Colmar Chocolate Museum Entrance Ticket

Colmar Chocolate Museum: the story of cocoa

The visit begins far from Alsace, in the tropical forests where the cocoa tree grows. Panels, objects and screens tell how the ancient peoples of Central America prized cocoa beans, used them in a bitter spiced drink and even as a form of exchange, and how the bean crossed the Atlantic in the 16th century to become a fashionable drink in European courts before the first solid bars appeared in the 19th century.

The museum is designed to be hands-on rather than a room of glass cases, so the story unfolds through games, scents, touch screens and short films. Is the Colmar chocolate museum worth visiting? For families and anyone with a sweet tooth it is one of the most enjoyable hours in town, and a good counterpoint to a day of churches and half-timbered streets.

Interactive exhibits and the virtual demonstration

Room by room, you follow the bean's transformation: harvesting the pods, fermenting and drying the beans, roasting, grinding and the long mixing that gives chocolate its smooth texture, then tempering and moulding. A virtual chocolate-making demonstration brings these steps to life on screen, so you understand what separates dark, milk and white chocolate and why good chocolate snaps cleanly.

Chocolate samples are offered along the route, and the audio guide app, available in several languages on your own phone, adds detail at each stage. Bring earphones if you want to listen comfortably. The exhibits suit all ages, and the visit is wheelchair-accessible, which makes it an easy choice for multi-generation families travelling together.

Your cup of hot chocolate and practical visit

With the default option, your visit ends with a cup of hot chocolate chosen from recipes such as dark, milk, white, spiced or gingerbread. Gingerbread is a true Alsace speciality, sold in every Christmas market in the region, so the spiced and gingerbread versions are a nice local touch. Another option on this page offers the museum entry without the hot chocolate.

Entry is timed: you choose a time slot between about 10:00 and 16:30 when booking and arrive a few minutes before it with your mobile ticket. The visit takes about an hour. Check the museum's opening hours for your date, especially around public holidays and in winter. If you follow a special diet, ask at the counter about ingredients before choosing your drink.

Around the museum: Colmar old town

Colmar is easy to combine with the museum. The old town is compact, with Little Venice, the Tanners' quarter, the Koïfhus customs house and the covered market all within a short stroll of one another. A good plan is to visit the museum in the late morning or mid-afternoon and spend the rest of the day by the canals, where flat-bottomed boats run from spring to autumn.

How to get to Colmar: trains from Strasbourg take about 30 minutes and run frequently, and Basel-Mulhouse airport is about 50 minutes away by road. Colmar also makes a good base for an Alsace villages day trip to Riquewihr, Kaysersberg and Eguisheim. Halal food is available in Colmar, although the choice is more limited than in Strasbourg.