Amsterdam has more chocolatiers than a city this size ought to, and several of the best keep hours that will defeat you if you turn up unplanned.
Seven shops below, each with its street address, its opening days and what it is actually good at.
1) Puccini Bomboni
Staalstraat 17, behind the Waterlooplein end of the centre, with a second shop at Singel 184.
Both open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 19:00, and Mondays and Sundays from 11:00.
The bonbons are made on site in small batches with no artificial flavouring, which is why the case looks different from one week to the next.
The flavours are the point: fig and walnut, lemongrass, Szechuan pepper and thyme, alongside plain dark ganaches for people who did not come for an argument.
Mixed selections start around €14 and gift boxes run to €70.
There is nowhere to sit, so buy and walk.
2) Huize van Wely
Beethovenstraat 72 in Oud-Zuid, open 9:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and from 8:30 to 17:00 on Saturdays, closed Sunday.
There is a second branch at Gelderlandplein 173, which does open on Sunday afternoons.
This is the sit-down option: a patisserie and chocolatier in the same room, so the bonbons come with cake and coffee rather than in a bag.
The pastry counter is as strong as the chocolate counter, which is not true of most shops on this list.
It is a five-minute walk from the Concertgebouw and worth building into a Museumplein afternoon.
3) ArtiChoc
Koninginneweg 141 in Amsterdam-Zuid, and the hours are the thing to note: Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, 9:30 to 18:00.
Turn up on a Tuesday and you will find a closed door.
The pralines and bonbons are finished to a standard that makes the boxes the best gift purchase in this guide.
The range changes with the season and the staff will talk you through what is new if you ask.
The street is residential and quiet, so there is no queue and no crowd.
4) Jordino
Haarlemmerdijk 25a, at the Jordaan end of the Haarlemmerbuurt.
Handmade bonbons and cream truffles at the front, and Italian gelato churned in the back of the same shop.
Around 24 ice cream flavours are in the cabinet on a given day, drawn from a rotating list of more than a hundred, and they import macarons from Paris alongside their own cakes.
The cocoa comes through Cocoa Horizons cooperatives.
This is the stop that works for a group where not everybody wants chocolate.
5) Metropolitan
Warmoesstraat 135, five minutes from Centraal Station, open every day from 9:00 to 22:00.
The longest hours in this guide by a distance, which makes it the fallback when everything else has shut.
It makes chocolate from the bean rather than buying couverture, and sells it alongside its own ice cream, waffles, espresso and pastry.
The lemon bonbon, with a fruit-forward dark shell, is the one to try first.
There is seating for about a dozen people, so it works as a sit-down break as well as a shop.
6) Van Stapele Koekmakerij
Rokin 17, open every day 10:00 to 18:00, with the original branch tucked into the Heisteeg off the Spui.
They make one thing: a dark chocolate cookie with a white chocolate centre, sold warm.
That is the whole menu, and it is why there is usually a line.
The Heisteeg shop opens at 10:00 and closes when the cookies run out, which on a busy Saturday is well before six.
Go early, buy more than you think you want, and eat them the same day.
7) Cacaomuseum
Czaar Peterstraat 175 in the Oostelijke Eilanden, open Wednesday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00.
Part shop, part exhibition about where cocoa comes from and how it becomes chocolate.
It is the one entry here that explains the product rather than just selling it, which makes it the better choice with older children.
Czaar Peterstraat is a good street to be on anyway, lined with small independents.
Planning A Chocolate Walk
Two Clusters, Not Seven Stops
The centre gives you Puccini Bomboni on Staalstraat, Van Stapele on Rokin and Metropolitan on Warmoesstraat within fifteen minutes of each other.
Jordino is another ten minutes northwest on Haarlemmerdijk, and Cacaomuseum a fifteen-minute walk east.
Huize van Wely and ArtiChoc are both in Zuid and pair with a Museumplein day rather than a canal walk.
Check The Day Before You Go
ArtiChoc opens three days a week and Cacaomuseum four, and both are far enough out that a wasted trip costs you an hour.
Metropolitan and Van Stapele open seven days, so build the plan around the restricted ones and fill in with those.
What Survives The Journey Home
Fresh cream-filled bonbons from Puccini Bomboni are at their best within a day or two and should be eaten here.
Boxed pralines from ArtiChoc or Huize van Wely keep about a week if you keep them cool, which makes them the practical gift.
If you want a Dutch bar to take home, Tony’s Chocolonely is stocked in every supermarket in the country at a fraction of what a gift shop charges.
When To Go
Weekday mornings between Tuesday and Thursday are quiet everywhere on this list.
Van Stapele’s queue is at its worst on Saturday afternoons, and it is the one shop where arriving late means arriving to nothing.
