Farm visits · DESSERT TOURS
Good farm dessert tours fill up weeks ahead and the great ones go first. Below: the 15 to book early, what each includes and how they differ.
Spend about 8.5 hours touring the Yarra Valley with guides such as Shaun, Danny, Posi and Stefan. Visit wineries, a strawberry farm, chocolate factory and a gin distillery, with optional gin flights, hosted tastings and return transport from central Melbourne.
“Tour guide was great, lots of stops to enjoy and a good day overall. I would recommend this so anyone”
Spend about three hours at Lydgate Farms with guides such as Sheri, Jess, Mason, or Brooke. Walk the botanical gardens, taste cacao fruit, tropical produce, honey, vanilla, and dark chocolate, then follow the path from cacao tree to finished bar.
“Interesting tour, but a little long. Could be done in two hours. Jenna talked too much but knew what she was talking about.”
At Kona Natural Soap, Greg Colden and his team lead a three-hour tour through a coffee, cacao, and fruit farm above Kona. You’ll learn about biodiversity, taste farm-made coffee and chocolate, see soap production, and browse handmade gifts.
“Everything you need to know about coffee, chocolate and the art of soap making in one package! Greg and the Team were phenomenal!”
At Finca 18, guides such as Greg, Mario, Alex, Emily, and Javier lead you through a family ranch, agave fields, and a small distillery. Taste five or more agave spirits with chocolate, guacamole, and ranch-made snacks. The intimate tour suits adults who want craft spirits beyond a standard city tasting.
“We had a great time touring Finca 18 last week! Greg was a gracious host and shared lots of interesting information about their artisanal tequila making process. We got to walk around the beautiful grounds, then enjoyed tastings of their products. The gift shop bus was a fun stop at the end of the tour!”
Spend about three hours tasting Swiss cheese, chocolate, seasonal market produce, and a traditional Basel pastry while walking through the Old Town. Guides such as Gina and Jean add local history, though meeting points, timing, seating, and chocolate portions have varied.
“Thank you Jean for a fantastic tour! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Basel Switzerland. I enjoyed the great experience!”
Spend about two hours with guides such as Fabricio or Alexis at a small family farm in Alajuela. Learn how cacao and coffee are grown and processed, make chocolate bars and hot cocoa, taste fresh coffee and sugar cane juice, and walk to a private waterfall.
“I very much enjoyed my tour at Don Jorge Chocolate and Coffee Tour! My guide, Fabricio Alexis, was very knowledgeable about ALL the flora on this family-owned farm. It was great to learn about all that goes into raising, harvesting, and producing the coffee and chocolate products we consume. We had hands-on demonstrations to make our own coffee, chocolate, and also sugarcane "juice"...and we spiked it with sugarcane moonshine!”
Visit Honolii Orchards near Hilo for a 3.5-hour cacao farm tour and tasting. Guides Wrenn, Colin, Ren, and Jude explain farming, fermentation, chocolate history, and Hawaiian craft makers while you sample cacao fruit, juice, tea, drinking chocolate, seasonal produce, and many chocolate styles.
“Did the Cacao tour. Guides were super friendly, knowledgeable, and clearly very passionate. It was also great to hear the good relationships they have with other cacao farmers in Hawaii. We sampled 10 different chocolates, which were all fantastic. Cacao tea, fresh cacao pulp right out of the pod, cacao pulp juice, apple bananas, and fresh lychee. This experience was so much more than I imagined. Definitely worth it and highly recommend. Went with my 10yo and she absolutely loved it as well! We learned everything from seedling planting, grafting, lifespan, dealing with disease or low production, learning different varieties, life cycle of pods, harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, and g...”
Travel from Guayaquil to a family-run cacao farm with guides such as Mario, Allison, or Antonio. Walk among cacao trees, pick a pod, learn how beans become chocolate, and take part in the process yourself. The visit may also include a home-cooked meal, fruit tasting, and time with the farm family.
