A visit to the Chocolate Museum in Cologne
The German city Cologne is beautiful to visit in all seasons. I’ve been here once during Christmas time, where I enjoyed the atmosphere of all the Christmas markets. At the end of September 2020, I spent a week in the Eifel region. Cologne only was at an hour driving distance from where we stayed (Hellenthal), so we decided to visit the city again and to explore more.
During our last visit to Cologne, we didn’t had time to go to the Chocolate museum. I’ve heard some good stories about the chocolate museum, so this time I really wanted to go. We started our day in Cologne in the Chocolate museum and in this article I’ll tell you some more!
A small introduction
There’s a lot to experience in the Chocolate museum. Located in the Rheinau harbour and close to Cologne Old Town, the museum is easy to reach. You’ll get to know more about the history of choccolate, the countries which harvest cocao, the production of chocolate and much more. It’s a very interactive museum, so really fun both for children and adults.
The best thing about the museum probably is the fact that they’re actually producing Lindt chocolate in the museum.. and you can have a look at it! You can end your tour with a visit to the shop or café. You can also visit the museum through a guided tour if you would like to have some extra information. I personally liked to walk around and experience on my own.
The harvest of cacao
When you’re entering the museum, you first need to show your ticket (or buy one). When everything’s alright, you can start your tour and get a small piece of chocolate. At the start of the tour, you’ll get to an area with lots of interesting facts and information about the harvest of cacao: where this happens (in which countries) and how it goes, step by step. There also are games and quizzes to play for the children to get to know more about these subjects through an interactive way.
The production of chocolate
When you walk further through the museum, you’ll get to a room where you can learn more about chocolate in general: you can read lots of chocolate facts and can see what ingredients are used for making chocolate (white, milk and dark). The area you’ll get to after is even more interesting! You’ll get to the area where you can find all the machines which are used for making the chocolate. Fun fact: the machines are running for real as they’re producing chocolate on the spot.
Per machine you can read and see on the video which action / step takes place in that specific machine. You can also see how the chocolate is divided by a machine into a tray and how the machine puts the chocolate into a packing. I really liked watching this process.
When you walk a little further, you can see some machines which were used in the past. Furthermore, you’ll spot a chocolate fountain! Normally, you can taste some chocolate from the fountain, but due to the Covid-19 situation the fountain wasn’t working during our visit.
Create your own chocolate bar
On the second floor of the museum, you can see how handcrafted chocolate, like truffles and chocolate figures, are made. Furthermore, you can also create you own unique chocolate bar: it’s possible to chose for a white, milk or dark chocolate bar and you can also chose your own ingredients, like caramel or nuts. During the last part of the museum where you walk through, the chocolatiers will make your chocolate bar, which you’ll receive when you leave the museum.
The history of chocolate
The last part of the museum brings you to the history of chocolate, which goes back for 5000 years. The most interesting and fun part of this area probably was to see more of the chocolate advertising of the early 20th Century: you can see the packaging of all kinds of brands throughout the years, but also historical vending machines and signs.
The café and shop
Before you’re leaving the museum there’s also a possibility to pay a visit to the café and the shop. The café has a nice view over the Rhine: you can either sit in- or outside and enjoy some coffee / tea together with a chocolate speciality or delicious cake. You can find the menu on the official website of the museum. The shop sells all kinds of chocolate, so it’s definitely worth a visit. You can also buy a souvenir or other kinds of sweets.
Practical information
How to get here
Like I mentioned earlier, the museum is quite easy to reach. It’s located on the riverbank of Cologne’s old town and you can easily reach old town by foot. That’s also why you can go both by train and car. After arriving by train at Cologne Central Station, it’s best to take bus line 133 towards the chocolate museum.
If you’re planning on visiting the city by car, I would recommend to park your car at ‘Parkplatz unter der Severinsbrücke’. From here, it’s only a 5-10 minutes walk to the chocolate museum. Take into account that the parking place can be quite busy during the day, so it’s best to arrive in Cologne quite early on the day (we arrived around 10:00 AM and still had space).
Entrance fee
The following prices are based on the website’s information on January 21st 2021:
| Monday to Friday | Saturday & Sunday | |
| Adult (from 16 years) | € 12,50 p.p. | € 13,50 |
| Seniors (from 65 years) | € 11,- p.p. | € 12,- |
| Students | € 9,- p.p. | € 10,- |
| Children (from 6 years) | € 7,50 | € 8,- |
| Children (under 6 years) | No entrance fee | No entrance fee |
| Family ticket (two adults + children) | € 31,50 | € 34,- |
Contact details
You can find the museum on the following address:
Am Schokoladenmuseum 1A
50678 Köln
Phone number: +49 221 931888 – 0
General e-mailaddress: service@schokoladenmuseum.de
Have you been to Cologne and its chocolate museum before?
If you’re travelling to Cologne, I can definitely recommend to pay a visit to the museum.
Author: Tamara
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