Cacao Plantation and Chocolate Factory Tour- Classic
Description
Visit La Esmeralda, an organic cacao plantation and learn all of the secrets hidden behind quality chocolate. Follow your sense of smell to our chocolate factory, where you will learn about the making of exquisite chocolate and how to make your own chocolate!
Tour Options
Itinerary
With your local cacao expert and guide you will learn about each one of the steps in processing high-quality cacao. First you will learn about the sowing process and how to sow your own cacao plant. From there you will learn about the harvesting process, which includes cutting and extraction of the grains in a cacao pod. Finally, you will learn about the post-harvest process including fermentation and drying. You will also learn about the Dominican Republic ecosystem and how it produces perfect conditions for growing fine cacao which evolves into the best quality chocolate. After that, you will enter La Esmeralda Chocolate Factory, where you will discover each of the steps in creating a chocolate bar. You’ll also be able to make your own chocolate!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- Dress code is smart- no casual clothes (i.e. jeans, sportswear, joggers or sneakers)
Reviews(26)
We visited the cocoa farm as a family. Our guide was charming, the visit was very interesting.
The tour was fantastic and informative with Oscar! We showed up 20 mins late due to traffic and they still accepted us for the tour. My friend and I were the only ones on the tour and Oscar answered all of our many questions along with sharing interesting facts about San Francisco de Macoris! We had a lot of chocolate and we're shown each step in the chocolate making process. All the staff were very nice. I would highly recommend the tour in Spanish as it is more in depth than in other languages.
An excellent experience to go with as a family, we learned a lot and the food at the end of the tour was delicious. The staff is very friendly and attentive.
We were thrilled! All of our questions were answered and today I can show a video where we produced cocoa ourselves with music accompaniment!
It was a fun family-friendly experience. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to answer our questions. The chocolate was really good! I would recommend this to both locals and foreigners.
Loved it. Our family had a great time. It was both educational and entertaining. The information is given in spanish... we had to translate bits for our kids 5 and 7 who otherwise would not understand. But it was a great experience. Do it! You will not regret it. Staff are very pleasant and knowledgeable. We saw all steps of cocoa making from planting to eating. Old traditional methods are also highlighted. Gift shop prices are very reasonable, not outrageous as in other highly toured sites. Our group was of about 4-5 families. But we all had plenty of room to try everything and ask questions. There were other large school groups on site as well... that did not interfere with our tour as the place is very large. Buy the chocolate! Buy the soap! Enjoying a piece of their chocolate as I type this now!
Loved this place, we ate vacía from the tree, mango, figs and Cana. Dances to music smashing the cacao. Staff friendly, learn so much about chocolate. Organic and delicious. Lunch after was awesome! Loved the finca and the rain:) also the huge roaster walking patrolling the grounds:)
We had a very special tour! I really recommend you do it if you want to spend some time differently and learn some things on cocoa and chocolate. The staff was really kind and friendly. The hacienda is 2 hours far from Santo Domingo but the trip is worth it.
This is the Kahkow farm tour. If you are coming from Santo Domingo, this is an all day excursion. I was not aware of this, so just want to share with fellow English speakers. We reserved transportation with the tour. Confirmation of the vehicle or driver was not sent to us in advance, so pickup was a confusing process. We left our colonial zone hotel at 7:30am and arrived at the farm at 10:30am. The tour was a highly valuable interactive educational experience. The guide was happy to answer our questions and show us how everything worked. The chocolate products and lunch were delightful. Pre-made chocolate was given to us at the end of the day. We left the farm at 1:30pm. Our drivers stopped for their lunch on our way back. We arrived at our hotel again around 5pm.
We got to see the process from planting a cocoa tree to making a chocolate bar. The fresh cocoa fruit is tasty!
