Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination. My own personal version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was basically what I was imagining when I managed to secure myself a golden ticket to the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
Opened in 2020 (an ideal time to open a chocolate tasting experience), the Lindt Home of Chocolate is located near the company’s factory in Kilchberg on the shore of Lake Zurich in Switzerland.
I actually visited the location back in 2017. Before the Lindt Home of Chocolate, the only thing open there was a factory outlet. Despite this, I still hired a bike and rode out, maybe in the hopes of running into a Willy Wonka type, or at least a Slugworth.
While I just picked up a few chocolates at the factory outlet back then, my most recent visit in 2024 was more serious. I had heard rumours of unlimited chocolate and people walking away completely overwhelmed and sick. “That sounds like my kind of experience,” I thought.
Booking your golden ticket
Unfortunately, since I wasn’t planning very far in advance during my 2024 trip, I only settled on dates to visit Zurich around a week prior. When I went to lock in a date for the Lindt Home of Chocolate, I found that tickets weren’t available for the entire duration of my stay.
Lindt makes a big deal about getting tickets before turning up and also shows a regular notice that ‘tickets for today are sold out’ so I started getting slightly worried. At first, the only alternative I found was a day trip with a separate tour company which visits the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
These third party options could work if you’re desperate, but they bump up the price on what is already quite an expensive experience, coming in at 17 Swiss francs ($30).
Turns out there’s probably no need to worry though. After refreshing the ticketing page a few times over a couple of days, I saw new dates and time slots regularly open up, even for the next day.
Eventually, one that worked for me popped up and I quickly booked it. So don’t give up if you’re in a similar situation. You might have to be flexible on the time, but I saw new tickets later become available for every ‘sold out’ day. If that doesn’t work, I’ll explain another last ditch option shortly.
Getting to the Lindt Home of Chocolate
Ticket in hand (or on phone), I started looking into the best way to get to the Lindt Home of Chocolate. While there are a few options, it costs quite a bit to take public transport. Kilchberg sits outside the main Zurich transport zones (and there’s no free transportation like other cities).
Throwing back to my original visit seven years earlier, I hired a bike from the service called Züri rollt. This doesn’t cost anything other than 20 Swiss francs in cash for a deposit. Return the bike undamaged before the rental place closes and you’ll get the full deposit back.
This definitely isn’t the easiest option, as navigating Zurich’s unfamiliar streets on a bike can be tricky. The main route that’ll eventually take you to the Lindt Home of Chocolate is on the side of a moderately busy road but is a separate painted section for bikes. Just remember it’s free!
On the day of my visit in August 2024, the temperature was over 30 degrees celsius, but I opted for the free bike anyway. The strong smell of chocolate hit me as I slowly approached Kilchberg.
I got to the Lindt Home of Chocolate around an hour early. I’m not sure if they’re always this strict, but a worker told me you can’t scan your ticket to enter even a minute before the allotted time.
As I mentioned before, there is another option for people who aren’t able to secure tickets in advance. Despite what Lindt says, you can (possibly) just turn up. When I arrived at 2pm on a Tuesday in August, a sign showed that tickets were available for 5pm. They did seem to be completely sold out when I checked an hour later though, so your mileage may vary.
The café at the Lindt Home of Chocolate
With an hour to kill, I hit up the café. Maybe it’s not the best idea to go to a chocolate cafe right before having potentially unlimited chocolate. In any case, the cafe ended up being disappointing.
My “original waffle” wasn’t as good as any I had in Brussels. The chocolate sauce, which I saw was poured from a chocolate tap, tasted strange and not like Lindt.
As for my drink, it was a complete let down. Being summer, I thought they’d have milkshakes and smoothies. When I asked for a cold drink, the only options were “iced chocolate or iced coconut”.
For a chocolate place, they can’t even serve a decent iced chocolate. I’ve had better ones from Macca’s. For the price, it should have been at least twice the size too. Why put in so much ice?
I wasn’t going to let all this detract from my Willy Wonka moment though. I drank some water to get rid of all the disappointing tastes and then joined the long queue up the stairs to finally make my way inside the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
Like chocolate for water
Up until now, I haven’t mentioned what is apparently the largest chocolate fountain the world that stands front and centre in the building. It’s undoubtedly impressive but sadly inedible. You get a good vantage of it at different points during your visit.
