of sugar on the Hawaiian Islands were both informative and interesting. To walk through the structures and step back in time gave us a perspective not possible in a book or museum.

The plantation is so fun we got to dress up and play the game go and dance.I also learned no bathrooms so they had to use the night pot.

This is not an entertainment trip, but if you enjoy learning about the history and people groups of Hawaii, you will find this outdoor museum interesting. There were artifacts in the period houses, a replica of a Hawaiian thatched hut, and reproductions of a company store, office, and doctor's office. The grounds also included several plants, flowers, trees, and a thriving taro patch. Tip - each building and many of the plants have a full page description on pole nearby which often included other information our guide didn't mention or that we didn't pick up on. NO PUBLIC restrooms :-(

Robert was a wonderful tour guide with a wealth of knowledge about the various immigrant groups that found their way onto the sugar cane fields of Hawaii. The walking tour of the various restored/reconstructed buildings was insightful.

The tour guide talked more about himself and other historical things (and not the Village & its buildings!) for the first 37 minutes that we (and 8 other people that were part of the tour) finally just walked away and looked at the village buildings by ourselves. However, there aren't any signs or other information to really explain what we were looking at so it was a waste of time. Plus having sat for that long I ended up with insect bits on my arms and legs. Prior to COVID we always trusted TripAdvisor reviews but going forward we will definitely triangulate other reviews.

The Waipahu Plantation Village, not to be confused with the one sponsored by Dole, offers the visitor a brief glimpse into the life styles of the different cultural groups who migrated to Hawaii to work in the sugar plantations at the beginning of 19th century. Each group is represented by a house (as well as additional structures like the portuguese oven and the japanese furu), which is iappropriately furnished according its traditions and practices at the time. These include typical costumes, linens, ceramics, toys and games, photos, books and other memorabilia. The tour is conducted by a volunteer docent and includes Japanese and Chinese temples and a plantation store. The bus connection from town takes about an hour and will require two transfers, but it it well worth the effort and time. The last visit is scheduled for 2 p.m. so plan to be there well ahead of time.

Although out of the way, this was a very worthwhile visit. Each "house" around the village was themed around the ethnicity of the families who would have lived there: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino. These were not the huge plantation homes of the southern US; they were very minimalist. You can wander around the village without a tour guide but it was much more meaningful to have a docent who grew up nearby and could explain what we were seeing and to provide the appropriate timeline. There were just the 3 of us in our group, my husband and I (he grew up on a sugar plantation on Maui) and a friend of ours from Japan. The tour took a little more than 1 hour but it could have been longer or shorter, depending on the number of questions the guide was asked. Near the end of the tour is a replica of a small plantation town, including a general store and a doctor's clinic.

Although I live in Waipahu and I practically pass by the plantation village almost everyday, I am still amazed about how the imigrants lived during the plantation era. I highly reccomend this place if you want to see how Hawaii was during the plantation era and how Hawaii became the "melting pot" for all ethnicities and cultures.

We decided to learn more about Hawaii's culture on this trip and were glad that we chose the Plantation Village. Be sure to see the museum displays in addition to the guided tour of the plantation houses (some people on our tour missed the museum). The museum gives you a good background on living conditions, why foreign labor was needed, picture brides (one 19 year old bride found that her suitor was actually 45!), why the ethnicities were segregated in their own groups, etc.
Our guide, Gary, was entertaining and informative. I appreciated his ability to talk about plantation life in a way that made us consider our own personal reactions to the conditions. The staff we met were friendly local people. They let us sample some of the local fruits. This place is away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu, but sometimes that's what you want, right? It's near the old Waipahu sugar mill (a distinguishable landmark as you're driving), and the directional signage was pretty good. Check in the tourist magazines for a discount coupon (I saved $3); and they had a discounted rate for seniors. The tours are hourly from 10AM to 2PM, and we were there for over 2 hours.

The plantation era of Hawaii, when cane and pineapple ruled, helped to shape the unique culture that defines our 50th state. This tour provides an informative background of all the different people's who came over to work in the fields, and shows how they lived.

