Ancienne chocolaterie Menier à Noisiel

In all fairness my "thumbs down" is given without having visited the site closely, but even then the building is too little to be unique. The history of the site is interesting though, being "rescued" by Nestle. Nowadays there is a regular tour twice a month but it did not fit into my visit to Paris at all. I drove right into the visitor parking nonetheless, went to the front desk and demanded some chocolate. Not even THAT! Wow...after visiting the Ritter chocolate factory where they basically throw chocolate at you in the museum you would think they can do something with the site here that isn't so taboo. Anyhow, I walked out of the lot and turned right to come along the fence where the picture was taken (there is a plaque too). The official website uses the same angle and it is pretty - that's about it. I don't think I would visit the factory unless it REALLY REALLY fits perfectly into a visit to Paris. If you are a group of 15+ you can actually request a tour for any day.

When we planned our trip to northern France, I was surprised that this T-list site is so close to Paris, and a second surprise was that they offered guided tours to the Menier Chocolate Factory, every fortnight on Saturday mornings. At least, they did in 2015. But as I checked again the Noisiel tourism website for this review, I noticed that the tour is not offered in 2016. Maybe it's due to stronger safety precautions, but I am not sure.

The meeting point for the guided tour was at the main square, about 40 participants gathered in front of the tourist office. After a short walk we arrived at the Menier factory. The modern town of Noisiel was built in the second half of the 19th century for the workers of the chocolate factory, it is a bit similar to Crespi d'Adda in Italy. The chocolate production in Noisiel has been discontinued in the 1990s, today the factory is the headquarters of Nestlé France who now owns the Menier company. The tour began in the modern entrance building, where our guide explained in detail the history of the Menier company and the workers' settlement in Noisiel. The tour was in French, so I did not understand all the details, but our guide also answered questions in English. The main part of the tour comprises the three historic buildings Le Moulin Saulnier, the Eiffel hall and the ‘Cathedral’. These buildings have been restored and are now used for representative purposes, …

The beautiful building is a turbine hall inside the factory site of Nestle France. This is a strictly private industrial/office area and there is no interest from Nestle to let tourists in.

This magnificent building must be protected but as I see it, not in the form of a WHS as Nestle keeps it so private.