Hello, Bonjour and Namaste,
The first line on the Maison Cailler chocolate factory website says ‘Who hasn’t dreamt of visiting a chocolate factory?’
That made me think, I hadn’t.
Even after watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Despite living in the chocolate country and not far from a chocolate factory!! Here’s why, I’m not a big chocolate lover (therefore eater and I see heads nodding in disbelief) but living in chocolate country means to live in the luxury of choices and innovation and that is all it took to strike my fancy!
Two years back, Adi had some mates visiting along with a two year old. To find a place that fits a two year old as well as 20 (& 30 ) somethings alike was a piece of (chocolate) cake! So there we were, at Maison Callier Chocolate Factory in Broc.
Charming village of Broc
Before you go on, you must know – What should you be expecting?
Lots of kids.
No Willy Wonka. 🙁
Lovely drive or train ride.
Eat-all-you-can chocolate room!
Possibility of slipping on drool!!
And a strong urge to buy the entire chocolate store!!!
If you’re mouth’s already begun to water, you can line up and buy the tickets as the entry to the visitor trail is charged and the tour is a guided one with several language options available.
Cocoa bean and the story around it!
The tour starts with a history of cocoa and also delves into the making of this brand –
Callier of Switzerland, the oldest swiss chocolate brand in the history.
Since 1929 Cailler has been acquired by Nestlé group therefore you see a lot of vintage Nestlé packaging and adverts.
Post the historical bit of the tour, meet the bean, dunk your hand in the cocoa bean bags on display that have traveled from far corners of the world, get a handful of beans….
…and relish the delightful aroma that gets your salivary glands working and create
one beautiful olfactory memory!!
There are lots of informative plaques around telling you about different types of cocoa and how good is chocolate for you!! 😉
You can learn more about how each component of chocolate affects your mind and body
so you don’t feel all that guilty after that bar you just devoured! 😉
The tour keeps getting progressively better !
It says, ”For you, when is the time to eat a chocolate?”
Clearly, a bad hair day, that you realise in a photo later, could be an answer!
One simple question – many brilliant answers!!
some more…
And then I walked through
this curtain and what I saw made even a non chocoholic like me break into a wide grin!
Rows and swirls of mouthwatering delicacy! I can imagine eyes lighting up to a sight like this!
You can have them to your heart’s (and waistline’s) content !!
Most drool-worthy and rewarding section of the trail!
The kid who could not resist! Frankly, we’d all be that kid here!
Glossy and glistening as they are, just too beautiful to eat!
However, you’d overcome that feeling in no time.
What rounds off the trip in the most complete way possible is a chocolate making class – sadly only for kids.
Chocolatier in action!
The chocoholics in reaction!
The trip ends in a devilishly tempting place – the chocolate shop where you can load up on these edible souvenirs or can grab a bite at their cafe.
Well that’s the whole gang sans my husband – who’s behind the lens!
At Maison Cailler Chocolate Factory, a beautiful amalgamation of olfactory, gustatory, visual experience is waiting to be indulged in and lived by all the chocoholics!
Other general info and tips:
The guided tour takes about an hour and a half but you can definitely linger on longer 🙂
This visit can be combined with a visit to Swiss cheese factory at La Gruyere and also to La Gruyere castle/chateau (I’ll be writing about that in a new post).
This is one place you can resort to, on a rainy day during your trip.
You can find the tariff information and opening hours here.
Driving directions to the wonderland are here and you can get the train info here.
A visit to chocolate factory does not normally feature on typical itinerary of tourists, especially Indian tourist, who come in search of the bollywood bits of Switzerland but if you truly madly deeply love chocolate, you’ll be able to find a place for it in your itinerary. 🙂
It was a mouthwatering travelogue. Though I am not much of a chocolate lover but still you tempted me to have a bite.
Fingerlicious!!!!!
Hey there! Thank you very much. Glad to know you succumbed to temptation,it’s good to have a little chocolate every now and then 😀
Wow!!! Very very tasty n tempting travelogue.Nice write up Nikita,very informative and interesting.Well done,keep your pen rolling,stay blessed.
Million thanks !!