Live Out Your Willy Wonka Fantasies at These 10 Candy-Factory Tours

Biting into a jelly bean and tasting buttered popcorn or strawberry cheesecake never gets old, right? Learn more about this flavor fusion via a free self-guided tour, offered daily at Jelly Belly’s California factory. Don’t leave without visiting the shop for “belly flops,” misshapen jelly beans for a ridiculously reduced price that are just as delicious.

Central Pennsylvania’s most indulgent tourist attraction is Hershey Park—cue chocolate body wraps in the spa, aaah—but if biting into a chocolate bar is more your speed, get thee to the factory tour, which includes a product sample. Tours are totally free, and last just a half hour during operating hours (posted here). Tack on a tasting experience for $10.95, led by a guide and featuring a flavor wheel.

Trek northwest of Chicago to this quaint little ‘burb and your sweet tooth won’t be disappointed. Tour the factory—producing Myrtles (just like “turtles”), peppermint creams, chocolate-covered pretzels, and English toffee since 1975—daily except for Sunday and holidays and receive a chocolate sample, too.

In 1920, this candy company was born in the Mile-High City. Candies produced here have a vintage twist, such as ribbon candy, peppermint pillows, and hand-pulled lollipops. Put on a paper hat and tour the factory for free, then score some sugary treats in the gift shop.

For $5, you can take a self-guided tour of PEZ Candy’s 4,000-square-foot factory, featuring such—pardon the pun—eye candy as a PEZ motorcycle, factory store (hello, discounts!), and the world’s largest PEZ dispenser. In business since 1927—did you know Pez started in Vienna before relocating to the Northeast?—there’s a fair amount of company history folded into the tour, too. Admission includes a $2 store discount.

This bean-to-bar chocolate maker hosts “tasting tours” at its factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn on Saturdays and Sundays. You need to book in advance, but it’s worth the wait. Want a more immersive experience? Sign up for the two-hour chocolate-making class on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings after production closes down.

One of the first in America’s artisan-chocolate, bean-to-bar movement (Theo was founded in 2006), this producer’s Fremont factory is open to visitors for one-hour weekday tours. Because the products are Fair Trade, topics of sustainability—and its impact on cacao farmers—are covered in-depth. Tastings follow (yum!)—and don’t forget to shop in the factory store.

If you’ve had Sunbursts and ChocoRocks, then you know Kimmie Candy, founded 17 years ago in Sacramento, California. Free tours of the factory at its now-headquarters in Reno are offered on weekdays, by appointment only. Learn what else this company makes, including chocolate-covered almonds and espresso beans, and some certified-organic products, too.

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Fans of history and nostalgia: This is your place. Sweet Candy Company, founded in 1892, makes saltwater taffy and fruit sours, along with more “modern” treats like cinnamon bears coated with milk chocolate and chocolate-covered fruit sticks. Free tours are offered on weekdays, where you’ll get to try some samples.

Steeped in history, Spangler started making candy—Dum Dums, Smarties, and Circus Peanuts, to name just three—in 1906. Hop on a trolley and tour the store, the assembly line, and the museum at company headquarters.