Museo Del Sombrero De Paja Toquilla

Great selection of has and they did on the spot modifications with the band for 2 dollars. Excellent quality and customer service. I'm still learning Spanish and the staff's english was quite adequate to communicate and get the job done. Notice the two different bands designs in the hat photos. One band fits snuggly over the other with the one underneath completely covered, nothing showing. Can easily switch between more colorful band and simpler more conservative pattern and colors.

Very attentive service, including in excellent English. And the cafe up the stairs served a really great cappuccino at a reasonable price. Great view from the cafe as well.

If you're in Cuenca, Ecuador, and in need of a handmade Panama hat, look no further. This was a very cool store with a great selection of styles and quality. They have a nice rooftop coffee shop with a wonderful view as well.

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 Travelers Cuenca"

Nice place to get a personalised panama hat, while learning about the history and the process of the Panama hat! And if you choose a personalised one, you can see it being processed in front of you, or enjoy a nice cafe upstairs on the mirador with a great view

Very cool hat store, they actually make hats there. My only regret was not buying a hat, will one day go back and pick one up.

The museums is really cool and informative about how the hats used to be made. The items in the museums are very pretty and you can find hats of many different colors. I got myself a blue one and it has a strip to adjust it to the desired size. The main attraction for me was the cafe found on the second floor. It has delicious drinks and the view to the river and across is plain beautiful. Definitively worth visiting the cafe if you enter the museum.

Right in the middle of shops & restaurants is a Panama hat museum, factory & shop. Gives you a basic history of the hats and how they are made. Their selection of hats is fantastic.

Beautiful museum, you can see in person how is the elaboration of Panama hats, you can buy directly the one you like the most as well as bags and enjoy a delicious coffee At the end of the tour

Excellent experience. They explain and how they make their hats. If you like a hat and they don't have your size they will make for you. You'll have to wait,but it's worth it. Price for hats start from $50 and up.

Nice museum with awesome views from there coffee shop and reasonable prices for a Cuenca hat

The museum is small and mostly is a shop for hats. You can buy a tailor-made hat for a reasonable price. They also have a nice coffee shop with great view of the city

Got a nice demonstration on how to make the Panama Hat.
The cafe have a very nice view.

Wide range of hats for sale. We only saw the ground floor demonstration of manufacture.

Great experience with decent museum exhibits. Has a functioning workshop with artisans happy to take a moment to demonstrate and explain their craft. Beautiful rooftop cafe overlooking Rio Tomebamba.

Museum is free and the hats are very reasonably priced.

A must stop for visitors to Cuenca. Friendly staff and you'll learn about the complete process of making the famous "Panama hats". A wide range of styles, quality and colors to Choose from and they will pack your sombrero to get it safely home.

Good museo, good hats, wonderful cafe with a view!

A good place to start to know the crafting of the world's best hats: the ecuadorians. You can shop here a fresh well crafted hats and bags and other handicrafts. Beautiful city views from the coffee shop upstairs. I recommend.

Very interesting tour about how Panama hats are made. We found a lot of great hats for gifts, and they customized one for me while we waited.

The staff was great, especially Jose who looked at photos of hats I wanted to purchase and had them made and ready in 4 hours!