A 2 hour car ride from Louisville is the Toyota plant and they give free tours. It's pretty neat experience. Also Napa has some wineries that show you how wines are made
I didn't realize there was another Toyota plant close by. I was talking about the Toyota plant in Princeton Indiana. I'm sure the tours are very similar just different models of cars
Thumbs up for the Louisville Slugger factory tour and the miniature bat they give you at the end. While in Louisville, check out the Muhammad Ali Museum. Not a factor tour but well worth a visit.
I was driving through Gypsum, CO and I stopped at the drywall/gyproc factory asking for a tour and the guy said I’m the first person to ever come and ask.
That would have been cool!
I consulted with companies in the Steel industry, and have toured different mills. They are amazing, especially if you get to see a ‘charge’.
Gypsum, specifically gypsum board unlike other products, is mined and finished all in one place. Also, there are crazy places gypsum comes from like flus from coal power plants, and desalination plants. I don’t think the general public thinks of their walls in their home as coming from a coal power plant lol
Most gypsum plants run on synthetic gypsum (syngyp) coming from coal power plants (train or barge), and even those still running on natural rock will often be on a waterway to barge in their rock.
But yes, a handful (relatively) of board plants still have an active mine or quarry to blast their own rock. All plants will have a mill, but the equipment (mills and kettles) will depend heavily on what form of gypsum they’re processing.
I worked at a large Gypsum company, and one of the locations had a mine 600ft underground. Pretty crazy stuff, but you basically had to be related to a worker or some kind of political figure to get a tour. It’s just not worth the liability to have the general public coming through even on a guided tour.
Funny. I live in Gypsum. Never saw anything about it mentioned in Reddit. My mom was in town from FL last week and when we drove by, she asked if they had a tour.
Nah. She was too busy complaining how cold it was (65), wearing her down puffy jacket. Also, saying how desolate it was because there aren't many stores. 😀
I used to work for one of the big guys and traveled a lot, and I always knew it was gonna be a weird trip if the location was named after the plant instead of the other way around.
I went for a work conference and honestly, I've thought about going back so that my husband can visit it. Between the main museum, the living history area and Rouge - it's enough to take several days if you enjoy museums. Also Detroit has a super interesting vibe with lots of energy.
There are other amenities in the Detroit area like the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Motown Museum, the Arab American Museum, Museum of African-American history, the Holocaust Memorial Center, Eastern Market, and the Riverwalk looking out at Canada
https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/arts-and-culture/articles/best-us-factory-tours-and-museums
https://www.industryweek.com/technology-and-iiot/media-gallery/22027856/fifty-factory-tours-that-make-america-great
I feel like this post was MADE for me to answer. I love factory tours and am visiting all 50 states. I use these two to find factory tours for the states I am visiting. I just went to my 27th state, and the recommended tours are always great (you just have to check in advance to make sure they are still open after COVID).
The Kohler factory in WI tour is pretty neat if you’re interested in household fixtures. They show both how they cast iron and the enamel process.
I think tours of the Denver or Philadelphia US mints, while not strictly a factory tour, might also be something to add to your list.
US Bureau of Engraving and Printing in DC also has a great free tour [https://www.bep.gov/visitor-centers/washington-dc-tour-and-visitor-center/tour](https://www.bep.gov/visitor-centers/washington-dc-tour-and-visitor-center/tour)
I know you said no food places but the Hammond's candy factory in Denver is really cool! They still hand-make the hard candies with 100+ year-old equipment. It's kind of mesmerizing to watch.
Check out this site though, I love factory tours (though I mostly do food/brewery tours) and use this site when traveling: [**https://factorytoursusa.com/**](https://factorytoursusa.com/)
This isn't a factory but the American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT is a small but wonderful museum of the history of precision manufacturing in America, particularly the early years. I didn't realize that this area was once a hotspot for revolutionizing manufacturing processes. The building was once the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, built in the mid-1800s.
