Australian chocolate factories: Where can I go chocolate tasting?
There are Australian chocolate factories open to visitors in Adelaide, the Barossa Valley and the Yarra Valley. You can also go chocolate tasting on the Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island and Murray River.
Let’s be honest. Australian chocolate doesn’t have the best reputation in the world. As many a whinging pom will tell you, an Australian bar of Cadbury’s taste strangely worse than a British one. Common consensus is this is due to Something They Put In It To Stop It Melting.
However, there’s more to Australian chocolate than the big international brands. Delve a little deeper, and you’ll find plenty of small to medium-sized chocolatiers making genuinely interesting and tasty chocolate.
Australian chocolate factories
There are Australian chocolate factories around the country, many of which are open to visitors for tours and tasting. Perhaps the most famous of these is Haigh’s Chocolates in Adelaide. It has a visitor centre in the Parkside suburb, although the famous Rundle Mall Beehive store is a key stop on the Foodi chocolate tour.
Further north in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, the Barossa Valley Chocolate Company in Tanunda offers chocolate tastings paired with the region’s famous wines.
Chocolate factories near Melbourne
In Victoria, a visit to the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie is a fabulous way to kick off a Great Ocean Road drive. This Australian chocolate factory offers chocolate-making classes and free tastings. The same applies at the sister factory in the Yarra Valley – the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery is about an hour north-east of Melbourne.
In Melbourne itself, home-grown chocolate-maker Koko Black has several outlets.
Elsewhere in the state, you can drop into the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory on the way to seeing Phillip Island’s famous penguin parade.
Chocolate tasting in other Australian states
Along the Murray River, in the section from Albury to Echuca, you can nip to Corowa in New South Wales. Here, Corowa Whisky and Chocolate makes whiskies and a wide range of chocolates inside an old flour mill. Australia Travel Questions loves the chocolate-covered strawberry bootlaces. Another Riverina option is the Junee Chocolate Factory in Junee.
The Margaret River Chocolate Company offers something very similar indeed. It has factories in Margaret River, as well as the Swan Valley nearer Perth.
In Tasmania, Coal River Farm near Hobart also makes its own chocolates, although there’s equal focus on the cheeses.
More Australia Travel Questions
How long does an AFL game go for?
Which airlines offer Manchester to Australia flights?