Chocolate and dessert festivals

Dia de la Comunitat Valenciana on 9 October marks Jaume I's entry into Valencia in 1238, with a civic procession, a mascletà and the Sant Donís mocadorà of marzipan fruit.

TipPublic holiday in Valencia. Restaurants book up for the lunchtime paella; reserve 3 weeks ahead.

Piazza Grande becomes a three-day showcase of Modena province's small producers: Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic, cured meats, pastry and wines to taste and buy, with stands cooking lunches and dinners until midnight.

TipFree entry from noon; the Chamber of Commerce stand runs guided Tradizione e Sapori tastings, ask for the day's slots when you arrive.

The Ohio River Foundation's Cincinnati Coffee Festival brings regional roasters, tea merchants, bakers and chocolatiers into Music Hall on 24 and 25 October 2026, with sampling, brewing demos and a latte art throwdown.

TipTickets go through the Cincinnati Arts box office; the demonstrations and latte art throwdown run to a schedule, so check it before choosing your day.

Chocoland is Naples' autumn chocolate and pastry fair in Piazza Municipio, with shows and workshops; the 2025 edition ran 29 October to 1 November and 2026 dates are pending.

Modena's chocolate festival, now in its eighth edition: artisan chocolatiers and pastry chefs fill the historic centre with stalls, a chocolate factory demonstration space, show cooking and tastings.

TipEntry is free; go on the Thursday or Friday afternoon, the weekend crowds around Piazza Grande make the tasting queues long.

For All Souls on 2 November every Neapolitan pasticceria sells torrone dei morti, a soft chocolate and dried-fruit nougat cut from a block shaped like a small coffin. Nothing like the hard Cremona kind.

TipAsk for 'o murticiell'. Buy it by the slice from a pasticceria rather than boxed from a supermarket.

Thirty Braga pastry shops and cafes offer special dessert menus each November for Tardes Gulosas, showcasing Minho conventual sweets and seasonal pastry.

TipFrigideiras do Cantinho and Docaria São Vicente both participate with exclusive festival pastries.

On 11 November Venetian pasticcerie fill with the San Martino biscuit, a shortcrust knight on horseback under icing and chocolate coins, while children bang pot lids through the calli.

TipBuy the biscuit in the first week of November; the large iced ones in the historic bakeries are gone by the 11th.

Distillery Winter Village, formerly the Toronto Christmas Market, fills the Distillery Historic District with food cabins, raclette, mulled wine and hot chocolate from 12 November 2026 to 3 January 2027.

Open-air holiday market just north of Dupont Circle with 35-plus small businesses, mini donuts, candied nuts and hot chocolate, 12 Nov to 23 Dec.

TipMostly a gift market: eat in the neighbourhood restaurants a block away and use the stalls for hot drinks, mini donuts and edible gifts such as European cheeses and spices.

Edinburgh's Christmas fills East Princes Street Gardens with its traditional Christmas market, about 70 stalls with food huts and bars beneath the Scott Monument, free to enter and open until 22:00.

TipFree to enter and open daily 10:00 to 22:00; the LNER Big Wheel and the 80m Starflyer stand inside the market if you want the view before the mulled wine.

Foire aux Santons de Marseille on the Vieux Port since 1803 runs every year mid-November to early January, the Christmas-crib fair with regional.

Warsaw's largest Christmas market fills Plac Defilad below the Palace of Culture with over 100 wooden stalls: grzaniec at 20 zl, hot chocolate at 23 zl, goulash and kebabs from 30 zl.

TipWeekday afternoons are the calm window. The 55 metre observation wheel is 45 zl and queues longest once it gets dark.

TwinkleTown fills Smithfield Square in Dublin 7 from 20 November to 31 December with a Christmas market, food and drink stalls, an ice rink and the Twinkle Tavern for winter warmers.

TipEntry is free, but ice skating and the Santo Panto are ticketed, so book those before you travel.

For four nights at the end of November the Sablon galleries, antique dealers, chocolatiers and restaurateurs keep their doors open late, with decorated trees and music on the square.

TipCome after dinner: the shops run late and the square is busiest on the Saturday night.

Salon Aux Vignobles brings 190 growers and producers to the Beaujoire park in Nantes each November, from Loire whites to charcuterie and chocolate.

