Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2021

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2021. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
    • Travel Deals
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Festivals and Events
    • Bus and Trains
    • Flight Deals
    • Budget Travel
    • Hotels and Resorts
    • Disney Vacations
    • Airlines and Airports
    • Ground Transportation
    • BookTandL.com
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Attractions
  3. World's Coolest Factory Tours

World's Coolest Factory Tours

By Jane Levere
April 13, 2011
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Veuve Clicquot
On a small island in Louisiana’s bayou country, visitors entering a red-brick building are greeted by a distinctive hot-pepper smell. As they move further in, they encounter a display of oak barrels and several assembly lines staffed by locals. This is the Tabasco factory, the only place in the world that bottles the famous sauce. “You can watch employees whose families have worked here for generations,” says Cecil Hymel, vice president of administration for McIlhenny, Tabasco’s parent company. And those taking a tour of the facilities are treated to something different they can find nowhere else: Tabasco-flavored ice cream.

Tabasco’s factory is one of hundreds worldwide that open their doors regularly to visitors eager to get an inside look at the people and machines that “make the food we eat, the cars we drive, the musical instruments we play, and the sporting goods we use,” says Karen Axelrod, coauthor of Watch It Made in the U.S.A.: A Visitor’s Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums.

Some tours offer increasingly rare opportunities. While visits to large breweries can be more like amusement-park outings, for example, guests of the Anchor Brewing factory in San Francisco can watch the beer-brewing process from start to finish. “We’re very proud of the fact the tour is pretty technical, that we show the entire brewing, cellaring, and packaging process, starting in a brewhouse we believe is the most beautiful in the world,” says John Dannerbeck, Anchor’s sales manager. And the company doesn’t skimp on the serving sizes during the tasting at the end.

A factory tour can provide the real flavor of a region’s unique culture and history, while letting participants do things they couldn’t experience otherwise. Eating Tabasco ice cream is one. Watching motorcycles being tested at the Harley-Davidson factory in York, PA, the company’s largest production facility, is another. Visitors get to see the maiden voyage of each bike: at the end of the assembly line, each one is started and ridden on rollers to make sure it’s ready for the road.

Gift shops are a not-unexpected conclusion of most tours, but the best ones sell memorable souvenirs. At the Louisville Slugger factory, after you’ve seen the bat used by Joe DiMaggio during his 56-game hitting streak of 1941 or the stick wielded by Babe Ruth during his 60-home-run season of 1927, you can buy your own personalized bat or mini-bat to take home (or to the ball field).

Another plus, in today’s tough times: tours are usually free or reasonably priced. Before you go, though, make sure to find out if you must book in advance and when tours are offered and production takes place.

Once you’ve got the facts, make your plans to visit one of these sites (some are overseas, but all offer English-language guidance). Where else but on a factory tour can you enjoy a cold one at the Anchor Steam factory bar with the brewers who made it?
Start Slideshow

1 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Anchor Brewing, San Francisco

Credit: Terry Mc Carthy

The Tour: A complete overview of Anchor’s brewing and packaging operations, including brewing, fermenting, cellaring, and bottling.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered twice daily on weekdays. Reservations are required; no charge.

Don’t Miss: The panoramic view of San Francisco from the brewhouse and, of course, the free tasting at the end.

1 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Fragonard, Grasse, France

Credit: Courtesy of Parfumerie Fragonard

The Tour: At the factory of this perfume maker, one of the most storied and venerable in France, visitors learn about the flowers, plants, and trees that are used in fragrances, and how they are distilled into essential oils in the laboratories. They then are able to watch the entire creation process, from distillation to bottling, of scents like Belle de Nuit and Suivez-Moi.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; no charge. Grasse is a 25-minute train ride from Cannes.

Don’t Miss: Sniffing the residue of the perfume essence found on paper filters before the distillation process—it’s a blast of pure aroma.

2 of 9

3 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations, York, PA

Credit: Courtesy of Harley Davidson Motor Company

The Tour: Visitors see the company’s largest production facility (230 acres), along with the manufacturing and assembly areas where the famous hogs get put together.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered weekdays year-round and on Saturdays during the summer; no charge.

Don’t Miss: The roller test, when each motorcycle is started and ridden on rollers that serve as a simulated road. It’s a final quality check prior to the motorcycle being crated and shipped to the dealer. Would-be riders can also siton current-production motorcycles at the tour center.

