Aore Island Cocoa Farm Tour

Tour Information

Start Time: 10:00 am

Duration: Approximately 1–1.5 hours

Price:$30.00 AUD per person

Location: Phoenix Plantation, Aore Island

Getting Here: Boat transfers are available from Santo Island to Aore Island and can be arranged when booking.

Departure from Santo: Guests can meet at the Santo–Aore Ferry Café/wharf in Luganville for the boat transfer to Aore Island.

Booking: Advance booking required.

Why You’ll Love This Tour

• Walk through a real working cocoa plantation on Aore Island

• Discover how heirloom cocoa is grown, harvested and processed

• Get hands-on — cut open cocoa pods and explore the fresh beans inside

• Taste fresh cocoa pulp and locally grown cocoa products when available

• See different stages of fermentation and drying depending on the season

• Learn how a cocoa bean eventually becomes chocolate

• Small, interactive experience with plenty of opportunities to ask questions

• Support locally grown cocoa and traditional small-scale farming on Aore Island

Please wear comfortable walking shoes as this is a working tropical plantation with natural, uneven ground. Bring a hat, sunscreen and drinking water.

The tour is conducted outdoors and what you see will vary with the cocoa season. Depending on the time of year, you may see cocoa pods growing, harvesting, fermenting or drying.

Boat transfers from Santo to Aore Island can be arranged when booking. Advance booking is required

From Heirloom Cocoa to Chocolate

Phoenix Plantation grows heirloom cocoa, and this tour takes you beyond simply walking past cocoa trees. We want you to get involved and understand what actually happens between a cocoa pod growing on a tree and the chocolate we all know.

Depending on the season, you may pick or cut open a ripe cocoa pod, remove the fresh beans, taste the sweet pulp surrounding them and see cocoa at different stages of fermentation and drying. Your guide will explain why each stage matters and how dramatically the bean changes along the way.

You’ll walk amongst the cocoa trees, learn how to recognise a ripe pod and see how cocoa is grown and harvested on a small working island plantation.

This is an interactive farm experience, so expect to touch, taste, smell and ask questions. What you experience will vary with the season — because this is a real working plantation rather than a staged display.