Schokoladen- und Kaffeefarm-Kreuzfahrttour in Manta

Great tour. You get to visit a third generation Montecristi Panama hat factory. Learn how they make them. We watched as a woman who has been weaving the hats for 54 years working on a hat. Then you see how they steam press the shape of a traditional fedora. Then you have time to shop for one if you want. Everyone there was super helpful. After Montecristi you head to a lookout point with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. Then you visit a artisanal coffee plantation and store. You learn how to make several styles of coffee and try a couple. Next lunch is at a restaurant on the beach. It's not included in the cost of the tour, but it is super cheap and huge portions. Might want to split a dish. Lastly you visit a artisan chocolate factory and store. Learn how they make a traditional coffee from the past and chocolate from today. You also get to try several chocolate samples and have the opportunity to buy some. All the stores you visit are locally owned and a small business. Great tour and great guide Tony and driver Caesar. Highly recommend this tour.

A great experience. Christian was outstanding and much needed as a translator. The only negative was too much dead time waiting for our turn at the different locations. Too many tours at the same locations at the same time.

I learned more about coffee than I thought there was to know. Chris was an excellent tour guide, very knowledgable and passionate about Ecudor. Woild recommend for others, not much walking.

Our tour guide, Chris, was excellent. He was personable and spoke English as good as any American, since he is an American expat. He was also fluent in Spanish and could translate some of the local presenters for us. We learned a lot about Ecuador, coffee, chocolate, Panama hats and we got to see a lot of the city and nearby towns.

Tony was excellent, all the places he took us was very good and we enjoyed every stop. I would recommend this tour. Driver was very good.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Christian! He shared much about his life in Ecuador and also much about the indigenous people and the uniqueness of the land. We had a private tour of the Paroche Coffee farm with an informative demonstration of the different ways to make a cup of coffee. We also had demonstrations of Panama hat weaving in Montecristi and visited the chocolate factory in Manta . The samples of chocolate were delicious and generous! Our group was small and we received wonderful individual attention!

A great tour with Pedro. We had a fun day. First we saw how Panama hats are made, which was very informative. Then on to a local chocolate maker. We tasted different types of chocolate, made hot chocolate drink from scratch and saw the workings of the small factory. Then lunch and onto a coffee plantation, with a very informative guide and tasting of different types of coffee. Really enjoyed the whole experience, much more than expected. Well done Pedro and your young helper.

We had a great day with Pedro! He met us at the cruise terminal with a sign with our family name so he was easy to find. We got a note a few days before the tour to be at the terminal at 8:15 and upon disembarkation found out we had to take a bus down the pier which made us about 2-3 min late. No worries! Pedro was there. We joined with the rest of our group for a total of eight of us in a van that held 12 people. So it was a comfortable ride. We started the day learning about Panama hats and we visited the chocolate factory, followed by lunch and the coffee plantation. All of the stops were very enjoyable. No one at the Panama hat store spoke English and so Pedro had to interpret. That was the only downside. I really liked the chocolate stop because we were able to learn the traditional method of making it and tour the factory to see how it is made today. We also were able to taste quite a bit. We had a nice lunch that offered lots of local choices like bolon or pastillito, but also some more traditional choices like a ham and cheese sandwich or fries. So there was something for everyone. We finished the day at the coffee plantation which was really interesting and informative. Pedro was very nice and my son was the only child in the group so he received lots of special attention and that made us very happy.

Fun tour, learned a lot about chocolate and coffee and hats. Knowledgable guides.

Pedro was a fantastic guide. All businesses were small-batch family businesses with great quality products and demonstrations. My only complaint is the group was 16 people so it was a little unwieldy, ran behind, and we didn't get time to shop at the coffee farm. We cut it pretty close getting back to the ship. I do recommend this tour as the experiences were great, but consider booking privately.