Festichoc; a festival for chocolate lovers in Versoix
I heard on the radio about this festival celebrating all things Swiss chocolate earlier in the week, so I thought the kids might enjoy it as a weekend activity. We asked some friends along who also have kids, to give ourselves a programme for the weekend. The festival is now over for this year, so if you missed it, then definitely keep an eye out for next year’s edition!
Being the land of chocolate, I also felt that culturally it was a must-attend event!! My father lived in Belgium for a while and so there used to be this debate in our family about which country made the best chocolate. But let’s face it, nothing beats high quality Swiss chocolate! (Sorry to my Belgian readers!)
Since it was being held in Versoix and parking was going to be limited, we decided to make a trip out of it and took the train. There is a direct train from Geneva Champel which is the closest train station to us, going to Versoix which takes about 30 minutes. Versoix is also within the Zone 10 so you can get here with your TPG pass. We rarely take the train with the kids, so it was actually kind of fun!
The Festichoc was being held at the Versoix Communal Hall over two days, and is a short walk away from the train station. For those driving, they were proposing two car parks which are 5 minutes away and they had put on a shuttle bus to transfer you every 15 minutes.
The festival has organised some children-specific activities, including colouring your own chocolate block, which we decided to do first. Smartly, the festival organisers decided to put the colouring section at the very back of the entire Festival area, so getting there felt like running the gauntlet with the kids wanting to buy every single chocolate they saw on the way there!
For some reason Miya decided that she wanted to wear her jacket back to front and carry her doll on her front, and she stayed dressed like this the whole afternoon! Kids can be so creative and they do make me laugh every day with their crazy ideas.
Unsurprisingly, they were more interested in eating the chocolate than spending a long time drawing. But it was nonetheless a short and fun activity. The chocolate was big enough seemingly to satiate their craving for chocolate and we managed to get through the rest of our time there without any meltdowns over chocolate!
In case you’re wondering, Miya did not draw that car by herself!
We then took our time to walk back through the exhibitor stands and took in the skills of the numerous chocolatiers who were represented there.
There was also a sort of treasure trail that had been organised, where you go from one clue to the next dotted throughout the festival area. Chocolate prizes were in store for those who solved the treasure trail. We didn’t partake in this as our children are a little young, however this would definitely be a fun thing to do with older children.
Today there was also an Easter egg hunt at 11.30 although we missed this. This would definitely be fun if we can make it to a future edition of Festichoc.
Halfway between the two main tents, there is a wall of chocolate. People can take photos there, or dogs!
There were plenty of dogs there, although a dog of Luka’s size would have been a bit difficult given the amount of people (and children) who were there making the festival extremely crowded. Also, if your dog likes to pick up food, a chocolate festival is definitely not the safest place to bring him, given that chocolate is highly toxic to dogs!
Our friends who had already arrived before us had been queuing for some time to see the chocolate sculpture exhibition. When they came out they seemed somewhat underwhelmed by it given the amount of time they had waited to get in, so we decided to give this a miss and take the kids to eat and went to the playground instead.
There were a few playgrounds dotted around the Communal Halls and they also had some games and a carousel set up. Of course all the kids were keen to go on the carousel and they enjoyed playing which allowed the parents to breathe a little from the mayhem of Festichoc and have a conversation!
We then got a train back with two happy but exhausted children. I call that a successful afternoon out!
I have no idea if today was exceptionally busy but it was quite an onslaught on the senses being in such a busy place, although we were joking with our other parent friends that perhaps this is us adjusting to life after Covid! Nonetheless, the children enjoyed it
We did take a small pram for Miya with us, and it was quite cumbersome given the amount of people there was every where. There were also stairs between the entrance area to get to the main tent with the chocolate stands. I imagine there must be another way round for step-free access.
Most of the festival is covered by a tent or indoors, so you could certainly visit this Festival even in bad weather.
Fun factor for child: 4/5 - Paint your own chocolate bar, do a treasure hunt, partake in the Easter egg hunt and play in the playground!
Fun factor for dog: 1/5 - I wouldn’t necessarily recommend bringing your dog here given the crowds and potential chocolate consumption that might happen, however you definitely are allowed to bring your dog!
Pram-friendly: Yes, however if it’s busy it’s not ideal with a pram
Water Access for dogs: No
Potable water: Yes, on sale at the food stalls
Baby changing facilities: Yes, I imagine however I didn’t use the bathroom facilities whilst there so I couldn’t tell you for certain.
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