Camille Bloch is a Swiss chocolate maker, best known for their popular Ragusa and Torino chocolates. They have a nice visitor center in northwestern Switzerland, where you can learn their history, sample their chocolate, and make your own Ragusa bar in a workshop. I thought the visitor center was delightful, lots of bright interesting displays, with fun interactive elements.
Their chocolate tasting was the best of all the Swiss chocolate tours in my opinion. A worker hand makes a Ragusa and Torino bar, telling you all about it while you watch, answering questions. Then you can eat exactly what they made plus other treats. It was just so friendly and personal. I’d definitely recommend a visit if you are in the area.
| Location: | northwestern Switzerland, near Biel |
| Address: | Grand-Rue 21, 2608 Courtelary |
| Car: | parking on site 1hr from Bern, 1hr35 from Zurich |
| Train: | 400m walk from Courtelary train station 1hr from Bern, 1hr45 from Zürich |
| Open: | Tues – Sun 10:00 to 18:00 |
| Price (2021): | CHF 15/adult, CHF 9/child aged 6-16 , under 6 free |
| Services: | cafe, wheelchair & stroller accessible |
| More info: | chezcamillebloch.ch |
Location
Chez Camille Bloch is located in northwestern Switzerland near Biel, easily accessed by car or train.
How to get there
By car: Drive to Grand-Rue 21, 2608 Courtelary. There is a parking lot adjacent to the visitor center.
By public transport: Take a train to Courtelary, then a 400m walk to the visitor center.
The outside of the visitor center looks a little like a factory, but it’s warm and friendly inside.
Opening Times & Tickets
The visitor center is open Tues – Sun 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:00). Plan for about 1 – 1.5 hour for your visit.
Entrance to the museum costs CHF 15/adult, CHF 9/child aged 6-16 , under 6 free. Discount for students, disabled, and pensioners. You can purchase tickets online beforehand, selecting a day and time slot.
In 2021, SBB has a 20% discount offer if you travel there by public transportation. Purchase your voucher here.
They offer an Escape Game experience for CHF 99 for 4 people. I didn’t do it, so you’ll have to let me know.
Chocolate workshops
Last time I checked, they were offering a workshop for decorating chocolate shapes (1hr CHF 25) and another for creating your own Ragusa bar (1hr CHF 35). The workshop fee includes entrance to the chocolate visitor center. Workshops are offered in German and French. They also have a “at home” workshop where they send you a box with all the supplies. See all chocolate workshops.
Chocolate tasting
Before we do a tour, I’ll skip to the important part. Inside the visitor center, there is a chocolate fountain where you can dispense chocolate onto a disposable spoon. The other pic shows some faux factory machines on display. You don’t see inside a real factory here (go to Maestrani’s Chocolarium for that).
Near the end of the visitor center, there are two chocolate making stations, one for Ragusa, the other for Torino.
The workers make the chocolate as you watch and explain the process. Then you get to eat what they produce. I thought this part was particularly nice and different from other chocolate tours.
The visitor center
The displays around the visitor center were quite charming.
A few interactive educational displays. I liked this case with many different types of cocoa beans. Next station down you guess ingredients by their smell.
A lot of the museum has that 50-60’s look, which goes along with the company’s history. That felt different from other chocolate tours I’ve done.
Loved the old packaging. In the gift shop, you can get a Camille Block version of the Rubik’s cube.
There are a few nice photo ops like this flower swing. You can sit on the Vespa below and get a picture taken with an Italian background.
Cafe
The cafe has snacks and desserts, but also full meals, which is not usually the case at museum cafes.
The desserts were really good. My friend got one of these over the top cakes stuffed full of chocolate bars. Lunch was pretty good too. My veggie lasagna was very tasty and my friend liked her stew with a chocolate-infused gravy.
Behind the visitor center, there is a nice playground for the kids.
2 responses
We visited Camille Block yesterday as a day trip from Zurich (1 1/2hr drive either way). It was super fun Chocolate experience. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area. We had problems booking online to make anything so we chanced it and arrived in person, sadly the chocolate making sessions had finished before we arrived and we weren’t allowed to do the macaroon making as you needed an adult per child (unless over 14yrs). So we did the escape room experience. This really made our trip, and it included access into the museum area beforehand. Its not actually an escape room but sleuthing with 7 different stations around the museum area that you use a key to open, solve the riddles and write down the word for each station. If you do them all within an hour then you get a prize. It took us 2 hours to crack them all, even using some of the help clues. All in all we probably spent about 5 hours here and could have spent longer if we’d played in the outdoor playground or eaten in the cafe. It was great having free parking.
Thanks for sharing your experience at Camille Bloch, so helpful! Glad you had a nice time even though it was different than you had planned.