Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 43 Transcript – Decadent Must-have Swiss Chocolate Experiences
You can see the full show notes for this episode, get a PDF version of this transcript and listen to the episode > here
Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which of the many scenic cities, towns, and villages to visit? Which mountain top excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland? And of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your timeframe?
If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast and in each episode, your host, Carolyn Schonafinger chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations – and of course, some hidden gems, to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate too.
Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well let’s get started?
Carolyn: Hi there, and welcome to episode 43. This is an episode I’ve been looking forward to recording for a long time as it combines two of my great loves, Switzerland and chocolate. Switzerland has a long chocolate making history and is renowned for producing some of the best, if not the best chocolate in the world. It’s not surprising then that eating Swiss chocolate is right up there at the top of most people’s must-do lists when they visit Switzerland. Of course, you can buy Swiss chocolate at the supermarket and at souvenir stores when you’re in Switzerland, but for a really immersive experience and to learn more about Swiss chocolate, visiting a factory or taking part in a chocolate making workshop is a fun thing to do.
Carolyn: In today’s episode, we’re going on a virtual chocolate tasting tour to three different places where you can learn more about the history of Swiss chocolate, watch it being made, make your own chocolate in a workshop, and eat chocolate to your heart’s content. First up, I’m chatting to Sandy Bolland from Funky Chocolate Club in Interlaken. Then we’ll hear from Caroline Derungs of Chocolarium in Flawil, before Kai Spehr from Lindt Home of Chocolate joins us. If you’d love have to go on a chocolate tasting tour, you need Switzerland. Thank you as always to the sponsors of the podcast, Switzerland Tourism. Visit their website, my switzerland.com for travel information and inspiration. And thank you too, for joining me today. I hope you enjoy all the chocolatey goodness in today’s episode. Now, let’s hear what fun awaits us at Funky Chocolate Club in Interlaken. Thank you for coming on the podcast, Sandy. It’s great that you’re able to join us today. And I’m really looking forward to learning more about Funky Chocolate Club.
Sandy: Thank you, thanks for inviting us.
Carolyn: Can you start by telling us how Funky Chocolate Club came about?
Sandy: Yes. A good friend of mine, Tatiana, she’s from the Czech Republic. She started in 2014, she had this idea about how to be able to offer the public the opportunity to play with chocolate, work with chocolate, that kind of thing. At the time there wasn’t very many opportunities, people could go to these big factories and actually do the tastings and stuff but they couldn’t really work with chocolate. She started the Funky Chocolate Club where she was offering these workshops. And so people can just book any activity and we show them how to … First we explain a little bit about where chocolate comes from, how it’s made, the origins, that kind of thing. The sustainability is a very important factor for us as well. And then we do a tasting. Everybody gets to taste the chocolate, starting with a hundred percent pure chocolate, down to white chocolate. We explain a little bit about the different ingredients in the chocolate and then we show them how to temper chocolate and then they can make their own chocolate forest.
Carolyn: Okay.
Sandy: It just gives the public the opportunity to actually work with chocolate, which you don’t get very often.
Carolyn: No, for sure. And what’s your role in the business?
Sandy: Well, I actually … Tatiana is married to a Kiwi, I’m married to a Kiwi. And last year we both happened to be in New Zealand in January, and her and her husband decided not to come back due to the COVID situation and the difficulties attached to it, because they have triplets as well, which are only two years old. It was all very hard for them. Yeah, we discussed it and we felt it would be a shame for that whole opportunity to go astray and not to be continued. And she was happy to let us take over and continue with the business. Yah, that was my role in it. Now I’m the chocolatier.
Carolyn: You’re running the show. Yeah.
Sandy: Yeah. No, it’s a fun thing. I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a while. My husband and I have a couple of restaurants as well but the whole chocolate thing and working with chocolate really interests me. And it was a great opportunity to get into it and be able to take over the business from her.
