The Biggest Annual Chocolate-Themed Festival in Switzerland

Festichoc, the most popular chocolate festival in Switzerland, is perhaps the country’s top chocolate tour Geneva offers to chocolate lovers all over the world. It is held every year in Versoix, which is a small town the northeastern part of Geneva. It is the second-largest city in Switzerland in terms of population. If you are in Geneva during this time of the year, Local Flavours can introduce you to this as well as many other cultural and historical facts about Geneva and its region.

Around 30 to 40 chocolate artists participate in the Festichoc every year and entry for visitors is free in the festival. Visitors can taste anything they would like to. Unlike many other tours, the visitors of Festichoc are under no pressure to buy what they taste. If they like what they try they are free to purchase as much as they want, otherwise they can move on to try the next kind of chocolate that the festival has to offer. This makes Festichoc one of the best chocolate tours available in Geneva during this time of the year. It is also family-friendly where you can enjoy chocolate caricatures, exhibition of chocolate sculptures, treasure hunt as well as visit of the Favarger factory. Hence, booking a tour with our Local Flavours team is a good idea of a special holiday moment with your loved ones. You can take part in all the chocolate tasting Geneva and the region has to offer during this time.

This year, Local Flavours team experienced a total of almost 50,000 people who visited the Festichoc over the two days that the festival lasted. This year, a total of 32 professional chocolate experts and artisans have taken part and showcased their artistic chocolate skills in Festichoc. The event has everything to offer for the chocolate lovers. The artisans are displaying their latest chocolate creations new types of chocolates, chocolate dishes, and even human size chocolate sculptures.

However, chocolate is a luxurious food item, and working on its perfection takes a lot of time and effort. It gives a chance to the chocolatiers to charm the audience and sell their delicious treats. However, the prices may be quite high, but the expertly made chocolate with its heavenly taste is worth every penny that the visitors pay. The quantity of the chocolate is also sufficient according to the money that will be charged by the sellers.

After getting done with all the chocolate tasting Geneva’s visitors can handle, they can enjoy the other event activities available. There are many kinds of workshops, such as those teaching how to make chocolate bunnies, so that the visitors, families and kids can enjoy the workshops.

Apart from chocolate tasting, Geneva’s region best chocolate festival also has an exhibition for visitors where they can admire sculptures made out of chocolate. They can admire the delicate intricacies of these models from a distance. This year there was an artist who was drawing portrait of people with chocolate. People really enjoyed the art offered by the artist. Hence, visitors can also request their own versions of small sculptures or figurines which they can then take home with them.

On Sunday afternoon, the main statue of the event was displayed. The statue was 130 kg of chocolate which took 1 week and 2 chocolatiers to create this statue. It was backed by a special guest and it was free for the visitors to taste the chocolate. However, the visitors were allowed to take home as much of the broken chocolate as they want.

When it comes to chocolate tasting Geneva’s region Festichoc is also famous for its guided tour across Favarger. Favarger is an almost two hundred years old chocolate manufacturer which is famous for one of the best Swiss chocolate. It was established in the year 1826 and has been going strong since. The cocoa beans used by Favarger are imported from small West African islands. The whole process, from bean to bar, is overseen by the company. The more important reason behind its fame and popularity is that it is now the sole chocolate manufacturer in the region of Canton Geneva. During the festival it can be quite difficult to get a ticket due to the high demand and limited spaces. Registering yourself with Local Flavours can make it a lot easier to book a spot.

How to access the Festichoc venue

The easiest way to reach Versoix is via rail. Usually, two trains run between Versoix and Coppet every hour. The Regional Express trains facilitate this transportation. Usually, the roads that are close to the venue of the actual event are closed for the general public. Special transport is then arranged for the visitors who attend this event.

The actual festival is held at Salle Communale Lachenal, which takes a few minutes to reach if you choose to walk from the Versoix train station. The festival organisers set up a free Chocotrain for the visitors so that they do not have to walk between the festival venue and the train station. If you choose to travel by car, finding a good parking spot near the festival venue may be difficult since only a limited number of cars are allowed to park nearby. For better parking spots, you may have to pick a spot that is a few minutes’ walk away from the venue.

It is always recommended that you arrive at the venue early so that you can find a good parking spot and also gain entry to the festival without any hassle, since the festival tent fills up with people within no time as soon as it is time for lunch.
If, at any point, you feel like you or your family has had more than enough chocolate for one day, you can also take a seat at one of the many picnic benches that are placed all over the Festichoc venue. There are also other types of festival food stalls and games which the visitors can entertain themselves with.

While you are in Geneva with our LocalFlavours tour team, you can also explore other foods once you are done with the chocolate tours in Geneva. You can also enjoy the other treats that the Geneva has to offer. The beaches are also worth a visit, and you can always take some time off after attending the Festichoc and have a fun picnic at the beach with your family and rent paddle boats from the beach to enjoy a nice half-hour boat ride.