James Wolfe
We are fans of candy. M&Ms, Skittles, Cadbury Easter Eggs, SweetTarts, Hershey’s Bars, even Necco Wafers; we cannot get enough of the sweet stuff. Once biting into a bar of our favorite chocolate, we got the idea to share with you the best places to beat back your sweet tooth and have fun in the process while you are traveling. These are some of the best places for candy tourism.
You love all the flavors and colors, and even the joke ones that are designed to taste weird. We are talking about Jelly Belly jelly beans. If you are visiting family, friends, or have some time between business trips, be sure to stop by and see how jelly beans are made at Jelly Belly’s Visitor Centers in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, and Fairfield, California. On the tour guests are given a 30-minute tour of the company’s warehouse aboard the Jelly Belly Express Train that stops at info bases that teach about the company, watch staff make the beans, and also get samples of beans that are fresh off the assembly line.
Possibly one of the top 3 chocolate candies in the U.S., Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are made at Hershey’s. The company got its start in 1894 at Hershey, Pennsylvania and now sells products in over 60 countries. You can visit Hershey’s Chocolate World in 6 locations to suit your curiosity of how Reese’s, Kit Kat, Whoppers, Kisses, York Peppermint Patties, and Cadbury’s Easter Eggs are made, and stock up while you are there. Hershey’s Chocolate World attractions are located in Hershey, PA, Times Square, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, Dubai, and Singapore where you will see singing cows, modern technological wonders, and free Hershey’s samples.
If you are an M&Ms, Snickers, Dove, or Twix Bar fans, you absolutely cannot miss the Ethel M Chocolates Factory. The tour is located right outside of Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada and was built to by Forrest Mars, Sr. The creator of the Mars Company and M&Ms built the tour in 1981 in honor of his mother and her inspirational chocolate recipes. Chocolate production tours are available during weekdays, but weekend guests enjoy behind the scenes attractions like shopping and the Botanical Cactus Garden there. Also do not miss M&Ms World for personalized gifts and M&M’s in every color you can imagine.
Pez Candy has an interesting candy tour in Orange, Connecticut. For just $5, you can step foot inside the company that made the flip-top head candy dispenser famous. The company started in the 1920s Vienna, Austria, getting its name from the German word for peppermint, “pffefferminz.” Now the 4000 sq. foot factory is located in the U.S. Northeast, the company now sells billions of PEZ candies every year. Not to mention the PEZ collector culture, and those cool dispensers made in the image of our favorite pop culture icons. This $5 factory tour has in store discounts and a fan favorite is the PEZ motorcycle.
I’m a personal fan of small candies that pack a lot of punch and Spangler is one of my favorite candy companies. Spangler is the maker of Dum Dums, Smarties, Saf-T-Pops, and Circus Peanuts who got its start in 1906. The candy company that makes small candies with big flavor, gives tours of its Bryan, Ohio factory that includes a trolley tour through the on-site store, the candy assembly line, and the Spangler Museum that shares 112 years candy making greatness.
So you hungry for a little candy tourism? Let us know about your favorite candy factory tours, and ones you hope to visit in the future.
