sugar cane museum

Depending on which tour group you book with, you either go directly to the sugar cane museum or you go directly to the sugar cane field to see the fields first. You get a tour of the museum with all of the old trains to see and all of the equipment that was used to produce the sugar cane. You end up at the little market and are sent on your way with 2 small bottles of rum. One tour gives you a short steam engine ride and the other ride takes you all the way into the local town of Cardenas (not sure about the spelling). The full ride is pretty cool. If you try to board near the end, the engineers will ask you to ride up on the engine. Be prepared it is very hot and they offer to take many pictures for you, for a tip in return. After the sugar cane museum, you go into town to another local museum. My husband and I did not enjoy this part of the tour, so we skipped out and enjoyed a cold beverage across the street. The museum does not allow you to take back packs with you and they charge you 5cuc (I think) to take your own pictures. They are very particular and you can not touch anything, not even the display cases. This part of the tour needs to be replaced. Maybe a walk downtown Cardenas instead.

This visit was great - the bus ride to get there was long from CayoCoco. We enjoyed the tour but not some of the tourists who were pushy and rude. There are some nice trains that you can touch, climb into and take pictures with. Then a refreshing drink (lemon, honey, cuban rum) before a train ride to lunch. BRING MOSQUITO REPELLANT. You are in fields and trees and as we went in December - we were being eaten alive by Mosquitos!

free rum if u book with tour group, steam train was cool but scary runs ruff. sugar cane juice was fun to watch.

We arrived at the museum, which was one of the stops on our bus tour. The guide who works for the museum spoke only in Spanish so our tour guide translated on his behalf. The process of how the sugar cane is refined is interesting. We also took a 15 min steam train ride and there were residents, mostly children, waving to the passing train. There is a sampling of the sugar cane juice and a group of musicians playing music at the museum as well as a small shop selling souvenirs. We were there for approx. 1 hour in total.

We found this trip interesting and loved the short trip on the steam train which attracted the local children, saw some wonderful countryside and plantations

Staff are enthusiastic. By far the best part is the trip on the steam train but do be prepared for locals waving and looking for change at the end.

visited this museum on an excursion from our hotel the museum was ok it was interesting but too hot standing around for it all to be explained we went on a steam train around the museum which unfortunatley the last carriage derailed which was quiet scary but luckily no one was seriously hurt .

We booked the Thomas Cook recommended tour entitled Guama, Steam & Sugar - the date was 22/09/2014. We were collected on time, no problem, & arrived safely at the Sugar factory. The tour was to be honest quite boring, and the ' you get to taste the sugar cane extract' was of course not a freebie, but yet another opportunity for another peso, and the delightful trio playing Cuban music, again needed a peso contribution & not forgetting the obligatory souvenir shop. Next onto the steam train, which ran on diesel & the locomotive looked very impressive to be fair. It had 2 metal open carriages attached to the back of it, with bench seats in. We then set off out into the surrounding countryside & small village, which also included swamp land = mucho mosquitoes! which feasted themselves on the unsuspecting tourists, & yes we had all come equipped with bands and sprays but were all bitten in equal measure! To then cap it all on our return to the factory the 2nd carriage, which we were in derailed! Yes jumped right off the tracks at the points, the engine & 1st carriage carried on whilst we screamed at them to stop. We were all covered in rust & metal from the carriage roof & watched in horror as the coupling twisted & snapped free, which in hindsight saved us from toppling over completely. The majority of us were shaken up, I suffered a headache, neck ache & nausea, husband back ache, however still not as unfortunate as the elder lady who lost her footing, & spent the rest of the trip with a cold towel to her face, as she had badly bruised & swollen cheek, & also had injured her back. We were hastily ushered onto the other carriage, & returned to the factory, the n boarded the coach & left. The tour guide showed compassion for the injured lady, but no concern to the rest of the party, and we were not offered the opportunity to return to our hotel. The tour guide directed us onto the next stage of our tour, which was a lunch stop, with a meal which by Cuban standards was lovely, however another band played, another hat passed around, & another CD offered for sale, & there was opportunity to pass through the souvenir shops, all the same stuff as at the sugar cane factory ! And on exiting here you could have your picture taken with a baby croc, & a snake for 1 peso! Then onto Guama, for a river boat ride, very good & exhilarating, however slightly marred by the mid lake pit stop, presumably as they had ran out of petrol however it actually was to wait for the other boat to bring us 2 extra passengers, who were transferred from 1 boat to he other in the middle of the lake!! & you guessed no life jackets on. On arrival on the island we passed through 2 souvenir shops, onto the main walk around, very interesting, then into a replica of an Indian home which was unavoidable, where they painted your face, danced with you, brushed you over with some itchy branches, then charged you 1 peso to exit. My husband named this the ancient mugging ceremony carried out by peso hunters. We were then led to the bar area to try the local drink, of coconut water & rum, along with some crocodile meat for a few more pesos. Then we left back to shore to visit the main crocodile farm. There was a further opportunity to part with pesos for croc pics, then we watched the larger crocs being fed, just the other side of a low wall & chain link fence, of which there were visible signs of damage & poor repairs, to be tole these beast can jump their own body length, some of the,easily reaching 8 fleeting, so this just wasn't adequate protection to me. The man feeding the crocodiles did this, then held his hand out for you guessed it 1 peso from all. So in summary, a very long scary day, no health & safety observed, all that was required was a fat wallet & the actual trip had cost us £100s. We did formally complain in resort however we were not offered an apology nor a refund. I would definitely not recommend this day trip.

Informative experience and loved the steam train and also the food later very good nothing to dislike

We did the Guama, Steam and Sugar tour and visited this Sugar factory. The tour itself was a little boring - mainly as our tour guide liked to talk a lot and didn't do a literal translation of the Cuban guide giving the tour.We loved the steam train though and while you're on the train you get to see the rural countryside of Cuba, which was great. My son loved the old trains and the staff were happy to lift him onto the trains and take our pictures.

The visit here was the morning of a full day sightseeing. To see the sadness of an industry that thrived not long ago and formed the heart and soul of Cuba was a true insight into the country and the journey over the past 20 years.The steam train ride was a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Be aware the drivers will pester you to board the engine, take your photo and then thrust their hands out for immediate payment!Well worth a visit if in the country.

A good place to visit and learn about all the ways to extract sugar from the Cane and the Steam Train transportation used.

what a brilliant day out , we saw an old sugar mill , rode on a steam train and had a lovely lunch great day out and very educational too

basic. Overall Cuba needs to improve its toilet facilities as a number one priority and not hover for a tip just for standing at the door. My daughter felt quite threatened at the toilets -she is 10 and can go on her own but does not always have money with her and I am not always with her to make sure.

The tour includes a translated explanation of the sugar-making process, and a ride on a steam train. It is an inventive way of using a crumbling old factory which became uneconomic and closed when the Russians stopped paying inflated prices for Cuban sugar to support the local economy in the early 2000s.