There are representations of all the types of residences where the field workers lived, furnished with items unique to their particular ethnicity. Among the groups shown here are Chinese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Okinawan, Japanese, Puerto Rican and Portuguese.

Our guide, Gary, was wonderful. He'd grown up in such a village and talked vividly about what those times were like. And he explained how influence from the myriad of the worker's cultures was still present in today's Hawaii.

There are also some taro fields, a fish pond, and a gift shop as well. Tours are optional, but highly recommended. Be sure to reserve in advance, as they are very popular.

My wife and I visited, having seen most of the other routine tourist attractions on Oahu. It was well worth the trip.

We were lucky enough to have Ken as our tour guide. I'm a bit of an amateur historian myself. He knew his history up one side and down the other. He gave really interesting insights into the plantation and Asian cultures.

For the price - and it wasn't much at all - it is certainly worth a visit. The only problem I had was with getting to the place. There is a great deal of road construction going on now (August, 2017), with road closures making getting around, especially for tourists who don't know the area, difficult. Not to mention the traffic, but then I'm from a small town.

Don't pass this up.

Our 90 minute tour turned into 3 great hours of learning about the foreign immigration into Hawaii, and reasons for it. Our guide grew up in the sugar cane communities and had countless stories to share. The varied architecture of the building representing the varied cultural groups was both fascinating and beautiful. Highly recommended to any visitor to Hawaii!

The plantation village offers a real glimpse of how the native Hawaiians and various immigrant groups lived during the days of sugar plantations. Our guided tour group was small (less than 10 people) and our guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The reconstructed homes and businesses were diverse and very interesting. A lot less flashy than many of Oahu's attractions, but if you'd like to see how people actually lived in a relaxed setting, this is a good place to go.

This isn't a very well-known tourist spot but is a super way to learn about some of Hawaii's agricultural development. Families with small children may not wish to choose this, depending upon their kids' interests. A guided walking tour is available. If you have the time, it is helpful to read the background information provided in the museum prior to walking the grounds. It is amazing to learn about the history of the sugar industry in Hawaii and gives you insight into the multicultural population that forms the basis for the present Hawaiian state - as native Hawaiians suffered elimination from various diseases brought to their islands by overseas explorers, immigration of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Puerto Rican, Filipino and even Portuguese people supported the sugar industry during its heyday. Prejudice was rampant as the industry strove to survive. This fascinating, informal tour takes a little over an hour but is worth it to appreciate the island history. Be aware that this site is only open on weekdays with limited hours (10AM-2PM, if I recall).

Hawaii’s Plantation Village is a very special place replicating the unique time of the pre-state era where many imported laborers contributed greatly to the once almighty sugar cane industry. You’ll experience going to a site with the humble homes and structures of the many different ethnic groups – Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, Korean, Okinawan, Portuguese and Puerto Rican. Visit this living museum and learn of each ethnic group’s many cultural contributions. A simple and proud venue!

Visited today and so glad we did.
Our guide (Jim/James?) was in his 70's and grew up in the
Village.
His historical perspective and ability to get you to visualise how life was in the early 1940's was amazing.
He clearly had an interesting life story of his own being of Phillipino descent and having served two terms in Vietnam along with a career in the military.
In our opinion the facility is not terribly well publicised but is a must do on Oahu.
School kids descend in the morning so afternoon is preferable for the best experience.

Using the homes of Asian immigrants as a backdrop, the tour tells the story of the Asian immigrants who came to Hawaii, why they came, what they did here, how they lived, and the ways they contributed to what is now the state of Hawaii.

The 2 1/2 hour tour was interesting, and fortunately we got to sit for parts of it. At the end we sampled fresh tropical fruits.

Our guide said that each tour guide provides quite a different tour, because each guide has a different background. Ours focused on the history, especially social interactions within and between the various ethnic groups, and left us to tour the houses on our own with little explanation of what everything was and what it was for.

