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.
At Sous Chef, we look for chocolate Advent calendars for 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 the best chocolate Advent calendars, we look for:
- Excellent chocolate – the treat behind the door should be something you'd happily buy on its own.
- Plenty of variety – pralines, ganache, gianduja, nuts, caramels and different cacao percentages keep the countdown interesting.
- Expert makers – we look for chocolatiers with genuine expertise, provenance and a distinctive style.
- A sense of discovery – part of the joy is not knowing exactly what you'll find behind tomorrow's door.
- Gift-worthy design – the best chocolate Advent calendars should look every bit as good on the kitchen worktop as the chocolates taste.
Find the Best Chocolate Advent Calendar for Christmas 2026
From Belgian pralines and Piedmontese chocolate truffles to crisp Italian wafers and marzipan, these are some of our favourite chocolate Advent calendars for 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 Advent 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 a luxury chocolate Advent calendar: 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.
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. La Perla di Torino specialises in another of the city's great chocolate pleasures: truffles.
The 2026 calendar goes well beyond plain chocolate. Look out for truffles inspired by limoncello and meringue, pistachio and raspberry, tiramisu and espresso, plus a festive milk chocolate truffle with mandarin and winter spices.
If your idea of the perfect chocolate is something soft, melting and indulgent rather than a simple square, this is one to watch.
Perfect for: Italian chocolate and truffle lovers.
Best Italian wafer Advent calendar
Chocolate is even better when there's crunch involved.
Italian confectioner Babbi is famous for extraordinarily crisp, delicate wafers layered with smooth creams. This Prestige calendar brings those signature wafers together with chocolate-covered treats and pralines.
Behind the 24 doors are Babbi's bite-sized chocolate-covered Babbini wafers and CuBon pralines, with flavours including hazelnut and rich dark chocolate. The combination of delicate wafer, smooth cream and chocolate makes this a particularly good choice if texture matters just as much as flavour.
Perfect for: Wafer fans and anyone who wants more than plain chocolate.
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.
Open the doors of this festive calendar to discover Baci covered in milk, dark and extra-dark chocolate, each with the signature whole hazelnut at its centre.
Simple, nostalgic and very Italian.
Perfect for: Your favourite person – or yourself.
Best Advent calendar for chocolate and marzipan lovers
With its red and gold border and decorated Christmas tree, this calendar has all the nostalgia of a traditional Advent calendar – but the chocolates behind the doors are considerably more interesting.
Discover milk and dark chocolates filled with pistachio marzipan, almond marzipan and hazelnut praline.
They're made by Reber, the historic German confectioner known for its Mozart Kugeln: chocolate-covered marzipan and praline confections named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Perfect for: Marzipan lovers and fans of traditional European confectionery.
Best traditional chocolate Advent calendar
Sometimes you want the simple pleasure of opening a little cardboard door and finding a chocolate behind it. Heidel does exactly that – beautifully.
The traditional German calendar depicts a snow-covered Christmas village, with 24 milk chocolate treats hidden behind its doors.
At a much lower price than many luxury chocolate Advent calendars, it's a charming choice for children, stocking fillers, Secret Santa gifts or anyone feeling nostalgic for the calendars they grew up with.
Perfect for: Traditionalists and smaller Christmas gifts.
Best chocolate-coated liquorice Advent calendar
If you've never tried Danish liquorice wrapped in chocolate, December is an excellent time to start.
Lakrids by Bülow takes soft liquorice centres and surrounds them with chocolate and crisp shells, moving through fruit, coffee, caramel and other seasonal flavours. Even people who insist they don't like liquorice have been known to reconsider.
The 2026 collection includes both a classic calendar and a larger sharing version, so you can decide whether December generosity is part of the plan.
Perfect for: Adventurers, liquorice lovers and couples who want to share.
Best mixed Italian chocolate and sweet Advent calendar
Can't decide between chocolate and sweets? Leone gives you both.
The historic Piedmontese confectioner has been making sweets since 1857. Behind the doors you'll discover a changing selection of chocolates, traditional pastilles and fruit jellies.
Look out for Leone's Cri Cri chocolates: roasted hazelnuts covered in dark chocolate and finished with tiny crunchy sugar grains.
It's one of the most varied Advent calendars in the collection, and a great choice when you don't want the same style of chocolate every morning.
Perfect for: Italian confectionery lovers and indecisive sweet tooths.
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 an early chocolate-filled Advent calendar appeared.
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 little doors becoming popular in the following decades.
Chocolate eventually transformed the Advent calendar from something you looked at into something you could eat. Today, specialist chocolatiers use the format to showcase pralines, truffles, ganaches, wafers and some of their best-known creations over 24 days.
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, pralines, ganaches, gianduja, nuts and unusual flavour combinations. Makers such as Neuhaus, Valrhona, Cluizel and La Perla di Torino give you the chance to taste your way through a chocolatier's different specialities throughout December.
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.
Which Chocolate Advent Calendar Should I Choose?
If you're struggling to choose, start with the person you're buying for.
- For serious Belgian chocolate: choose Neuhaus.
- For Italian truffles: choose La Perla di Torino.
- For crisp wafers and pralines: choose Babbi.
- For marzipan: choose Mozart by Reber.
- For something traditional and affordable: choose Heidel.
- For chocolate-coated liquorice: choose Lakrids.
- For a calendar to share: choose the Neuhaus Luxury Sharing Advent Calendar.
Whichever you choose, the best chocolate Advent calendars have one thing in common: the chocolate behind the doors should be good enough that you'd happily eat it even without Christmas as an excuse.
Shop the Best Chocolate Advent Calendars 2026
Our chocolate Advent calendars are chosen from specialist chocolate and confectionery makers across Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Denmark.
Many are produced in limited quantities for Christmas, so once you've found your favourite, don't leave it until 30 November.
Shop all food Advent calendars, or for more inspiration read our guide to the best biscuit Advent calendars and best food Advent calendars for 2026.
