Guylian Belgian Chocolates Advent Calendar

Guylian Belgian Chocolates Advent Calendar: 24 marbled pralines behind the doors

The Guylian Belgian Chocolates Advent Calendar puts 24 filled pralines behind its 24 doors, one for each day of the countdown. The whole box weighs 254g, and the chocolates are the marbled originals Guylian built its name on: hazelnut praliné Seashells, salted caramel Seahorses, milk truffle Seahorses. No extra trinkets, no printed card, just a chocolate a day until Christmas.

At £14.99 this is a mid-range chocolate calendar, pitched above the Cadbury and Lindt supermarket boxes and below the artisan chocolatier tins. It suits adult chocolate lovers who want something a cut above a standard milk-chocolate countdown without spending into the twenties, and it works as well for a partner as it does for yourself.

The Guylian story, hazelnut praliné roasted in copper

Guylian goes back to the original recipe of its founders, Guy and Liliane, whose first names gave the brand its own. Its signature move is roasting the hazelnuts in copper cauldrons, then marbling the praliné through milk, white and dark chocolate, which is why the shells and seahorses look the way they do.

The sourcing claims matter here: the cocoa is Fairtrade, the ingredients are 100% of natural origin, and there is no palm oil and no soya oil. That is the same praliné you would find in a Guylian box the rest of the year, portioned out across a 24-day countdown.

What’s inside this chocolate advent calendar

Behind the doors sit three of Guylian’s icons and nothing else: the Seashells Original Praliné, the Seahorses Salted Caramel and the Seahorses Milk Truffle. On the variety front, that is honest rather than broad. You are getting the brand’s core trio rotated across the month, not a 24-strong parade of different fillings, so if endless novelty is what you want from a countdown, this is not it.

What it does well is keep the quality constant. There is no weak day, no jelly or boiled-sweet filler smuggled in to pad out the box, which is the usual complaint with cheaper assortments. The contents are suitable for vegetarians, and the allergen list is short and clear: milk, hazelnuts and soya (lecithin).

=> The day-by-day contents are in the SPOILER tab.

Is the Guylian advent calendar worth the money?

Weight is the fairest yardstick for a chocolate calendar, and here it stacks up reasonably. 254g across 24 doors works out at a shade over 10g per chocolate, in line with a proper filled praliné rather than a thin moulded shape. On price, £14.99 for 254g lands at roughly £5.90 per 100g, which is premium-chocolate territory, well above a Cadbury countdown but below what a counter box of the same Guylian pralines costs gram for gram.

Put another way, divide the price by the 24 doors and each chocolate costs about 62p. That is the number to weigh up: you are paying Belgian-praliné money, and you get Belgian praliné, which is the whole point.

My verdict on the Guylian advent calendar

What wins me over is the honesty of it. Twenty-four real filled pralines, the same marbled Seashells and Seahorses Guylian sells all year, no padding and no gimmick. The salted caramel Seahorse is the pick of the three, and at ‘one good chocolate a day, every day’ the box does exactly what it says.

Where it falls down is variety. Three fillings across 24 days is thin if you treat the countdown as a daily surprise, and by the second week you will know what is coming. It’s a calendar for people who already love Guylian and want a daily hit of it, less so for anyone chasing a different flavour behind every door.

• Not for you if you want 24 distinct fillings or anything dark-chocolate-led.
• Worth it if you like hazelnut praliné and want a daily treat from a name you trust.

Guylian voucher and delivery:

• Voucher code: no code is available at the time of writing.
• Delivery: set by the retailer; check the current terms on the listing.

See all the advent calendar deals here.

Where to buy the Guylian advent calendar

This Belgian chocolate advent calendar is stocked on Amazon. Compare the best offers at the top of this page before you buy.