Why Kangaroo Island honey is unique
Kangaroo Island holds the world's last remaining pure-bred population of Ligurian bees. In 1885 the South Australian Parliament passed an Act declaring the island a sanctuary for the strain, recognising even then that KI's isolation could keep it free of cross-breeding with other honeybee subspecies. The quarantine has been in force ever since.
Every other Ligurian colony on the planet has been cross-bred since. KI is the only place the original strain still exists in its untouched form. That is not marketing language, it is a verifiable piece of agricultural history that is the reason a working honey farm here is worth an hour of your trip.
The operator
The Kangaroo Island Ligurian Bee Co, trading as Island Beehive, runs the honey farm at 59 Playford Hwy, Kingscote. It is open daily 9am to 5pm and only closed on Christmas Day. The site is an indoor working facility with a shop, tasting area and viewing access into the production rooms. Large bus parking and disability access are available on site.
The business is family-run by Brenton and Verity (the same family behind Little Sahara Adventure Centre and Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action at Vivonne Bay), with Brenton's father Peter Davis still working alongside them as the original founder. They manage around 1,200 hives moved around the island according to flora and seasons, average around 65 tonnes of honey each year, and host around 30,000 visitors annually at the Kingscote facility. Production is certified to B-QUAL and HACCP food safety standards, Dairy Safe for the honey ice cream, and NASAA for organic beekeeping. On the tourism side they hold EcoTourism Australia's Advanced Eco Certification and Climate Action Leader status, plus TICSA accreditation and TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice recognition for 11+ consecutive years. Recent producer awards include a 2025 National Honey Award (First Place, Creamed Honey Fine Grain, Open Category) and 2024 South Australian Premier's Food and Beverage Award (Winner, Primary Production).
The three tours, by name and price
There are three formal tour products. They are different in length, price and audience, so it pays to pick the right one before you book.
Behind The Scenes Tour, 30 minutes, $27 adult
The Behind The Scenes Tour is the entry-level option and the one most guests do. It runs four times a day at 10am, 11am, 1:30pm and 2:30pm, lasts 30 minutes and is held entirely indoors. Adult $27, child (5 to 12) $15, under-5s free. The tour is disability accessible, capped at 20 per session and includes a guided walk-through of the working facility, a tasting of the honey range and a complimentary gift to take home.
Hairnets are worn during the tour for food-safety compliance, which is standard for any working production site. Group rates are available for ten or more guests at $17 per person, school groups at $10 per person with the leader free. Group rates do not include the complimentary gift or the ice cream.
Beekeeping Experience Tour, 90 minutes, $157 per person
The Beekeeping Experience Tour is the hands-on option. 90 minutes, $157 per adult, $127 per child (6 to 12), ages 6+, capped at eight per session. Run at 9am or 1pm by enquiry only. You suit up, work alongside a real beekeeper, open hives, handle frames, and see how the apiary actually operates. This is not a walk-around tour, it is an active session at the hives.
Closed footwear and socks are essential, and the team asks guests to avoid heavily scented products or perfume on the morning of the tour. Any bee allergy must be disclosed at the time of booking. The session is weather dependent and may be rescheduled if conditions are not right for opening hives.
Day in a Life of a Beekeeper, 6 hours, $997 per person
The Day in a Life of a Beekeeper is the deep-dive option for guests who want the full picture. Six hours, $997 per person, ages 8+, capped at four. Enquiry only. You spend the day with the beekeeping team, moving between hives and the production facility, doing the work that a working day actually involves. It is the right tour for someone seriously interested in beekeeping or considering keeping bees at home.
Same rules apply as the Beekeeping Experience: closed footwear and socks, avoid heavily scented products or perfume, bee allergy disclosed at booking.
How to choose
For most travellers the Behind The Scenes Tour is the right call. It is short enough to fit into a Kingscote morning, accessible for all ages, includes the tasting and the gift, and gives you a proper sense of how the honey is made. If you have a young family or anyone with mobility considerations, this is the easy pick.
For guests with a genuine interest in beekeeping, the Beekeeping Experience Tour is the upgrade. It is the only one that puts you in a suit with a frame in your hand. For the truly keen, the Day in a Life of a Beekeeper is the all-day deep dive. Both of the hands-on tours are by enquiry, so the team can confirm timing, weather and suitability before you commit.
What you actually see inside
The site is a working production facility, not a museum. On the Behind The Scenes Tour you walk through the visitor pickup area, into the viewing zone where the team are extracting and packing honey, past the glass hive where you can watch the queen bee and her workers, and into the tasting area at the end. Guests taste up to six honeys, which shift through the year with the source flora. Single-origin jars carry the source flora on the label, with current releases including Boobialla, Eucalyptus Remota and Eucalyptus Cosmophylla. The tasting is the fair way to work out which jar to take home.
The shop floor sits at the front of the building and is open through the same daily hours regardless of whether you book a tour. The retail range covers the full honey line, the honey ice cream and nougat made on site, the skincare range, candles, beeswax and a small selection of other bee products. Two dollars from each jar of Eucalyptus Remota goes to The Kangaroo Island Bee Fund, a sub-fund of the Australian Communities Foundation administered in South Australia by Foundation SA.
Planning the visit
Kingscote sits 13 km from the airport and 65 km from the Penneshaw ferry terminal, so the honey farm is easy to reach from either arrival point. Most trips slot the Behind The Scenes Tour into a Kingscote morning before heading west, and pair it with the Penneshaw farmers market (first and third Saturdays) or one of the other local producers. If you are booking the hands-on tours, treat them as the anchor for the day and build the rest of your plan around the 9am or 1pm start.