The Cadbury chocolate-themed hotel room at the on-site Alton Towers Resort. Photo / Alton Towers
The Cadbury chocolate-themed hotel room at the on-site Alton Towers Resort. Photo / Alton Towers
Can you really call yourself a chocoholic if you haven’t bathed in chocolate and had a full-body chocolate rub-down? Enjoy six of the world’s best chocolate experiences.
Whipped cocoa baths at the Spa, The Hotel Hershey, Pennsylvania, US
Who hasn’t heard of Hershey’s Kisses? The go-to chocolate for Americans worldwide, Hershey chocolate is famous across the globe. Lesser known is the Hotel Hershey in Pennsylvania and its on-site Hershey Chocolate Spa, where indulging in your favourite chocolate sin goes far beyond inhaling a king-size Reese’s cup. The spa is home to various ‘everything chocolate day packages’, with treatments ranging from whipped cocoa baths and fondue wraps, to sugar scrubs and cocoa massages. The latter involves slathering your body in chocolate-scented massage oil, while the cocoa bath is just that, a bath full to the brim with chocolate milk. Try not to drink it.
The Spa at The Hotel Hersheys is part of Hershey's Chocolatetown in Pennsylvania. Photo / Getty Images
Edible chocolate massages, Les Bains de la Gruyere, Switzerland
If you’ve ever over-indulged in a Toblerone or half a dozen Lindor chocolate balls (guillllllty), you’ll know that the Swiss are extremely capable chocolatiers. This expertise extends into their spa treatments, with massages at Bain de la Gruyere in Val-de-Charmey incorporating the finest Swiss chocolate. Prepared by a master confectioner, guests can lie back and enjoy a head-to-toe chocolate massage, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, guests are also encouraged to partake in a nibble. If all that doesn’t leave a sweet impression, add on a visit to Maison Cailler chocolate factory - it’s just 10 minutes down the road.
Are you ready for a chocolate massage? Photo / Getty Images
A chocolatey rub-down at Joseph Anthony Retreat Spa, Philadelphia, US
The Joseph Anthony Retreat Spa and Salon is spread across the entire fifth floor of Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Both the hotel and its spa offer high-end luxury, with the latter boasting the ‘decadent chocolate spa treatment’. Your chocolatey experience starts with a rub down using a chocolate sugar scrub before you’re completely slathered in chocolate butter creme. About the time you start to feel like a ganache-covered chocolate cake, you’re stuffed into a body wrap and cocooned in a state-of-the-art floating device. One scalp and facial massage later and you’ll be released into the world as a smoother, silkier, chocolate-enhanced version of your former self.
The Joseph Anthony Retreat Spa & and Salon is spread across the entire fifth floor of Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Photo / Supplied
Chocolate sleepovers at Alton Towers Hotel, UK
Alton Towers is the UK’s premier theme park with enough white-knuckle roller coasters to make everyone hoarse from screaming, but enough about that, we’re here for the chocolate. Namely the chocolate-themed hotel room at the on-site Alton Towers Resort. Decked out from the ceiling to the carpet in Cadbury decor, the room sleeps (and feeds) up to six chocoholics with secret chocolate stashes, bedroom drawers overflowing with treats and a code to crack in order to unlock a safe that’s jam-packed with Cadbury chocolate. We heard that whatever you eat gets replenished every day. But you’ll have to go and find out if that’s the case - for research purposes.
The UK's Alton Towers Resort is home to a Cadbury-themed chocolate hotel room. Photo / Alton Towers
Indulgence closer to home at Haigh’s Chocolate Factory, Adelaide
For all those who visit Australia and make it their prime objective to leave with a bag (read, a suitcase) of Haigh’s treats, don’t miss the behind-the-scenes Haigh’s factory tour, a short drive from central Adelaide. It’s the full shebang; a journey from bean to bar with various artisanal skills and hand-finished finessing thrown in from beginning to end. Of course, the free chocolate samples come thick and fast and you can also grab a bargain bag of “seconds”, up to 50 per cent off the normal retail price. Well worth investing in a second suitcase for.
Learn more at ‘chocolate university’ in Belgium
You can’t say Belgium without thinking of chocolate. Arguably the chocolate capital of the world, if you want to eat, live and breathe the stuff, it’s time to enroll yourself at chocolate university and make a career out of it. Open since 2014, the Chocolate Academy™ is located in Wieze, Belgium, on the same estate as Barry Callebaut’s largest chocolate factory. The courses facilitate budding chocolatiers from novice to expert, via specialised courses taught by guest chefs from across the world. To keep students inspired, there is also a small on-site plantation, beanology-room, a chocolate library and a tasting ritual room.
The Chocolate Academy is located in Wieze, Belgium, on the same estate as Barry Callebaut’s largest chocolate factory. Photo / Getty Images
Visit the Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience, Glasgow
