Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival is a local excuse for people to treat themselves to mugs of gourmet hot cocoa from some of the city’s best cafes.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival usually runs from mid-January until February 14th.

NOTE: The same organization behind this festival in late winter has a new festival starting in the summer of 2025. Koolfest is like the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival, except that it features dozens of ice cold exotic drinks instead of hot ones. In its inaugural year, Koolfest runs from July 19th until August 10th.

Hot Chocolate Festival

2025 marked the 15th anniversary of Vancouver’s Hot Chocolate Festival. The event ran from January 18th to February 14th, so up until Valentine’s Day. The festival featured 180 flavours from 124 different locations.

A few dozen cafes, bakeries and chocolatiers throughout the region usually participate in the event. They offer extra special gourmet cups of hot chocolate on their menus. Even a few gelato and specialty ice cream shops join in too.

Each place offers a special selection of hot chocolate creations during the festival. Ingredients include everything from white chocolate to dark chocolate, Belgian chocolate, exotic whipped creams, cookie crumbs and even ice cream.

It’s not really a “festival …”

The festival isn’t so much a “festival” as it is an excuse to indulge, warm yourself up and try different cafes around town. In fact, often when you go to a venue you have to look around for its Hot Chocolate Festival menu. It’s a pretty subtle “festival,” but the drinks are good and usually somewhat out of the ordinary.

Don’t expect parades, balloons, live entertainment, fireworks or even craft activities and face painting for children at this festival. It’s not that kind of an event. Again, it’s an excuse for a unique cup of hot chocolate, but a good one.

Given that Vancouver’s winter can start to get dreary by the end of January and early February, any excuse to indulge in something like hot chocolate is a welcome opportunity.

Festival Participants

Below were some of the venues that participated in the 2025 festival.

(Note: Exact details were subject to change.)

Downtown Vancouver Locations

Cadeaux Bakery – at 172 Powell Street in Gastown. It offered four special drinks in 2025. One was a mix of white chocolate, watermelon, strawberry and cotton candy served with a strawberry cheesecake macaron (January 18th to 31st). Another was a chocolate root beer float with marshmallow, caramel and more (January 18th to 31st). The third was a dairy-free dark chocolate with figs, rosemary and other flavours served with berry bread pudding (February 1st to 14th). The last option was a white chocolate base with caramel and spices served with cinnamon croissant toast (February 1st to 14th).
Mink Chocolates – at 863 West Hastings Street not far from Canada Place. There were two different drinks on offer during the 2025 festival. One was a white hot chocolate with berries and blue cheese (January 18th to 31st). The other was a horchata hot chocolate with cinnamon, almonds and cacao nibs (February 1st to 14th). Both drinks included a two-bite croissant.
Thierry – a chocolatier patisserie and cafe with three different locations. In 2025 one special beverage on offer was a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate with a Swiss meringue and caramel (January 18th to 31st). The other beverage was made of Samana dark chocolate from the Dominican Republic (February 1st to 13th).

VANCOUVER RESTAURANTS ON VALENTINE’S DAY

February 14th is the final day of the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival. On that same date, lots of restaurants have special menu offers for Valentine’s Day. See our article about Vancouver Restaurants on Valentine’s Day for details.

Elsewhere Within the City of Vancouver

Gem Chocolates – at 2029 West 41st Avenue (near Kerrisdale Park). Its 2025 drinks included a Pistachio flavour (January 18th to February 11th), tiramisu hot chocolate (February 1st to 11th) and a fruits theme (February 1st to 11th).
49th Parallel Coffee Roasters – with four different locations, including one in Mt. Pleasant and another in Kitsilano. 2025 flavours were a turmeric hot chocolate (January 18th to 29th) and a dark hot chocolate infused with earl grey tea and caramel (January 30th to February 11th).
Beaucoup Bakery & Café – with a location at 2150 Fir Street in Kitsilano. Its Hot Chocolate Festival specials had a Peanuts comic strip theme. The first beverage had a peanut butter and cinnamon flavour and it came with a cookie (January 18th to 26th). Next was a smoky dark chocolate with marshmallow and truffle (January 27th to February 9th). Last was a cookies and cream hot chocolate with a red velvet financier (February 10th to 14th).
Bel Café – at 801 West Georgia Street. Its 2025 drinks were inspired by campfire s’mores (January 18th to 31st) and the flavours of Diablo Azteca, Mexican spice and raspberries (February 1st to 14th). The first came with a marshmallow cookie and the second came with a chili raspberry truffle.
Butter Baked Goods – at 4907 MacKenzie Street (at 33rd Avenue). In 2025 it offered a hot chocolate with white chocolate, one with hazelnuts and another with orange flavouring. The first two came with a piece of cake and the third came with an orange-flavoured marshmallow dipped in dark chocolate.
Eternal Abundance – an organic vegan grocery store and cafe at 1025 Commercial Drive (a couple of blocks from Venables). It served spicy orange hot chocolate (January 18th to 31st) and banana bread hot chocolate (February 1st to 14th). The first came with an oatmeal date square and the second was served with a cookie.
Koko Monk Chocolates – a chocolatier at 1849 West 1st Avenue in Kitsilano. In 2025 there were four hot chocolates on offer at different times of the festival. For example, there was one with fig, walnut and rum and another with salted caramel and milk chocolate.
Uno Gelato – at 2579 West Broadway and 1055 Canada Place. Festival menu items over the 2025 season were a tropical mango hot chocolate, a Colombian Migao, a Thai-inspired drink and a fragrant beverage infused with cardamom.

