Visit Catano, Home of Bacardi Rum Factory
The city of Catano, pronounced kah-TAH-no, is also referred to as the “La Antesala de la Capital” which means the ‘prelude of the capital’. The location of Catano lies across the bay from San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.
Catano municipality flag
This place is still very young as it was only founded by Hernando Catano in 1927. Originally Catano was known as the town of “Hato de las Palmas de Catano” which means cluster of palms. It has since been shortened to Catano since it became a city. The population is close to 35 438 in total.
The city is located on the northern coast bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It is well known for the fact that it works hard to preserve and guard many of the traditions and customs found on the island. Two main rivers run through this city – the Bayamon and the El Cano de Catano.
There are many reminders of the history around the town – most notably the old trains that used to transport sugarcane. A must-see is the legendary Bacardi Rum Plant which is the largest distillery of rum in the world. It processes over 100 000 gallons a day of pure rum which is then exported.
Visitors are more than welcome to tour the plant which opens from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 10:30 am and then again from 12pm to 4pm in the afternoon. Here visitors will be able to walk through many exhibits which enlighten the visitor as to the process of making rum from the fermentation to the bottling process. The tour is ended with a rum cocktail which is supplied to you exit the Bacardi history museum.
Catano is widely recognized for its ferry service – which will bring you near to the Bacardi Rum plant – its industry, trash burning facilities and its enormous amounts of both Protestant and Catholic churches. Because of this, visitors will find that there are a large number of Christians living in this area and in other parts of Catano.
An interesting fact is that “Aloha de los mares del sur”, a movie from 1924 to 1925, was filmed in Catano.