Visiting Chocolate and Cheese Factories in Switzerland
There is nothing quite like Swiss cheese and chocolate. A true feast for the palate and the eyes as well! When traveling in Switzerland, you must taste (and also buy to take home) as many chocolates and cheeses as possible, but it is also highly recommended to visit their factories to watch the production, learn about the preparation, a bit of history, and above all: to taste as much as possible during these tours and of course buy what you liked best.
Each region in Switzerland boasts its characteristic cheeses, and in many places all over the country you can watch small to large factories, from home dairies to factories that have been operating for hundreds of years, and follow the cheese production process from the moment the milk arrives at the factory to the storage and aging stage.
Chocolate factories are also not lacking in the country that invented milk chocolate, but not all of them can be toured (in the past it was possible to visit many more chocolate factories, but for hygiene reasons visits to a significant portion of the factories were stopped).
You can still find chocolate factories both in the northeast of the country, in the south, and in the west, where successful tours full of palate-pleasing tastings are held, and each one also features a factory shop that looks like a bonbonnière itself where it is recommended to shop for this stunning sweet brown delight...
For accommodation in Switzerland, read the article: Recommended Family Accommodation in Switzerland.
Chocolate Factories
Cailler Chocolate Factory
In the west of the country, in French-speaking Switzerland in the town of Broc, is located the Cailler chocolate factory of Nestlé in an impressive white castle-like building that stands out from afar among the picturesque green hills.
This is an advanced and automatic factory that produces very high-quality chocolate where you can take a tour and see the production stages.
Tours in various languages depart every few minutes.
At first, you will learn in an experiential and interactive way about the history of the discovery of chocolate and the beginning of its production in the world, as well as the history of the factory and its transformations. From there you move to a room with many sacks of cocoa beans from different types and places. You can smell them, touch them, and enjoy the smell of chocolate...
From there you continue to watch the production line of one of the chocolate bars at the end of which you taste it to your heart's content.
However, it is recommended to taste only one sweet because many more tastings await ahead.
The next stage is viewing part of the production and packaging area through glass walls
From there you continue to a wide-ranging tasting room where there are over 15 types of chocolate for free tasting as much as you like, including high-quality pralines. It is worth arriving hungry! This was the first time I discovered that even for me, a staunch lover of chocolate and sweets, there is a limit to the amount of chocolate I can eat. With great sorrow, I gave up some of the pralines that beckoned to me from the loaded trays.
At the end of the tour (or before starting the tour) you can watch a short cinema hall film about chocolate production. Adjacent to the hall is a huge chocolate sales shop. The prices are not cheap, but it is guaranteed that everything you buy will be devoured quickly because the taste is paradise!
Various workshops for making chocolate pralines are also held on site. Booking a place in advance is required. The price depends on the length of the workshop and the type of chocolate being made.
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Maestrani Chocolate Factory
In northeastern Switzerland, in the Appenzell region, lies the Maestrani chocolate factory – the site is called SchoggiLand and a guided tour with tastings takes place there once a day at 14:00 for the visiting public lasting about an hour and a half (for groups a separate tour can be coordinated). You should arrive already at 13:45 to buy tickets. At the beginning of the tour, after tasting a variety of amazing chocolates, you watch a film showing how chocolate is made, the sources of cocoa, and the history of the factory which has been producing chocolates for over 150 years. After the film, you receive several more chocolates (of a different type) and begin the tour which starts with a display of antique chocolate-making machines
And continues with a tour of the factory itself which is modern and automatic. You overlook the factory as a whole with its various machines through glass windows from the second floor. While watching the production and packaging line, you receive more and more chocolate tastings and also high-quality candies, a feast for the palate. The tour ends at the factory shop which also features many free chocolate tastings. It is recommended to buy chocolate there because the prices are very attractive.
Those who fail to time it right and arrive by the tour time can exit the end of the factory shop and independently observe the factory through the glass windows without explanations and tastings. Groups can join a chocolate workshop where various chocolate figures are made. Ladybug chocolate is one of the popular products of the place.
