'Lindt Home Of Chocolate' Museum In Switzerland Draws Guests From Around The World

If you’re looking for something new and sweet this Valentine’s Day, perhaps consider a visit to the Lindt Home of Chocolate, a museum outside Zurich in Switzerland featuring everything chocolate.

Humera Shabbir from England recently traveled to the museum and loaded up on truffles. “It’s been amazing,” she said. “Getting to taste the chocolate at every point. So, yeah, it has been lovely.”

The museum entrance features the largest chocolate fountain in the world, about 30ft tall, circulating more than 3,300 pounds of chocolate. Although it looks decadent, there’s no taste testing here. But there are opportunities to sample spoonfuls of liquid white, dark, and milk chocolate, and chocolate squares. There is also the all-you-can-grab truffle room.

The museum’s general manager, Kai Spehr, says other areas feature a crash course in chocolate history. “The museum covers the 5,000-year-old history of chocolate. That’s of course a very long time. Some highlights of course, you learn why Switzerland is a chocolate country, you can taste a lot of chocolate, and you can also see chocolate in the making,” he says.

In a Willy Wonka-esque moment, a door swings open, revealing a lab where visitors can make their own chocolate bars. And if you still want more treats, the museum has the largest Lindt chocolate store in the world.

Chocolate imports are big business in the U.S., which brings in more chocolate than any other country. The USDA reports imports of cocoa and chocolate products top five billion dollars a year. Switzerland exported over 430 million pounds of chocolate in 2021. And Statista shows the U.S. gobbled up more than 80 billion dollars of that chocolate.

Residents of Switzerland consume more chocolate than those who live in any other country, around 20 pounds a year, according to Euromonitor.