3 of 9

Advertisement

4 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Louisville Slugger, Louisville, KY

Credit: Courtesy of Louisville Slugger

The Tour: A trek through the heart of factory operations where baseball’s most famous bats are fashioned. To aid visitors, monitors show close-up shots of the work being done.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6 to 12.

Don’t Miss: An 18-inch-long mini-bat is given to every tour participant. What Louisville Slugger claims is the world’s biggest bat—a 120-foot-tall, 68,000-pound rendition—is parked at the company’s entrance.

4 of 9

5 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tabasco, Avery Island, LA

Credit: Courtesy of Tabasco

The Tour: After a short film on this company’s colorful history, visitors see how the hot-pepper sauce—invented after the Civil War on this 2,200-acre island in the bayou country—is made, bottled, and packaged. The Tabasco smell is apparent as soon as you arrive on the island.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $1 toll to visit Avery Island.

Don’t Miss: The Tabasco Country Store at the end of the tour, which sells hundreds and hundreds of Tabasco products and souvenirs, and where you can sample Tabasco-flavored ice cream and other local Tabasco-seasoned specialties. Then visit Avery Island’s Jungle Gardens, home to alligators and snowy egrets saved from extinction by a member of the McIlhenny family, which founded Tabasco and still owns it.

5 of 9

6 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Volkswagen Factory at Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany

Credit: Uwe Walter

The Tour: Visitors sit in a transparent electric train to pass through the work floors and see all stages of the production line; the focus here is on production of the Golf.

Fast Facts: An English-language tour, available at 12:45 p.m. on weekdays, must be booked at least one week in advance. Fees are $22 for adults, $9 for children ages 6 to 17; the charges include admission to Autostadt. Wolfsburg is a 90-minute train ride from Berlin.

Don’t Miss: The Autostadt theme park, home to what Volkswagen claims is the most-visited automobile museum in the world. Visitors can also test cars and participate in an off-road driving program.

6 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

GibsonGuitars, Memphis

Credit: Sandy Campbell /Gibson Guitar 2009

The Tour: Watch luthiers at Gibson’s Beale Street Showcase craft some of the finest—and most historic—guitar models in the world, moving from binding and neck-fitting to painting, buffing, and tuning. The finished instruments have been the favorites of musicians from Les Paul to B. B. King to Jimmy Page.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered daily; $10 charge.

Don’t Miss: The inspection at the end of the tour, when factory workers eyeball every inch of the newly made guitar. Before the inspection, some even dance while they paint the instruments.

7 of 9

8 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Riedel, Kufstein, Austria

Credit: Tiroler Glashutte

The Tour: After learning about the history of glassmaking and of Riedel, a centuries-old, family-owned company, visitors watch glassmakers mouth-blow the meticulously crafted glasses, considered by many the finest in the world.

Fast Facts: Tours are offered weekdays; $7.50 for adults, $4.50 for children ages 2 to 16. Kufstein is a one-hour drive from Innsbruck.

Don’t Miss: The “glass tasting,” which lets tour takers sample one wine out of several differently shaped glasses, to show how the various shapes affect the wine’s taste. (This must be booked in advance and costs an additional $7.50.)

8 of 9

9 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Caves de la Veuve Clicquot, Reims, France

Credit: Veuve Clicquot

The Tour: After watching a film on the history of champagne and how it is made, visitors descend into the caves, where they see how the bubbly is preserved until the dégorgement, when yeast sediment is removed from the bottle.

Fast Facts: From April 1 to October 31, tours are offered Monday through Saturday; in other months they are on weekdays. Fee is $14; free for children under 16. Reservations are required and a jacket or sweater is recommended, as the caves can be chilly.

Don’t Miss: The glass of champagne at the end of the tour, naturally. For oenophiles: the gift shop sells every champagne made by Veuve Clicquot, including Cuvée Saint Pétersbourg, which is not easily found in the United States.

9 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Jane Levere

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 9 Anchor Brewing, San Francisco
2 of 9 Fragonard, Grasse, France
3 of 9 Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations, York, PA
4 of 9 Louisville Slugger, Louisville, KY
5 of 9 Tabasco, Avery Island, LA
6 of 9 Volkswagen Factory at Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany
7 of 9 GibsonGuitars, Memphis
8 of 9 Riedel, Kufstein, Austria
9 of 9 Caves de la Veuve Clicquot, Reims, France

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Travel + Leisure Sites
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

World's Coolest Factory Tours
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.