Chocolate Vacations

Theme travel is so popular these days. And what sweeter theme could there possibly be than chocolate -- a universally celebrated and loved gastronomic pleasure. Here’s how you can experience chocolate travel around the world…

Europe’s Chocolate Cities
In a recent piece for AOL Travel, I mentioned how Bruges, Belgium is one of the most romantic places in the world. Well the hits just keep coming with this beautiful town -- it is also a fantastic destination for tasting some of that famous Belgian chocolate. From April 6 to 10, 2007, Bruges will host Choco-Laté, a festival celebrating and sampling the wonders of chocolate. The Hotel Heritage is offering a Choco Laté package. Starting at 112 euros per person, per night, the package includes accommodations, breakfast, a boat ride through the canals of Bruges, a visit to the Choco Story Museum, a visit to the festival, a box of the best Belgian chocolates and a chocolate drink at the hotel bar.

Is a weekend not enough for the wonders of Belgian chocolat? InTrend offers a 7-day chocolate tour of Belgium, visiting Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp. Highlights include the chance to taste and visit the homes of Neuhaus, Manon and Hans Burie chocolates as well as see the sites in these charming Belgian cities.

Although probably better known as the home of the 2006 Winter Olympics, Turin, Italy is also well known for its chocolates, notably Gianduja, a luscious hazelnut and chocolate combination that later inspired Nutella. Starhotels Majestic Hotel in Turin is inviting American tourists to come and explore this chocolate capital this spring and summer. The package includes two chocolate tastings at Turin’s famous and historic Caffe Barrati, breakfast in bed on the first morning, two Turin cards for entrance to the city’s museums (including the Egyptian Museum -- considered the best outside Turin), a box of chocolates on your bed and a comfort kit with toiletries. The packages costs 196 euros per night for two people staying in a junior suite, three-night minimum, valid through July 31, 2007.

Italy is also home to an amazing chocolate school run by Perugina. If Pergugina doesn’t ring a bell, have you ever had a Baci? One of those chocolate covered hazelnut wonders? The school is located in the company’s chocolate factory just outside of Perugia in the region of Umbria and is one of the first of its kind. It offers 2.5- and 4-hour courses in chocolate tasting and artistry. The only problem is that for now -- all classes are in Italian. If you have a basic understanding of the language, you can probably get by. If you would like to read my personal account of attending the school as the first American student (luckily I speak and understand a good bit of Italian), click here.

Ah, the city of light can’t be left out from a European chocolate itinerary. If you would like to devote a visit to Paris to an exploration of chocolate, check out the tour company Your Great Days in Paris which is offering a 7-day tea and chocolate tour this April. The week of sipping an tasting is priced at $2,975 per person.

If you just have a few hours to partake in a Parisian chocolate fantasy, expert David Lebovitz runs a three-hour walk around the highlights of Paris chocolate shops and bakeries through Context Paris.

Chocolate Do-Gooding
Want to incorporate your love of chocolate in a volunteer vacation? There’s a unique way to do that with Tropical Adventures. Participants travel to Costa Rica’s Talamanca region to volunteer with ACOMUITA (Association Comision de Mujeres Talamanqueñas), a group of women from the Bribi and Cabeca tribes who focus on educational tourism through means of the cacao plant, which is what chocolate is made from. Volunteers live among the tribes and bring about a positive impact on the tourism economy by helping to produce chocolate.

The Chocolate Factory package includes accommodations, three meals daily, ground transportation from the airport, country information and orientation, Spanish language lessons (additional cost), project training (where applicable), in-country support, assistance in planning sightseeing excursions and activities, medical insurance, free cell phone rental (based on availability) and the volunteer program. Volunteers must stay a minimum of two weeks and volunteer 20 hours per week. The cost for two weeks is $1,195.

Chocolate Walking Tours in the U.S.
If you don’t have the time, you need not devote a special vacation to the yummy brown stuff. Many cities offer half-day walking tours incorporating the chocolate theme. Once a month, New York’s Institute of Culinary Education offers a five hour walking tour with a culinary historian. The group samples sweets in Soho and then heads uptown to try the Euro-style chocolate shops of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The tour (including lunch) costs $100 per person. Chicago Chocolate Tours offers tours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons ($40 per person). In December and February, Carolina Food Pros gets in the holiday spirit (Christmas and Valentine’s respectively) by offering a Charleston, South Carolina tour of the best choco-creations of local pastry chefs. ($60 per person)

Spa Treatments a la Chocolate
Hershey, Pennsylvania is a chocolate destination unto itself -- as the home of Hershey Chocolate and a related theme park. Also to be found -- a chocolate spa -- in the Hotel Hershey. Did you know chocolate has beauty properties? The Whipped Cocoa Bath promises to soften and renew the skin. ($40). The Chocolate Bean Polish, at $60, combines the exfoliation of cocoa bean husks and walnut shells with a softening cocoa body moisturizer.

If your travels take you to the West Coast, check out the new Le Spa at the Sofitel Los Angeles. The spa’s winter package includes the Dark Chocolate and Champagne Body Mask a Peppermint Milk Bath. Yum!

Cruisin’ for Chocolate
The sweet stuff is such a travel inspiration that there’s even a chocolate cruise! Regent Cruises Spotlight on Chocolate sailing on the Seven Seas Voyager is an 11-day chocolate extravaganza. Chocolate experts, pastry chefs and even a medical doctor use lectures, demonstrations and tastings to explore the virtues of chocolate in its many forms. The chocolate cruise sets sail December 7, 2007 in the Caribbean, including stops in Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and Princess Cays. Fares start at $2,598.