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FrançaisAs many of you already know, I’m a big chocolate lover. Luckily I live in Belgium. We have some very good chocolate brands over here. One of them is Guylian, famous for its seahorse and seashell shaped chocolates with a soft hazelnut filling. When I was little my grandparents used to take me to the Belgian seaside during summer holidays, and there was a chocolate shop there where we would always get Guylian. Now, whenever there’s a family get-together, my grandmother has a box of Guylian for my brother and me. You can tell I’m a fan, right? So when Guylian offered to send me two kinds of their chocolates to review, I didn’t have to think twice.
What is Guylian chocolates?
Guylian is a Belgian chocolate brand known worldwide for its seashell-shaped pralines. Guylian chocolates come from Sint-Niklaas in East Flanders, where the company’s head office and its only production plant still are. The brand was founded in 1958 by Guy Foubert, a Belgian chocolatier, who built the name by joining his own first name to that of his wife Liliane. Guylian’s seashells have two parts: an outer shell moulded from Belgian couverture chocolate, and a hazelnut praline filling made to a recipe the company has never published. The shells are finished with a marbled swirl of milk, white and dark chocolate, which is the detail most people recognise on sight.
What is the history of Guylian chocolate?
Guylian’s history starts in Sint-Niklaas in 1958, when Guy Foubert married Liliane and the two of them put their names together over a chocolate workshop. Foubert had trained as a confectioner and was selling handmade pralines locally when the business began. The seashells that made the brand came later: in 1967, after the couple came back from a holiday on the Belgian coast, Liliane worked on the shapes and on the marbling in white, milk and dark chocolate across 11 moulds, while Guy concentrated on the hazelnut praline filling.
Guylian opened a new plant in Sint-Niklaas in 1988 to keep up with demand, and the 27,000 m² (290,626 sq ft) site is still where every Guylian chocolate is made. Between 175 and 180 people work there, with sales offices in Britain and Germany, and the plant can turn out up to 75 tonnes of chocolate a day. The ownership changed in June 2008, when the Foubert family sold the company to Lotte Confectionery of South Korea for €105 million, a deal the trade press reported at the time as about $164 million. Lotte kept the plant, the staff and the name. Guylian still makes the seashell pralines in Sint-Niklaas to Foubert’s recipe, and the shell-and-praline combination is still the product the other ranges hang off.
What are the most popular products of Guylian chocolate?
Guylian’s most popular product is the praline-filled chocolate seashell, followed by the Belgian Chocolate Master’s Selection and the chocolate bars. The classic seashells come in ballotin gift boxes, the standard one holding 22 pieces at 250 g (8.8 oz), with smaller boxes at 125 g (4.4 oz) and 65 g (2.3 oz). Each seashell has a lightly marbled exterior made from Belgian couverture and the hazelnut praline filling that has not changed since the company started. The ballotin format is why the seashells travel so well as gifts: the pieces are individually shaped and easy to hand round.
After the seashells, Guylian’s second product is the Belgian Chocolate Master’s Selection, an assortment of pralines in a gift box that runs through several fillings rather than the single praline recipe.
Next by popularity are Guylian’s chocolate bars, made in Sint-Niklaas in flavours such as sea salt caramel and no-added-sugar dark chocolate. Guylian Temptations, the individually wrapped seahorses in flavours like nougat, truffle and caramel, are the bite-sized version of the same idea. The range now stretches to truffles, chocolate-covered fruit and nuts and novelty shapes, and the seashell pralines still lead it everywhere Guylian sells.
What are the most interesting facts about Guylian chocolate?
Listed below are the most interesting facts about Guylian chocolate.
- Production. The Sint-Niklaas factory can produce up to 75 tonnes of pralines, truffles, bars and other chocolates every day, and Guylian sells in over 100 countries.
- Exports. About 60% of sales come from outside Europe, in markets such as Asia, Australia and the Americas.
- Products. The company makes chocolate bars, truffles, chocolate-covered fruit and nuts as well as the seashells.
- Cocoa. Guylian has bought only Fairtrade-certified cocoa since 2022, which it says makes it the first large Belgian chocolate producer to do so.
- Palm oil. Guylian took palm oil out of its recipes in 2018 and uses shea butter and sunflower oil instead. Its products are palm and soya free.
- Ownership. Guylian has belonged to Lotte Confectionery of South Korea since 2008, though everything is still made in Sint-Niklaas.
What are the ingredients of each product?
Every Guylian product starts from Belgian couverture chocolate made with pure cocoa butter. The outer shell is milk, white or dark couverture, and the cocoa butter content is what gives it the melt. For the fillings, the main ingredient is a hazelnut praline that Guylian makes itself; the company describes the hazelnuts as Mediterranean and says they are roasted in small batches in copper kettles before being worked into the chocolate. That praline is the base of everything from the seashells to the truffles and the wrapped seahorses.
