cooking travel programs

You will receive an email with instructions on how to reset your password in a few minutes.

• Pasta making in the Italian countryside BOLOGNA, ITALY
• Authentic Croatian home cooking ZAGREB, CROATIA
• Traditional Balinese cooking on an organic farm UBUD, BALI
• Authentic Bengali cuisine with Iti CALCUTTA, INDIA
• Thai-Chinese small plates in a modern Bangkok home BANGKOK, THAILAND
• Market tour with Cherry BANGKOK, THAILAND

Where are you traveling?

Find your destination and book a private meal or cooking class with the best home cooks in their homes around the world.

• Buenos Aires
• Saint Philip
• Rio de Janeiro
• Puerto Varas
• Viña del Mar
• Bucaramanga
• Dominican Republic
• Santo Domingo
• Addis Ababa
• Aix-en-Provence
• Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
• Gordes, Provence
• Saint-Emilion
• Epanomi-Thessaloniki
• Pondicherry
• Caherdaniel
• Radda in Chianti
• Reggio Emilia
• Santa Maria di Castellabate
• Luang Prabang
• Mare D Albert
• Mexico City
• Puerto Vallarta
• San Miguel de Allende
• Ulaanbaatar
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Tobias Fornier
• Ponta Delgada, Azores
• Puerto Rico
• South Africa
• Johannesburg
• South Korea
• San Sebastian
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
• Cambridge, MA
• Chicago, IL
• Cleveland, OH
• Corpus Christi, TX
• Desert Hot Springs, CA
• Detroit, MI
• Fullerton, CA
• Grand Prairie, TX
• Long Beach, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Naperville, IL
• New York, NY
• North Tustin, CA
• Park City, UT
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• St. Louis, MO
• Ho Chi Minh City
• DON'T SEE YOUR DESTINATION?
• We have other experiences available.
• Contact us to connect with our travel team.

Traveler Review from March 25, 2024

Emi is a great hostess and instructor. She is warm, very welcoming and gracious. .. I definitely recommend her class if you want to take home a great memory and some cool recipes!

I had a divine experience with Fabio and his warm and welcoming wife ...Grazie for a true highlight culinary experience .I naturally can only highly recommend this experience. You will not be disappointed but inspired.

Traveler Review from March 23, 2024

Emi is the best! We thank the opportunity to have met her, as a person and as a teacher. It was a very good experience

We had such an awesome time with Shane... Good drinks, good company and good time! I recommend this! Take home a souvenir that is the knowledge of making bajan drinks at home!

Traveler Review from March 22, 2024

One of our favorite food experiences. Manu was charming, knowledgeable, attentive and his dog was great... We highly recommend this event.

...Our journey to Japan last October was a tapestry of unforgettable moments, but our cooking adventure with Satoru truly wove a thread of joy through our hearts ...Arigatou gozaimasu, Satoru, for an experience that was the highlight of our trip . Sayōnara, until the paths of our culinary adventures cross again!

Authentic Cooking Classes

Online and in-person cooking classes with locals around the world. learn to cook new cuisines and travel from your own kitchen with our latest online cooking classes., popular online cooking classes.

