The Lindt Home of Chocolate is Switzerland‘s largest chocolate museum, housed in an award-winning building by architects Christ & Gantenbein in Kilchberg — a lakeside village roughly 20 minutes from central Zürich.
The museum now sells out regularly. Walk-up entry is no longer a reliable option. Only a very small number of on-the-door tickets exist each day. As of May 2026 the audio guide expanded from 10 to 16 languages, adding Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian.
You can secure your place in advance by booking through GetYourGuide.
Quick facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Address | Schokoladenplatz 1, 8802 Kilchberg, Switzerland |
| Museum hours | Mon–Sun 10:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00; last bookable slot 17:30) |
| Shop & Café hours | Mon–Sun 10:00–19:00 |
| Adult admission | CHF 17 |
| Senior / disabled / student (16+) | CHF 15 |
| Child (8–15 years) | CHF 10 |
| Young child (0–7 years) | Free |
| Parking | Paid underground car park, Seestrasse 204 (max height 2.15 m) |
| Nearest bus | Line 165 from Bürkliplatz, Lindt & Sprüngli stop (direct, ~20 min) |
| Nearest train | S8 or S24 to Kilchberg ZH, then 10-min walk |
| Typical visit duration | 60–90 minutes (museum only) |
Opening hours
The museum is open seven days a week from 10:00 to 19:00. The last admission slot bookable online is 17:30. Last physical entry to the museum is at 18:00. The Lindt Shop and Café keep the same daily hours: 10:00–19:00.
Hours are uniform across all days of the week — there is no weekday/weekend split for the museum itself. However, parking hours do differ: Monday to Friday 07:00–19:00; Saturday and Sunday 09:30–18:30.
The museum is open approximately 360 days a year. Check the official site before visiting on any date close to a Swiss public holiday.
Ticket prices
All prices are in Swiss francs and include VAT.
Individual admission — chocolate museum
| Visitor type | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult | CHF 17 |
| Senior (AHV/OASI), disabled (IV/DI), student over 16 | CHF 15 |
| Child (8–15 years) | CHF 10 |
| Young child (0–7 years) | Free |
Guided tour prices
| Tour type | Price range |
|---|---|
| Public guided tour | CHF 13–30 |
| Private guided tour | CHF 13–35 |
| School guided tour | CHF 10–17 |
Walk-in chocolate courses (separate ticket required)
| Course | Price |
|---|---|
| Masterpiece chocolate bars | CHF 32 |
| Chocolate figures & lollipops | CHF 40 |
| Champagne Truffles Magic | CHF 72 |
The museum ticket does not include chocolate courses, and course tickets do not include museum entry. Both must be booked separately.
Discounts available: Zürich Card holders receive 20% off museum admission on presentation at the entrance. SBB RailAway bookings include a 10% reduction on museum tickets.
No difference exists between online and gate prices, but walk-up availability is severely limited. Book through GetYourGuide to guarantee your time slot.
Why visit Lindt Home of Chocolate?
- 🍫 A fountain like no other: A nine-metre-tall chocolate fountain circulates 1,500 kg of liquid Lindt chocolate — the building’s centrepiece and genuinely unmissable.
- 🏭 A real working factory inside the museum: The glass-windowed pilot plant lets you watch Lindt engineers and researchers producing actual chocolate, including new product development.
- 🎟️ Children under 8 enter free: Young children pay nothing, making this an unusually affordable family outing in one of Europe’s most expensive countries.
- 🌍 Audio guide in 16 languages: As of May 2026, the tour is available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Brazilian Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian.
- 🛍️ The world’s largest Lindt shop: 500 m² of chocolates, pralines, and exclusive lines, with on-site personalisation by a Lindt Master Chocolatier.
How to get there
By electric bus: Bus line 165 departs from Bürkliplatz in central Zürich and stops directly outside the museum at the Lindt & Sprüngli stop. The journey takes around 20 minutes. This is the simplest and most direct route.
By train: Take the S8 or S24 from Zürich Hauptbahnhof or Zürich Stadelhofen to Kilchberg ZH station. From the station, follow the Pilgerweg footpath to the museum entrance. The walk takes about 10 minutes.
By boat: Lake ferries depart from Bürkliplatz to the Kilchberg ZH (lake) stop. It is a scenic 30–40 minute cruise along the Zürichsee. From the landing stage, the museum is a 10-minute walk.