Alprose Chocolate Factory
In southern Switzerland, in the Ticino region, near Lugano and close to the border with Italy is another chocolate factory where you can tour. This is the Alprose factory located in Caslano which includes a chocolate museum, a guided tour of the factory, many tastings, and of course a visit to the factory shop. It should be taken into account that the museum and shop are open every day of the week, but operating machines producing chocolate can only be viewed from Monday to Friday.
The visit to the factory is also suitable for those staying at Lake Maggiore and interested in a day visit to southern Switzerland.
Cheese Factories
Cheese factories are in great abundance, but undoubtedly the largest and most impressive of all are the factories detailed below. For all of them, it is recommended to arrive in the morning and not at noon or in the afternoon, because the production process is at its peak in the morning and you will be able to see more production stages right before your eyes and not just in films or demonstrations.
Le Gruyere Factory
The Le Gruyere factory is located in the west of the country. It started producing cheeses back in 1115.
It is recommended to arrive at the place in the morning around 9-10 and see the various stages of the beginning of cheese production. The place conducts an independent tour with audio guides (in English) or with an explanation sheet (in Hebrew!) with numbers describing the various stations of the production stages, including an explanation of the diet of the fine cows that gives the delicious milk from which the cheese is made.
The tour also features a film showing the preparation and production stages. Each guest receives three cheese samples for tasting, each from a different aging period: 6, 8, 10 months. Afterward, you can overlook the warehouse where the cheeses are stored under suitable temperature conditions for long months.
The site also has a large shop where you can taste and buy cheeses and other food products and a high-quality and recommended restaurant.
Appenzeller Dairies
In northeastern Switzerland in the Appenzell district, you can visit the Appenzeller Schaukaserei dairies where you can watch the preparation process of the famous Appenzell cheese whose production started 700 years ago. The tour is conducted independently with each visitor receiving an iPad with explanations about the various stages. For groups, a guided tour with a dedicated guide as well as a cheese-making workshop in a 400-year-old hut can be booked in advance.
Of course, here too you can buy a selection of cheeses at the factory shop. The site also features a successful restaurant.
In this area, there is an abundance of other dairies producing cheeses. At the main visitor center of the region located in the town of Appenzell, you can get a booklet detailing all the cheese factories you can tour.
"Emmentaler" Cheese Factory
In central Switzerland in the Bern district lies the "Emmentaler" cheese factory.
This is a popular cheese factory located in a picturesque village among green hills in a pastoral landscape a short drive from the city of Bern. An independent audio tour is held at the factory where you will see closely and learn the various production stages of the cheese, including viewing the huge warehouses where the cheeses are aged. On weekends, two guided tours a day are also held at 13:00 and 15:15.
Every day you can watch (and even help make) white spreadable cheese.
The site also features a spacious and successful restaurant and a shop where you can purchase an abundance of cheese types. In the large and well-tended courtyard, there is a playground, farm animals to pet, a vegetable garden, and picnic tables.
You can rent electric bicycles on site and go out for a trip in the pastoral landscapes.
Factory tour enthusiasts will be glad to know that there is a variety of other additional factories in Switzerland where you can tour, three examples:
Glasi Hergiswil Glassblowing Factory
The factory is located in the town of Hergiswil - a glassblowing factory characterized by the fact that its products are handmade and therefore both special and expensive. A twenty-minute tour is held at the factory along an interactive route between rooms with set designs and explanations about the history of the factory. At the end of the route, you arrive right into the production hall of the factory, looking down at it from an observation balcony without glass partitions, seeing the large furnace where the glass is melted and all the stages of blowing and producing various utensils.
Victorinox Knife and Pocket Knife Factory
A visit to the Victorinox knife and pocket knife factory in the town of Brunnen -
The highlight of the visit to the place is manufacturing a personal pocket knife (for a reasonable fee and booking an appointment in advance) with knives and accessories according to your request along with engraving on it as you wish while explaining the assembly process.
Before landing in Zurich, you can see this huge pocket knife from the plane:
Appenzeller Bier Brewery in Appenzell
You can take an independent audio tour in a small museum explaining how the beer is brewed. There is a display of the various ingredients added and you can smell them. You can buy bottles from the selection they produce on site.
