Sweet Treat

Melt into chocolate-infused bliss at The Spa At The Hotel Hershey.

- SHARON KING HOGE

After a full-body exfoliation, I was slathered head to toe with chocolate moisturizer, a rich blend of shea butter and cocoa essential oil gently massaged onto all my limbs before they were wrapped in a layer of sheets. At the Hershey Spa it’s called a chocolate hydrating body wrap, and now, after a gentle head massage, I’m absorbing the balm, stretched out prone on the treatment table like a giant chocolate bar.

In truth, after a day in “The Sweetest Place on Earth,” I’m probably closer in shape to a plump little Hershey’s Kiss. Predictable chocolate immersion kicked off with a complimentary Hershey’s bar (my choice of milk or dark chocolate), offered when I checked into my room at the Hotel Hershey. For dinner in the cozy Harvest restaurant, I chose Hershey’s Cocoa barbecued ribs, then proceeded to the Iberian Lounge for a chocolate panna cotta dessert and a signature chocolate martini (a skewered Hershey’s Kiss substituting for the olive).

From its street lights shaped like candy kisses to the Cocoa Cruiser roller coaster in the Chocolate World theme park, every aspect of Hershey, Pennsylvania, pays tribute to its enlightened entrepreneur, Milton S. Hershey. After devising a recipe for affordable milk chocolate, he established a factory in 1903, selecting this region for its abundant milk, water, railroads and workers, and then set about creating a model community with churches, schools, theaters, and parks to keep employees happy. The utopian village flourished into a full-fledged resort with a zoo, botanical garden, lodging, museums, outlet mall and interactive activities.