By car: Exit the A3 motorway at Thalwil-Rüschlikon and follow the brown “Lindt” directional signs to Schokoladenplatz 1. The underground car park entrance is on Seestrasse 204.
Zone note: Kilchberg sits outside Zürich’s Zone 110. Public transport journeys to the museum require a ticket covering Zone 150 in addition to the standard city zone.
Why book the Zürich Card City Travel Pass?
- 🚃 Unlimited Public Transportation: Travel seamlessly with 2nd class access across all trams, buses, trains, cable cars, and funiculars throughout the city of Zürich and the surrounding local regions.
- 🚢 Scenic Lake & River Cruises: Step aboard the regular boats for a refreshing mini-lake cruise across Lake Zürich or take a river boat trip down the Limmat River to view the old town from the water.
- 🏛️ Free or Discounted Museum Admission: Explore the rich cultural landscape with entry benefits at top-tier venues, including free admission to the National Museum Zürich and the Kunthaus Zürich fine arts gallery.
- 🍫 Sweet Culinary Surprises: Indulge your sweet tooth with a complimentary culinary surprise or special treatment at selected local restaurants when ordering a main course.
- 🛍️ Discounts on City Experiences: Save on your trip with variable discounts on public city walking tours, regional souvenir shopping, and family-friendly activities like the local zoo.
Parking
The museum operates a paid underground car park entered from Seestrasse 204. The maximum vehicle height is 2.15 metres. Spaces are limited, and the museum strongly recommends public transport as the preferred option. A museum ticket does not guarantee a parking space.
| Duration | Price |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 minutes | CHF 1 |
| Up to 1 hour | CHF 2 |
| Up to 2 hours | CHF 4 |
| Up to 3 hours | CHF 6 |
| Up to 4 hours | CHF 8 |
| Up to 5 hours | CHF 12 |
| All-day rate | CHF 50 |
Six EV charging spaces are available on weekdays; 12 on weekends. The charge rate is CHF 0.40 per kWh. Parking hours are Monday to Friday 07:00–19:00 and Saturday to Sunday 09:30–18:30.
How long to spend
The self-guided museum tour takes most visitors 60 to 90 minutes. Allow an extra 30 minutes for the Lindt Shop, where browsing tends to expand to fill available time. If you are booking a chocolate course, add roughly an hour for that on top. A visitor who takes in the museum, completes a course, and stops for a meal at the café should plan for a comfortable half-day.
Accessibility
The Lindt Home of Chocolate is fully wheelchair-accessible throughout. The building is purpose-built and modern, with lifts and level access on every floor. There are no historic staircases or awkward level changes. Pushchairs (prams) are not permitted inside the exhibition, but the museum lends complimentary buggies at the entrance free of charge. Assistance dogs with official identification are welcome; no other animals are permitted.
Luggage larger than an A4 sheet must be stored in the free lockers near the entrance before entering the exhibition. Free USB charging points and guest Wi-Fi are available throughout the building. Detailed accessibility information is published via the OK GO accessibility guide linked on the museum’s official website.
What to see inside the museum
Cocoa Cultivation opens the tour with immersive screens transporting visitors to Ghana. It follows the cocoa bean from the tree to the point of harvest, establishing the agricultural context that underpins everything else in the exhibition.
Chocolate History moves through 5,000 years in one well-paced sequence. It traces cocoa from Mesoamerican ritual use to its arrival in European royal courts, then follows its gradual spread to the wider public. The displays are interactive throughout and work well for visitors of all ages.
Swiss Pioneers tackles the question most visitors carry through the door: why Switzerland? The section profiles the 19th-century inventers whose breakthroughs — including milk chocolate and conching — positioned a small Alpine country as the world’s chocolate capital.
Chocolate Tasting is a dedicated room, not an add-on. Visitors sample LINDOR creations alongside a Lindt Maître Chocolatier. It is a structured, hosted tasting rather than a self-service station.
Chocolate Production uses interactive displays and production models to trace the full journey from raw cocoa nibs through liquor and tempering to finished bars and pralines. It complements the pilot plant section that follows.
The Pilot Plant is the museum’s most distinctive feature. Behind glass, Lindt engineers and researchers work in a functional chocolate factory. Visitors can watch actual production — including new product development — taking place during their visit.
The 9-Metre Chocolate Fountain stands at the heart of the building, with 1,500 kg of Lindt chocolate in continuous circulation. It is visible from the entrance and is likely to be the photograph most visitors leave with.
