Thank goodness for the equator. Its humid climate, regular rainfall and good soil are the perfect recipe for growing theobroma cacao, also known as the cacao tree. Its fruit is the precursor to Toblerone bars, Baci chocolate kisses, Lindt truffles, Hershey’s chocolate bars, Cadbury Crème eggs, Fran’s salted caramels, Ghirardelli squares and all other manifestations of chocolate goodness that are found in abundance this Valentine’s month.
In a new slide show on Bing Travel, discover how traveling to the equator can yield a rich taste of chocolate history. The Cotton Tree Lodge in Belize offers tours to cacao farms and dedicated chocolate weeks in March and May where you craft your own bars. Kona, Hawaii, hosts a chocolate festival that gathers Big Island chefs for a night filled with chocolate decadence. The Grenada Chocolate Company on Grenada in the Caribbean offers tours of its small cooperative, which makes organic dark chocolate from bean to bar.
Travel to non-equatorial areas can satisfy the chocoholic, too. Throughout Europe, chocolatiers provide generous samples, museums and factory tours. Paris hosts Le Salon du Chocolat, a traveling trade expo for chocolate. During its fashion show, you’ll catch models parading about in edible dresses.
Speaking of wearing chocolate, several destinations encourage you to slather it on. The Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa., has a designated chocolate spa where you can relax in a whipped cocoa bath. The Iguazú Grand Hotel’s spa in Puerto Iguazu City, Argentina, has a dedicated chocolate therapy menu including a chocolate facial mask.
If February truly is your month for romance, consider Canada to make your loved one melt with desire. A jeweler, a resort and the famed chocolatier Rogers' Chocolates in Victoria, British Columbia, have put together a weekend that includes a diamond ring and a feast of wine and chocolate.
Have you enjoyed a chocolate-infused vacation, or would you like to? Share your experiences and desires with other travelers in the comments section.
Let me know if you have one in Indianapolis.
Hey, everybody in the world knows Belgium is the best place to find good (I mean really good) chocolate.
You might find somewhat acceptable chocolate in Switzerland, but the truely genuine fine chocolate is in Belgium.
:d
Cheers
Check out the EuroChocolate Festival in Perugia in October. Chocolate takes over the entire walled city. At major crossstreets, artisans carve scupltures out of massive blocks of chocolate. Crowds clamor for the scraps. Top chocolatiers feature chocolate delights in streetside tents. The entire town smells like chocolate -- the really really good kind that you really DON'T want to share...
Does anybody know of any chocolate festivals.
Chocolate festivals? Indeed! Bing Travel mentions several of them in its slide show:
www.bing.com/.../search)
Turin, Italy has an annual chocolate festival.
The Kona Chocolate Festival takes place April 17, 2010, at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay in Kona on the Big Island.
Victoria, British Columbia has an annual Chocolate Festival, to be held this year on March 27 at Bear Mountain Resort.
Toledo, Belize has "CacaoFest" in May.
a get ahead to this
If in New York on February 14, join the Valentine's Chocolate Walking Tour, which visits 5 master bakers in SoHo.
walkingtoursmanhattan.com
hi, in Florence too from 04/02 to 07/02 Artisan Chocolate Fair - some info about choco-events in Europe Artisan travel-europe.tumblr.com/.../chocolate
They forgot the small and quaint village of Chuao in Venezuela, which by the way has a certificate of origin “cocoa from Chuao” as one of the finest in the world for centuries, that would complete a more belivable list
i want to go right now !!!!!
Every Saturday at the Langham Hotel in Boston there's a "Chocolate Bar." It's basically a buffet of everything and anything chocolate you can imagine, from chocolate fondue to chocolate truffles and chocolate crepes to chocolate mousse cake and tons in between.
let me no when you have some good looking desourtes
You have to try the Bubalina Chocolat products including the most wonderful Chocolate Lip scrub! http://www.bubalinabeauty.com
Want to have a chocolate experience close to home? Lititz, Pennsylvania (right outside Lancaster) in early October EVERY year! The Lititz Chocolate Walk includes almost 30 chocolatiers who come here to show their products, talk, demo, and/or sell. But the best part is that you buy a Chocolate Walk button for $15, which then allows you to receive a decadent sample at EACH of the 30 stops!!!! Awesome! Lititz is also home to Wilbur Chocolate where you can watch chocolates being handmade, walk through a chocolate museum and taste a sample of the famous, decadent Wilbur Bud. Oh, and every day here you can enjoy the frgance of warm chocolate that wafts through town. Don't miss this!
mmmmmm yum!
