Travel far and wide for chocolate

Experiential travel is the name of the game these days, and what better way to experience a destination than to eat your way through it? At least that’s the rationale behind a new trend in choco-tourism. Yes, people are travelling to countries and experiencing (and indulging in) their chocolate traditions.

Here are five places that will indulge your love for chocolates. 

Switzerland
Or maybe it should be called Sweet-zerland?

It is considered among the finest chocolate producers in the world.

There are a number of manor houses that hold chocolate-making facilities where visitors can watch the production, as well as learn about the history of the product. Often, these locations also have cows on their properties who provide the milk for the chocolate.

Of course, visitors can also head to the testing room to try out the product before committing to any purchases in the gift shop.

Bariloche, Argentina
“People don’t know this, but Bariloche is called the ‘Switzerland of Argentina,'”
The reason for this is that its landscape and climate is very similar to Switzerland, which also allows the region to grow cacao beans and achieve the same high quality of product normally attributed to the European country.

The street is lined with museums that house Aztec and Mayan artifacts and history, and is peppered with chocolate shops.

Mamuschka is the highest quality chocolate they make and people spend a little bit extra to get some.

Costa Rica
We most often associate Costa Rica with another indulgence — coffee — but in fact, chocolate plays an even richer part in their culture.

In some areas, they used the cacao bean as currency up until the 1930s. Before coffee took over, Costa Ricans drank a version of hot chocolate as a daily pick-me-up.

Turin, Italy
Most people associate fine chocolate with a number of European destinations, including Italy. But it isn’t always about a bar of chocolate or individually wrapped truffles. 

In Turin, chocolate culture is about liquid chocolate. It’s a mixture of espresso, drinking chocolate and whole milk that they mix all together.”

It remains the region’s trademark drink and holds all the lore you could expect from a 300-year-old beverage whose recipe is passed on from generation to generation.

It’s all part of the experience in Turin: sitting outside in the crisp morning air and sipping on a hot chocolate/ espresso to start your day.

Vienna, Austria
For the Austrians, the best delivery method for chocolate is through cake. The Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling and a dollop of whipped cream is the country’s ultimate homage to chocolate. And its history is as rich as its ingredients.

Developed in the 1800s by a 16-year-old who was a junior chef for the royal family, it made its way to a hotel menu where it became famous and other chefs started making their own versions. Soon, it turned into a competition for who created the most authentic Sachertorte.

 The Global News