Last Updated on September 18, 2026
Paris’ love affair with chocolate began when cacao arrived from Spain in the 17th century—introduced by Anne of Austria, the Spanish-born princess who married Louis XIII in 1615. What started as an exotic beverage for the nobility gradually transformed into an art form, with France’s first official chocolatier established in 1659 under royal decree from Louis XIV, the Sun King.
Today, numerous Paris-based chocolate makers have perfected their craft over centuries, and there’s also several innovative artisans pushing boundaries with cocoa. From masters of traditional pralines to bean-to-bar specialists collaborating directly with cocoa farmers around the world, the city’s chocolate scene reflects both deep-rooted tradition and culinary innovation.
Make sure to stop by (at least!) one of these superb Paris chocolate shops on your next visit. Buy some chocolates to taste directly from the bag– and remember that they also make ideal gifts from the capital.
À la Mère de Famille
À la Mère de Famille is Paris’ oldest artisan chocolatier, opening in 1761 as a humble greengrocer. Today, the historic flagship at rue du Faubourg Montmartre enchants passersby, with its whimsical window displays featuring chocolate animals and charming illustrations. The dark green façade, gold lettering and warm wooden interiors transport visitors to a bygone era of Parisian confectionery.
{Related: A Brief History of French Candy & Confectionary}
Inside, traditional French confections such as négus de Nevers (flavored caramels) and marrons glacés (candied chestnuts) share space with exceptional chocolate-based creations. I love their “Folies de l’Écureuil” – chocolate-coated caramelized nuts dusted with cocoa powder – and the honey-glazed florentins on dark chocolate discs, which are chewy & crunchy, caramelized biscuits topped with chocolate.
The solid chocolate selection, meanwhile, ranges from an exceptionally intense 100% cacao Ecuadorian bar to a moreish 65% dark chocolate slab studded with crunchy salted almonds. The shop’s palm-oil-free dark chocolate spread (with a little crunch from feuilletine – crispy shards of crêpe batter – and hazelnuts) makes for a sophisticated tartine-topper, while milk chocolate lollipops shaped as woodland creatures are perfect for kids.
The assorted chocolate boxes are straight out of a Wes Anderson movie — wrapped in their signature dark brown boxes, embossed with golden lettering and tied with pretty orange bows.
Happily, behind A La Mère de Famille’s delicious chocolate lies a commitment to direct farmer partnerships and rigorous standards for environmental and labor practices.
- Address: 35 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 (9th arrondissement)
- Metro: Le Peletier, Cadet
- Opening Times: Monday-Saturday 9:30am – 8pm, Sunday 10am – 7:30pm
- Visit the official website
Jacques Genin
Jacques Genin is a remarkable figure: a self-taught master who has risen to the pinnacle of French chocolate craftsmanship. His flagship boutique in the 3rd arrondissement, with its gleaming display cases and working atelier upstairs, feels more like a fine jewellery shop than a chocolate store: minimalist, elegant and designed to present his creations as the treasures they are.
Genin’s caramels are legendary for good reason – definitely try the mango-passion fruit flavor for a perfect balance of buttery richness and tropical brightness. His dark chocolate mint ganache is another must-taste creation, made with natural mint leaves. I love bringing mint-chocolate haters here and watching their faces transform when they taste it!
Working directly with local suppliers and favoring organic ingredients, Genin creates each piece with minimal sugar and no artificial additives, allowing the pure flavors to shine through. At the boutique, knowledgeable staff guide visitors through the collection with genuine passion, and everything is packaged in elegant, temperature-regulating metallic boxes
As the New York Times observed years ago—an assessment that still rings true—his boutique is a “holy site for connoisseurs.”