The chocolate-covered nut and dried fruit range uses blueberries, cranberries and raisins with dark chocolate. In the bars, the additions are things like crunchy caramel pieces or a pinch of sea salt against the sweetness. For the no-added-sugar range, the sweeteners replace sugar rather than sit alongside it. Since 2018 there has been no palm oil in any of it, and since 2022 the cocoa has been Fairtrade certified.
Where can visitors buy Guylian chocolates in Belgium?
You can buy Guylian all over Belgium, and the cheapest place is the factory outlet in Sint-Niklaas. The outlet sits beside the production plant at Europark-Oost 1 and carries the full range, including boxes and seasonal lines that supermarkets do not stock. The Sint-Niklaas tourist office lists it as open on weekdays from 9:00 to 12:30 and from 13:30 to 17:00, with weekend and public holiday opening from 10:00 to 16:00 between mid-May and mid-September. Check before you drive out, because outlet hours change.
Chocolate shops in Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent stock Guylian seashells alongside their own pralines, and so do the supermarkets: Carrefour and Delhaize both carry the boxes, as do petrol stations and newsagents. Brussels Airport is the easy option on the way out, with Guylian on the shelves in the duty-free shops. If you want the wider story rather than the boxes, Choco-Story Brussels near Manneken Pis is the city’s chocolate museum, and Choco-Story Bruges does the same job there.
Sint-Niklaas sits on the main line between Antwerp and Ghent, so it is an easy half-day from either city or from Brussels. Check the timetable and buy train tickets in Belgium before you go rather than at the machine on the platform.
What are the options for Guylian chocolate tasting tours in Brussels?
Brussels has no Guylian-specific tasting tour, but the city’s chocolate tasting tours and workshops cover the Belgian pralines that Guylian sits among, and most of them let you make your own. Guylian’s Sint-Niklaas plant is a working factory and does not run public tours, so the outlet shop is as close as you get. The tours and workshops below are the ones running in Brussels now.
Can you buy a Guylian chocolate as a souvenir from Belgium?
Yes. A ballotin of Guylian seashells is one of the easier souvenirs to bring home from Belgium, because the box is rigid, the pieces are individually moulded and the whole thing survives a suitcase better than loose pralines from a counter. The 22-piece, 250 g (8.8 oz) box is the standard gift size; the 125 g (4.4 oz) and 65 g (2.3 oz) boxes fit in hand luggage. Keep them out of a hot car, since the marbled finish is the first thing to go.
Can you buy Guylian chocolate online?
Yes. Guylian runs its own webshop, and the brand is stocked by the big supermarkets in the UK, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda. In the United States the seashells arrive as an import, and the standard 22-piece box is the one to look for: Guylian Belgian chocolate seashells come in the same 250 g (8.8 oz) ballotin sold in Belgium. Prices on imported boxes move around a lot, so compare before you order.
How is Guylian chocolate sustainable?
Guylian’s sustainability work runs from cocoa sourcing to packaging, and the cocoa is the part with a certificate behind it. Since 2022 the company has bought only Fairtrade-certified cocoa, which means a guaranteed minimum price for the growing co-operatives plus the Fairtrade Premium, an extra sum the co-operatives spend on their own projects. Guylian says that makes it the first large Belgian chocolate producer to go fully Fairtrade. It signed the Beyond Chocolate charter, the Belgian industry agreement on sustainable cocoa, in 2018 and reached the target three years before the 2025 deadline.
The other changes are in the factory. Guylian removed palm oil from its recipes in 2018 and replaced it with shea butter and sunflower oil, and its products are now palm and soya free. Food waste at the plant runs at 0.1%, because off-cuts go back into new products rather than into a bin. Since 2022 the site has run on 100% renewable energy, and water use is down 67.3% on 2019. The packaging carries the Fairtrade mark, which is how most buyers find out any of this.
What is the Project Seahorse?
Project Seahorse is a marine conservation group founded in 1996 by the biologists Amanda Vincent and Heather Koldewey, and it works to protect seahorses and their habitats from overfishing, bycatch and habitat loss. Guylian, with a seahorse as its second-best-known shape, was its main corporate sponsor for a long time: the two worked together from 1998 to 2022, with Guylian giving unrestricted funding that Project Seahorse puts at more than €1.75 million in total, along with the Seahorses of the World photo competition and conservation messages printed on the boxes. That partnership has now ended, so buying a box of Guylian no longer sends money to the project. If you want to support the work directly, Project Seahorse takes donations on its own site.
What chocolate brands are popular in Belgium?
Listed below are the chocolate brands to look for in Belgium.
