I have heard that Swiss chocolate and German chocolate are great, but I have also heard that Belgian chocolate is the best. What are some of your favorites places to get chocolate when traveling to Europe?

I love the Belgian Cote D'or chocolate that you can buy anywhere in Belgium and France.

I thought the fresh cream chocolates from Leonidas in Belgium were great. I think they might be available in certain cities in the U.S. (?)

I also liked the chocolate in Amsterdam. Comparable to the Belgium chocolate. The Norwegian chocolates were good as well.

I recommend buying your chocolate in the duty-free shops at the airport on your way home. Much cheaper and you won't be tempted to eat them all before you go home. I'm getting a chocolate headache just typing this post.

Thanks for the input! I think I read on the Rick Steves site that there is a great place called Puccini's in Amsterdam. They said it rivals some of the best chocolates in Belgium. I love chocolate so I want to try differnt ones when I visit Europe.

French chocolate is to die for imho. And the best chocolate brownie I have ever tasted was at a cafe called The Globe in Prague - heavenly!

Have had Swiss chocolate, Belgian chocolate, English chocolate. IMHO, there is nothing to compare to French chocolate.

My favorite is Valrhona but when you're in France, there are wonderful little chocolatiers with their own shops and it's fun (if you're a chocoholic) to try any you find.

We always visit an hypermarché and get tons of very inexpensive and utterly delicious chocolate to bring back for gifts. I also use my leftover euros at the airport to get chocolate at duty free . . . any excuse to buy chocolate!

My favorite is Belgian chocolate. W bought a bunch of handmade chocolates in a little shop in Brugge and they were the best I've ever tasted - and less than half the price of Godiva (and about 5 tims as delicious). They were supposed to be gifts for family at home - but they never made it that far - we had to go back to the shop and get more the morning we left for the Brussels airport.

I love chocolate, but must admit that I am not a chocolate connoiseur. Can someone explain how fine Belgian, Swiss or French chocolate differs from "fine" American chocolate, like Joseph Schmidt? Thank you.

The Chocolate Line in Brugges...unbelievable, unforgettable.

I agree with swalter abouve on the Belgian Cote D'or chocolate. I picked up heaps of it at CDG duty free.

here's another one that hasn't been mentioned: Perugia (Italy)!

I know that you are looking for a comparison of solid chocolate bars but the answer that came to my mind first is Angelina's in Paris Rue Rivoli near Louvre. the hot chocolate is unreal. you can't even compare it to hot chocolate in the US. it's thick like cream and dark, dark, dark. So rich that you can't eat again that day.

I think it was my Fodor's guide to Belgium/Lux that said that Godiva chocolate had more sugar than other chocolates in order to appeal to the American taste. I tried and tried to verify this as true, but was unable to say, definitively, that the Belgian chocolate (Neuhaus and other) was not as sweet as the typical American chocolate.

I guess chocolates are like sex: you can never have a bad one, it's just that some are good and others are better.

Iregeo -

"Can someone explain how fine Belgian, Swiss or French chocolate differs from "fine" American chocolate, like Joseph Schmidt?"

Well, Joseph Schmidt was a European trained baker and his partner a European trained confectioner. Their truffles are made from Belgian chocolate, not American.

The main difference between European chocolate and American is the percentage of cocoa mass. Dark, more "pure" chocolate contains more cocoa mass, whereas industrial chocolate contains additives, which makes it waxy, more sweet and prolongs the shelf life. Milk chocolate is made by adding dry or condensed milk and more sugar (more additives).

An admitted chocoholic, I can tell the difference between say Cadbury chocolates sold in NZ and the UK and cadbury chocolates sold in the US. They're made differently for different countries. While touring the Cadbury factory in NZ several years ago, we were told that the chocolate they shipped to Japan had less sugar than the chocolate they shipped to the US. Different countries have different tastes, although I've never met a chocolate I didn't like!

My all time favorite however, is Swiss chocolate! German is a close second.

I adore chocolate. The poster that said "I guess chocolates are like sex: you can never have a bad one, it's just that some are good and others are better." Has it exactly right.

I had a friend who brought me home a chocolate bar from Brazil that was full of nuts - to this day, it was the single most divine piece of food I have ever put in my mouth. I have no idea what it was, I still wish I had saved the wrapper.

Having said that - my favorite is German chocolate.

Bernachon in Lyon is well known for its excellent chocolate.

In Paris: Tholoniat, 47 r. de Chateau d'Eau (10th) and Denise Acabo, 30 r. Fontaine (9th), a lovely woman (very friendy and speaks English too), absolutely divine chocolate.
In Amsterdam: Bonbon Jeanette in the central train station, 50% organic or something like that, not that sweet, but wonderful.

In athens/Greece near Syntagma square chocolates from THE ' Aristocratikon':

WHAT????? No mention of Pierre Hermé. Unthinkable!

Pierre Marcolini, Brussels and Antwerp. Gorgeous, delicious chocolates, presented in a very chique box.