The site consists of a museum with indoor exhibits and a village where structures of a typical plantation, such as a plantation store, manager’s office, bathhouse, and infirmary, can be found, along with houses of different ethnic groups complete with furnishings and personal artifacts. There’s also a garden with unique plants that workers brought from their native lands. Although you can explore the site on your own, you’ll gain more out of the experience on a guided tour, as many guides have a personal connection to the plantation and offer stories and insights that you won’t learn otherwise.
Tickets to the village must be purchased at the site.
Guided tours are available in English and Japanese but must be arranged in advance.
Fruit samples from the garden are provided during guided tours.
The gift shop offers a variety of handmade crafts, toys, cookbooks, and other souvenirs.
Wear comfortable shoes for walking around the grounds. A hat and sunscreen are also useful as it can get hot in the open-air museum.
Hawaii’s Plantation Village is in the historic town of Waipahu, in Oahu. From H-1, take exit #7 (Waikele/Waipahu) and turn south on Paiwa Street, then west on Waipahu Street. You can also take bus #42 from Ala Moana Shopping Center to Waipahu Transit Center and change to bus #43 or 432, or walk.
Hawaii’s Plantation Village is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 2pm. Docent-led tours are held daily at 10am and 12pm, lasting 1 to 1.5 hours (and sometimes even longer, depending on the docent), and must be arranged in advance. The village also hosts special events for cultural festivals, such as the Chinese New Year, the Obon Festival, and the Harvest Moon Festival.
To learn more about plantation history, head to the Hawaiian Railway Society in nearby Ewa, just a few miles from Hawaii’s Plantation Village. The society contains a sugar plantation railroad car and paraphernalia. Train rides are offered on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Riders can learn about how sugar plantations used the trains and see the site of a sisal plantation, among others, during the narrated ride.
