Chocolate lovers on vacation follow a very specific, very scientific rule: calories don’t count when you’re away from home. Breakfast chocolate? Acceptable. Afternoon chocolate “tasting”? Educational. Late-night chocolate dessert because you walked all day? Basically self-care.

On getaway mode, chocolate isn’t just a treat—it’s a travel companion, a mood enhancer, and occasionally a personality trait. Suitcases may come home heavier, gym plans may mysteriously vanish, but memories are made, smiles are constant, and no one has ever regretted ordering the extra chocolate—especially on vacation.

The Bayfront Marin House celebrates chocolate during their annual Chocolate Affair, starting February 2 through February 9. It’s a week full of chocolate specials, scheduled activities and events, and chocolate treats for inn guests.

But we know there are those people who can never get enough chocolate, and for you, we have put together a decadent Chocolate Trail–full of stops and stores to help you feed your love of the cocoa bean.

Here are our St. Augustine chocolate suggestions (with a few from further points because they really are worth the trip!)

Creme de la Cocoa.

299 San Marco St Augustine, FL 32084.

We’ve got to start with a chocolate lover’s heaven–Creme de la Cocoa at 299 San Marco. It’s on the edge of Uptown, and it’s a pretty far walk from the inn, so we recommend driving. Which is smart anyway, because you’re going to want to pack your car full of the chocolate treats there!

Chef Nils Rowland and his talented team fill the displays with amazing desserts. Our favorite chocolate ones include

Chocolate Pie It’s a Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla Mousse Chocolate Ganache in a Chocolate Crust. Chocolate Curls and a Chocolate Ganache Drizzle
Peanut Butter Pie Starts with a Dark Chocolate Mousse, Layered with Creamy Peanut Butter Mousse, Topped with Vanilla Mousse, Chopped Peanut Butter Cups, and Ganache. Whoa!!

Chef Nils Rowland has shown off his skills on the Food Network: he just WON the Winter Wars competition and has competed in both Halloween wars and Christmas wars. While it’s fun to watch his creations, it’s even better to eat them!

Whetstone’s Chocolate.

139 King Street St. Augustine FL 32084

Speaking of things you have to experience, local chocolatier Whetstone’s has an adorable store AND they open their chocolate factory to the public, so you can actually see your favorite treats being made.

Enjoy their “Original Chocolate Tour”, which is a four-tiered tasting experience led by Whetstone Chocolatiers–so feel free to ask any questions, because they are experts! You can taste freshly made chocolates and confections while you walk through the factory and learn to distinguish the finer characteristics of dark, milk and white chocolate, cocoa nibs and more. Whetstone’s says their tour is for the chocoholic with a discriminating palate searching for the subtleties that define artisan chocolates. It’s a decadently delicious experience!

cholocate pie chocoate cake in st augustine

St. Augustine Experiences.

11D Aviles Street St. Augustine FL 32084

Want to taste a whole bunch of things in one day? Treat yourself to a sweet adventure on the St. Augustine Sweets & History Tour. You’ll savor a delicious array of chocolates, pralines, and other local confections at each stop.

St. Augustine Experiences will provide you with an insulated bag that fills up with goodies at every stop–it’s like grown up trick-or-treating (with the emphasis on treats).

Sweeten your St. Augustine experience with the tour that’s as rich in history as it is in chocolate!

Peace, Love and Little Donuts.

12 Cathedral Place. St. Augustine FL 32084

It’s a great concept–create beautiful, over-the-top donuts, but make them little so people can enjoy a couple of them! There are lots of options for the chocolate lovers here–donuts covered with chocolate icing, chocolate chips, chocolate drizzle. Our favorite is the chocolate chip cookie dough.

They encourage you to feed your inner hippie!

May Day Ice Cream

100 St. George Street St. Augustine

May Day is a locally made ice cream that has several amazing flavors for chocolate lovers. Our favorite Aviator is chocolate and Nutella ice cream with Biscoff cookies and chopped hazelnuts. Other options include their Midnight Chocolate, a rich and chocolatey ice cream with brown bits and cocoa nibs. Or maybe you’d like Session Chocolate, which is a chocolate ice cream full of melted chocolates and notes of roasted cocoa.

Ice cream and Florida are a pretty great combo any way you look at it.