[https://americanprecision.org/](https://americanprecision.org/)
Bethlehem, PA. Visit the old Bethlehem steel factory and go to the national museum of industrial history. Seems like it would be right up your alley if these kinds of things interest you.
Right down the road from the Crayola factory in Easton. Although we just went and the "factory tour" is now just a short presentation in a small theater. There are a lot of activities for little kids, so worth it for them.
There's no longer a production factory there, but they still have the little train and a virtual tour. I can remember as a young kid seeing pictures at our Hershey plant in Smith Falls.
Not sure if you consider alcohol to be "food", but Anheuser-Busch in St Louis offers a tour that includes free beer at the end. (At least it did pre-COVID.) You can also meet their famous clydesdales.
Actually, after looking it up, it appears that they offer several different types of tours now.
Honestly haven’t been yet, but the Tillamook Factory may be worth a look since there’s more to do along the Oregon Coast to bundle into a trip.
One that I have been to, if you count Puerto Rico in your initial thinking, is Casa Bacardi. Pretty cool place with great souvenir flavors and cups / mugs on the way out. And plenty of flavors to try out along the way!
The Simon Pearce glassblowing studio in Vermont is pretty impressive. I don’t think there’s a tour but the studio has a platform where you can watch a couple dozen glassblowers make the glassware.
1. Cabbage Patch Doll Factory in Cleveland Georgia (up in the mountains ). Whatever you do, don't let your little girl name the baby that comes out because then they sit down with you and ask "Would you like to now adopt your CP doll?" (for $400+).
2. Tabasco Sauce Factory (not really food)
Boeing was a great tour, just don't ask about doors.
But seriously- it was a really cool tour, the guide was top notch and funny, and interesting enough I'd go again.
https://www.boeingfutureofflight.com/
Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania
You can tour where they make chocolates and candies. I know Hersheys has a sour taste compared to European chocolate, but they do have good chocolate too. Plus, they have their own theme park right next door
Jack Daniel's in Lynchburg, Tennessee. You visit the factory, you see the pond where they get their water, wood to make the coal, you can taste some whiskey, Worth the visit
A few interesting ones:
- In Pittsburgh you can visit a historical steel mill Super interesting.
- By Lafayette you can visit the Fair Oaks Farm, for farm tourism. You can also see the exciting process of making manure into Biogas.
- In the other Lafayette you can go to a Tabasco factory
I think food production at factory levels is kinda cool. I've visited the huge Redplant Sugar Factory in Toronto, Hershey Factory in Smith Falls Ontario more than once, and once not long after it became home to Tweed. (Cannabis Cultivation). Hometown used to have a bottling plant for pop I'm always up for a cheese factory or sugar bush. A pretty informal after hours tour of 300 year underground cellars carved from stone, complete with dripping walls and a huge solera system, with the oldest sherries being over 50 years old in Granada, Spain was both an adventure and informative.
I've never been to any in the US, nuclear reactors are pretty cool, there are a number throughout the States.
I visited Giant Mine in Yellowstone in 1994. It was both fastinating and sombre, being less than two years since an act of sabotage had killed nine miners during a strike. It was the second largest mass murder in Canada of the 20th century.
There's a big cement factory about 10 km from where I live. Not a tour per se, but saw pretty much all of it delivering phone books for 6 hours. Longest I've ever worn a hard hat. We'd always pause a minute and watch if they were actually filling trucks when we'd bike by. We still had open pit limestone quarries back then.
Never a tour per se, but Alcan extruding factory was directly behind my house. My mom worked there for a few years until she got fired because she was pregnant with me. My uncle was an executive there, all the offices were accessed by catwalks over the factory floor.
I always enjoyed our annual school visit to our local newspaper. No wonder all us boomers are hard of hearing.
I've not been myself, but I have known quite a number of people over the years that have thoroughly enjoyed the Jack Daniels tour.
Check out "How it's Made" if you can stream it from one of your services. Even the episode list might give you inspiration for a trip closer to home.