Carolyn: I’m sure she was very grateful and so are all the visitors to Interlaken, I’m sure they’re very grateful too because they’ve still got the opportunity to come and visit you. What’s unique about Funky Chocolate Club, compared to some of the other chocolate shops and chocolate producers or factories that people can go and visit in Switzerland?
Sandy: Well, we’re definitely not a factory. We do make our own pralines and make some chocolate product but we’re not a factory like the big producers. We’ve actually just renovated and revamped a little bit where we now have a cafe, as well as the workshops and the shop where people can buy chocolate. We really try and … We only sell products made in Switzerland to start with, and we really look into the background of the chocolate producers, in the hopes that it’s the sustainable fair trade chocolate trade and that kind of thing. And then of course, what makes us exceptionally unique is the fact that we have those workshops where people get to play with the chocolate and get to make their own slabs and have fun doing it, and learn about chocolate at the same time but don’t have to go to a whole course for it.
Carolyn: Yeah, okay. Can you tell us a bit more about the workshops, how long they run for, who they’re suitable for? Can kids join in, for those people that are listening and thinking about … Yeah, coming along. What can they expect?
Sandy: It’s a great family activity actually. We take children from the age of four. Of course, at that age, we do expect an adult to be part of the workshop as well. But yeah, we take children as young as four. And as I say, we start off by explaining about chocolate, where it comes from, the origins, the history behind chocolate. Then we explain how chocolate’s made. We go through a tasting where everybody gets to try chocolate from the actual cocoa bean, to a hundred percent pure chocolate, which is exceptionally better. And then we work our way down to the white chocolate, which is much more … Well, it’s creamier, white, sweet, it’s everything else that the dark chocolate isn’t. And then we show people how to temper chocolate, and tempering is basically heating up chocolate, melting it to about 45 degrees, and then you drop the temperature down, reheat it and you cool it again so it gets that nice, shiny consistency that people know in the chocolate bars that they buy in the shops. And then they temper their own chocolate and they make their own chocolate bars.
Sandy: They decorate them. Yeah, they can do whatever they want to on the actual chocolate bar. We wrap them up. We cool them down, we wrap them up and then they can collect them a little bit later. The workshop goes for about 75 minutes. And then for the cooling process and the setting process of the chocolate bars that they’ve made and to give us a chance to wrap it, they need to wait another 30 to 45 minutes, where they can go and do whatever and then pick up the chocolate later on.
Carolyn: Yeah, great. I think they might actually get a certificate or something at the end, is that right?
Sandy: That’s right. They do, they get the Funky Chocolate Club level one chocolatier certificate.
Carolyn: Well, that’s a must have souvenir from Switzerland.
Sandy: That’s right.
Carolyn: Yeah. And I’ve seen photos too, of people who’ve done the workshops and they’re dressed in their big white hats. It looks very professional.
Sandy: Yeah, that’s right. No, it’s a really fun experience. We bring a lot of fun into it as well because of course, it serves the purpose for people to learn the basics about chocolate but it also needs stay fun and be an activity that they remember when they leave. We have a lot of fun through it. We fool around a little bit and make little jokes and stuff and … No, it’s a really great activity. And as I say, it’s suitable. We literally have everyone from four year olds to 85 year olds coming to do it with … Yeah, with families. Yesterday, we actually had a wedding party as a surprise. Yes. It was a surprise for the groom and the bride and they came and made chocolate and … Yeah, it’s suitable.
Sandy: And we adapt it as well. We can adapt it to … Yeah, if someone wants a private workshop, we can adapt it to what they want. If they have an event or they want something special, that’s a nice thing as well. They’re small, we only take up to 12 people in our workshops but yeah, it’s very adaptable and very fun to do.
Carolyn: Yeah, great. For those people that are in Interlaken and perhaps don’t have time to do a workshop or don’t really want to, can they still come to the Funky Chocolate Club and go to the cafe or the shop?
