Best Chocolate Advent Calendar
by Holly Thomson
There is something particularly good about being told you should eat a chocolate every morning in December. Make sure it's the best chocolate possible, with our guide to the Best Chocolate Advent Calendar of 2026.
Think Belgian pralines filled with gianduja and caramel, Piedmonte chocolate truffles, crisp Italian wafers, French chocolate and even calendars made for sharing.
At Sous Chef, we look for chocolate Advent calendars for adults that you’ll genuinely look forward to opening each day, made by brilliant chocolatiers, filled with chocolates we’d happily buy in their own right, and beautiful enough to give as a Christmas gift.
Here are our favourite chocolate Advent calendars for 2026.
Shop all Advent Calendars here, or for more inspiration, read our guide to the Best Biscuit Advent calendars and Best Alternative Luxury Food Advent Calendars.
What Makes a Great Chocolate Advent Calendar?
When we're choosing favourite chocolate Advent calendars, we look for:
- Excellent chocolate (of course), the treat behind the door should be something you'd happily buy on its own.
- Variety is lovely, pralines, ganache, gianduja, nuts, caramels and different cacao percentages keep the countdown interesting.
- Artisan makers: we look for chocolatiers with genuine expertise, provenance and a distinctive style.
- A sense of discovery, the joy is not knowing exactly what you'll find behind tomorrow's door.
- Gift-worthy design, the best calendars should look every bit as good on the kitchen worktop each morning, as the chocolates taste.
Find The Best Chocolate Advent Calendar for Christmas 2026
Best chocolate Advent calendar for sharing
This is the big one. Neuhaus' spectacular sharing Advent calendar is filled with 78 Belgian chocolates, so instead of negotiating over who gets to open today's door, everyone can join in.
The calendar unfolds into a row of festive houses, filled with a generous selection of Neuhaus pralines and chocolates. Neuhaus is one of Belgium's great chocolate houses, founded in Brussels in 1857, and is credited with inventing the filled Belgian praline in 1912.
Expect glossy shells, beautifully smooth chocolate and fillings such as praline, caramel, nuts and gianduja.
If you're looking for a luxury family calendar – or simply believe one chocolate a day isn't quite enough – this is our pick.
Perfect for: Families, couples and serious chocolate households.
Best luxury chocolate Advent calendar
Part Advent calendar, part Christmas decoration, Neuhaus' beautiful red story book opens to reveal 25 individual doors and an illustrated festive scene.
The important bit, of course, is behind them: a different Neuhaus chocolate to discover each day. The selection moves between white, milk and dark Belgian chocolate, with fillings including dark hazelnut gianduja, coffee nougat, spiced biscuit praline and soft caramel.
It's exactly what we want from Christmas Advent calendars with chocolate: genuinely excellent chocolates, enough variation to make opening each door interesting, and packaging that feels properly special.
Perfect for: The chocolate connoisseur.
Best classic Belgian chocolate Advent calendar
If you want the chocolates rather than the bells and whistles, choose Neuhaus' classic calendar.
Behind its doors are 25 of the Belgian chocolatier's best-loved chocolates, including hazelnut pralines, pure caramels and sesame-filled chocolates.
Neuhaus began in Brussels when pharmacist Jean Neuhaus covered medicines with chocolate to make them more palatable. In 1912, his grandson Jean Neuhaus Jr replaced the medicine with a soft chocolate filling and created the Belgian praline.
More than a century later, opening one every morning in December feels considerably more appealing than taking your medicine.
Perfect for: Belgian chocolate purists.
Cluizel Chocolate Advent Calendar - Coming Soon
Best French chocolate Advent calendar
For French chocolate lovers, look to Cluizel.
The family-run chocolatier has been making chocolate in Normandy since 1948 and is particularly celebrated for its understanding of cacao – from carefully selected beans and plantations to beautifully made finished chocolates.
This is the sort of calendar for someone who notices the chocolate itself, not just the filling. Expect an elegant December tour through the Cluizel chocolate world, with the depth and finesse that makes French chocolate such a pleasure to taste.
Perfect for: Anyone serious about cacao.
Valrhona Chocolate Advent Calendar - Coming Soon
Best for the keen cook
Ask pastry chefs about chocolate and Valrhona won't be far from the conversation.
The French chocolate house was founded in Tain-l'Hermitage in 1922 and is known around the world for couverture chocolate used by professional chocolatiers, pastry chefs and keen home bakers.
So if your December regularly involves tempering chocolate, making ganache or debating cacao percentages, this is the calendar to put on your list.
A particularly good gift for the person who usually buys Valrhona to cook with – and deserves to simply eat some for a change.
Perfect for: Bakers, pastry obsessives and chocolate nerds.
La Perla di Torino Chocolate Truffle Advent Calendar - Coming Soon
Best chocolate truffle Advent calendar
A chocolate Advent calendar from Turin was always going to have our attention.
Piedmont is the home of gianduja, the extraordinarily smooth combination of chocolate and hazelnuts developed in Turin. And La Perla di Torino specialises in the city's other great chocolate pleasure: truffles.
Behind each door you'll discover luxurious Italian chocolate truffles, bringing a little taste of Turin to every December morning.