During the tour people continued to join us, and people occasionally dropped out. The kids in our group were not very interested, but the adults appreciated it.

One of the few places we visited in Hawaii, and was a good stop. Unfortunately I believe they are struggling to have a big touring present, so it might not be the first thing that pops up on most tour recommendations sites. Our tour guide was amazing and well knowledgeable. I would recommended you do the tour, in order to get some background knowledge of the exhibits. Otherwise there not really any plaque explaining anything per area and exhibit. Tour guides are volunteer / docents, so I would imagine each one can be a different experience. Our guide was well informative and interesting to learn the plantation life, and different mixed of culture that lived in the villages. Our guide was able to adjust the tour to our time needs, although if you don't specify any time constraints they are likely to chat away and turn the tour into a 2 hour or more tour. Ours was fairly lengthy but we weren't pressed for time, and enjoyed the knowledge, minus the heat and humidity of everything being outside.

Loved spending the day here, learning about plantation life from the knowledgeable docents.

This is one of Hawaii's hidden gems that gives visitors and residents of Oahu a sense of the Island's history. This is a "do not miss" on any trip to Hawaii. Admission is $15 for adults and $6 for kids 4 - 11. There are deep discounts for seniors and military.

Guided tours start on the hour from 10 -2 and the docents are extremely knowledgable. Our guided tour took about 1.5 hours to move through the entire compex, but some of that time was spent on questions that we had about life on the plantation. We were able to ask a host of questions, and to have the docent elaborate on the things we found especially interesting. So what did we see on our tour?

The biggest treat was the Chinese Society building from 1909. But we also saw the Portuguese house from 1918, the Puerto Rican house from the 1900s, the Japanese duplex from 1910, Japanese Christian House from the 1930s, the Okinawan house from 1919, the Korean House from 1919, the Filipino house from 1935, the plantation store from the 1900s, as well as other supporting buildings. There is a union hall, an infirmary, a plantation store, a garage, a Sumo ring, as well as many other buildings.The tour includes information on the workforce, working conditions, housing, social life and the struggles that the community endured.The plantation Village really allows you to step back in time and see how the early pioneers lived on Oahu.

We went on a day when there was a light rain and so there was no problem moving from one building to the next. But I would not recommend this outdoor activity on a rainy day. The history is a bit advanced for younger kids so they may get bored. But this would be great for 9 year olds and up.

There are also farmed Taro fields on-site, as well as fish ponds to view.

The walkways are paved but might prove a little difficult for people with disabilities when trying to get in and out of the buildings. There's a small gift shop on site and a place to get something to drink.

We had a fantastic guided tour given by Kenneth whose Japanese grandfather and great grandfather came to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations. He was engaging in his delivery and so knowledgeable about wider geo political history as well the more local history of the sugar plantations in Hawaii and the people who came to work in them. Beautiful local crafts for sale at affordable prices too. The tour was 3.5 hours but the time flew by.

This is what Hawaii looked like a couple generations ago. Instead of suburbs you had many many plantation villiages divided by ethnicities. At Hawaii Plantation Villiage you can see how each place was suited to each culture that came to Hawaii to work the sugarcane and pineapple fields. The guides are very knowledgable and if you're lucky you can get one who actually lived in a place like this!

If you are into history, this is a must.

The plantation is a little bit of a drive from Waikiki, about 30mins, but it is well worth it. Everything we read said the tour was about a hour, ours was 2 hours. We had a great guide, Charlie, and his little dog Tomo. He was extremely knowledgeable and had personal experience having lived on the plantation as a child. For us having Charlie as our tour guide and hearing his personal stories made the visit even better. It would have been nice to have had a few minutes to walk around the village houses our selves to get some good pictures, but, but your only allowed on the grounds with a tour guide. A definite must see!

This place is a bit off the tourist radar but well worth the time if you're interested in the history of Hawaii's immigrants in the 19th & 20th centuries. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. It was a morning well spent.