Sandy: Yes. We have a little cafe where we sell various chocolate products and we sell pralines and we also do a lot of really chocolatey desserts. And we sell our famous hot chocolate and strawberries with melted chocolate. There’s a lot of things that they can come and enjoy. As long as it’s got to do with chocolate, we offer it.
Carolyn: Sounds wonderful. And is the Funky Chocolate Club open all year round?
Sandy: Normally, yes. This year because of the whole COVID thing and the tourism, we will probably close for the month of November. But as of next year, we’ll be open all year round again.
Carolyn: Okay. And you have more than one workshop a day, do you? Or is there just the one?
Sandy: Yes. It depends a little on the season. We have up to four workshops a day. The normal times are 11 to four and six o’clock. Seasonally, we adapt it a little bit, depending on how much business is around.
Carolyn: Yeah, okay. And whereabouts in Interlaken are you located?
Sandy: We’re actually slap bang in the center of Interlaken. The street that we’re in is called Postgasse but it’s just off the main street in Interlaken, right in the center really. It’s very easy to get to, very easy to find. Right in the middle between the two train stations, we have two train stations in Interlaken, we’re right in the middle. It’s about a 10 minute walk from each train station in case someone just comes into town for the day or whatever.
Carolyn: And people who are wanting to do a workshop, should they book in advance for those?
Sandy: Yes, yes. They are booked very quickly. They can book online on our www.funkychocolateclub.com. We do have a booking page on there and the best is if they book in advance to ensure that they have the space.
Carolyn: Wonderful. Well, I’m sure plenty of our listeners will be certainly looking up your website and booking their spot for a workshop, because all those chocolate desserts and hot chocolate with strawberries, you’ve tempted me. I’m sure you’ve tempted everyone else who’s listening as well. Thank you very much Sandy, for telling us about Funky Chocolate Club. And hopefully, we can send lots of people, eager chocoholics to you to sample your wares.
Sandy: That’s awesome, thank you. Because you can never have too much chocolate.
Carolyn: Absolutely. Thank you.
Sandy: Great. Thank you very much, Carolyn.
Carolyn: Right. Well, it sounds like I need to factor in time for a visit to Funky Chocolate Club when I’m next in Interlaken. What about you? Is a visit to Eastern Switzerland included in your itinerary perhaps? Because there’s another must visit chocolate destination not far from St. Gallen. I’ll leave Caroline to tell you all about it. Welcome to the podcast, Caroline. Thank you very much for joining me today.
Caroline: Thank you for inviting me.
Carolyn: Could you start by telling the listeners a little bit about the Chocolarium and the history behind the company, and your role with the company?
Caroline: Yes, please. I’d love to, thank you. Our founder was called Aquilino Maestrani, and he was one of the founding fathers of the chocolate culture in Switzerland. He founded our company first, actually in Lucerne in 1852. He started there because he knew of lots of English tourists especially visiting Switzerland in those years there. After a while, he did actually relocate to St. Gallen, which is close to where we are now, and he set up his business there, as in those days, St. Gallen was a very prosperous worldly known textile capital. That’s why he again, moved there, to get close to where his best customers would be and where there was a good economy, a prosperous economy working.
Caroline: He moved around St. Gallen for some times, until he finally found a big enough production site just above of the main town. Also that then finally became too small and Maestrani was growing over the last decade, including a takeover here of a company called Munz in Flawil, where we are today. That’s why we all moved out here in 2003. And since then, the production and the administration are all together in one place here in Flawil, only 20 minutes from St. Gallen. In 2017, then finally the Chocolarium, the chocolate factory of happiness opened. Now, we can welcome all our customers in our modern chocolate factory. Yeah, I’m sure I can tell you something about that in just a minute, bit more details.
Carolyn: Wonderful. And what’s your role with the company?
Caroline: I am head of Chocolarium. Me and my team, we look after all our guests visiting us here, we welcome them to the discovery tour, to our chocolate shop, to our cafe. We offer chocolate courses. We’re a big team, always with a happy smile on their face because of course, we can eat chocolate the whole day, as much as we want.