- Neuhaus. Neuhaus began in 1857 with Jean Neuhaus in Brussels, as a pharmacy that coated medicines in chocolate. The founder’s grandson, Jean Neuhaus Jr, filled a chocolate shell with hazelnut paste instead of medicine in 1912 and invented the praline. Neuhaus pralines still run through gianduja, ganache and praline fillings.
- Godiva. Godiva was founded in 1926 by Joseph Draps in Brussels, with its first shop near the Grand Place. It closed all 128 of its North American shops in 2021 and now runs over 200 boutiques and cafés across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, while still selling through supermarkets and online in the US. The brand has been owned by the Turkish group Yıldız Holding since 2008.
- Côte d’Or. Côte d’Or is one of the oldest Belgian chocolate brands, founded in 1883 by Charles Neuhaus. The name means “Gold Coast” and refers to Ghana, where the cocoa came from. Its best-known product is Chokotoff, a chocolate-covered toffee, alongside bars, Bouchées pralines and spreads.
- Leonidas. Leonidas is a Belgian chocolate brand founded in 1913 and known for keeping fresh pralines cheap. It uses pure cocoa butter and sells over 100 different pralines by weight from open counters, which is why the queues move fast.
- Bruyerre. Bruyerre was established in 1909 in Gosselies, near Charleroi. It specialises in dark chocolate and in pralines with hazelnut paste and ganache fillings, and it supplies professional bakers as well as its own shops.
- Mary. Mary is a family-owned Belgian chocolate house founded in 1919 by Mary Delluc, the first woman to open a chocolate shop in Brussels. It holds a royal warrant, and its truffles and hazelnut, pistachio and fruit-cream pralines come in the ornate boxes the brand is known for.
- Galler. Galler was created in 1976 by Jean Galler in Liège. Its bars come in more than 20 flavours, and the range runs to bite-sized chocolates, spreads and seasonal shapes.
- Guylian. Guylian has made its seashell chocolates with hazelnut praline since 1958, in milk, dark and white chocolate. Beyond the seashells the range covers bars, truffles and no-added-sugar boxes, with the praline-filled shells still the hallmark.
- Wittamer. Wittamer has been a family company on the Place du Grand Sablon since 1910 and works across chocolate, pastry and ice cream. Its chocolate-dipped strawberries are the item people queue for, alongside truffles and seasonal boxes.
- Belvas. Belvas was set up in 2005 as one of Europe’s first organic chocolate makers and works to organic and fair trade certification. Its truffles and bars lead the range, which also covers vegan, gluten-free and no-added-sugar lines.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 3 tips below come from re-checking Guylian’s shops, labels and partnerships in 2026, and each one corrects something the chocolate round-ups still repeat.
- Do not plan a Belgian trip around a Guylian café. The Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café in Antwerp, at Komedieplaats 15b, is listed as closed, and the cafés trading under the name now are in Australia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Seoul. In Belgium the factory outlet at Europark-Oost 1 in Sint-Niklaas is the closest thing to a Guylian shop.
- Ignore the chocolate festivals other guides attach to the brand. Round-ups name a Brussels Chocolate Week in February and a Blankenberge Chocolate Festival in March, and neither returns a source beyond pages repeating one another. The last confirmed Brussels edition of Salon du Chocolat was in February 2020.
- Look for the Fairtrade mark on the box, not for UTZ. Guylian has bought only Fairtrade-certified cocoa since 2022, and the UTZ label that older write-ups mention stopped existing in 2018, when UTZ merged into the Rainforest Alliance.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, who is Belgian, grew up on Guylian seashells from the Belgian coast and was sent two of the ranges by the company to taste for this review. The team covers Belgium for independent travellers, including the chocolate shops, workshops and tours in Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent worth booking, and updates this page when a shop closes, an owner changes or a sourcing claim stops being true.
Guylian was the first type of Belgian chocolate I tried! I miss the amazing chocolates everywhere since moving. I’m particularly partial to Galler, though :)
Ah yes Galler. Less known than some of the other brands, but oh so yummie as well:)
I love the Leonidas chocolate! But also in Umbria, Perugia che chocolate is outstanding.
Actually,my grandfather is just as addicted to chocolate as I am, but my grandmother only likes one kind of chocolate: the white pralines from Leonidas.
I have to say I don’t think I’ve tried Perugia yet.
The white pralines are outstanding delicious! And what about Belgian chocolate truffles? If you are addicted to chocolate you really need to try the Perugia Baci ;)
Mmm… maybe I should plan a trip to Umbria:)
I’ve never had these Belgian chocolates. They sound fantastic.
When we meet again i’ll bring you some:)
I’ve already looked up if you can ship chocolate to the States, but apparently customs can be difficult about it (if they notice, of course) :-)
I will hold you to that.