First, this is NOT Dole Plantation. Some of the Trip Advisor reviewers are confusing Hawaii Plantation Village with Dole Plantation. There are no mazes and no pineapple.
Second, one reviewer said there were no bathrooms. There ARE bathrooms - one at the check-in building and one in the village.
Third, call ahead to determine the tour times for the day you want. Several people joined our 11am tour an hour late because they thought there was a noon tour which didn't happen.
Fourth, not every plantation building is accessible to people with walkers because of stairs. Two members of our group had to wait nearby while the rest of us were briefed inside a couple of buildings.

This tour is GREAT for Hawaiian history buffs. Ken, our guide, was very entertaining and covered the various ethnic groups who came to Hawaii. We started out with a 45-minute talk (yes, we could sit for that - I saw that some reviewers said they couldn't sit) and then visited the replica houses, store, etc that were common to the Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, etc. Ken did segue off into his opinions about the importance of the Civil War - really off topic. Other than that, he was right on the money. We were also given samples of various Hawaiian fruits and guava juice - a nice touch.
Tour lengths vary. Ours turned into 3 hours, which was fine, but some may be as short as 90 minutes - and a coworker told me hers was 4 hours! It depends on the guide's style and how many questions are asked.
I would not recommend the Village for kids. I think most would be bored.

We found this place via the internet, and it was wonderful surprise. Miss Espy was our tour guide. She grew up on a plantation and so the tour was all in first person. The history, the funny stories, the toys and games we played were all new to us. Miss Espy is an amazing tour guide, she provided candy made from the fruit trees, and a full wonderful meal at the end of the tour. We really learned so much and had great fun while doing so.

Excellent tour! Very informative and interesting! The docent was very knowledgeable Great insight into the immigrants that came here to work on the sugar cane plantations and also to see the living conditions.

Don't get me wrong it is interesting and its perfectly set up the grounds are very nice. . The tour could though be shortened if the guide did not repeat the same thing over and over again. I understand that they are volunteers so that is nice that they use their own time but perhaps they should pay them because the guides are knowledgeable. I think you have to use the guide you are not allowed to look around solo.
Its located in the warmest areas on Oahu so it can be tough. Be sure to bring lots of cold water with you and dress for cool weather even in winter.

Anyone who enjoys learning about history or local culture would enjoy this place. It consists of buildings from the plantation era of Hawaiian history. You may take a guided tour or carry a self guiding packet with you. The buildings have all been moved to this location allowing a concentrated experience of the immigrants who came to Hawaii in this era. The buildings are furnished with appropriate furniture and articles of daily living as well as religious objects from the various religions of the people who lived on the plantations. There are many interesting plants and trees as well. Inside the visitor's center, was an exhibit about the the mistreatment of Japanese Americans during World War 2. It is a lesson for us today. Visitors will learn a lot from touring this museum but it will be a pain free, no test experience. It's the best way to learn history.

They don't let you roam around without paying for a tour. The tour is very informative and not expensive, but if you don't want to take the tour, don't bother.

I'm a local in my early 30s from Hawaii and today was the first time I've been to this location. It was excellent! As a local I still learned a lot. Thanks Aunty Fran (our tour guide), you're the best! ;-)

Loved this tour. Cannot add much to some of the real in-depth reviews here ; they are all right on. Our guide was Fran and she was very knowledgable as iam sure all the guides are.
This village took me right into some of the books i have read about this subject, esp the Chinese and Koreans. This place is soooo worth it.

Visited this place and had a great guide called Gary who made the place come alive and went further in giving us a lift to pearl ridge shopping centre afterwards....he was great
Had no car so had to get rained2 buses from waikiki but it was worth it