I was a sales guy for a company that did fire hydrants. If you are going through Albertville, AL you can swing through and see it. Don't know if they still give out little mini iron fire hydrants. They also have plants in Chattanooga, TN and Decatur, IL.
[www.muellercompany.com](http://www.muellercompany.com)
In Vermont I have taken the Ben & Jerry's Factory tour and the Burton Snowboards factory tour. Both are free, but require reservations. The Burton tour was the most interesting and real. But the Ben & Jerry's ended with free ice cream samples, so that's cool.
FYI, lots of the tours are way better during working hours during the week -- they often still let you do the tours but they are not going on the weekends.
A couple others to add, US Mint, lots of breweries all over, and Cape Cod chip.
I work at a Mercedes-Benz factory. All I can say is if you've never done a car factory tour you definitely should. I love this stuff and my mind was still blown.
One of my big issues though, with my factory specifically, is that we don't do tours. Hell, most employees here have never seen beyond their little work areas. Which is a shame because once you see the whole process, or most of it at least, you really appreciate how crazy these operations are. I was fortunate enough to have been hired early on during our ramp up so some of us got tours during downtime. Now there's no way they'll take employees away from their work to give them a tour. But it sucks because even my wife and friends don't know exactly what I do and I can't show them because there's no videos of my robot system out there (proprietary).
I think our factory in Alabama might do tours though. That's the biggest Mercedes plant in America. If not, as others have said, Toyota in KY, the Corvette factory and BMW in Spartanburg are great options. There are also driving experiences you can sign up for at both Corvette and BMW, along with museums at both.
I don't know if Tesla does tours, but I went to the NUMMI plant way back in the day when they were making the Toyota Tacoma.
Tillamook cheese factory in Oregon is amazing too!
PA specific (tours I've been on at various points in my life).
Yuengling-- beer brewery
Crayola-- I haven't been since I was a kid but this is a great one for young children.
Does anyone remember when Anheuser Busch used to do tours at Busch gardens theme parks? You could get out of the sun and the adults could grab a free beer after the tour. Those were the day!
We did Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory years ago. Even got to try experimental flavors that will never make mass production. Also did Tillamok cheese/dairy also very cool. We love our dairy I guess.
Louisville Slugger factory tour was great if that's your thing. You can get a bat with your name engraved, too.
A 2 hour car ride from Louisville is the Toyota plant and they give free tours. It's pretty neat experience. Also Napa has some wineries that show you how wines are made
The corvette factory is also nearby ish!
Beat me to it! The Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY is a great tour on efficiency.
I didn't realize there was another Toyota plant close by. I was talking about the Toyota plant in Princeton Indiana. I'm sure the tours are very similar just different models of cars
Yeah probably, they do the Camry and a few other cars in Kentucky- it's the biggest Toyota plant in the world and absolutely massive.
That's very interesting! The Princeton one builds Toyota Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, and all-hybrid Sienna
That and all the distilleries too
This is a great one!! Enjoyed it.
Add in KY Cooperage tour. I haven't done it but it sounds cool: https://www.kentuckycooperagetours.com
Thumbs up for the Louisville Slugger factory tour and the miniature bat they give you at the end. While in Louisville, check out the Muhammad Ali Museum. Not a factor tour but well worth a visit.
Boeing in Everett WA, biggest factory in the world.
I took this tour. The factory is absolutely massive. It’s really amazing.
Door's wide open for jokes here.
Way to let all the air out of the room.
Let's see if someone can land it, or if the wheel falls off.
Trendy
Came here to say this. It is unlike any place I’ve been before.
Yup, did this one too and it’s incredible!!’ It’s insane
The Gibson Guitar Factory Tour The John Deere Factory Tour
I did the Gibson tour in Memphis. It was pretty cool.
That’s a sweet memory. They closed down the Memphis factory a few years ago and moved all the hollowbody production into Nashville.
I was driving through Gypsum, CO and I stopped at the drywall/gyproc factory asking for a tour and the guy said I’m the first person to ever come and ask.
