Museo Del Sombrero De Paja Toquilla — Attraction in Cuenca

This hat museum, factory, and shop is all about the famous Panama hats. These iconic hats have always been made in Ecuador but were discovered on a global scale during the construction of the Panama canal.

As you walk in, there are displays depicting the various stages of hat production, including many of the tools which were used in the past.

This is also a working shop where you can see people pressing hats into shape with large machines and expertly sewing bands on the inside and outside. Select a finished hat from the displays or customize your own.

There are certainly numerous places to purchase Panama hats around Cuenca and the rest of Ecuador - we even made the trip out to the women's hat cooperative in the little town of Sig Sig. But we've concluded that this is the best place to see the hat-making process in person and to find the widest variety of hats.

Most of the hats start at $25 - the finer the weave, the longer it takes to make (several weeks by hand), producing a higher quality and more expensive product.

Another fun thing about this museum is you can go up the stairs in the back to a nice overlook along the river. There's a little coffee shop back there with fantastic views.

For more recommendations on what to do in and around Cuenca, find our blog posts by searching: "Intentional...

Yes, I did buy yet another hat! Very nice café while you're waiting. They let me pick out a basic hat which they formed to the size that fit me properly and choose material for the hatband (if you want, they actually do have purple ones for those who have tan shoes with pink shoelaces, and you can also buy all kinds of crazy shoelaces in Quito and Cuenca, but that's another story) Worth the visit, you might get slightly lower prices on the low end hats in the markets, but they won't necesssarily be blocked and shaped specifically how you like them. Maybe $10 extra and you get a better selection, from less to very expensive hats, plus a bit of learning about all...

It's a great place to buy hats. The prices and styles are varied, from Panama's and Cowboys to Duckbills and Chupallas, priced from to $20 to over $100. They're made on the premises and you can watch them being made and have them customize a hat for you. There's a lot of old machinery, around, some used some collecting dust. If you want to call that a museum ... fine. The best part of the "museum" is in the back and up the stairs to the coffee shop. It has a great view, and is a nice quite...