OTHER CHOCOLATE-THEMED EVENTS

If you like jogging and chocolate, another event to look forward to is the Vancouver Chocolate Run. It takes place around Stanley Park on March 7th in 2026. Participants choose to run 5 km, 10 km, or 0.65 km (for kids). It’s a fun event at a beautiful location. Plus, all runners receive a piece of chocolate and a souvenir finishing medal. See our article about the Vancouver Chocolate Run to learn more.

Also, if you like hot chocolate, be sure to check out the Holiday History & Hot Chocolate Tours with Forbidden Vancouver. They typically run in early January. If you miss them, though, there is also the Hidden History & Sweet Treats Tours which run for most of the year and are similar, but you get chocolates and pastry samples instead of hot chocolate.

Elsewhere in Metro Vancouver

BjornBar Bakery – at 3053 Edgemont Boulevard in North Vancouver. This year the place served banana milk hot chocolate as well as strawberry white hot chocolate.
Caffe Artigiano – a coffee and pastry shop at both 4010 Main Street in Vancouver and 3154 Highland Boulevard in North Vancouver. Its 2025 hot chocolate drinks included hazelnut and orange flavours, each with a different treat.
Chez Christophe – at 4717 Hastings Street in Burnaby and 1558 Johnston Road in White Rock. In 2025 it served a fruity and spicy hot chocolate (January 18th to 31st) as well as a campfire-themed hot chocolate (February 1st to 12th).
Glenburn Soda Fountain & Confectionary – at 4090 Hastings Street in Burnaby. In 2025 there were four different drinks, including a smoky dark hot chocolate and an espresso-infused white hot chocolate.
Mon Paris Patisserie – at 4396 Beresford Street in Burnaby. 2025 treats included a ruby chocolate beverage with a croissant (January 18th to 31st) and an almond and cherry drink with a puffed pastry (February 1st to 14th).
Thomas Haas – a chocolate and pastry shop with locations at 2539 West Broadway in Vancouver and at 128-988 Harbourside Drive in North Vancouver. 2025 offerings were a milk hot chocolate with almond and croissant (January 18th to 31st), plus a dark hot chocolate with corn marshmallow (February 1st to 13th).

Cooking Classes

A few years ago, in addition to participating venues adding extra special drinks on their menus, there were a few cooking classes too.

On January 23rd and 30th in 2019, there were Italian Hot Chocolate Throughout The Ages classes that featured different styles of regional Italian hot chocolates. The events took place in the early evening at the Trattoria at the Italian Cultural Centre at 3075 Slocan Street. The cost for each was $60.

On February 6th in 2019 there was also a Hot Chocolates of the World cooking class at the Trattoria restaurant at the Italian Cultural Centre. This time the class was about hot chocolates from Italy, Colombia, the Philippines and Mexico. The cost for this event was also $60.

It doesn’t look like the festival has included cooking classes in recent years. See the Italian Cultural Centre‘s calendar of events for the most up-to-date information.

Tips & Advice

Below are some tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival experience.

TIP #1: Remember, it’s a season of exotic drink specials more than a festival. Don’t expect anything flashy – just mugs of extra-delicious hot chocolate.

TIP #2: Don’t drive across town for your hot chocolate and then drive immediately back. That would be silly. The drinks are good, but not that good. Instead, if you happen to be in an area and you love exotic chocolate treats, check out a participating place nearby. Or, if you see something you definitely want to try, then explore the surrounding area either before or after or combine it with a trip somewhere else.

TIP #3: Note that some places offer a choice of “official festival drinks” throughout the full festival season. Others, though, offer just one drink per week, so you don’t get a choice. Of course, all venues offer regular menu items every day of the week too.

TIP #4: Most places serve their drinks with a biscuit, macaron, scoop of gelato or other small treat, but not all.

TIP #5: Depending on your tastes, most of the drinks offered each season are delicious and decadent. Others, however, are arguably a bit weird (or at least not for everyone). Personally, for example, I think I’ll leave the flower-scented hot chocolates to others (who I’m sure will appreciate them more than me).

TIP #6: Don’t just visit the above places during the Hot Chocolate Festival and just for their festival specials. Participating venues are some of the region’s finest cafés, chocolatiers and bakeries. Check out their full selection of menu items any time of year.