Carolyn: And the title Head of Chocolarium, that just sounds like the perfect role, doesn’t it? The perfect job, head of chocolate.
Caroline: Yeah. It is for me, actually. I love my job definitely.
Carolyn: Very good. Now, I noticed that the tagline for the Chocolarium is the chocolate factory of happiness, which just sounds ideal. And I’m sure that most visitors have a huge smile on their face whilst they’re visiting. What are some of the things that they can see and do at the Chocolarium?
Caroline: Well, our founder, Aquilino Maestrani, said once, “Those who see the world through the eyes of a chocolate lover will find true beauty and happiness.”
Caroline: Obviously, we really are very happy here and we make our customers happy. And I love watching people coming to us the first time because they start shooting photos from the very beginning. We are a very colorful, light, very friendly going happy Chocolarium. When you come in, you can decide what to do first. There’s lots of things to do, like probably best go on our discovery tour first because this is the story which we tell, how does the happiness get into the chocolate. You must come along. You get an introduction, a short cinema with a short film, and then people enjoy different rooms in the chocolate museum part, where we explain where does the cocoa come from? Where does the milk come from? Where does the sugar come from? How do we mix these best ingredients we get together, to make our best chocolate product?You will have a direct view into our live production. You can actually see the machines working, you can see how the chocolate bars get wrapped up, you can see how different chocolate treats are produced and wrapped up.
Caroline: I love watching that because you see all that chocolate running around just beneath your feet. It’s a glass gallery. Our guests really love watching the original production here. After that, you will get to our so called Show Confiserie. A chocolatier is welcoming you when you get there. And if you like, he or she will mold you a fresh bar of chocolate and you can then decorate that at your heart’s content. Make your own bar of chocolate is part of our discovery tour. People are happy to visit our chocolate shop because we have over 300 fantastic chocolate products. Of course, we have great Swiss chocolate souvenirs and sweet gift ideas, so people love going there. And also taking a sip of coffee, not a lot of people actually drink a hot chocolate after the discovery tour, because you are able to eat as much chocolate on the tour as you can handle. And mostly, they have had enough until about one hour, you get out. We have a cute coffee where you can drink coffee or have a sip of mineral water.
Caroline: We do offer chocolate making courses in different kinds. Either you can create your own chocolate bar or create your own chocolate hollow figure. And since a few months, we offer some new walk-in courses, where you can create small chocolate treats. This is especially something that families love to do be because children don’t always have enough nerves … Well, the adults don’t have enough nerves and the children get excited if the course goes on for too long. We call it the Schoggi atelier . You’ll be able to create a small chocolate treat with our smaller product, which will be finished let’s say, after 10 or 20 minutes. And you can take them home.
Carolyn: Okay. Wow, sounds like there’s absolutely something for every member of the family to do at the Chocolarium. But if they really can’t bear to leave, I believe that there’s somewhere quite special that they can spend the night. Can you tell us about that?
Caroline: Yes, indeed. We have a partner, the Hotel Säntispark located just outside of St. Gallen. And in a corporation, we created two chocolate rooms there. These are two rooms for luck, and they are styled with … One of the rooms is let’s say more for adults, with brown and goldy, nice chocolate tones. And the other one for the children is in a playful, casual setting. The minibar is filled with chocolate treats. Don’t go there if you don’t want your kids to eat chocolate all night. This is really the … Whatever the question is, chocolate is always the right answer. That’s what comes to in those two chocolate rooms there. And people visiting or staying at the hotel there in those chocolate rooms, included in their fares, they have a family ticket for our Chocolarium and includes also the decorating of their own chocolate bar.
Carolyn: Now Caroline, you mentioned earlier that the Chocolarium is now just 20 minutes from St. Gallen. If people don’t have a car, can they access the Chocolarium via public transport?
