10 adventures for chocoholics

Online Travel Vietnam: Europe goes chocolate crazy in October, with major fairs and celebrations -- but you can become a chocolate tourist almost anywhere

 

 

The United Kingdom has declared this week Chocolate Week. Normally we'd scoff and cry "shameless marketeering".

But when it involves chocolate, that simple blend of cocoa, milk and sugar that can turn any forlorn depressive into a smiling, sighing blob of bliss, we say "why not?"

Chocolate tourism has now gone global, so here are 10 top adventures around the world for chocoholics.
 
1. Make chocolate on a cocoa plantation, St. Lucia

British chocolate makers Hotel Chocolat have opened a hotel on their St. Lucia plantation. When not sunning, swimming or relaxing in their "cocoa pods", as rooms are dubbed, guests can visit the plantation, lend the harvesters a hand and enjoy a "tree-to-bar" experience, in which they partake in every step of making their own confectionery.

Prices: Rooms from US$450

The Hotel Chocolat, Rabot Estate, Soufriere, St. Lucia, West Indies;                         +1 800 757 7132            ; www.thehotelchocolat.com

2. Visit artisan chocolate-makers in Tuscany's Chocolate Valley
Tuscany may be better known for its wines and picturesque hill towns, but the region's Chocolate Valley is becoming a must-see. The area is famous for fine chocolate makers including Bianchini, Enoteca Pinchiorri, Slitti and Catinari-Agliana, plus the chocolate factories of De Bondt and Amedei - rated by many the world's most gourmet chocolate.

Four-day tour from $1792 at www.seventypercent.com
 
3. Stuff yourself at a chocolate bar, United States


Boston's chocoholics creep into the historic downtown Langham Hotel on Saturdays to stuff themselves at an all-you-can-eat chocolate bar.

Fare includes a legendary chocolate croissant bread pudding as well as the usual truffles, whoopie pies and choccie sculptures.

Prices: Adults US$40, under-12s US$28

Langham Boston, 250 Franklin St., Boston, Massachusetts, United States;                         +1 617 451 1900            ; boston.langhamhotels.com

4. "Choc around the clock walk," Belgium
This little country has made itself synonymous with good chocolate, and its most picturesque city, Bruges, goes mad with a "Choc in Bruges" month starting November 6.

There's a "choc around the clock" walk, a museum dedicated to the luscious confection and a choice of creative chocolate menus in 14 different restaurants. The pinnacle is the Choco Laté Festival, from November 13-18, featuring more than three dozen of the city's chocolate shops.

Bruges Belfry, Bruges, Belgium, www.choco-late.be
 
5. Mayan chocolate massage, Mexico
As the Mayans invented and revered chocolate, it's natural they would find meaning in rubbing it all over themselves as well as drinking the stuff.

At the Tides Riviera Maya, the Xocolate ritual is performed with due ceremony in a semi-al fresco treatment room in the middle of the jungle. Cocoa shells are used to slough off dead skin cells before massaging the whole bod with warm cocoa butter -- and the whole ritual starts with a shamanic blessing.

Prices: Xocolate ritual US$220, rooms from US$585

Playa Xcalacoco Frac 7, Quintana Roo, Mexico;                         +1 310 752 0960            ; www.tidesrivieramaya.com

6. Cook like a chocolate pro, France
Just breathing the air in Tain l'Hermitage, the riverside home of Valrhona, used by the world's top chefs, is an experience in itself.

But you don't have to be a pro to take a one- or two-day course in their chocolate cookery school. The nearest airport is Lyon, a gourmet town full of artisan chocolate-makers -- but there are also branches of the school in Paris and Tokyo.

Prices: US$385 for a two-day course

Valrhona, 8 quai du General de Gaulle, Tain l'Hermitage, France;                         +33 4 75 07 90 95            ; ecole-gourmet.valrhona.com
 
7. Enjoy an in-room chocolate fountain, England
This small hotel on England's south coast will deliver a chocolate fountain to your room with strawberries for dipping, and offer you a truffle-making workshop in their kitchen.

Naturally, the whole place is decked out in shades of chocolate and cream, there are choccie cocktails and breakfast includes chocolate crepes and the best hot chocolate you're likely to taste outside Bruges (see above).

Prices: Rooms from US$165 double, chocolate-making workshops from US$74

Chocolate Boutique Hotel, 5 Durley Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, England;                         +44 1202 556 857            ; www.thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk
 
8. Chocolate and wine matching, Australia
Hahndorf Hill Winery in the Adelaide Hills is famous for chocolate and wine pairings, featuring gourmet chocolate of single origin by the world's top producers and confections by local artisan chocolatier Steven ter Horst.

Their ChocoVino Experience has been rated as one of the top 10 food and wine touring options in South Australia, and teetotalers are welcome to taste the chocolate too.

Prices: From US$10 or US$20 with wine

Hahndorf Hill Winery, Hahndorf, South Australia;                         +61 8 8388 7512            ; www.hahndorfhillwinery.com.au

9. Get wrapped in chocolate, Austria
The venerable Hotel Sacher entices spa customers with a Symphony in Chocolate which, unlike their celebrated chocolate-coated Sacher Torte, is entirely inedible.

The two-hour treat involves being peeled with a purifying cocoa bean extract, wrapped in a rich chocolate body mask and getting professionally caressed with something described as "sweet chocolate body care."

Prices: Treatment US$250, room rates from US$508 Hotel Sacher

Philharmonikerstrasse 4, Vienna, Austria;                         +43 1 514560            ; www.lhw.com/sacher
 
10. Chocolate Dream Park, China
Last year it was Beijing; this December, it will be Shanghai's turn to host the annual Chocolate Dream Park, which has become an annual highlight of the Chinese winter.

Nearly half a million visitors are expected at this year's chocolate wonderland, packed with beautifully crafted works of edible art. They will include Shanghai's most iconic architectural landmarks -- all made out of chocolate.

Himalayan Centre, Pudong, December 16-February 19, 2012

Source: CNNGO.com