We have successfully grown single crystalline trigonal-type HoAl \(_{3}\) sample and comprehensively investigated the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of both the single crystalline and powder samples. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements reveal that trigonal HoAl \(_{3}\) develops an antiferromagnetic order at \(T_{N}\) = 9 K and this order can be continuously suppressed by an external magnetic field. Influenced by crystal electric field effect, HoAl \(_{3}\) possesses obvious magnetic anisotropy in paramagnetic state. The direction-dependent correlation of magnetic susceptibility, magnetic anomaly under specific magnetic fields, and magnetic field-induced magnetic transition suggest the magnetic easy axis tends to parallel to the ab-plane. The magnetic entropy change in isothermal process reflects that the magnetocaloric effect is almost isotropic.