Took my parents and boyfriend to Hawaiian Plantation Village this week. Let me say you have to be into history and culture to enjoy this, so if you are keep reading. If that is not your thing, then you should not go. That being said, I loved this place! It is bit outdated in terms of needing new placards and signboards describing what you are looking at, but I loved that it is a bit out of date, and anyway the information is still relevant. It is set up to be a replica of a sugar plantation in Waipahu back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are houses to represent all the different ethnic groups who worked at the sugar mill: Chinese, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese. There is also a replica store, infirmary, social hall, and various shrines. I love the grounds with the different plants, flowers, and birds, but this part could be detailed better. We started out on a tour, but to be honest it is too long. It lasts for about two hours, so after 30-40 minutes we decided to walk the rest on our own and just read the signboards. I actually love tours and listening to guides and learning from the guide, but in this case the guide was sweet but long winded. I recommend giving the guide a try, and then if you are not into it just walk and read on your own. Go when the weather is nice since it is all outside. The entrance fee goes to keep the place running so that is a good thing. There is a small gift shop with some nice handy crafts that the proceeds also go to the shop and village. So buy some stuff! Great gifts like green shopping bags, pot holders, and tee-shirts. Enjoy your day learning about the sugar plantations of Hawaii!

Reminds you of the old plantation homes that were there in the late 60s the whole town built around the sugar mill. Use mosquito spry when visiting..

Once a year, the Hawaii Plantation Village celebrates O-bon , a traditional Japanese custom honoring ancestoral spirits. If you are visiting Oahu on this date, the Hawaii's
Plantation Village invites you to join in the festivities of dancing, food and crafts.
Food booths serving foods and snacks from various ethnic groups in Hawaii, start at 4:30 pm until sold out. Traditional Buddhist blessing starts at 5:30 pm and the dancing from various dance clubs start at 5:45 pm. Everyone is invited to dance and if you don't know, you can follow the dancers. Unique craft items will be on sale featuring one of a kind happi coats made by the Village crafters. These sold out early last year so these are in demand.
If you are not on Oahu this year, the Obon celebration is held on the first Saturday in June at the plantation.
Bring your camera to capture the moments as you will see and experience a different Hawaii not usually seen in tourist magazines.
This evening event takes place on the Village's lawn area where you will pass the ponds blossoming with water lilies and the taro loi. Did not check the celestrial calendar but a full moon may lighten your way or a crescent moon may be smiling at you. If it rains, no worries. There was a lightening storm a few years ago which was spectacular.
You can literally feel the presence of not only our Japanese ancestors but all the ancestors who immigrated to Hawaii.

My husband and I stopped here, thinking it'd be a very educational tour, but probably very dry and boring. Oh how wrong we were.

Gary, our tour guide, was absolutely hilarious in a subtle and slightly off-color way that kept us entertained and laughing. And we learned a lot too. I got so I'd rush to stick as close to Gary as possible because I found him so entertaining that I didn't want to miss any of his comments. He also made the tour interactive, by having people in our group actually sit at tables and pretend to be people of the house.

When I no longer have to work full time, I want to be like Gary.

The houses are really interesting to go through as well. They've done a great job setting them up so you can see how people actually lived and learn a lot of history too.

The information is incredible. Note: the price is the same whether you walk trough on your own or you take the guided tour. Tour is supposed to take 2 hours and you have to call ahead to schedule the guided tour. The ticket sales lady commented that the guide can be long-winded and to just leave the tour if we want. So if your tour guide starts the tour with telling you that his great grandpa came from Japan and worked on one of the plantations, expect to be there 3 hours. He has a history degree and loves to talk, but he easily goes off on a tangent and then gets political. He was talking about schools in the area, SAT scores, and praising Obama. You can’t convince me that’s on topic for the sugar plantations, but if you try to steer him back on track he acts like his tangent was on purpose and then says “you must not like history if you don’t want to hear what I have to say.” We reached a point I was SO tired of listening to him go on and on and on that we left the tour and walked through the rest of the tour on our own. It was very interesting though! Also, watch the movie “Running for Grace” and you’ll get a glimpse of Plantation life in the 1930s.

The Hawaii Plantation Village in Waipahu provide an excellent overview of the plantation life in Hawaii when sugar cane was king. One can view what the homes of various ethnic groups looked like during the early 1900's.