Caroline: Absolutely, yes. You can come along by train either from Zurich or from Munich or St. Gallen. And there is a train station here in Flawil, and we do have a post bus with our own Maestrani stop. There’s no problem finding us with public transport. Also, you could hop off the train at the main station in Flawil and actually walk along the so-called Schoggi Weg which means … It’s a choccy chocolate trail, and it will take you 30 to 40 minutes walking through fields all the way, because our Chocolarium is beautifully located in the middle of green fields and of course in summer, we have cows around us. It’s a really nice place to go also with the children and stroll around outside.
Carolyn: Well, it sounds like the Schoggi Trail might be the best thing to do after you visited the Chocolarium, walk back .
Caroline: I can recommend that, yeah. Walk back.
Carolyn: Oh, that’s lovely. Now, is the chocolate factory of happiness open all year round?
Caroline: We are open all year round. We have closed on Mondays and of course, on some of the bank holidays, so always best to check our website.
Carolyn: Okay. And for people that are planning to visit, do they need to purchase tickets in advance, and where can they get them?
Caroline: Yes, absolutely. We really strongly recommend to buy tickets in advance, especially during the school holidays in Switzerland, and buy them on our website, it’s chocolarium.ch. Because we have slots to get in. 30 people can enter our cinema every 10 minutes, that gives us the opportunity to make sure that the museum part is never crowded. People get in every 10 minutes and they move forwards. And so there’s always enough space for everybody to walk around and enjoy our information.
Carolyn: Wonderful. Well, thank you for sharing all that with us. It certainly sounds like there’s something for everybody to see and do. And I’m sure everyone listening who is planning to visit the Chocolarium will be in for a wonderful experience.
Caroline: I do hope so. And we are very much looking forward to welcoming all the tourists back also, we are ready for you and hope things stay as good as they are at the moment. Looking forward to you.
Carolyn: Thank you.
Caroline: Thank you very much.
Carolyn: Oh, spending a night in a chocolate themed hotel room after a day filled with chocolate tastings and workshops at Chocolarium would definitely be a highlight of a visit to Switzerland. Are you as tempted as I am? You can’t spend the night at our next chocolatey destination but you certainly won’t leave disappointed. The Lindt Home of Chocolate promises a day out you won’t forget. After all, with the world’s biggest chocolate fountain there to greet you on arrival, how could you possibly not have a great time? But that’s not all there is to see and do at Lindt Home of Chocolate just outside of Zurich, as we’re about to find out from Kai. Welcome to the podcast, Kai. It’s great to have you here and I’m really excited to learn more about what sounds like a chocolate lovers paradise, the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
Kai: Yes. Hello, everybody. Pleasure to talk to you.
Carolyn: I’m sure most of our listeners have heard of Lindt, as it’s one of the most famous chocolate brands in the world. Can you just give us a brief history of where and when the company began?
Kai: Yeah. Lindt has 175 years of chocolate making history. It all started 1845 here in Zurich, Switzerland, with a small confectionary. Later then in 18 … I do a very quick summary of the long history. Later then in 1879, Rodolphe Lindt in Bern, he invented the conch, which helped chocolate to become very smooth and the soft, melting texture. And then these two gentlemen, Sprüngli from Zurich and Lindt from Bern, they met in 1899 and founded a company together, and started producing chocolate here in Kilchberg, where we are still today, in 1899 with a big factory. It’s 175 years of history. And since then, you name it, we invented Lindor, the gold bunnies, the excellence chocolate. There’s quite a few delicacies available today.
Kai: Another company that was founded in 2013 as an independent foundation, which is called the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation, and this is where I am the managing director of … Of course, we carry Lindt in our name because Lindt was the founder of our foundation but we are an independent company. And our goal is to run the museum, to give back to the people everything we know about the history and the tradition of this Swiss identification product, which is chocolate. Our purpose is to have as many people learn about chocolate in general, not only Lindt. And for this purpose, we built a museum here in Kilchberg.
