Swiss chocolate: tours, museums and shopping tips 

Find all chocolate-related things to do in Switzerland

The best Swiss 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 center 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. I still think it deserves to be listed here, as chocolate is an important ingredient of many Kambly products.

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 Jungfraujoch. There are also stores in other towns such as Interlaken, Olten, and Basel. The Lindor truffle balls in many flavors are high on my list of favorites! I also recommend a visit to the factory outlet store in Kilchberg near Zurich.
• Sprüngli has beautiful shops in many locations in Zurich and other larger cities such as Basel, Bern, and Geneva.

Here are some tips per town:

• Bern: Tschirren
• Geneva: Du Rhône, Auer Chocolatier and Sweetzerland
• Interlaken: Schuh and Swiss Chocolate Chalet
• Lausanne: Durig
• Lucerne: Max Chocolatier and Bachmann
• Lugano: Vittorio Vanini
• Zurich: Teuscher

Shop for 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 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 available in supermarkets:

• Toblerone is famous for its mountain-shaped bars with the Matterhorn painted on the package. The yellow bars are the 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 hazelnut, chocolate creme or fruit core, and a crispy chocolate layer.
• Minor sells soft chocolate bars, mostly with almonds or hazelnuts.
• Gottlieber is known for its “Hüppen”: thin, crepe-like waffle rolls filled with chocolate or gourmet cream.
• Ragusa makes soft chocolate bars with hazelnuts and almonds. One of their very tasty variants is blond chocolate (which is caramelized white chocolate).
• Villars is from the canton of Fribourg. Its range includes biological chocolate and liqueur bars.
• Torino offers chocolate sticks with cream filling, including a vegan dark variant.

Chocolate discount tips

• The “Prix Garantie Swiss Rock” from Coop supermarkets is a delicious alternative to the more expensive Toblerone.
• Discount chocolate shopping can be done in stores like Denner, Lidl and Aldi. Cheap chocolate brands are also available in Coop stores (“Halba” and “Prix Garantie”) and Migros stores (“M-Budget”).
• Products in outlet stores, such as the Lindt store in Kilchberg, can be cheaper than in regular stores.

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: “Reformhäuser” 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:

• Cailler
• Confiserie Bachmann
• Läderach
• Lindt
• Sprüngli
• Sweetzerland
• Swisschocolate-online

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 on Lake Geneva by late March or early April.

More about Swiss food and shopping