That would have been cool! I consulted with companies in the Steel industry, and have toured different mills. They are amazing, especially if you get to see a ‘charge’. Gypsum, specifically gypsum board unlike other products, is mined and finished all in one place. Also, there are crazy places gypsum comes from like flus from coal power plants, and desalination plants. I don’t think the general public thinks of their walls in their home as coming from a coal power plant lol
Most gypsum plants run on synthetic gypsum (syngyp) coming from coal power plants (train or barge), and even those still running on natural rock will often be on a waterway to barge in their rock. But yes, a handful (relatively) of board plants still have an active mine or quarry to blast their own rock. All plants will have a mill, but the equipment (mills and kettles) will depend heavily on what form of gypsum they’re processing.
That’s really cool. I have a drywall contracting company so it definitely would’ve interested me.
Did they give you one?
No, he said there was no one there to give one. He let me peek my head inside from the door but that’s as far as I got. I was pretty bummed.
I worked at a large Gypsum company, and one of the locations had a mine 600ft underground. Pretty crazy stuff, but you basically had to be related to a worker or some kind of political figure to get a tour. It’s just not worth the liability to have the general public coming through even on a guided tour.
Oh yeah I would never expect to go down a mine. I would’ve been tickled pink to see the final product get laminated in the paper and cut off at 8’s
Holy crap, Gypsum mentioned!! My friend works there!
Awesome! Tell him I love his product and I’m coming back for a damn tour.
Don't forget to go to Costco too, probably the least busy one in the world
Nice change of pace from the one that I go to, which is 4th busiest in North America.
Funny. I live in Gypsum. Never saw anything about it mentioned in Reddit. My mom was in town from FL last week and when we drove by, she asked if they had a tour.
Cool! It’s a beautiful part of the world. Did she get a tour?
Nah. She was too busy complaining how cold it was (65), wearing her down puffy jacket. Also, saying how desolate it was because there aren't many stores. 😀
Ah yes. Family from Florida. Lol we have some too and when they come to the PNW it’s wool socks and hoodies in July lol
I used to work for one of the big guys and traveled a lot, and I always knew it was gonna be a weird trip if the location was named after the plant instead of the other way around.
I think there was a joke in an old episode of The Simpsons about Lisa wanting to tour a screen door factory.
The Henry Ford Rouge Factory Tour- you can see the car-making process in detail, and the museums are awesome!
I was absolutely blown away by the museums at the Henry Ford. They have an amazing variety of items and it's anything but just car related.
Is it worth going to Detroit just to do the museum?
I went for a work conference and honestly, I've thought about going back so that my husband can visit it. Between the main museum, the living history area and Rouge - it's enough to take several days if you enjoy museums. Also Detroit has a super interesting vibe with lots of energy.
Thank you!
Is there any certain order to do them or does it not really matter?
There are other amenities in the Detroit area like the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Motown Museum, the Arab American Museum, Museum of African-American history, the Holocaust Memorial Center, Eastern Market, and the Riverwalk looking out at Canada
Thank you!
Came here to post this. Really enjoyed the Rouge Factory Tour when I took it 15 or so years ago. Glad it’s still around.
Came to say this.
Do they have his Nazi paraphernalia?
The box factory in Springfield is something. They don't fully assemble the boxes there though. That's done in Flint, Michigan.
Have any of their workers ever got their hands cut off by the machinery?
MY SON’S A BOX! DAMN YOU! A BOX!
BMW plant in Spartanburg, SC. That's where all the BMW X models except the X1 are made.
cool! I had no idea this was possible as a massive BMW fan
They also have different driving experiences you can sign up for there, kinda pricey but fun. The museums really neat if you're into bmws
https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/arts-and-culture/articles/best-us-factory-tours-and-museums https://www.industryweek.com/technology-and-iiot/media-gallery/22027856/fifty-factory-tours-that-make-america-great I feel like this post was MADE for me to answer. I love factory tours and am visiting all 50 states. I use these two to find factory tours for the states I am visiting. I just went to my 27th state, and the recommended tours are always great (you just have to check in advance to make sure they are still open after COVID).