The Chocolateria is the hands-on counterpart to the museum. Working alongside a Lindt Master Chocolatier, visitors make their own chocolate bars, figures, lollipops, or champagne truffles. Museum admission is sold separately — the two tickets are not interchangeable.
The Lindt Chocolate Shop covers 500 m² and is described by Lindt as the world’s largest shop of its kind. A Master Chocolatier can personalise a chocolate bar or create a bespoke praline box on request. The range includes lines not found in standard retail.
Practical visitor tips
| Tip | Detail |
|---|---|
| Book days ahead, not hours | The museum frequently sells out — sometimes days in advance for weekends and Swiss public holidays. The homepage shows a live “Sold Out Today” notice when capacity is reached. |
| Your ticket has a 30-minute arrival window | Admission is valid for 30 minutes from the time printed on your ticket. If you miss the window, go to the Welcome Desk immediately — they may assist, but it is not guaranteed. |
| Store bags before the exhibition | Anything larger than an A4 sheet must go in the free lockers near the entrance. A rucksack on your back means you will be asked to return and store it. |
| Take the bus, not the car | The underground car park has limited spaces and no guarantee of entry. Bus 165 from Bürkliplatz is direct, takes 20 minutes, and costs far less than parking. |
| Book chocolate courses well in advance | Courses typically sell out before museum time slots do. Book the course first, then add a museum ticket for the same or adjacent day. |
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I just turn up without a ticket? | Technically yes, but only a very small number of walk-up tickets are available each day. The museum frequently sells out entirely. Pre-booking is effectively essential, particularly on weekends. |
| Is the museum open on Christmas Day? | No. It is closed on 25 and 26 December and on 1 January. On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve it closes at 16:00. |
| Are children under 8 genuinely free? | Yes. Children aged 0 to 7 enter the museum at no charge. Children aged 8 to 15 pay CHF 10. |
| Is the building wheelchair-accessible? | Yes, fully. The museum is purpose-built and modern, with lifts and level access throughout. There are no restrictive staircases. |
| Does my museum ticket include a chocolate course? | No. Museum entry and chocolate courses are sold as separate tickets. Neither includes the other. You must book and pay for each independently. |
Things to do nearby
Zürich’s lakeside Bürkliplatz is worth a stroll in its own right — it is the departure point for the bus and boat to Kilchberg and sits at the foot of the city’s main shopping promenade, Bahnhofstrasse.
Zürich’s Altstadt (Old Town) is about 20 minutes by public transport, centred on the Grossmünster and Fraumünster churches and the medieval lanes along the Limmat.
The Kunsthaus Zürich — the country’s largest art museum, home to Monet, Picasso, and Giacometti — is a short bus ride from central Zürich and well worth half a day.
Uetliberg, Zürich’s local mountain, is reachable in under 30 minutes from the city centre and offers sweeping panoramic views across the lake and towards the Alps.
The rose-town of Rapperswil, with its medieval castle and historic streets, makes a scenic half-day excursion by lake ferry from Bürkliplatz.
What to visit tomorrow
Maison Cailler, Broc (Fribourg canton): The Nestlé Cailler chocolate factory near Gruyères is the most directly comparable experience in Switzerland, with an immersive tasting tour through the history and production of the Cailler brand. It is about 1.5 hours from Zürich by train via Bern.
Alprose Chocolate Museum, Caslano (near Lugano): A smaller but genuinely dedicated chocolate museum with a viewing window into active production and a permanent exhibition on Swiss chocolate history. Plan around two hours by train from Zürich, with a change at Bellinzona or Lugano.
Alimentarium, Vevey (Lake Geneva): Switzerland’s food museum sits on the lakeside in Vevey — the headquarters of Nestlé — and covers the full story of food culture, including a substantial chocolate section. It is about 1.5 hours from Zürich by train to Vevey.
Camille Bloch Factory, Courtelary (Bernese Jura): The maker of Ragusa and Torino chocolate runs factory tours at its Jura site roughly 1.5 hours from Zürich by rail. Tours operate on a limited schedule, so book ahead via the Camille Bloch website before planning your trip around it.
Confiserie Sprüngli, Zürich (Paradeplatz): Not a museum, but Zürich’s most celebrated chocolatier offers praline-making workshops at its historic Paradeplatz café — less than 30 minutes from Kilchberg by public transport. It is a natural same-day or next-day companion, particularly for visitors who want to contrast artisan craft with Lindt’s industrial scale.
