National Tropical Botanical Garden

Did the Sunset Tour of Allerton Garden on ¹⁰⁄₂₆. It’s getting late in the year, so even with dinner we were back at the visitors’ center by 7 p.m.
The tour included a really nice walking tour of the property, with photo opportunity stops at each of the garden «rooms» and and a stop at the giant trees used in Jurassic Park. Part of the trip is on a bus, mostly in the areas where walking could have been a problem. The paths within the garden are generally well maintained, and our guide was very knowledgeable about the plants/​flowers and the history of the garden. The food we were served was delicious, and included a cocktail of Lilikoi juice and sparkling cider that we tried but were unable to replicate back at our hotel.
This tour includes a stop in the historic house (other tours don’t), and we had dinner on the screened-​in porch. The sunset actually happened while we were serving ourselves food and chatting. The private beach outside the house is rocky (like many others in Hawaii) so be aware if you plan on going out to the shoreline.
I’d recommend sneakers for the walk instead of sandals/​anything with open toes — lots of little rocks got in my feet. was running early from the time we got there, and it was pretty cloudy, so the brilliant color we were hoping for didn’t materialize. However, the area is gorgeous and totally worth the trip.

We had a wonderful tour wth David Alexander, a sixth generation Hawaiian. It took longer than planned due to David’s enthusiastc guidance. Make sure you bring water and wear good comfortable shoes, not flip flops! Took almost three hours.

If I could I would give NO stars! STAY AWAY FUTURE BRIDES– I booked my wedding last Sept for July this year — when I booked they were wide open (nobody on the books) I put my deposit down and signed the contract –3 months before my wedding and after all my invites had gone out and all my guest booked their flights I was informed from GWEN (extremely unorganized lady) that she had made a mistake … I asked what do you mean– she explained that she booked another wedding on Friday, I said that’s ok my wedding is on Thursday — she then proceeded to tell me that the florist and tent people needed to set up 8 hours prior to the other event meaning there would be tents and construction people where my wedding was suppose to be. After about a month of GWEN telling me don’t worry or wait worry I had had enough — I ended up having to find a new location last minute my wedding planner Marie (legacy events) told me that her hands were tied and kept $ 400 of my deposit money. Do not go this route! I thought by going this route I would save some money and have the privacy I was looking for — Legacy Events rates were comparable to the Grand Hyatt rates as far as vendor pricing (not site fee) I now am having my wedding at the Grand Hyatt and although it’s costing a little more I am headache free — Amy (with the Grand Hyatt) is a pleasure to work with and extremely helpful and most importantly professional. When I was working with the other vendors I had to deal with a lot of unnecessary attitude– I felt like they wanted my money and could care less about me as a bride and what I was going through– ntbg booked a local girls wedding after mine was booked first– so be careful girls from the mainland bc they just want your money and it’s a nightmare trying to work w NTBG! STAY AWAY!!!

The sunset tour of the Allerton Gardens was one of the highlights of our time in Kauai. The Allerton Gardens are owned by the Bank of Chicago but the National Tropical Botanical Gardens manages the estate. The sunset tour starts out at the visitor’s center and winds down the road to eventually come out at the sea. We stopped and parked the van, led by our illustrious leader Hal, who was an attentive and jovial fellow, and walked the rest of the way into the gardens. At the Allerton house we had dinner, that we thought was quite good considering that we were expecting to be served cold sandwiches and pop.
Then after dinner we moseyed on up to the top and watched the sunset from up there and we had a terrific one! The whole experience was wonderful and I wish we had gone back and enjoyed the McBride garden as well but didn’t fit it in. I guess they are doing wonderful renovations and improvements up there that are worth a look-​see. I highly recommend you take the time to enjoy these gardens that are truly one of a kind and incredibly beautiful!

My husband & i did the Allerton tour & it was nothing short of a beautiful experience! We are so happy we found this place! All of the staff were so nice & helpful, especially our tour guide, Hal, he was so knowledgeable, kind, & kept the tour entertaining! We will be recommending this tour to all our friends & family! We can’t wait to come back & do it again!

Spent a bit of time here during one of our Kauai trips. Honestly, I was a bit bored. My wife liked it better than I did.
Plenty of tropical Hawaiian plants to see, and it was really green. Nice change from my hometown where most everything is brown. If you are really into plants, then you’d like this botanical garden.
Not for me though. I would have rather gone somewhere to eat.

Saw the sign when driving back from Spouting Horn. We did not have the time to justify paying for a tour so we just walked around for a few minutes on the general grounds near the parking lot. If what we saw here was a preview of what is inside then it would be nice to spend a longer time on a tour.

It was pretty cool. Lots of interesting plants. The bulldozers kind of killed it for me and the orchard area was dull and empty like a golf course. Ended up just sitting around for about half am hour waiting on the van. GF liked it, so it was worth the money for sure. $ 15/​ea

go see Limahuli Garden and Preserve near Ke’e beach (beyond Hanalei), forget Allerton and McBryde gardens which are the backyards of rich people with lawns and gazebos

It’s lovely to get down into the lower Lawai Valley at all, but the guide spent half the time talking about himself, a quarter of the time talking about the statuary, and the rest of the time making jokes. We went at a snail’s pace and saw only a small part of the actual garden. I took the same tour 20 years ago and we walked all the way out to Emma’s Cottage. Now you have to pay a lot more for the Sunset Tour to see the rest of the garden.

Really enjoyed our tour of the Allerton property. Good tour guide, well paced and humorous. He also really knew his plants. Bring water!

This is quite a nice garden to tour; great variety of tropical plants and trees. McBryde Garden tour takes about 1.5 hours to complete. Don’t miss the Spice of Life walk.
You are brought here by a shuttle van which is a fun ride in itself. The guide on the bus is excellent, she gave a lot of good information about the Allerton and McBryde estates along the way.

Beautiful! Just beautiful plants, well maintained gardens, and a great gift shop with the stuff you don’t see at gift malls.
I’m definitely happy to have gotten approved-​for-​export seeds, and will be growing my Hawaiian tropical plants at home.
The service people in the gift shop were incredibly nice, as well.

We thought that these gardens were absolutely spectacular. We were expecting to see a few nice tropical plants, but were absolutely blown away when we took the tram to the lush valley that the garden is housed in. All of the staff were very knowledgeable and walking around these gardens was just amazing.

like the rating says… ive seen better… for a time killer before you have to go to the airport tho, its ok.