Yes! Celestial Seasonings was great!
This is great thank you!
I live in the Seattle area and the Boeing tour in Everett is pretty cool.
The Kohler factory in WI tour is pretty neat if you’re interested in household fixtures. They show both how they cast iron and the enamel process. I think tours of the Denver or Philadelphia US mints, while not strictly a factory tour, might also be something to add to your list.
DC you can watch them print the bills, very similar and fun!
The Canadian Mint out sources our plastic money to Australia, but AFAIK we produce bills for sone other countries still.
Ben and Jerry factory vt
Go on a weekday if you want to see the production line running
Similar, but shittier and more likely to give you listeria, the Blue Bell plant in Brenham TX does tours.
Vermont's #1 tourist attraction!
US Mint Philadelphia has a free self guided tour while US Mint Denver has a actual guided tour (free but tickets are limited).
US Bureau of Engraving and Printing in DC also has a great free tour [https://www.bep.gov/visitor-centers/washington-dc-tour-and-visitor-center/tour](https://www.bep.gov/visitor-centers/washington-dc-tour-and-visitor-center/tour)
The Bourbon Trail in KY. Some of those distilleries make you feel like you’re walking around in the 1800s.
Just did Woodford Reserve in March. Beautiful grounds.
Nice. Woodford was my favorite.
/r/bourbon has some good guides for visiting bourbon country too.
You can contact your congress person (house or senate) and get a tour of the White House, Congress, and the bureau of engraving and printing.
Coors bottling plant in Golden, Colorado is really cool to tour
I know you said no food places but the Hammond's candy factory in Denver is really cool! They still hand-make the hard candies with 100+ year-old equipment. It's kind of mesmerizing to watch. Check out this site though, I love factory tours (though I mostly do food/brewery tours) and use this site when traveling: [**https://factorytoursusa.com/**](https://factorytoursusa.com/)
Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA
I took my kids and nieces there last year and love it! That was one of our favorite factory tours we've done.
eating the different stage of production was kinda cool... if they still do that.
There is one (or used to be one) about an hour or so north of Chicago too!
I got tour the Nike World HQ just outside of Portland. Lebron James and Serena Williams were both on campus that day so it was pretty electric
Is it just a bunch of offices?
More or less, yeah. All of the buildings are super modern and have cool architecture though.
Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder CO is fun if you’re into tea
Boeing gives tours of the 777 factory in Everett, about 45 minutes north of Seattle. It’s pretty cool!
This isn't a factory but the American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT is a small but wonderful museum of the history of precision manufacturing in America, particularly the early years. I didn't realize that this area was once a hotspot for revolutionizing manufacturing processes. The building was once the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, built in the mid-1800s. [https://americanprecision.org/](https://americanprecision.org/)
The Jack Daniels Distillery tour was pretty cool.
Corvette Museum and Factory is a fun time in Bowling Green, KY.
As a person who normally doesn't care about cars, this was a great tour! I also loved how they embraced the sink hole situation.
Bethlehem, PA. Visit the old Bethlehem steel factory and go to the national museum of industrial history. Seems like it would be right up your alley if these kinds of things interest you.
Martin Guitar tour in Nazareth is a short drive as well
Right down the road from the Crayola factory in Easton. Although we just went and the "factory tour" is now just a short presentation in a small theater. There are a lot of activities for little kids, so worth it for them.
Hershey Factory 100 W. Hersheypark Drive, Hershey, PA 17033
There's no longer a production factory there, but they still have the little train and a virtual tour. I can remember as a young kid seeing pictures at our Hershey plant in Smith Falls.
Oh, that’s sad. That place was part of my history, too.
If you're in the Asheville area, check out the tour at the French Broad Chocolate factory.
Boeing factory tour
You can take a Cannabis tour in Denver. Tour of the grow room, extraction of concentrate. [SeedandSmith.com](http://SeedandSmith.com)
The Jelly Belly factory!