Carolyn: Fantastic. Now, I was lucky enough to go to the former building in Kilchberg a few years ago, when it was really just a store but boy, it was a great experience seeing all those Lindt chocolates. And I might have tasted a few. But in 2020, you opened the brand new Lindt Home of Chocolate, which is a complete interactive experience for visitors. Could you tell us about that, and what are some of the things that people can see and do when they go to the Lindt Home of Chocolate?
Kai: Yes certainly, glad to talk about this. As you say, it’s a brand new building. It’s a purpose built building for the museum. It was designed by very famous Swiss architects. From the outside, you only see a big brick wall, which helps the building to integrate perfectly into the existing company factory buildings here on site. And inside, it’s a lot of concrete but it’s very bright, like a cathedral. You don’t expect that when you come in, so you are blown away for the first time from the architecture by Christ & Gantenbein. Then of course, in the lobby, we have the tallest free standing chocolate fountain in the world. It’s 9.3 meters high, we use meters as well, the metric system, right. Yeah. I wouldn’t know, it’s 30 feet approximately. And in there, we have more than a ton of real chocolate which is flowing, and it gives a smell, a scent, a flavor to the entire building of course. You definitely know where you are.
Kai: And then in the ground floor, we have the largest Lindt shop of the world, which has more than 500 square meters and I think it’s more than 600 different products, all made by Lindt. We have a cafe where you can especially drink after your visit because chocolate, if you eat a lot makes you thirsty, but we also have salty and other sweet delicacies there. And then the main purpose of the building is in the first floor, it’s our museum. We have seven areas in the museum. You learn everything about where cocoa comes from, about the cultivation. We have a plantation in there. You learn about chocolate history, chocolate history is more than 5,000 years old. It all started in central America, meso America, and how the Mayans and the Aztecs who created the words [ chocolate 00:30:56], and chocolate was consumed liquid at the time, and what it took to become known throughout the world, how this process went on over the last 5,000 years.
Kai: And we also answered the question why Switzerland is so famous for chocolate, although we don’t grow cocoa beans but there’s another famous ingredient or very important ingredient in the most consumed chocolate flavor today, which is milk chocolate. Maybe this is where the bell starts ringing, the cowbell maybe. And there’s plenty of good milk in Switzerland and at the time … Today, you have the Silicon Valley in the US, and around 1850, there was a chocolate valley in the French part of Switzerland, where you had Cailler, you had Lindt in Bern, which is not far away. And other manufacturers, Nestle, , who all worked on how to optimize chocolate and made many inventions. For example, also the zipper and the aluminum foil were invented in Switzerland around that time. There were many pioneers working, it was a very vivid time.
Kai: Yeah. Then you of course, see a production process. We have a pilot plant where we do research but also show production. And yeah, the tour is available in six languages. We have an audio guide which is included in the price, it’s 15 Swiss Franks but you can also book a guided tour with a guide, which then takes an hour and a half and it’s 28. That’s public, you can book tickets online. And yeah, we recommend that because especially during vacation times and on weekends, we are mostly fully booked. We still have limitations for Corona with capacities but we are very optimistic that this limitation will be lifted soon. I hope this is correct, and that we can welcome many more visitors also from around the world.
Carolyn: Okay. I also believe that you can do workshops and learn how to make chocolate at the Lindt Home of Chocolate.
Kai: You are a very good listener, I forgot that point. In the second floor, we have the Chocolateria, yes. And you would definitely miss something if you wouldn’t visit that. The Chocolateriais in our second floor where you can do your own chocolate together with a real master chocolatier, and the classes can also be booked online. There are several classes per day and you can do either your own bar of chocolate or pralines or towards Easter and Christmas we have of course, those very famous hollow shapes that you can do. And yeah, that’s definitely one hour of pure delight. Yeah.
Carolyn: I bet. And are they suitable for children or only for adults?
Kai: We say as soon as the kids go to school, they’re fit to visit us because especially in the Chcolateria, you need a certain height so you can see on the working table. And you need a certain capacity also to work with your fingers. And if the kids are two, three years old, they’re too young. But if they are six and older, I think that’s a good age then to start visiting.