- Address: 133 Rue de Turenne, 75003
- Metro: Oberkampf, Filles du Calvaire, Republique
- Opening times: Tuesday-Friday 11am – 7m, Saturday 11am – 7:30pm, Sunday 11am – 7pm
- Visit the official website
Patrick Roger
Patrick Roger, often called the “Chocolate Rodin,” earned his MOF (France’s highest craftsman honor) back in 2000 when he was just 32. The son of Loire Valley bakers, he discovered his passion for chocolate at 15 and has since transformed his Sceaux (a southern suburb of Paris) workshop into something between a sculptor’s studio and a chocolate laboratory.
{From the Archive: An Interview With Patrick Roger}
His signature creation is a glinting emerald green demi-sphere holding liquid lime caramel that bursts with mouth-puckering citrus, but other fun flavor combinations include his peppermint lemongrass ganache and a buckwheat-infused praline. He also offers some more traditional (but equally delicious) classics like the “Instinct rocher”: a nutty square-shaped ganache filled with hazelnuts and almonds.
His spectacular chocolate sculptures have earned him international acclaim, with some pieces now cast permanently in bronze and aluminium, each crafted with the same artistic precision that earned him the Chocolate World Cup in 1994.
Roger’s flagship boutique on Boulevard Saint-Germain is worth a visit just to see the dramatic window displays that change seasonally, often featuring massive chocolate sculptures.
- Address (Paris flagship): 108 Bd Saint-Germain, 75006
- Metro: Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, Odéon
- Opening times: Monday-Sunday, 11am – 7pm
- Visit the official website
Chapon
Patrice Chapon, Buckingham Palace’s former ice-cream maker, opened his workshop in the late 1980s. From his atelier in Chelles (an eastern suburb of Paris), he’s become one of France’s most respected bean-to-bar craftsmen, meticulously sourcing and roasting cocoa beans from Madagascar to Vietnam.
His signature Mousse au Chocolat bar is a real treat and his is one of the best spots to enjoy this classic dessert in Paris – offering six different single-origin mousses (including a vegan option) that showcase the distinct personalities of each region’s cacao, served in a little cone – perfect for taking away. The Madagascar 75% stands out with its bright, citrusy notes (my go-to).
Beyond the legendary mousses, Chapon’s wide range of chocolates includes over 50 ‘tablettes’ (bars)—from single-origin options, such as the Dark 74% from Peru, to creations filled with pistachio praline and smoked salt. His collection also features a large selection of truffles and pralines, all presented in brightly colored packaging.
- Address: 34 Rue de Saint Sulpice, 75006
- Metro: Saint-Sulpice or Mabillon
- Opening hours: Monday – Friday 10am-7pm , Saturday 10am – 7:30m, Sunday 10am – 6pm
- Read our full review of Chapon
La Maison du Chocolat
While La Maison du Chocolat’s universe has expanded quite a bit over the years, it remains a cornerstone of the Paris chocolate scene. Founded in 1977 by Robert Linxe, who hails from France’s Basque region, the house set itself apart by focusing on pure ganache-based confections, at a time when heavily spiced, nut-filled confections were all the rage.
Under Creative Director, Nicolas Cloiseau, the house maintains its artisanal integrity, with a dedicated team creating both refined daily offerings and seasonal showpieces that uphold their tradition of excellence.
My personal favorite is their “Andalousie” chocolate, featuring a smooth ganache delicately infused with lemon zest that tastes vibrant, without a single note of bitterness.
The Maison du Chocolat’s chocolate-based pâtisserie is also good: particularly the éclairs, which have in the past featured fillings like dark chocolate with mandarin or walnut with vanilla.
{Related: These Are Some of the Best Pastry-Makers in Paris}
- Address: 225, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008
- Metro: Ternes, Monceau
- Opening times: Monday-Saturday: 10am-7pm
- Visit the official website
Les 3 Chocolats
Les 3 Chocolats sits in a quiet spot near Metro Saint-Paul in the Marais, offering an exquisite fusion of Japanese and French chocolate craftsmanship and flavors. The name has a lovely story behind it: owner Emiko Sano is the third generation in her family to make chocolate, following a tradition that started when her grandfather Gensaku tasted a single chocolate truffle and was so blown away that he traveled all the way from Japan to Europe in the 1920s to learn the craft.