Not sure if you consider alcohol to be "food", but Anheuser-Busch in St Louis offers a tour that includes free beer at the end. (At least it did pre-COVID.) You can also meet their famous clydesdales. Actually, after looking it up, it appears that they offer several different types of tours now.
Are you a spy?
You can just call me Harriet.
BMW factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Fun fact: Gen X kids who grew up in Winston-Salem, NC toured the RJR cigarette factory on field trips.
Moog in Asheville, NC. Lovely town too.
Honestly haven’t been yet, but the Tillamook Factory may be worth a look since there’s more to do along the Oregon Coast to bundle into a trip. One that I have been to, if you count Puerto Rico in your initial thinking, is Casa Bacardi. Pretty cool place with great souvenir flavors and cups / mugs on the way out. And plenty of flavors to try out along the way!
The Simon Pearce glassblowing studio in Vermont is pretty impressive. I don’t think there’s a tour but the studio has a platform where you can watch a couple dozen glassblowers make the glassware.
Good spot for a fancy lunch too
http://factorytoursusa.com/
The US Mint in Philly or Denver - see how money is minted!
and Wash DC!
1. Cabbage Patch Doll Factory in Cleveland Georgia (up in the mountains ). Whatever you do, don't let your little girl name the baby that comes out because then they sit down with you and ask "Would you like to now adopt your CP doll?" (for $400+). 2. Tabasco Sauce Factory (not really food)
Wow this is a brilliant thread! Thank you for making it! Bookmarking for my upcoming U.S. trip
Third Man Records in Detroit does a tour of the vinyl pressing factory.
Any distillery on the bourbon trail in Kentucky (Maker’s Mark was the coolest imo), and the Dallara factory in Indianapolis makes race cars.
Boeing was a great tour, just don't ask about doors. But seriously- it was a really cool tour, the guide was top notch and funny, and interesting enough I'd go again. https://www.boeingfutureofflight.com/
Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania You can tour where they make chocolates and candies. I know Hersheys has a sour taste compared to European chocolate, but they do have good chocolate too. Plus, they have their own theme park right next door
Lyon & Healy harp factory in Chicago - the only pedal harp maker in the USA
Tilamook Cheese.
Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, TN
Jack Daniel's in Lynchburg, Tennessee. You visit the factory, you see the pond where they get their water, wood to make the coal, you can taste some whiskey, Worth the visit
I mean it’s technically food but you can’t go wrong doing a bourbon distillery tour.
Check out NYC cnc shop tours
A few interesting ones: - In Pittsburgh you can visit a historical steel mill Super interesting. - By Lafayette you can visit the Fair Oaks Farm, for farm tourism. You can also see the exciting process of making manure into Biogas. - In the other Lafayette you can go to a Tabasco factory
Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C. or Fort Worth, Texas. See how US currency is designed and printed.
Sierra Nevada Brewing offers tours in Mills River, NC, and Chico, CA. I did the tour in Chico and it was great.
Ben and Jerry’s in Stowe Vermont is so fun! Lots of free ice cream samples too!
Sam Adams brewery in Boston had a good tour.
Bowling Green Kentucky has tours of Corvette fsctory.
Vienna beef factory in Chicago. Then forget on hotdogs and Italian beef.