Carolyn: Okay. And for those people that come to the museum, can they try before they buy?
Kai: Absolutely, you can try different … In the museum tour, you can taste liquid chocolate, milk, white and dark chocolate. We have a tasting machine which we call Clack Clack, it’s touchless. You just hold your hand and it drops a piece of chocolate. And what you need to do is you need to taste what flavor it is, it’s kind of a game. And then the next room is called chocolate heaven, which is where you have a … We initially wanted to give pralines because they’re such a nice variety but there’s another nice variety in Lindor chocolate balls, and they are individually wrapped so it’s more hygienic for Corona reasons and yeah. But there’s eight different brands of Lindor that you can taste and yeah. And then you can decide what you want to buy in the shop. Yeah.
Carolyn: Sounds wonderful. Is the Lindt Home of Chocolate open all year round?
Kai: Yes. We have a few days where we are closed, this is December 25, 26 and the 1st of January. And then in spring and in fall, we have a maintenance day where we are closed. We are open 360 days.
Carolyn: Okay. And you mentioned before that it’s best for people to buy tickets online. Should they do that a couple of days before or even further ahead than that?
Kai: No, a couple of days is fine. Yeah. We have half hour time slots to spread the visitors well throughout the day. And then if you want to visit in the morning, we open at 10. Last entry is at five. You have plenty of time slots to choose from. If you want to visit a guided tour or a Chocolateria class, since there are only maybe two or four per day, this may be recommendable to buy a bit more in advance. But if you buy three days in advance, you should be able to get tickets.
Carolyn: Okay, great. And for those visitors who are staying in Zurich or are in Switzerland and don’t have their own transport, how can they get to the Home of Chocolate by public transport?
Kai: Oh, very well. You can actually choose how you want to get here. Besides our parking garage, we can reach us by train. There’s a train station five walking minutes from here, which connects Zurich within 10, 15 minutes. We have a bus which leaves from Bellevue, which is [inaudible 00:36:39], which is a very nice location also in the city center, 15 minute bus ride or you can come here by boat. There’s a short round trip on the lake, and the second stop is Kilchberg, so you can reach us here. Or even nicer, after you visit, you take the boat back to Zurich and you approach the city from the water after your nice chocolate experience, that’s perfect roundup of your visit.
Carolyn: That sounds like the perfect day out. Well, thank you for sharing all that with us. It’s approaching Easter when this episode goes to air, and I know what will be waiting for me on Easter morning, and that’ll be a nice Lindt gold bunny. My husband knows that’s the only thing to buy me for Easter every year. I’m looking forward to that already.
Kai: Great.
Carolyn: Thank you, Kai. And yeah, hopefully I’ll be heading your way and calling in and trying out all those experiences at the Lindt Home of Chocolate myself very soon.
Kai: Thank you for the chance to talk to you and everyone listening, we are welcoming you. We are waiting for many, many more people to come and have a wonderful day here.
Carolyn: With Easter just around the corner, no doubt you have chocolate on your mind. And it really should be on your mind when you’re planning a trip to Switzerland too. Why not include a visit to at least one or even better, all of the chocolate destinations we’ve heard about today when you visit Switzerland? I’m definitely going to be tasting my way around Switzerland as soon as possible. I’ll include links to Funky Chocolate Club, Chocolarium and Lindt Home of Chocolate websites in the show notes for this episode, so you can pre-book your tickets and find out more information. And if hearing all about these amazing Swiss chocolate experiences has got your mouth watering, and you’d love to join a workshop or a tour when you visit Switzerland, make sure you grab a copy of my Swiss chocolate lovers map, there’s a link to get your free copy in the show notes too. And you can find the show notes at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode43. Thank you very much for listening, take care and enjoy your chocolate. Bye for now.
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You can see the full show notes for this episode, get a PDF version of this transcript and listen to the episode > here