TipEntry is €5 on the door with an obligatory €2 INAO tasting glass, and under-18s go in free; the run covers the last weekend of November.

Porto's Christmas market runs in the Jardim de Joao Chagas at the Cordoaria from late November, with stalls of traditional doces, charcutaria, wine and nuts plus crepes and hot chocolate cooked on site.

TipIt closes on 24 and 25 December. Go on a weekday, when doors open at 11:00 and the crepe and hot chocolate queues are short.

On Fat Thursday Warsaw queues for paczki from before dawn. Pracownia Cukiernicza Zagozdzinski on Gorczewska draws the longest line, frying hand wrapped marmolada doughnuts to a recipe 101 years old.

TipZagozdzinski opens at 09:00 and sells until the last paczek. People start queueing at 04:30, so pick a second bakery as backup.

During Ramadan, Manchester's Curry Mile on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme fills at sundown, with iftar buffets such as Sanam's and dessert lounges serving falooda and knafeh on the pavement.

Carnaval de Nice runs mid-February to early March each year on Place Massena, with flower battles, illuminated parades and the canonical Carnaval ganses.

Fat Thursday (Tlusty czwartek) is the Polish day for paczki, and Cukiernia Paradowski at Wajdeloty 11 in Wrzeszcz, Gdansk's oldest confectionery, opened in 1945 and bakes them.

TipQueue starts at 06:00, lasts past noon. Bring a small box; sellers run out of bags first.

CioccolaTo is Turin's chocolate festival on Piazza Vittorio Veneto: 60 exhibitors, 15 Maestri del Gusto selected with Slow Food. The 2026 edition ran Feb.

Benidorm's spoon-dish weeks open the year's food calendar: 16 restaurants served a set menu of starter, traditional stew, drink and dessert for €25 in the 2026 edition.

TipThe 2026 edition ran from 27 February to 8 March; the 2027 dates are not yet announced, so check the town hall's Benidorm Gastronómico page from January.

Four days of artisan chocolate in Piazza Santa Croce, with chocolatiers selling cremini, truffles, croccante and rum cuneesi, plus showcooking, guided tastings and life-size chocolate sculptures. Free entry.

TipOpen 9:00 to 20:00. Come before 11:00 on the Saturday; the sculpture work draws the crowd after lunch.

The forecourt of Schoenbrunn fills with about 70 stalls from before Easter into late April, with Kaerntner Kasnudeln, Backhendl, Kartoffelpuffer, tarte flambee and Viennese chocolate.

TipIt carries on as a spring market for three weeks after Easter, when the courtyard is far quieter than in Advent.

Festa di San Giuseppe on 19 March in Palermo brings sfincia di San Giuseppe (ricotta cream pastry) to every pasticceria, the city's St Joseph's Day annual.

Hamburger DOM Frühlingsdom fills the Heiligengeistfeld in St. Pauli for a month from 19 March 2027, with roasted almonds, candy floss, bratwurst, potato pancakes and waffle stands beside the rides.

TipFree entry; rides and food paid per item. Friday fireworks at 22:30 are the weekly draw.

The Bruges Spring Market runs over the Easter weekend across Markt and Burg squares with artisan Belgian chocolate, fresh waffles, regional cheeses and crafts under the medieval-square setting.

Salon Saveurs des Plaisirs Gourmands is the Paris gourmet fair at Espace Champerret. Producers from across France show regional specialities, charcuterie.

Festa Italiana at Sloss Furnaces Birmingham is the Italian American Heritage Society's annual April event with Italian vendors (cannoli, sausage, gelato).

Songkran in Bangkok runs 13 to 15 April as the Thai New Year water festival, with pop-up Thai dessert stalls, traditional khao chae cold-rice dishes.

Taste of Mississippi brings Jackson's best restaurants together for a competitive tasting event at the Mississippi Trade Mart, with Best Appetizer, Entree, and Dessert categories voted by attendees.

TipA Stewpot Community Services fundraiser; buy tickets in advance as the event typically sells out.

Firenze Gelato Week is ConGelato's six-day gelato trail: one ticket buys tastings at four Florence gelaterie, each serving a limited edition flavour made for the event.