Now, Sano works alongside Sho Kimura (the pastry chef), bringing together her impressive background (she trained at Plaza Athénée and with award-winning pastry chef Olivier Bajard) to create something you won’t find anywhere else in Paris.
The house’s chocolate collection spans a range of tempting options. You can’t go wrong with the classic hazelnut praline, but the real stars are their more adventurous combinations like hojicha-orange blossom, yuzu and honey, wasabi, and miso ganaches.
The seasonal pastry selection, meanwhilem follows this same creative path, with the signature “3 chocolates” cake now a neighborhood favourite. It’s made with three decadent layers of chocolate biscuit, mousse and chantilly cream.
You can’t get more local than this chocolate maker: Everything comes from their basement workshop, keeping that hands-on, family approach that’s been their hallmark since 1942.
- Address: 45 Rue Saint-Paul, 75004
- Metro: Saint-Paul
- Opening hours: Monday: 11am – 7pm Thursday-Sunday: 11am-7pm
- Visit the official website
Michel Cluizel
Michel Cluizel has been a family-based chocolate affair since 1948, with a Normandy workshop in Damville remaining the heart of the company’s operations. Since the 1980s, it’s made chocolate from scratch, sourcing beans directly from plantations and controlling every step from roasting to finishing. The brand’s elegant dark boxes house exquisite creations, including creamy ganaches infused with coffee, ginger, sesame seeds and coconut.
I particularly love their chocolate caramel mushrooms with nougatine stems and scattered almond pieces; they’re almost too cute to eat! Michel Cluizel’s single-origin bars also deserve attention, as do their white and milk chocolate-enrobed madeleines that work perfectly with a cup of coffee.
There are several locations around Paris, and you can also find many Michel Cluizel chocolates at gourmet grocers like Galeries Lafayette’s food hall. You can also find chocolates from the aforementioned Chapon and several other high-quality chocolatiers there.
- Address: 3 Rue Tronchet, 75008
- Metro: Madeline, Opéra
- Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-7pm
- Visit the official website
PLAQ
PLAQ has made quite the splash on Paris’ chocolate scene since opening in a food-centric corner of the 2nd arrondissement in 2019. Their original workshop-boutique-café space (they’ve since also opened on the Left Bank) captures everything special about this relative newcomer. You can watch chocolate being crafted while sipping what might be the city’s best hot chocolate, made simply with water to let the pure flavors of chocolate shine through.
The product range includes everything from single-origin chocolate bars, such as the concentrated Lam Dong 76%, to innovations like a buckwheat and black sesame praline bar coated in Kamili dark chocolate.
There’s also a rotating selection of excellent chocolate-based desserts that changes with the seasons—from cookies and mousses to ice cream, and a chocolate bao bun inspired by the Vietnamese dish even once made an appearance.
Working closely with chocolate expert Chloé Doutre-Roussel, PLAQ sources rare, traceable beans directly from small-scale growers, using only organic unrefined cane sugar and eschewing any artificial additives.
The quality hasn’t gone unnoticed: PLAQ now supply some of Paris’s most discerning patisseries and other retailers, including the excellent pastry shop, Tapisserie (run by the team at lauded restaurant Septime).
- Address: 4 Rue du Nil, 75002
- Metro: Sentier, Strasbourg Saint-Denis
- Opening hours: Monday – Friday 11am-7:30pm Saturday 10am – 7:30pm Sunday 10am – 6:30pm
- Visit the official website
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Paris Unlocked Associate Editor Rachel Naismith is a former micro-bakery owner and manager of a Glasgow-based food bank. She currently lives in Paris where she writes about the city’s shifting culinary landscape. Her work has appeared in publications including Palate Magazine, Travel Mag and the HIP Paris Blog.
You can see more about Rachel at rachelnaismith.com.
