Waipio Valley Wagon Tours

Definitely recommend to check this out if you happen to be around northern region of big island. First you meet up at Neptune Garden/​Last Chance store to check in. Bob our tour guide would drive us in his truck to Waipio Valley Outlook area and then down into its valley area. Very steep and bumpy road. It was muddy and has many potholes. Spectacular view all along the way going down. Once we reached the bottom of the valley, we then transfer to mule wagon for a more in depth tour. Super fun for everyone (kids and adults), crazy bumpy ride especially when crossing 2 rivers. Bob is very knowledgeable in explaining to us about the history and plants in this valley. We saw a lot of beautiful wild horses down in the valley.

The tour itself was a nice experience. Our guide was a very sweet man who gave a good tour. It was alittle bumpy but to be expected. The reason I only gave 3 stars is because the lady I booked the tour with was very rude! The truth is that if there was another wagon tour available I would have booked with someone else. Every time I talked with her she was rude. Luckily, she didn’t give the tour.

What an awe-​inspiring experience! My guide Douglas knew every nook and cranny of the valley – plants, animals, and people! His enthusiasm, love, and pride in Waipio radiated.
Go! Just go! You’ll be so glad you did!

We loved loved this tour! Book quickly bc the tour books fast due to weight restrictions for the mules. We booked the 2:30, but was told it was sold out, then by the time I called (an hour later) for the 12:30 that was sold out too. Thankfully our weights allowed for us to join the 2:30 tour after all.
If your coming from Kona it’s about a 2 hour drive. About an hour from the Kohala resorts… They run the tours rain or shine (unless it’s a major downpour). It was drizzly on our trip but it was still great!
It’s one of only 3 tours that tour the valley floor. All others only do the rim, which is beautiful as well.
The tour runs exactly as described on their website.
The stable keeper, who gave us the tour was great! On the 4×4 van ride down (as in a 25% grade!) it was BEAUTIFUL and the scenery was amazing. She gave us a detailed history of Waipio Valley and the area. She has lived in the valley for 15 years and worked in the valley for 20!
Once we arrived the stables we were greeted by their horses and the mules were hooked up and ready to go. There are beautiful waterfalls directly above the stables, these made for great photo ops.
The valley and surrounding area are lush and wet soooo BRING BUG SPRAY. (Mosquitos love me and I was prized with 4 big welts for my souvenir despite continuous spraying.)
We loaded the covered wagon and distributed our weight as directed. Each seat has handles and you’ll need them to hold on during the bumpy ride. Our 4 year old did fine, but if your kiddo isn’t a good listener and decides to stand up or move around, they will fall.
We toured the valley floor, crossed water ways 4 times and saw more waterfalls and beautiful views and were introduced to all of the flora in the area as well as many wild horses! So cool!
We returned back to the stables, fed the horses there and travelled back out of the valley in the van, and back to our car at the Last Chance store.
We would return for the tour again if we had friends or family in town and wanted to take them.
I highly recommend the tour for anyone that would like to see the Waipio Valley up close and personal. Active folks love to hike down and hike in the valley which is an awesome way to see the valley but if you’re with small kiddos or if you don’t have 4 hours minimum to commit, this is a lovely and unique way to see the valley and learn some history.
A hui hou!

There isn’t anything more to say that Dave G. hasn’t covered. So I will break my learnings down in bullet points:
*Fascinating history of Hawaii and why Waipio Valley went from the Valley of the Kings with a population of 3,000 to the sparsely populated land where only 50 – 75 Hawaiians reside today.
*If you have back problems or are prone to back problems and pinched nerves, you may want to skip this tour. It’s bumpy, the road down the valley is steep enough to make an atheist start getting religious.
*Spray lots of OFF on your exposed body parts. There are many, many critters all too eager to feast on fresh blood, haole and otherwise. So either wear long pants or douse yourself in OFF.
*It’s windy at the lookout so dress in layers, light jacket or windbreaker will do.
*Bathroom outside the Neptune Garden/​Last Chance store is clean but bring your own toilet seat cover.
*Minor detail but the website lists the meeting point address as 48 – 5300 Kuikuihaele Road, Honokaa, HI. We entered it in our GPS and couldn’t find it because it’s actually 48 – 5300 Kukuihaele Road, Honokaa, HI. Bonus points if you can spot the error.
*Mules are smarter than horses and can pull heavier loads. Being called an ass, not so bad.
*Taro is hard to grow and harvest. Appreciate your poi and taro chips for they are lovingly grown by earnest Hawaiians, one of whom is our tour guide Li’a.
*Tip Bob and Li’a. These two guides are doing their part to keep the old Hawaiian spirit and culture alive so help these brah’s out.
*The tour lasts about 1 ½ hours and the drive from either side of the island can take 1 – 2 hours one way. Grab some malasadas from Tex Drive-​In on your way into the valley and stop by Jolene’s for local food and Hamakua Fudge for dessert to end your day.
*Lastly, show respect and pay reverence to the old Hawaii that you won’t see in these Disneyfied resorts or urbanized enclaves of Hilo Hatties and ABC stores.

That’s one very steep road getting into the Waipio Valley and more importantly a very very steep road getting out of the valley. Your choices are this — You can hike it yourself; you can attempt to drive it if you have a 4 wheel drive and nerves of steel; or you can take a tour and let a professional handle it while you relax taking in all the views. One of the more unique tours is the Waipio Valley Wagon Tour. Once you get to the bottom of the valley, you ride on a quaint mule drawn wagon, going across streams, getting nice views of waterfalls, wild horses, and tasting native fruit.
This tour takes about an hour and a half. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and grew up living in the Valley. His family has lived there for many generations and he had wonderful stories to tell of the region.
He was constantly pointing out various plants and flowers. He picked several different fruit to try that were native to the valley that I hadn’t seen before. Life in the valley is beautiful but not luxurious, since getting in and out is so difficult. Although our guide has ran the steep climb out in 11 minutes. That’s pretty impressive since Lance Armstrong cycled out in 9 and half minutes.
The Waipio Valley is the Hawaii you imagine. When some people visit the Big Island they get disappointed when they see all the black lava rock and barren land scape on the Kona side of the Island. But Waipio is a beautiful green valley surrounded by cliffs going straight into the sea.
One of the tallest waterfalls in Hawaii is here Hiilawe Falls (1,450 feet) and although you don’t get too close to it, you’ll still get nice views of it while on the Wagon Tour. A lot of the Valley is private land, so taking a tour gets more access to the valley than you can get on foot. Somehow riding in the mule drawn wagon made the valley seem more real. Most homes here don’t have power, phone, or cable TV, so cars just don’t feel right.
We got to spend a few moments petting some horses and our hard working mules before heading back out of the valley.
Lots of people go to the Waipio Valley Overlook, but it seems not too many actually go into the valley. Waipio Valley Wagon Tours offers 3 tours a day. They are closed on Sunday. Make sure you bring mosquito repellent. Oh and don’t be afraid to tip your guide people. We were the only ones out of the 8 of us that gave our excellent guide a Mahalo.