Discover Swiss chocolate
Chocolate is a delicacy you shouldn’t miss when you're in Switzerland. You can choose from many activities: from multi-media museum tours to simple shopping trips in a nearby supermarket. They're perfect for rainy days. Whether or not you’re a chocolate fan, it’s interesting to learn about this iconic Swiss product.
Visit chocolate museums and factories
Many Swiss chocolate brands have museums, exhibitions, (outlet) stores, workshops and other chocolate activities. Below are the main ones.
- Maison Cailler in Broc offers a multi-media museum tour, free sample tasting and workshops.
- The Lindt Experience in the Museum of Transport in Lucerne is an educational attraction including the tasting of a few famous Lindor truffle balls. You can visit the Lindt shop as well.
- The Lindt Home of Chocolate in Kilchberg near Zurich hosts the world’s largest Lindt shop, a chocolate fountain, workshops and a large interactive exhibition.
- Aeschbach Chocowelt in Root near Lucerne is a fun activity for the entire family. Learn about the chocolate making process, watch chocolatiers from up close and create your own personalized chocolate bar.
- Maestrani’s Chocolarium in Flawil, where products of the Munz and Minor chocolate brands are manufactured, offers a discovery tour and courses for visitors of all ages.
- The House of Läderach in Bilten organizes factory tours and workshops. Läderach shops can be found all over the country.
- Visit the Felchlin factory shop in Ibach/Schwyz.
- The Kambly Experience is a visitor centre and huge shop with regular and outlet products, connected to the Kambly factory. It produces cookies, sweets and savory snacks and isn’t an actual chocolate brand. We still think it deserves being listed here, as chocolate is an important ingredient of many Kambly produts.
Shop in specialized chocolate stores
It's easy to plan a chocolate shopping tour in larger Swiss towns. You'll encounter lots of specialized chocolate shops and boutiques there.
The list below includes some prominent brands.
- Läderach is pricey and exquisite, but worth it. Tip: buy a package with a sample selection of small chocolate plate parts in several flavors. You’ll find shops in larger towns throughout the country.
- Lindt can be found on several tourist hotspots such as the Museum of Transport in Lucerne and at Jungfraujoch. There are also stores in other towns such as Interlaken, Olten and Basel. The Lindor truffles balls in many flavors are highly recommended. So is a visit to the factory outlet store in Kilchberg near Zurich.
- Sprüngli has beautiful shops on many locations in Zurich and in a few other larger cities like Basel, Bern and Geneva.
Here are some tips per town:
Find chocolate products in supermarkets
You’ll find many chocolate products in any Swiss supermarket. The options range from exquisite truffles to affordable bars. There may also be locally and regionally produced chocolates. Flat chocolate bars are excellent souvenirs: most of them can be kept for months.
Swiss chocolate is used in other supermarket products too, such as cookies, cakes and ice creams.
Apart from the major brands like Lindt, Cailler and Frey, these are some other brands you can encounter:
- Toblerone is famous for its mountain-shaped bars. The pacakages used to contain a drawing of the Matterhorn mountain combined with a bear. The Matterhorn mountain will no longer be visible, because even though the brand is Swiss, the chocolate isn't produced in Switzerland. The yellow bars are most common. They consist of milk chocolate with honey and almonds. Tip: break the individual chocolate triangles by pushing them towards the inside (in the direction of the adjacent triangle), not to the outside.
- Milkboy is available in Switzerland and the US. It offers bars in traditional flavors.
- Munz creates crunchy bars with a cookie, caramel or fruit core and a chocolate layer.
- Minor sells regular and soft chocolate bars, mostly with almonds or hazelnuts.
- Gottlieber is known for its “Hüppen”: thin, crepe-like cookie rolls filled with chocolate or gourmet cream.
- Ragusa makes soft chocolate bars with hazelnuts and almonds.
- Villars is from the canton of Fribourg. Its range includes biological chocolate and liqueur bars.
- Torino is one of the brands that offers blond chocolate. This consists of caramelized white chocolate.
Explore vegan chocolate options
Many Swiss chocolate products include Swiss dairy, meaning they're not vegan. But there are vegan options:
- Many dark chocolate bars are vegan. Check the ingredients to make sure.
- Look for biological supermarkets (in German: ‘Reformhaüser’ or ‘Bioläden’). Examples are ‘Alnatura’ and ‘Portanatura’. You can locate such stores at www.biopartner.ch.
- Most larger supermarkets have at least some vegan brands and products. Look for ‘Veganz’ in Coop supermarkets for example, and for ‘V-Love’ in Migros stores.
- Order from the Swiss Schoccolatta webshop, offering raw and vegan Swiss chocolates.
Order Swiss chocolate online
Can’t wait to have Swiss chocolate at home? Some webshops offer international shipping. The options and costs differ per shop, so check the conditions first. Examples:
Enjoy the Chocolate Train
The chocolate factory Maison Cailler can also be visited by Chocolate Train. This is a fully arranged train and bus trip from Montreux to the chocolate factory in Broc and the cheese factory near Gruyères.
Visit the annual chocolate festival
The Festichoc festival is a must for chocolate lovers. It's held in Versoix along Lake Geneva. Dates are in late March or early April.
Participate in guided chocolate tours
A guide can teach you a lot about Swiss chocolate. You can book several guided tasting tours. Please find options below.
