5 Chocolate Museums in the World

Chocolate makes everything better, it gives you energy, it’s a great friend when you’re having a bad day and, most importantly, it tastes amazing. Although it hasn’t been around for as long as most may think, it had such a great impact on our lives that museums have been built in its honor.

Aztecs believed chocolate was sacred and used it as food and currency. Today, their descendants, the Mexicans drink hot chocolate all-year-round, savoring its foam because it contains the spirit of the drink. Cocoa beans first reached Europe when Columbus returned from the New World, but, at that time, people didn’t know how to properly use them. One hundred years later, the famous conquistador Cortes saw Montezuma drinking hot chocolate and prepared a similar drink when he returned to Spain. That’s when the world really discovered chocolate, and now, almost a half-century later, people visit chocolate museums to learn its history.

Though they might not be as exciting as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, chocolate museums are pretty interesting, and they offer their visitors many chocolaty treats. Here are five of the world’s most popular chocolate museums:

Heindl Chocolate Museum – Vienna, Austria

Austria’s capital is famous for more than its gorgeous architecture and rich culture, Heindl chocolate is a big part of the city’s history. The Heindl business began in 1953, when Walter Heindl and his wife first created their delicious liquor chocolates. Now Heindl is an established brand on the chocolate market and the company even opened a museum at the end of 2001.

As soon as you walk through the gates of the museum, you are greeted with kindness and tasty delights. The guide tells visitors the history of cocoa, from its discovery to the complex processing of today and shows them old chocolate-making machinery and packaging. Chocolate lovers also have the chance to visit the Heindl chocolate factory, one of the most modern in the world. When the tour is over chocolate is offered again, of course.

Hershey’s Chocolate World – Hershey, USA

Hershey's Chocolate World.

Hershey chocolate is such a big brand in the US that it named the town it’s based in. Located in Pennsylvania, Chocolate World is an interactive experience where chocoholics can actually operate the chocolate factory’s machinery and create their own personalized sweets. Imagine creating an original box of those famous chocolate kisses for your significant other or for a close friend.

Cadbury Chocolate Museum – Birmingham, UK

There aren’t many chocolate aficionados that haven’t heard of Cadbury chocolate. It’s probably the most popular brand in the business, so the fact they have a museum dedicated to chocolate doesn’t come as a big surprise.

Old Cadbury Wrapping.

Cadbury World first takes its visitors on a trip back in time, to when the Aztecs first started experimenting with cocoa beans and tells how it was first introduced to the civilized world. After this, John Cadbury himself tells the story of how he founded the company and turned it into one of the most popular brands in the world and visitors enter the interactive part of their experience, where they can write their names in hot chocolate, chase after Cadbury chocolate eggs or seed their very own cocoa plants.

Lindt Chocolate Museum – Cologne, Germany

I can’t think of a more pleasant thing to do than enjoying fine chocolate on the shores of the Rhine. The perfect place to do this is at the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Cologne, Germany.

Lindt Chocolate Museum.

Part of the museum is a working chocolate factory where chocolate lovers can witness how their favorite desert is created. The best part of the tour here is the sampling, naturally. You get to taste whatever the factory is producing on the particular day you’re visiting, plus some unusual chocolaty products like chocolate pasta and mango-chili chocolate bars.

Alprose Schokoland – Lugano-Caslano, Switzerland

A wonderful attraction for children and adults alike, Alprose Shokoland offers chocolate addicts an opportunity to see how Swiss chocolate is prepared, and what makes it so special. Alprose focuses less on the history of cocoa and chocolate, offering just a few write-ups on these subjects, and more on showing people how they make their famous chocolate. Visitors get to watch up close how cocoa is processed and turned into fine chocolate.

Alprose Schokoland.

After the tour chocoholics pass through the factory’s store, where they can sample every kind of chocolate delight ever produced by the famous Swiss brand, and they can buy as many sweets as they like at factory prices.

In quotes from http://blog.hotelclub.com/.