Whatever organization had the vision and the funding to assemble this village has done a valuable service to the history of Oahu. The houses do a good job of displaying not only the various ethnic groups who worked on the plantations but also the progress that was made in housing quality as the years moved forward.

We very much enjoyed both the museum and the guided tour of the houses. It was not difficult to imagine oneself living in the houses because they contained small articles like cooking pots, and sewing machines that seemed merely waiting for someone to move in.

We were a little disturbed about one element of this plantation. The ethnic groups who were brought to Hawaii came because the local population would not do the grueling work demanded by the sugar cane fields. The only way to produce profitable sugar was to obtain a cheap source of labor. US businessmen enticed people from far away to come and make a life in this island paradise. When they arrived they discovered hard work, little pay, and they were indebted to the people who paid for their passage. If they attempted to leave they could be arrested for desertion. The museum of the plantation village displays all of these laws and newspaper articles.

I feel as if these people were very much like African slaves in the southern part of the US, and our tour guide did nothing to eliminate that opinion when she stated that the sugar growers did not know how to establish plantations so they went to the cotton and tobacco plantations in the US to learn how.

Our tour guide had an exceptionally romantic view of life on a sugar plantation, and she seemed to resent the fact that there are no more plantations. She insisted many times that labor unions killed the sugar industry in Hawaii. Ultimately I felt the need to point out that when people will not do a specific job for what you will pay them, and you cannot find anyone to replace them, your business will fail. Like the plantation owners of the old South, these people made their fortunes based on the labor of people who were brought to Hawaii and ultimately held in Hawaii by financial debts and unreasonable laws.

If I had been with a child, I would have had serious talks with the child at several points explaining the morality of what happened on the sugar plantation, and I was concerned because we took our tour right after a large group of young and impressionable elementary school children.

It is a nice display, but the goal of the sponsoring organization should not be to whitewash what happened to the workers on these sugar plantations. In the last house, which finally had indoor plumbing of sorts, our guide said "See. This is a lovely house. Wouldn't you be happy to live in this house?". Obviously my answer, unspoken, was "no", and it would appear that no one else was happy to live in them either, The industry perished, unable to pay workers a reasonable wage and still make a profit. That is really all that needs to be said about the demise of the industry.

This is a quaint spot that would be easy to miss. But if you like the history of the Islands and those who came here, you want to find it. We found it to be a wealth of info, and our guide was knowledgable and funny. It's not a fancy 'museum' - but family friendly, where you can spend lots of time (or very little, if you have a short attention span). For a few dollars, you get alot of 'bang for your buck'. Go!

Visited the Hawaii plantation village with my daughter. What a great historical place that recreates the way original plantation homes were like. Our docent, Robert, was very informative and knowledgeable about the homes. The village homes are set up in a chronological order of the way the different ethnicities came to the islands. Would highly recommend this to everyone to learn about the early days of Hawaii life.

I visited the plantation as a field trip with my daughters school. I love history and this place is a real gem. I was familiar with part of the sugar cane industry but this gave me a much more detailed insight as to the diverse ethnic population of the workers and their families. Well worth the modest fee. We visited as a group but I understand you can have a 3 hour docent personalized tour as well.

This was a really interesting experience and after a visit to the museum on site, it was great to have a personalised tour with our guide, Gary, who was both entertaining and informative.

Although I had known a considerable amount about the history of immigration to Hawai'i, the village really puts it into perspective and shows how various contract labour groups lived on the sugar plantations which effectively controlled all aspects of their lives. The challenges must have been horrendous and yet people arrived, survived and tolerated it all, including the abject exploitation and what at times were harsh physical controls by overseers on horseback. Specific details relate to the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Korean and Filipino labourers who came in under the various schemes offered and the restored housing they lived in, filled with artifacts of the times, is truly fascinating. There are other restored or recreated buildings which include a public bathhouse; company store; temples; community centre; dispensary; company office and different cooking facilities. As well as the many buildings, there are specific plants and trees used by the settlers which grow in abundance and provide yet another area of great interest.