TipPick a cup (2 tastes) or cone (3 tastes) ticket for the route, then visit the four shops: Edoardo il gelato biologico, Passera, Barroccino and Badiani. Each serves a limited edition flavour made for the week.

Roma Gelato Week is ConGelato's six-day gelato trail: one ticket buys tastings at six of 18 artisan gelaterie on three routes through Monteverde, Trastevere and Prati.

TipPick one of three routes (Monteverde-Portuense, Trastevere-Gianicolense, Prati-San Lorenzo) and book online; in 2026 a cup ticket cost €8 and a cone ticket €12.

Each April the Cable Factory hosts the Helsinki Coffee Festival alongside an Ice Cream and Chocolate Carnival, three days of specialty roasters.

Masters of Taste puts more than 100 Los Angeles restaurants, pastry kitchens and drinks makers on the Rose Bowl field for one April afternoon of unlimited tastings; all proceeds go to Union Station Homeless Services.

TipIt is 21 and over; VIP entry runs 15:00 to 16:00 and general admission 16:00 to 19:00. Regulars include Porto's Bakery.

The Festiwal Smaków Food Trucków fills the Forum Gdańsk courtyard with food trucks serving burgers, seafood, langos and Korean chicken over a free spring weekend.

TipEntry is free, Saturday 12:00 to 21:00 and Sunday 12:00 to 20:00 in 2026. The festival has run more than 25 numbered editions, some in autumn at other Gdańsk venues, so check the dates and venue before you go.

Mayfest Fort Worth at Trinity Park each spring draws 175,000 attendees with food vendors including Melt Ice Creams, Pecos Pete's, and a Beer and Wine Garden.

TipThursday entry is free for everyone; Fri-Sun adults pay $12, children (3-12) $7, seniors $7. Free parking shuttles run from the Will Rogers Center.

Edes Napok, the Sweet Days chocolate and sweets festival, fills Szent Istvan ter beside the Basilica in Budapest with chocolatiers and confectioners; the 2025 edition ran 1 to 4 May, free entry.

A weekend of plant based cooking in the Jardim do Torel: 24 chefs, Michelin kitchens among them, plus food trucks for seitan burgers, pizza and acai bowls and a market of vegan cheese and pastry.

TipEach session is ticketed at 25 euros with 20 back in food and drink; under 12s pay only for what they eat.

Tast a la Rambla on Plaça de Catalunya runs over four late-May days: 36 Barcelona restaurants and pastry shops serve six-euro tasting plates with a token system.

TipBuy tokens at the entry booth (one euro per token); show-cookings and chef workshops run alongside the tasting stalls.

Bizerkeley Food Fest is Berkeley's vegan food festival at Civic Center Park, with more than 70 plant-based vendors, free samples and cooking demos; the sixth edition ran on Sunday 6 September 2026.

TipGeneral admission was $8.24 in 2026 and free for Berkeley residents and EBT cardholders. The festival runs noon to 6pm and benefits California Pitbull Rescue.

Riga Food, the Baltics' largest food industry exhibition, runs 9 to 11 September 2027 at the Kipsala exhibition centre, with product tasting and chef and pastry demonstrations open to the public.

TipAdult tickets are €10 (€8 in pre-sale); the PRO ticket at €20 covers all three days for trade visitors.

Hotel Tapa Tour turns Madrid's four and five-star hotels into a tapas route on 17 to 27 September 2026, with author tapas paired with wine and cocktails and no reservation needed for the free tour.

TipPick one of the nine routes on hoteltapatour.com and walk in without booking; the guided in-house experiences at four hotels are booked separately.

Festitalia fills the Brisbane Showgrounds for one Sunday in September with handmade pasta, wood-fired pizza, gelato, espresso and 10,000 cannoli, plus Venetian performers, stilt walkers and live music.

TipRuns 10:30am to 4:30pm on the Showgrounds; tickets are sold through Oztix, so buy before the day.

The Atlanta Greek Festival is paused for building work until September 2027; in 2026 the cathedral sells a Greek Feast drive-thru on 25 to 27 September on Clairmont Road.

TipSouvlaki and gyro plates run heaviest at lunch; baklava and pastry sales run all weekend. Parking gets tight by 18:00.