subject: Cuba Travel: Ride the Hershey Train [print this page] Cuba Travel: Ride the Hershey Train
Built by the Hershey Chocolate Company in 1917, a train that was once used to transport workers to the company's sugarcane refinery is still going strong. Today, travelers to Cuba can take an interesting ride on this historic train. Every day the train rattles along the track from Havana to the port town of Matanza, 60 miles to the east. While the train is quite unreliable, it is an excellent way to see Cuba as it stops at small stations and villages en route. The journey should take about three to four hours, but it also may not get you to your destination at all. It's all about the experience though.
The rail line was built when sugar ruled Cuba's economy, and trade with the United States was high. Milton S. Hershey, an industrialist of the time, built the line to transport workers from the company's sugarcane refinery about 40 miles east of LA Havana, and to send refined sugar back to the port. From there, the sugar was shipped to the company's chocolate factory in Pennsylvania.
The train leaves from Casablanca, a suburb of La Havana located across the harbor from the Old Town. The easy way to get there is to take a ferry across the bay. The ferry service is also unreliable and may not show up at all. If this is the case, take a bus through the city, past the statue of Christ, to the train station.
The Hershey train ticket costs about 1.5 pesos for locals and 1.5 convertible pesos for others. One convertible peso is roughly the same as 1 U.S. dollar, as Cuba has a confusing dual-currency system. The train is electric, which was amazing during its time and it is still the only one of its type in Cuba. Made up of three dusty green carriages with a driver's cabin at each end, the train was built in Spain.
As the train passes through beautiful countryside and agricultural fields, it is not uncommon to make unscheduled stops to let a farmer off to pick up some tomatoes. While the train is supposed to continue all the way to Matanza, it may give up in the village of Hershey, where the sugar refinery still stands on a hill nearby. In Matanza, a lovely colonial town, you will find a more organized train station.
Cuba amazingly was the sixth country in the world to get a railway. Take a ride on one of the most historic trains through beautiful Cuban landscapes on your next exciting Cuba vacation.
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