This truly is a must-see for anybody interested in how the sugar industry was established in Hawai'i, literally on the backs of thousands of workers who arrived seeking a better life, and who through hard, physical labour and despite many terrible obstacles, succeeded.

There are apparently a couple of ghosts which live in the plantation so this adds to the interest factor.

This place is a hidden gem. If you plan to visit, ask them for the next available women's history tour. They only offer it once a week. The tour tells Hawaii's history from the POV of women but gives the backstory about tourism, statehood, Pearl Harbor, sugar, and the supposed "melting pot" here. Worth planning ahead for. Highly recommend if you have any interest in learning about Hawaii below the surface level.

If you want to get off the beach and learn a bit about Oahu’s history, consider visiting the plantation village, which illustrates what life was like for the thousands of indentured labourers brought to the island to work on its sugar plantations. The 30 or so buildings represent life between the early 1900s and the 1940s. On the two-hour tour you’ll walk through replicas of the housing that Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, Philippino, Portuguese and Puerto Rican workers lived in, from rustic early accommodation with outdoor plumbing to more spacious housing with electricity. Each ethnic group was housed in separate camps, part of the plantation owners’ divide-and-conquer strategy, but shared facilities such as the barber shop, social hall and Japanese community bath provided an opportunity for workers to find common ground, leading in time to unionization and improved working conditions.

From Waikiki, you can take the E Country Express bus to the Waipahu Transit Centre, then either connect to the #43 bus or walk about 7 minutes. The entire trip is supposed to take no more than one hour, but because of traffic congestion due to road works in Honolulu, it took closer to two hours going (coming back was much faster), so give yourself some wiggle room just in case the repairs are ongoing.

Kudos to our tour guide, Ken, who was knowledgeable and humorous.

Brenda was our guide, and she was fantastic.
2 hours of rich history. You visit a museum, see a movie, then taste fruit from the island,
like breadfriut, sugar cane, star fruit etc. Then you walk through a replica of all the sugar
workers homes, from 7 different countries, there is a complete street of village, that
takes you back in time. Brenda, went far above what we ever expected, she is very
knowledgeable, and friendly. Dont miss this one.

My husband and I really enjoyed our tour- learning about the history of Hawaii from a friendly tour guide who took his time explaining everything to us.

we decided to visit this plantation based on reviews and that friends had told us that the Dole Plantation is pretty commercialized. The tour took well over 2 hours but felt like 8. All I could think about was that I'd rather be at the beach! Our tour guide, while very friendly and nice, was too slow and didn't really explain why the plantation or the purpose of the museum village. I learned more by reading the other reviews.

About an hour walking tour. Our guide had a thick Japanese accent. I could understand him, ( I speak an Asian language) but it could be difficult for those who are not familiar with that type of accent. Interesting re creations and evolution of the living structures of field laborers. (Specifically sugar cane) starting with grass huts and moving up to homes with electricity & running water. Not sure it warranted the $15 entrance fee. ( the zoo was only $14)
there is a small display inside also. Restrooms. Water fountain. Small handmade items for sale.

This is a true hidden gem and I can't believe I never heard about it after living here for decades. The history story they tell about the old Hawaii plantation days and how it started is just amazing. You can learn a lot about how all the people who immigrated to Hawaii, help build it's unique multinational culture and unique island life.

The place is a bit out of the way and you really need use Google Maps or some similar app to find it. It isn't hard to get to, but just not easy to find on your own given it's location. Once there, it is pretty easy to figure out how to get back out to where you came from.

This recreation of what it was like during those days isn't a Disneyland type of excursion. It is really tells the raw history of everything that transpired during those times. They village gives you a good idea of what life might have been like, but I'm sure it wasn't as pretty despite how they keep the place to look as authentic as possible.

I think this place is more for adults, but probably a good education for teens who are interested in history and culture. You'll need to plan for time to read the different exhibit information and do some walking. This was a great find for us and I do highly recommend it for others.