As I remember, you came and went last time without so much as a hello.
Next time, be prepared to sit through an entire box of chocolates. I’ll bring the Bací.
Bací? What’s that?:D
I’ll make sure to bring a big box:)
https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/perugia
You’re welcome!
Thanks for leading people to another blog:p
Post makes me feel like going for a box straight away…
Hahaha. Like daughter, like father?:D
Sort of… As far as chocolates are concerned for sure… But I have more vices…
True:D
You might just as well comment on my “Belgian beer” series, I don’t:D
Rather on a wine item
OMG this is like the perfect post for me! I love chocolate, no matter what type (I prefer quality, but would never say no) and eating Guylian in Belgium must be like fulfilling a pilgrimage – I totally get it!! Thanks for sharing!! :D
Hahaha you’re welcome Tim. I really feel your enthusiasm:)
I copied the link from an image. Sorry, I should have checked it first. But carving 1100kg of chocolate??? Sounds like your next trip should be to Perugia.
Guess I owe you 2 boxes of chocolate now.
Haha no prob, just kidding:-)
I’d love to go to Perugia, actually.
it’s on that long list with hundreds of other places:)
These chocolates are one of the most common in Poland. You can get them from any store and supermarket and we often buy them for someone’s birthday or as a wedding gift. They are yummy, creamy and affordable! Mmmmmm I would have one or two or a box :D
Really? I didn’t know they were so big over there!
I’d have a box:p
YUM!!!!!!!!! Guylian are my all-time favourites (they are easy to find here in Australia). How lucky you were to get some to review – I must work on that myself.
Haha :-)
They probably knew about my love for chocolate. I make no secret of that:)
How wonderful! There are many wonderful confections I miss from Belgium, particularly les cuberdons. Are you originally from there? My mother was born and raised there and I used to go back a lot when I was young, but haven’t been in a very long time now.
Oooh cuberdons! :-)
Yes I was born and raised here, like your mother!
When did she leave Belgium?
She left in the 70’s to live in Sweden with my father, then they got married and came over the states. Shortly after I was born :) We used to go back to Belgium a lot until I was about 15, then my grandmother moved to Ireland, then France so I never had the chance to return since then.
Wow, you seem to have a travel fond family as well!:-)
haha yes! it definitely runs in my blood! my cousin who was also born in Belgium, then raised in Ireland and still lives there has been all over the world with her husband. i haven’t traveled that extensively myself, but i’m getting there. :) cheers!
I got married at the beach and actually gave out small boxes of these chocolates as the party favor. They are so so good!
What a great gift idea!
And they fit nicely into the beach theme:)
@Marianne: We should meet:D
that would be fun someday! let me know next time you are in the US. unfortunately i don’t have plans at the moment to be in Europe for the near future. :[
Will do!
Boyfriend just got his international passport for our trip to Canada, so I told him that now we have to travel across the ocean each year until it expires, because otherwise it would be a waste :p
I’ll definitely have to bring some of these home on my next trip. They sound delightful. Also, they are incredibly nice looking and intricate. They’re like little works of chocolate art.
They are great!
I’m actually planning on sharing some more chocolate tips in a few weeks, so you better bring a large suitcase:-)
I am bringing a suitcase, it’s my custom beer carrying suitcase! No room for chocolate in that one. Unless it’s a beer with chocolate in it!
How about a beer that you HAVE to have with Belgian chocolate on the side?:)
I don’t know about “Have” to have, but a nice sweeter fruit lambic, like a Boon Kriek or Framboise will go nicely with some dark chocolate.
I’m a bit jealous you live in Belgium surrounded by all this wonderful chocolate and beer :) I’ve tried the Guylian seashell ones before my friend brought back for me and I savored every single bite, chocolate from the states just does NOT compare! Yummmm now I’m craving it. *drool*
Hahaha Samantha :-)
It’s great… and awful at the same time: I can get delicious chocolate everywhere and it’s SO hard to not eat it all the time.
I could have chocolate for lunch. Seriously, I could.
Yum! I love Guylian chocolate, and this post is making my mouth water. I’m eating a chocolate muffin while reading / writing this, put it’s paling into insignificance compared to Guylian.
You’re so lucky living in Belgium!
Hahaha! I have a love/hate relationship with muffins. I think they’re great for the first few bites, but I always have difficulties finishing them.
I usually quite like them – this one just left a lot to be desired, especially when coupled with this post!
Hihihi, sorry about that:)
I absolutely love Guylian – they are some of my most favourite chocolates in the world and like many people have said here, they are nicely affordable!! I’m feeling so hungry reading this and you must have felt pretty lucky when you got asked to review this!!
The thing that’s so dangerous with GuyLian is that you can just keep eating them. At least I know I can :D