This morning we visited the Na Aina Kai garden for the basic guided stroll. The 1.5 hour tour actually took a little over two hours (but the guide politely asked in advance if anyone had time constraints) and was a nice small group of eight. We saw an impressive variety of tropical plants plus other garden features, numerous bronze statues, water features, rock work, a maze, and so forth. The bronzes are all life-sized vignettes usually of nostalgic scenes featuring people rendered in a quite life-like style. The plants are almost all introduced with only a few native species. In addition to the gardens we saw a large planting of hardwood trees, including teak and mahogany.
The garden is now operated by a non-profit but was originally the estate of a wealthy couple who spent their retirement doing increasingly ambitious projects there. The wife who designed most features of the garden survives and sometimes gives tours (Tuesday mornings I believe).
The guide mentioned many other things to see that we would need to take other tours for. They offer a number of tours featuring different parts of the very extensive grounds, light walking to hiking or ride in a cart.
Directions: from Lihue/Kapaa, after mile post 21 take the first right on Wailapa and follow the road to the end, turning right into the parking lot. Call ahead to reserve a tour to ensure there is space or show up and take your chances. Tours start in the visitor center where there is a gift shop as well.
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