7 Reasons You’ll Fall for Hawai‘i in the Fall

This story was originally published on Oct. 1, 2020 and updated on in September 2025.

Autumn in Hawaiʻi is a subtle season. No golden foliage or snow days or apple-picking (apples don’t grow here).

Fall is Hawaiʻi’s shoulder season—and is severely underrated. The weather starts to cool—the wettest months in Hawaiʻi are from November to March—and, thanks to kids back in school, beaches and hiking trails are less crowded.

The Islands also celebrate a flurry of events this time of year, from the popular Pumpkin Festival at Aloun Farms on Oʻahu to the Hawaiʻi Food & Wine Festival, held across Oʻahu Maui and Hawaiʻi Island.

Here are a few of our favorite things to do in the fall in Hawaiʻi:

1. Visit a local pumpkin patch

If you’re on Oʻahu, Waimanānalo Country Farms on the island’s Windward Side hosts its annual Fall Harvest Festival from Sept. 27 to Nov. 9, 2025. Nestled at the base of the Koʻolau Mountains, your entire ʻohana is welcome to explore the family-run farm. Keiki can feed and pet goats, pigs, horses, alpaca and more. Of course, you can pick a plump pumpkin, too. Be sure to stop by the farm stand for local honey, homemade cornbread and ice-cold ’Nalo Lemonade.

Photo: Courtesy of Kula Country Farms

On Maui, you won’t want to miss the annual Fall Pumpkin Patch at Kula Country Farms, which opens Oct. 1, 2025. The popular event, which runs daily through October, features a huge patch of pumpkins in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes.

2. Lookout for humpback whales

From November through May, between 10,000 and 12,000 North Pacific humpback whales journey from Alaska to Hawaiʻi’s warm waters to frolic, mate and give birth. While the waters surrounding Maui offer some of the best glimpses of these majestic mammals, you can see koholā (humpback whales) from Oʻahu, too, particularly along the Makapuʻu Lighthouse Trail and at Diamond Head Beach Park.

3. Watch for kōlea return

Another annual visitors to the Islands in the fall is the kōlea, or Pacific golden plover. You don’t have to be a bird nerd (like me) to appreciate these adorable yellow-and-buff mottled shorebirds that fly from Siberia and Alaska to Hawaiʻi—more than 2,000 miles—in a single nonstop flight. Find them just about anywhere: trekking across parks and beaches, scurrying across residential streets, searching for insects on golf courses and farms, wandering the lava fields on Hawaiʻi Island and in the crater of Haleakalā. They typically start leaving the Islands in April.

4. Enjoy persimmons in season

Native to East Asia, persimmons have been growing in Hawaiʻi for decades. In fact, there are trees on the 5-acre Hashimoto Persimmon Farm in Kula, Maui that are more than 100 years old. The trees flower in March and April and harvest season runs from October to December, depending on the variety. Speaking of which, there are three varieties grown commercially in Hawaiʻi: fuyu, maru and hachiya—all native to Japan. Hashimoto Farm is the largest grower in the state, its annual harvest yielding over 40,000 pounds of these shiny, deep-orange orbs. You can add persimmon to salads, use in salsas and sauces, or fold into desserts. They can also be eaten raw—just be sure astringent ones like the hachiya are fully ripen and soft before taking a bite.

5. Attend a local festival

Local farms aren’t the only places to enjoy a festival this time of the year. The annual Hawaiʻi Food and Wine Festival brings together chefs and restauranteurs across the Islands and from around the world in a multi-island epicurean experience.

Kicking off on Oct. 15, 2025, the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival turns 45 this year. The festival highlights incredible films from the Pacific and Asia, always supporting Native Hawaiian and Indigenous filmmakers. Films will be showing across the Islands.

6. Get spooked on a ghost tour

Hawaiʻi’s history is full of myths, legends—and spooky tales. Join master storyteller Lopaka Kapanui (above) this month on one of his Mysteries of Hawaiʻi walking tours that reveal urban legends, hauntings and legends of spirits and demigods.

7. Savor cooler weather for outdoor fun

With kids back in school and the weather cooling down, fall is the best time to hit Hawaiʻi trails and beaches. Surf tends to mellow out during early autumn months—right before the monster swells that typically hit north shores of all islands in November and December—making for clean and safe conditions to snorkel, swim and take a surf lesson. (Be mindful, though, that October is the end of pupping season for sharks, with the majority of attacks—still very rare—occurring in October.) Or hit one of the Islands’ dozens of trails in the fall, when temperates are lower and days aren’t as short as in the winter months.

Catherine Toth Fox is the former editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.