10 adventures for chocoholics

The United Kingdom has declared this week Chocolate Week. Normally we'd scoff and cry "shameless marketeering".

But when it involves chocolate, that simple blend of cocoa, milk and sugar that can turn any forlorn depressive into a smiling, sighing blob of bliss, we say "why not?"

Chocolate tourism has now gone global, so here are 10 top adventures around the world for chocoholics.

1. Make chocolate on a cocoa plantation, St. Lucia

Discover the roots of your chocolate addiction.

British chocolate makers Hotel Chocolat have opened a hotel on their St. Lucia plantation. When not sunning, swimming or relaxing in their “cocoa pods", as rooms are dubbed, guests can visit the plantation, lend the harvesters a hand and enjoy a “tree-to-bar” experience, in which they partake in every step of making their own confectionery.

Prices: Rooms from US$450

The Hotel Chocolat, Rabot Estate, Soufriere, St. Lucia, West Indies; +1 800 757 7132; www.thehotelchocolat.com

2. Visit artisan chocolate-makers in Tuscany's Chocolate Valley

And you thought eating chocolate was easy.

Tuscany may be better known for its wines and picturesque hill towns, but the region’s Chocolate Valley is becoming a must-see. The area is famous for fine chocolate makers including Bianchini, Enoteca Pinchiorri, Slitti and Catinari-Agliana, plus the chocolate factories of De Bondt and Amedei - rated by many the world’s most gourmet chocolate.

Four-day tour from $1792 at www.seventypercent.com

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3. Stuff yourself at a chocolate bar, United States

Whose round? I'll have a pint of truffles.

Boston’s chocoholics creep into the historic downtown Langham Hotel on Saturdays to stuff themselves at an all-you-can-eat chocolate bar.

Fare includes a legendary chocolate croissant bread pudding as well as the usual truffles, whoopie pies and choccie sculptures.

Prices: Adults US$40, under-12s US$28

Langham Boston, 250 Franklin St., Boston, Massachusetts, United States; +1 617 451 1900; boston.langhamhotels.com

4. “Choc around the clock walk," Belgium

Choc mate.

This little country has made itself synonymous with good chocolate, and its most picturesque city, Bruges, goes mad with a “Choc in Bruges” month starting November 6.

There’s a “choc around the clock” walk, a museum dedicated to the luscious confection and a choice of creative chocolate menus in 14 different restaurants. The pinnacle is the Choco Laté Festival, from November 13-18, featuring more than three dozen of the city’s chocolate shops.

Bruges Belfry, Bruges, Belgium, www.choco-late.be

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5. Mayan chocolate massage, Mexico

Yes, I'm a chocoholic. Rub it in, why don't you.

As the Mayans invented and revered chocolate, it’s natural they would find meaning in rubbing it all over themselves as well as drinking the stuff.

At the Tides Riviera Maya, the Xocolate ritual is performed with due ceremony in a semi-al fresco treatment room in the middle of the jungle. Cocoa shells are used to slough off dead skin cells before massaging the whole bod with warm cocoa butter -- and the whole ritual starts with a shamanic blessing.

Prices: Xocolate ritual US$220, rooms from US$585

Playa Xcalacoco Frac 7, Quintana Roo, Mexico; +1 310 752 0960; www.tidesrivieramaya.com