When we were deciding which countries we would visit, Emma was pretty enthusiastic about wanting to go to Switzerland. I asked her why, thinking that maybe she had learned something in school about Switzerland that she found interesting, but she just said “chocolate”. So of course, since that was a big reason we were in Zurich, we had to go to the Lindt Chocolate Factory.
There is no denying that the Lindt Factory is a tourist trap. Everyone knows about Swiss Chocolate and Lindt is probably the most well-known Swiss chocolate brand. This tour is very popular and planning ahead is definitely recommended. We purchased our tickets from the Lindt website and reserved our time months in advance since tours sell out frequently. They cost around $15 (depending on the current exchange rate).
Entering into the building, there is a reception desk and a large chocolate fountain. The smell of chocolate is really intense almost to the point where it feels like you’re breathing chocolate. The lobby is very large and modern with white marble floors, concrete walls and glass. A spiral staircase leads you to the second floor where the tour begins.
The tour is actually much more interesting than I thought it would be. They start out covering the process of growing cacao pods as well as the various steps, like fermentation and roasting, that is required to turn those pods into chocolate.
Next there are a bunch of exhibits that cover the history of chocolate. Chocolate started as a bitter drink that had been enjoyed by the Maya and Aztecs. During colonization, of course, chocolate was brought to Europe where it slowly evolved from being a bitter drink to a sweet food.
They also had quite a few exhibits specifically devoted to the Swiss chocolate economy. They cover everything from how the chocolate market evolved in Switzerland to how much of that chocolate is enjoyed in countries around the world.
There are quite a few hands on interactive exhibits throughout the tour. They were really well-designed to provide a lot of great information about the subject, while giving children something to play with. One example of this was a map of Switzerland where as you move a dial which controls the decade. And for each decade it shows which Swiss chocolate producers were operating and where in Switzerland. It also provides some data about how much sales and exports occurred during that time.
I was enjoying my time in the exhibits but the rest of the family was not as interested as I was. The main reason for that was that at the end of the tour, you can sample a bunch of chocolate.
They’re are three main tasting sections. The first is a series of chocolate fountains where there are a bunch of disposable spoons so that you can taste white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate in liquid form.
The second tasting section is a bunch of over-engineered chocolate square dispensers that invite you to try the chocolate and then guess what the flavor was.
The third section was the a bunch of flavors of the Lindt chocolate balls. This was the part Jenn was looking forward to. For some weird reason, I married someone who rarely eats sweets. When she snacks it’s normally chips or popcorn and only rarely eats chocolate. The Lindt chocolate truffle balls are one big exception and they are a requirement for her Christmas stocking every year.
Once we were through the tasting section, of course, we had to go into the gift shop. It’s impressive. They have a ton of flavors that you will never find in a store. I came across a Lindor truffle ball made with matcha tea, for example. You can get slabs of chocolate decorated with a message. There was a dizzying array of chocolate bars and gift boxes. It’s a chocolate lovers dream.
In the end, we didn’t buy too much. We had a long trip set up and knowing that we were going to have to travel with chocolate during the summer we didn’t want to risk the chocolate melting. We were able to eat some of it on our next stop in Munich, but then the day we left Munich for Venice we accidentally left the bag in the fridge at the AirBnB. So our loss was probably a nice surprise for the person who had to clean the AirBnB.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the tour. The tour takes about 45 minutes (Unless your group wants to fly through the exhibits and get to the tastings). It was very well done and designed to be interesting to kids and adults. I also can’t imagine anyone not enjoying the chocolate tasting section and they seem to limit the number of people in the museum at a time to a reasonable amount so it never seemed too crowded. The gift shop is also excellent. This is definitely worth visiting if you are in Zurich.
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