If your idea of the perfect chocolate is something soft, melting and hazelnut-rich rather than a simple square of chocolate, this is one to watch.
Perfect for: Gianduja and chocolate truffle lovers.
Babbi Prestige Chocolate Covered Wafer & Praline Advent Calendar - Coming Soon
Best chocolate Advent calendar for texture
Chocolate is even better when there's crunch involved.
Italian confectioner Babbi is famous for extraordinarily crisp, delicate wafers layered with smooth creams – and this Prestige calendar combines those signature wafers with chocolate-covered treats and pralines.
It makes every door a little more unpredictable: crisp wafer one day, creamy praline the next, with chocolate, nuts and Babbi's characteristically silky fillings running throughout.
Among the cool Advent calendars chocolate lovers should know about, Babbi's is particularly good for anyone who values texture as much as cacao.
Perfect for: Wafer fans and anyone who wants more than plain chocolate.
Majani Cubic Chocolate Advent Calendar with Morellato Jewellery Gift - Coming Soon
Best chocolate Advent calendar with a surprise
This might be one of the most unusual chocolate calendars we've found.
Majani has been making chocolate in Bologna since 1796, making it one of Italy's historic chocolate houses. The calendar brings together Majani chocolates in a striking cubic design – but there's an extra surprise waiting inside.
Alongside the chocolate is a Morellato jewellery gift, turning the Christmas countdown into a present in its own right.
It's chocolate Advent calendar meets jewellery box – and a particularly special option if you're buying for someone rather than yourself.
Perfect for: A show-stopping Christmas gift.
Best chocolate Advent calendar for romantics
Baci means 'kisses' in Italian – and these hazelnut chocolates have been exchanged between sweethearts for more than a century.
The original Baci was created in Perugia in 1922, combining chocolate with hazelnuts and wrapping each sweet with a tiny message.
This calendar gives you a Baci chocolate to unwrap throughout December. Simple, nostalgic and very Italian.
Perfect for: Your favourite person – or yourself.
Best for chocolate marzipan lovers
With its red and gold border, this calendar has a traditional festive look. It features a charming Christmas tree design. The tree is adorned with shimmering, jewel-coloured baubles.
Open the doors to discover a new treat each day. Made with the finest natural ingredients, they taste like the candies of your childhood. There are milk and dark chocolates with a variety of delicious fillings. Savour the sweet, nutty taste of pistachio marzipan, almond marzipan and hazelnut praline.
Reber is a German chocolatier and confectioner, founded in 1865. Based in Munich, they are famous for their Mozart Kugeln (marzipan balls). The chocolate-covered candies are named after the Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
What Year Did Chocolate Advent Calendars Come Out?
If you've ever wondered what year chocolate Advent calendars came out, the commonly cited date is 1958, when the first chocolate Advent calendar appeared in the UK.
The Advent calendar itself is much older. The tradition developed from 19th-century German Christmas countdowns, with commercially printed calendars appearing in the early 20th century and doors becoming popular in the 1920s.
Cadbury produced its first chocolate Advent calendar in 1971, although chocolate calendars didn't become the ubiquitous British Christmas tradition we know today until considerably later.
Today the idea has come full circle. Instead of a chocolate being an exciting addition to a paper calendar, chocolatiers are using Advent calendars to showcase some of their very best creations.
Are Chocolate Advent Calendars Just for Children?
Definitely not. Some of the most interesting chocolate Advent calendars for adults are closer to chocolate tasting boxes than children's calendars.
Look for calendars that move between milk and dark chocolate, single-origin cacao, pralines, ganaches, gianduja and unusual flavour combinations. Makers such as Neuhaus, Valrhona, Cluizel and La Perla di Torino give you the opportunity to taste your way through a chocolatier's different specialities over 24 days.
They also make excellent early Christmas gifts. Give one at the end of November and the recipient gets to enjoy your present for almost a month.
Shop the Best Chocolate Advent Calendars 2026
Our chocolate Advent calendars are chosen from some of our favourite chocolate makers across Belgium, France and Italy.
Many are made in limited quantities for Christmas, so once you've found your favourite, don't leave it until 30 November.
All Chocolate Advent Calendars at Sous Chef
- Majani Cubic Chocolate Advent Calendar with Morellato Jewellery Gift, 212g
- Babbi Prestige Chocolate Covered Wafer & Praline Advent Calendar, 315g
- Cluizel Chocolate Advent Calendar, 265g
- La Perla di Torino Chocolate Truffle Advent Calendar, 300g
- Mozart Chocolate & Marzipan Advent Calendar, 296g
- Valrhona Chocolate Advent Calendar, 190g
- Heidel Nostalgic Chocolate Advent Calendar, 75g
- Babbi Luxury Wafer Advent Calendar, 264g
- Baci Advent Calendar, 245g
- Neuhaus Luxury Sharing Advent Calendar, 987g
- Neuhaus Chocolate Story Book Advent Calendar, 319g
- Neuhaus Chocolate Advent Calendar Classic, 264g
Shop all Advent Calendars here, or for more inspiration, read our guide to the Best Biscuit Advent calendars and Best Alternative Luxury Food Advent Calendars.