We had a wonderful tour guide and there were only 5 of us in the tour so were treated to a thorough explanation of the site, plants and buildings. Really gives you an excellent insight into an important part of Hawaii's history

My family had a very educational time at the Plantation. You can pay for a tour or go at it on your own. We ran into several employees along the way that were very helpful if we had any questions.

Wife and I were really excited about the opportunity to see how the ethnic groups who worked and lived in and around the 19th and early 20th century Hawaiian "Plantations" fared in their day to day lives.

Unfortunately it was pretty much a waste of time. We had a small group of my wife and myself, a couple with a boy maybe 2 yrs old, and another young couple, and an older lady. The docent who led our tour started with the statement "The original Hawaiians came from the Marquesas Islands and left their homes without a clue as to where they were going". This may have been "history" a few decades ago but as we'd just spent the previous day at the Bishop Museum we'd learned that recent scientific discoveries showed the Polynesians who settled Hawaii DID have a good idea of where they were going and what they were doing on their longer and longer sailing ventures and could have come from any of several places.

Before we got to the 1st stop the little boy started screeching. And he continued with his parents unable to quiet him though they tried. But it's pretty hard to glean any info over the screams of a small child. By the 3rd stop on the tour of bldgs and cultures I quit. By the 5th stop my wife quit and she has incredible patience with kids. But it wasn't just the little boy. The docent was boring, droning, not all that knowledgeable and tied to old discredited ideas and assumptions about Hawaiian history and development. Also, though cost is reasonable ($24 for the 2 of us) it doesn't appear as if much or any of the money is actually applied to maintaining the bldgs and displays. Information outside the bldgs is typed on paper and stapled to posts with no plexi over them to protect them. The result? Curled, faded and torn information. How much would it cost to fix? Almost nothing but evidently too much or too much effort to be at least a little modern

I hate posting this as this could be a wonderful place and great learning experience. But the people running this operation are evidently stuck in about 1960 era. There are so many better places on Oahu to learn about early Hawaii.

My husband and I almost didn't stop here but we were so glad we did!. We went in and were shown a historical video first and were a bit doubtful but our tour guide was amazing! He was elderly and actually grew up on this plantation and we were the only people there so we were given an extra special tour. He told us so much history and personal stories to go along with it. The "village" represents 6 or 8 different cultures coming to Hawaii to work the plantations. There are actual and re-created houses, store, medical facility, bathhouse....so much I can't remember it all. This was an inexpensive tour to begin with and when it was over, the tour guide took us into a room where there was a table full of different fruits such as bread fruit, star fruit, pineapple....and several others for us to try. Our guide showed us how to eat sugar cane and told us a story about when he was young.

This is a must visit when on Oahu especially for history buffs. Our tour and docent were exceptional. We were expecting a solid but short tour but received an exceptionally thorough and personal tour. It was far beyond our expectations and we learned a lot.

Excellent spot off the beaten path. Probably the highlight of our trip to Oahu thanks to the incredible tour guide who had a wealth of knowledge about the immigrant workers who came to the island to work on the sugar plantations.

After reading that this is Oahu's only living history museum, and seeing all of the positive reviews, I was really excited to visit. What I didn't realize was:
1. The buildings are scaled-down replicas
2. The tours seem to vary dramatically between docents. On our tour, I learned more about the docent and her faith (!) than I did of the museum. I learned absolutely nothing about the sugar plantations in Oahu. When I asked questions about the grounds and plantation that used to be in the area, the docent said she didn't know much about it.
3. It isn't truly a living history museum -- there are no interpreters present, there aren't any demonstrations and there's certainly no one dressed in costume!

Yes, our guide was a (mostly) sweet grandmotherly type who offered home-cooked food at the end of the tour but I was looking forward to learning about the history of Hawaii.

I think this museum has a lot of potential but needs to really better structure its content/experience and oversee the appropriateness and knowledge of its docents/guides.

Yes, you could avoid the tour and venture through the buildings on your own (would probably take 30 mins max which I don't think is worth the price of admission) but the signage isn't terribly detailed and moreover, the buildings don't breathe life into the rich history of the island.