The Lindt Home of Chocolate begins with an interesting and insightful look into chocolate processing. I don’t often think about where my chocolate comes from, so it was a good learning opportunity. Almost everyone seemed to be keenly reading and using their audio guides.
The next section is about the history of chocolate around the world and Switzerland’s role. I guess they basically had to, but I was impressed that Lindt gave room for it’s competitors’ stories too.
As you approach the end of this section, it becomes clear that the much anticipated chocolate tasting is about to begin. People started paying less and less attention to the information.
Truly unlimited chocolate?
Once you enter the tasting part, all the wheels basically come off. When presented with chocolate fountains and no obvious limits, most people all but forgot about the “tour” part of the experience.
Yes, I was among them. I grabbed a spoon and went to town. There was milk, dark and white chocolate fountains. Basically you put your spoon up to a nozzle and with each press of a button, out comes a small amount of warm liquid chocolate. I found five presses gave a perfect amount…
After tasting each individually, I did some mixing too. While I thought I would like milk chocolate the best overall, white chocolate was my favourite. I had to have a few more samples just to be sure.
With all attention on the tasting, most people breezed past the information displays here, including one showing how chocolate bars and truffles are manufactured.
After the fountains were these fairly unusual machines filled with different Lindt blocks. When you put your hand under a dispenser, the machine broke off a small piece to try.
There were eight machines and four flavours. People seemed to struggle to use the machines, or maybe the machines seemed to struggle with the people. Sometimes no chocolate would come out so people became confused and just moved onto the next one.
This may have been intentional, but all the chocolate in the machines were darker varieties. I just tried a piece of each and didn’t feel the need to go back for any more. But did I walk back to the fountains for even more liquid chocolate? I’m not saying.
Lindor balls up for grabs
After the block machines, the free chocolate is almost over. In the following room, there was some kind of projection on the floor which I’ve already forgotten. Then you’re in a room of Lindor balls.
There are a couple photo ops on the sides, but the main attraction is what looks like a mega pick and mix featuring eight different Lindor flavours.
However, a sign makes it clear: you’re only supposed to grab one of each flavour. Unlike in the other room, there are also workers who appear to be watching over things here.
I found it funny that the dark Lindor balls were at the far end of the display from where the workers were standing. Anyone could’ve snuck an extra one or ten of those if they wanted.
As for me, I accidentally got two double chocolate Lindor balls and thought it would be unhygienic to put one back. Here is my official ranking of the flavours that were available during my visit:
- White
- Milk
- Straciatella
- Salted caramel
- Dark
- Strawberries and cream
- Double chocolate
- Coconut
By the way, any bags need to be placed in lockers prior to entering the tour. You’ll either need to eat your haul of balls straight away or carry them with you and hope they don’t melt. Maybe if you have a small bag, you could bring that with you.
Goodbye, Lindt Home of Chocolate
You pass through a gate to enter the final part of the tour, presumably to stop people from circling back. The remainder is generally underwhelming, with a few displays and machines that seemed to be involved in the chocolate making process but with no action actually going on.
To finish things off, everyone gets to scan their ticket to kick off a Rube Goldberg-type machine which eventually spits out a single Lindt chocolate square. The line was really long for this, as it seems to be a popular moment to capture for socials.
For those who don’t want to wait, a worker was walking around handing out chocolate squares and explaining that this is all that comes out of the machine. I was handed two squares so felt no need to wait in the line any longer. And that’s pretty much it for the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
Could you buy more chocolate for your money than what you get for “free” here? Almost certainly. Was the whole place a little overcrowded and rushed? During the peak summer period, absolutely.
But is there also a kind of magic to visiting somewhere where the chocolate is free flowing, the information is mostly interesting and engaging for those who pay attention and where you can eat yourself silly if you choose to? Definitely.
If you’re a chocolate fan, book yourself a ticket. If you’re on the fence, maybe just go out and buy some nice chocolate instead. Don’t bother with the Lindt factory outlet nearby though. I’m pretty sure the prices are higher than they are in Australia!
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