Ethel M Chocolates

Chocolate lovers rejoice! You've found heaven on Earth and it's only six miles away from the Las Vegas Strip. The Ethel M factory is where some of the world's most famous candies are made. M&Ms, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Snickers and Mars Bars are all the creation of one woman, Ethel Mars. Around the turn of the century, Ethel started to make chocolates in her tiny kitchen. Eventually she parlayed this into a chocolate empire.

    Today, the Ethel M factory is visited by over 2,000 people a day. You can see every step of the process from the hand-selecting of nuts to the packaging. There is a dizzying array of conveyor belts and vats, but everything is labeled to make it easy for visitors to follow along. Some days there is more action than others, but there are always video presentations along the tour to explain the process. The tour ends in the giftshop where you can get a free sample of chocolate or hand-dipped ice cream. You can also arrange to have chocolate sent anywhere in the United States.

    We're not sure how this is related to chocolate, but there is also a 2.5-acre cacti garden on the premises. There are over 350 varieties of rare cacti. The cacti bloom in the spring, but the chocolate is good year-round.