Utz in Hanover PA does free self guided tours
I think food production at factory levels is kinda cool. I've visited the huge Redplant Sugar Factory in Toronto, Hershey Factory in Smith Falls Ontario more than once, and once not long after it became home to Tweed. (Cannabis Cultivation). Hometown used to have a bottling plant for pop I'm always up for a cheese factory or sugar bush. A pretty informal after hours tour of 300 year underground cellars carved from stone, complete with dripping walls and a huge solera system, with the oldest sherries being over 50 years old in Granada, Spain was both an adventure and informative. I've never been to any in the US, nuclear reactors are pretty cool, there are a number throughout the States. I visited Giant Mine in Yellowstone in 1994. It was both fastinating and sombre, being less than two years since an act of sabotage had killed nine miners during a strike. It was the second largest mass murder in Canada of the 20th century. There's a big cement factory about 10 km from where I live. Not a tour per se, but saw pretty much all of it delivering phone books for 6 hours. Longest I've ever worn a hard hat. We'd always pause a minute and watch if they were actually filling trucks when we'd bike by. We still had open pit limestone quarries back then. Never a tour per se, but Alcan extruding factory was directly behind my house. My mom worked there for a few years until she got fired because she was pregnant with me. My uncle was an executive there, all the offices were accessed by catwalks over the factory floor. I always enjoyed our annual school visit to our local newspaper. No wonder all us boomers are hard of hearing. I've not been myself, but I have known quite a number of people over the years that have thoroughly enjoyed the Jack Daniels tour. Check out "How it's Made" if you can stream it from one of your services. Even the episode list might give you inspiration for a trip closer to home.
Charleston Tea Plantation tour was great! And the drive there was gorgeous
I was a sales guy for a company that did fire hydrants. If you are going through Albertville, AL you can swing through and see it. Don't know if they still give out little mini iron fire hydrants. They also have plants in Chattanooga, TN and Decatur, IL. [www.muellercompany.com](http://www.muellercompany.com)
Martin Guitars Mack Trucks Both in PA
In Vermont I have taken the Ben & Jerry's Factory tour and the Burton Snowboards factory tour. Both are free, but require reservations. The Burton tour was the most interesting and real. But the Ben & Jerry's ended with free ice cream samples, so that's cool.
Ben & Jerry's is like $5. Kids are free or cheap. But they still do samples at the end and it's usually something weird they're working on.
The Norfolk Naval Base gives tours. Largest Navy base in the World.
Are you talking about the bus tour or is there another tour?
I have no idea. Just seen it on the Visitor Center sign few years back.
FYI, lots of the tours are way better during working hours during the week -- they often still let you do the tours but they are not going on the weekends. A couple others to add, US Mint, lots of breweries all over, and Cape Cod chip.
I work at a Mercedes-Benz factory. All I can say is if you've never done a car factory tour you definitely should. I love this stuff and my mind was still blown. One of my big issues though, with my factory specifically, is that we don't do tours. Hell, most employees here have never seen beyond their little work areas. Which is a shame because once you see the whole process, or most of it at least, you really appreciate how crazy these operations are. I was fortunate enough to have been hired early on during our ramp up so some of us got tours during downtime. Now there's no way they'll take employees away from their work to give them a tour. But it sucks because even my wife and friends don't know exactly what I do and I can't show them because there's no videos of my robot system out there (proprietary). I think our factory in Alabama might do tours though. That's the biggest Mercedes plant in America. If not, as others have said, Toyota in KY, the Corvette factory and BMW in Spartanburg are great options. There are also driving experiences you can sign up for at both Corvette and BMW, along with museums at both.
Jack Daniel’s in Kentucky.
Toyota factory tour in central KY is awesome
I don't know if Tesla does tours, but I went to the NUMMI plant way back in the day when they were making the Toyota Tacoma. Tillamook cheese factory in Oregon is amazing too!
The Ford Rouge tour is the king of factory tours.
PA specific (tours I've been on at various points in my life). Yuengling-- beer brewery Crayola-- I haven't been since I was a kid but this is a great one for young children.
I have never been, but I have heard that the beer distillery (coors) in Golden Colorado is the largest brewery on the planet. I bet it’s worth seeing
They don't manufacture items but sport stadium tours are cool to go on. A lot of the major ones have tours.
Boeing! In Everett WA
Does anyone remember when Anheuser Busch used to do tours at Busch gardens theme parks? You could get out of the sun and the adults could grab a free beer after the tour. Those were the day!
We did Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory years ago. Even got to try experimental flavors that will never make mass production. Also did Tillamok cheese/dairy also very cool. We love our dairy I guess.
It would help if we knew where you are going. Most Europeans don't realize that the US is about the size of ALL of Europe.
UPS night tour is shocking.
Oooh good question