“This was the best tour we’ve ever had the chance of taking! Our guide Alison was so personable and kind, and everything was at a pace that let us absorb the history and beauty of the land around us. We learned so much about where chocolate comes from, the cacao plants, the history of the industry, and the process of turning the cacao into chocolate. Allison was very knowledgeable and did a great job of including us in every part of the chocolate making process, which was a great hands- on experience for us. We didn’t know there were so many products and delicious things that come from cacao. Her…”
Travel privately from Quito to Mindo with a bilingual guide such as Francisco, Marco, or Christian. Stop at the Equator, feed hummingbirds, walk to waterfalls, visit butterflies and Yumbos Chocolate, and shape the day around your interests.
“Francisco is an amazing tour guide and I highly recommend using him. We went to the equator line, a hummingbird sanctuary, a butterfly garden, ziplining, waterfall hike, and a chocolate factory. Note, you do have to pay for the excursions. It’s about $5-$7 each and ziplining is $20 for 10 lines. He tailors the tour to suit your needs and whatever you want to see so I never felt rushed from one place to the next. He’s a great driver as the roads are quite tricky. Highly recommend Francisco!”
Meet a local Tico family 25 minutes outside La Fortuna for a small-group walk through a cacao and coffee farm. Taste fresh cacao fruit, prepare traditional and modern drinks, and make a chocolate bar with toppings. Groups are capped at 12 people.
“This was absolutely the high point of our trip! Totally different from the usual crowded tourist manufactured "experiences", this was a real meeting with a local farming family, who took us in as honored guests and shared their love of the earth and of their culture. We didn't jusRead more”
At Kamananui Cacao Orchards near Haleiwa, an English-speaking guide such as Katie, Katy, or Dan leads you through a working cacao farm. You will see how pods are grown and harvested, learn how beans become chocolate, taste cacao fruit, and sample Hawaiian-made chocolates.
“Tour was an exceptional way to learn all about the cacao growing process. Katy, our guide, was fun, engaging and educational.”
Spend about three hours at El Sendero del Cacao and La Esmeralda Chocolate Factory with a local guide. Learn to plant, harvest, ferment, and dry cacao, then make a chocolate bar, taste several varieties, and eat a Dominican buffet lunch. Transportation is available if selected.
“We got to see the process from planting a cocoa tree to making a chocolate bar. The fresh cocoa fruit is tasty!”
Start at Basel Town Hall and walk through the Old Town to Basel Minster, the Tinguely Fountain, a food market, cheese tastings, chocolate shops, and a bakery serving Läckerli. Private English tours include a local guide and tastings, with guides such as Jonas, Jean, or Gina having led past departures.
“The tour was not a tour at all. We were escorted from our hotel and walked a few blocks to the guides personal business where we literally stood at a counter for almost two hours where we were sold his cheese and tasted chocolate beans and small pieces of chocolate bars he’s selling in the store. We then walked to a small pastry shop where we looked in the front window and picked a pastry each and guide went inside and brought them back to us in a bag and handed to me. That was the “tour”…definitely not worth the price at all. The guide was very nice as an…”
Visit El Sendero del Cacao with a local guide, follow cacao from seed to finished bar, then make your own chocolate at La Esmeralda. The 3.5-hour experience includes a buffet lunch and local hot chocolate. Transport may be selected when booking.
“Excellent tour. Took the tour from Santo Domingo. It was a lovely 2 hour drive through the heart of the country. Once we arrived we were treated to a cup of hot chocolate and friendly staff. They were very accommodating and family friendly. Read more”
Meet guides Wren and Jude at Honolii Orchards, five minutes from Hilo, for a 3.5-hour cacao farm tour and tasting. Walk the orchard, visit the fermentation room, learn chocolate’s Mesoamerican roots, and compare at least 10 Hawaiian single-origin bars with cacao juice, tea, and farm treats.
“The Owner of the Farm did a great job explaining everything and showing is around. Also the choclate testing was amazing.”
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