Hacienda Buena Vista

About this place

A historic nineteenth-century coffee plantation in the green hills north of Ponce, founded by Salvador de Vives in 1833 and covering about 33 hectares, including a humid forest. The non-profit Para la Naturaleza now runs it as a living museum with guided tours. The white plantation house is in Spanish colonial style with a long veranda and furnished rooms, surrounded by local Creole-style buildings: broad stone coffee-drying floors, a corn mill and workers' stores. Its old machinery has been restored to run as it once did. The highlight is the water system: a stone channel brings mountain-river water to drive a turbine and a huge water wheel that once powered coffee-husking and corn-grinding machines, as guides explain how coffee was grown and processed from cherry to roasted bean. Visitors finish by tasting the plantation's coffee. Visits are by guided tour with advance booking, and the forest path can be damp and slippery. The sun is strong all year, so carry water, a hat and sunscreen.