Last updated on January 12, 2024.

The Sugarcane Museum (Museo de la Caña de Azúcar) is located about an hour from the city of Cali and not too far from another attraction, Hacienda El Paraíso.

The museum tells about sugarcane production throughout Colombia with examples of extraction methods from different regions of the country. Sugarcane is one of the most important agricultural products in Colombia and was introduced to the country from Cuba.

Sugar cane at Museo de la Caña in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Sugarcane

 

Tours

The museum is open daily except Mondays from 9am to 4pm. Admission for foreigners is COP$25,000 while Colombians and residents pay COP$15,000 (as of January 2024). Guides take groups to 21 different points along the perfectly manicured grounds and give short explanations of the sugarcane cultivation in each region represented. The entire tour takes about an hour.

Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Sugarcane Museum

 

The Tour

Tours start off with more primitive presses (trapiches) that only extracted 25% of the juice from the sugarcane. As time progressed, so did the machines. By the 17th century, many of the machines were extracting better than 50% and would use animals instead of slave labor.

Trapiche La Vieja at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Trapiche La Vieja
Rancho del Alizal at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Rancho del Alizal
Rancho de Buenaventura at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Rancho de Buenaventura
Vats at Rancho del Caribe
Vats at Rancho del Caribe

While the information is interesting and the knowledgable guides are entertaining, the star of the show is the landscape. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous with each tree and plant labeled, making the attraction part museum and part botanical garden.

Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Sugarcane Museum
Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Sugarcane Museum
The grounds at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
The grounds

One of the last stations allows visitors to try guarapo (sugarcane juice) and to chew on freshly cut sugarcane. The guarapo definitely needs lemon (it’s very sweet), while chewing on the sugarcane can be refreshing.

Guarapo
Guarapo
Sugarcane
Sugarcane

At the very end of the tour, the guide takes visitors to a hydraulic sugarcane press (trapiche hidráulico). It’s the most efficient machine on the tour.

Hydraulic sugarcane press
Hydraulic sugarcane press

 

Hacienda Piedechinche

The guide then gives an optional tour of the plantation house, Hacienda Piedechinche, which was built in the 18th century.

Hacienda Piedechinche
Hacienda Piedechinche

On the ground floor, studies used by the men and women of the house along with a dining room and chapel are decorated with original pieces.

Men's study at Hacienda Piedechinche
Men’s study
Women's study at Hacienda Piedechinche
Women’s study
Dining room at Hacienda Piedechinche
Dining room
Chapel at Hacienda Piedechinche
Chapel

Upstairs is a bedroom, while attached to the house is a carriage house.

Bedroom at Hacienda Piedechinche at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Bedroom
Carriage house at Hacienda Piedechinche at the Sugarcane Museum in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Carriage house
Author

Owner of Paisadventure. World traveler. Chicago sports lover. Living in Colombia.

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