Chocolate Tours
Welcome to one of our set of the sweetest tours that we offer. Milk, dark, or white? Foreign or domestic? With nuts, fruit, or plain? With sugar or sugar-free? With salt or other seasonings? Solid to eat or fluid to drink? Milkshakes, malts, or hot chocolate? Bars, pies, ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, and more? Are you salivating yet? So many choices and only one stomach!
These tours are great for romantic occasions, special celebrations, holidays, being self-indulgent, and apologizing. Get out of the dog-house by going into a chocolate house. Chocolate is a comfort food, although dark chocolate is reported to have health-benefits, including:
- Nutrition
- Source of antioxidants
- Raises high-density lipoproteins (HDL), the good cholesterol, and protects low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the bad cholesterol, from oxidation
- May improve blood flow
- May lower blood pressure
- May protect your skin from the Sun
- Could improve brain function
You should research the topic “health benefits from chocolate” so you can justify eating lots of chocolate. LOL.
These tours normally begin no earlier than 12:00 PM on Sunday and 10:00 AM on Monday through Saturday. Most chocolate shops open at the above times. The employees may still be displaying their wares and setting up their shops during the first 20 minutes. We can be flexible with the start time so let us know if you want to begin later. Most of these shops close between 5:00 and 7:00 PM on Sunday and 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Monday through Saturday.
This is a driving tour. We will visit a number of different shops over a 20 miles radius. Most sites will give you one or two samples of various sizes to taste different types of chocolate and then you can buy what you like.
You can determine the length of this tour. On average for groups of 1 to 5 people, we can go to one chocolate shop for every 30 minutes. That allows about 15 to 20 minutes at each shop and 15 minutes to drive to each shop. Larger groups require more time for more samples, more purchases, more visitations to bathrooms, and getting on and off the bus. See the table below to determine the length of your tour.
| # | # of Hours | # of Chocolate shops for 1 to 5 People | # of Chocolate Shops for 6 to 9 People | # of Chocolate Shops for 10 to 19 People | # of Chocolate Shops for 20 or more People |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | 2 | 1 or 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2. | 2 | 3 or 4 | 2 or 3 | 2 | 1 or 2 |
| 3. | 3 | 4 or 5 | 3 or 4 | 3 | 2 or 3 |
| 4. | 4 | 5 or 6 | 4 or 5 | 4 | 3 or 4 |
| 5. | 5 | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 6. | 6 | 6 or 7 | 5 or 6 | 5 | 4 or 5 |
Some chocolate shops are relatively small and a group of 15 or more people will result in a line out of the store.
All tours that are 5 or more hours will include a stop for lunch. You can also schedule a stop for lunch on a shorter tour and reduce the number of chocolate stops by 1 or 2 shops.
The more chocolate you eat, the more likely you will start to slow down as you fill up. Make sure that you can handle your chocolate. Your eyes may be bigger than your stomach. LOL. Our experience has been that usually after 3 or 4 chocolate stops, people start feeling full.
If you want to stop for lunch, typically somewhere in or close to The Galleria or the Rice Village, or between the two areas, add 1 hour.
We can customize the tour to your desires; just let us know what you want.