Kilwins Chocolates.

140 St. George Street St. Augustine FL 32084

There are lots of options in Kilwins. And if you really love chocolate, you’ll love the scent of walking into this store!

We love their Rice Krispie treats on a stick–they cover them with caramel, then coat that with different types of chocolate drizzle. They have lots of chocolate candies, buttery caramels, and lots of different fudges.

Zenos Boardwalk Sweet Shop

112B St. George Street St. Augustine, FL

If vacation means beach to you, and beach means boardwalk, you probably associate fudge with vacation!

Zeno’s is famous for creating some of the best fudge flavors ever. All the fudge is made at their factory store in Daytona, FL. The most popular flavors are the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge, Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate Pecan Fudge, and Turtle Pecan Fudge–if any of those sound like vacation to you, swing by to pick some up to take home.

Peterbrooke Chocolates

600 Tingle Court St Augustine 32086

Just outside of town, next to a Panera Bread, is a sweet little shop that blends the process of fine European chocolate making with American recipes to create something truly unique and delicious.

Peterbrooke started in Jacksonville, FL and is known for their chocolate covered popcorn, and chocolate-covered treats like Oreos, pretzels, and caramel apples. Their blend of old-world chocolate making traditions with new, innovative treat ideas to satisfy everyone’s tastes. There are also personalized gifts and presents for special occasions like weddings, birthdays, graduations, and showers.

Their chocolatiers are in the center of the store–you can watch them making their delicious treats all throughout the day.

Cold Cow.

938 Santa Maria Boulevard, St. Augustine Shores FL 32086.

Cold Cow is a local favorite. Their list of available flavors is HUGE–with more chocolate options than you can count on your fingers.

Cold Cow is on Route 1, four miles south of Route 312. We wouldn’t include it if we didn’t think it was worth the drive (and if you’re headed south on the way home, it’s right along the way).

Makenu Chocolate (In Atlantic Beach)

30 Seminole Road Atlantic Beach FL

Makenu Chocolate is a bean to bar chocolatier. It’s an educational stop, with the owners showcasing the difference in cacoa beans from Belize, Dominican Republic, and Uganda. And you can feel good about your purchase because Makenu buys fair trade beans, working directly with local farmers and getting them a fair price for their crop.

Once they get the beans, they create amazing single source chocolate bars–each one has a specific taste, based on local soil, weather, and farming techniques.

The Bayfront Marin House is working with Makenu to host a chocolate tasting in the near future.

Chocolate Bar. (In Jacksonville)

7570 Gate Parkway Jacksonville FL

Maybe you’ve heard of Chocolate Bar, the Dubai-centered dessert mecca with the motto “In Chocolate We Trust.”

Although they are in 10 different countries, they just opened their FIRST US branch–right up the street in Jacksonville!!

The menu is diverse, made in-house, and intertwines pure Belgian chocolate in most of their offerings along with several other options (Gelato, crepes, etc) – a perfect mix of savory and sweet. They use the original Dubai recipes that made them famous.

The chocolate and pastries are rich and decadent yet not overly sweet. From the starter cappuccino to their smooth Belgian Hot Chocolate, the Saffron Milk Cake to their Volcano Chocolate (a spectacular tableside show that all ages will enjoy), and SO much more, it’s a mind-blowing sensory overload that you’ll be blowing up your social media about.

Just Desserts

In addition to all the great shops that feature chocolate, there are lots of great chocolate desserts in town too. Here are some of our favorites:

A boozy hand-spun milkshake at Prohibition Kitchen. We like the hot fudge brownie milkshake with bourbon, but there are other options–like a cookies & cream milkshake with chocolate liqueur, and a peanut butter chocolate with peanut butter whiskey. 119 St. George Street.
If you think chocolate goes with peanut butter just like it goes with vacation, you’ll love the peanut butter pie at Sunset Grill. Topped with deep chocolate, and garnished with real whipped cream to get a little with each bite, it’s a local favorite! 421 A1A Beach Boulevard.
Want to try something new? Go to Mayday, order the Aviator, and add it to espresso for an Affagato out of this world. 100 St. George Street

Share your favorite chocolate stops in St. Augustine, and don’t forget to book your room for our Chocolate Affair–it’s a sweet time to visit our city!

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