• EMPANADAS AND CHOCOLATE CAKE with Gabriela in Argentina
• FRESH PASTA with Cinzia in Italy
• HOMEMADE GNOCCHI with Cinzia in Italy
• PAELLA with Juan in Spain
• SPINACH RAVIOLI AND TIRAMISU with Mirella in Italy
• GREEK MEATBALLS (SOUTZOUKAKIA) with Fotini in Greece
• CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP DISH PIZZA with Nancy in United States
• LEBANESE MEZZE with Tania in Lebanon
• VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN PESTO PASTA with Fabio and Annarella in Italy
• YUCATECAN SOPA DE LIMA with Sofia in Mexico
• INDIAN LENTILS with Shalini in India
• MEXICAN TACOS AND TORTILLAS with Margarita in Mexico
• COOKIES, BREAD AND CHEESECAKE with Abhinanda in India
• MEXICAN SHRIMP TACOS with Alex and Ale in Mexico
• GOAN PRAWN CURRY with Rita in India
• COCHINITA PIBIL with Mariana and Geraldine in Mexico
• HANDMADE PASTA with Cinzia in Italy
• FRENCH MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKE with Andrea in United States
• SAVORY BRUNCH FOR WHOLE30 with Heidi in United States
• BURMESE CUISINE with Min in Thailand
• ADOBO IN THREE WAYS with Isi in Philippines
• VEGETARIAN OR CHICKEN TAGINE with Manuela in Morocco
• ITALIAN PASTA AND DESSERT with Nancy in United States
• MARGARITAS AND MEXICAN TACOS with Margarita in Mexico
• RISOTTO AND TIRAMISU with Laura in Italy
• QUESADILLA AND PEANUT CANDY with Daniel in Mexico
• STEAMED MOMOS with Rochani in England
• ARROZ CON POLLO with Gerardo in Colombia
• FUN GREEK FOOD TRIVIA GAME with Marina (food tour) in Greece
• MAKI SUSHI with Noriko in Japan
• KOREAN PANCAKE AND KIMCHI with Heidi in United States
• BRAZILIAN STREET FOOD with Clovis in Brazil
• GREEK PHYLLO PIE with Christina in Greece
• SWISS CHRISTMAS SPECIALTIES with Andrea in United States
• VEGETARIAN FILIPINO DISHES with Isi in Philippines
• CHARACTER BENTO BOX with Noriko in Japan
• TRADITIONAL PORTUGUESE HOMESTYLE DISHES with Filipa in Portugal
• SAMOSA WITH GREEN CHUTNEY with Shalini in India
• ENCHILADAS AND CHILAQUILES with Lucia in Mexico
• SEAWEED INSPIRED RECIPES with Marie in Ireland
• BUTTER CHICKEN AND NAAN with Reshma in India
• WINE with Michele in Italy
• INSTANT POT DISHES with Nancy in United States
• GAZPACHO AND CROQUETAS with Jose in Spain
• COCONUT RICE AND STEW with Srividya in India
• THAI GREEN CURRY with Pea in Thailand
• HOMEMADE QUICHE with Melissa in United States
• CHETTINAD CHICKEN MASALA with Kamala in India
• PUERTO RICAN MOFONGO with Yeira in Puerto Rico
• OKONOMIYAKI - JAPANESE PANCAKE with Midori in Japan
• A POPULAR INDIAN STREET FOOD with Kavitha in United States
• TACOS AL PASTOR with Sofia in Mexico
• GEORGIAN STEW AND BREAD with Shota in Georgia
• KENYAN SPICED BEEF RICE with Grace in Kenya
• PORTUGUESE-GOAN CUISINE with Paula in Portugal
• PAD THAI AND SOM TUM with Pea in Thailand
• TANZANIAN UGALI + CURRY BEEF STEW with Marissa in Tanzania
• GLUTEN FREE DESSERTS with BA in United States
• ARGENTINIAN CHRISTMAS DELICACIES with Gabriela in Argentina
• TRADITIONAL SPANISH CUISINE with Juan in Spain
• CHICKEN CURRY with Shveta in India
• PALAK PANEER with Shilpa in India
• CROATIAN CHICKEN + DUMPLINGS STEW with Zeljka in Croatia
• AZORES BEEF STEW with Maria in Portugal
• MOROCCAN PASTRIES with Khmisa in Morocco
• MOROCCAN FLATBREAD AND PANCAKE with Khmisa in Morocco
• BALINESE CHICKEN CURRY with Kadek in Indonesia
• BIRYANI with Reshma in India
• HOLIDAY SIDES AND PUMPKIN PIE with Nancy in United States
• CHICKEN TIKKA NAAN WRAPS with Reshma in India
• JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN with Theresa in Mexico
• MOROCCAN CREPE with Khmisa in Morocco
• CHICKEN SATAY with Putu in Indonesia
• MONGOLIAN CUISINE with Bee and Soy in Mongolia
• GOAN SEAFOOD with Rita in India
• FALAFEL with Tania in Lebanon
• PORTUGUESE-STYLE PEAS AND EGGS with Maria in Portugal
• MOROCCAN BRUNCH with Khmisa in Morocco
• PICKLED VEGETABLES with Alice in England
• WHAT IS IN YOUR PANTRY! with Alexander in Russia
• MEXICAN TORTILLA SOUP with Lucia in Mexico
• TRADITIONAL MOROCCAN TAGINE with Khmisa in Morocco
• GYOZA AND GOMA-AE with Emi in Japan
• LEBANESE CHICKEN SHAWARMA with Marcelle in Lebanon
• CHICKEN VINDALOO with Rita in India
• KHACHAPURI AND DOLMA with Lasha and Elene in Georgia
• CHOCOLATE FONDANT with Melissa in United States
• CAKE DECORATING with Paula in Portugal
• MARTINIS AND CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE with Nancy in United States
• CEVICHE with Melissa in Costa Rica
• GARLIC PARATHA AND PALAK PANEER with Farheen in India
• ETHIOPIAN INJERA AND TIBS with Daniel in Ethiopia
• TURKISH CUISINE with Selda in Turkey
• VEGAN FUSION CUISINE with Heidi in United States
• STEAK, CHIMICHURRI AND POTATOES with Heidi in United States
• GNOCCHI AND TIRAMISU with Mirella in Italy
• GREEK ISLAND RECIPES with Fotini in Greece
• MOUSSAKA with Fotini in Greece
• GOUGERES with Andrea in United States
• BRAZILIAN CUSCUZ with Clovis in Brazil
• QUICHE AND SEAFOOD FIDEUA with Fabian in Panama
• DIWALI SWEETS with Reshma in India
• TRADITIONAL PORTUGUESE CUISINE with Paula in Portugal
• INARIZUSHI AND MISO SOUP with Emi in Japan
• ADJARIAN KHACHAPURI with Lasha and Elene in Georgia
• BENGALI FISH with Zinnia in India
• PANEER TIKKA with Somya in India
• GREEK STUFFED PEPPER AND CAPER SALAD with Maria in Greece
• MATTAR PANEER AND NAAN with Shalini in India
• MARTINIS AND STUFFED MUSHROOM with Nancy in United States
• VIETNAMESE PORRIDGE & SALAD with Son in Vietnam
• MUNG CREPES AND VEGETABLE KORMA with Kavitha in United States
• INDIAN PARATHA with Shveta in India
• VEGETARIAN BIRYANI AND RAITA with Kaushik in India
• FRESH TAGLIATELLE PASTA with Patrizia in Italy
• MASALA RICE AND LENTIL STEW with Kavitha in United States
• PORK RIBS AND SHRIMP VOLCAN with Manuel in Mexico
• SHAHI RAJMA with Savita in India
• MEXICAN SALSAS with Lucia in Mexico
• MUMBAI STREET FOOD BRUNCH with Kavitha in United States
• COSTA RICAN FISH with Melissa in Costa Rica
• KOFTA CURRY with Payal in India
• SRI LANKAN COCONUT FISH CURRY with Buddhima in Sri Lanka
• BEEF TARTARE AND LAVA CAKE with Evgeny in Russia
• HOMEMADE PASTA with Mirella in Italy
• MEXICAN INDIAN FUSION CUISINE with Ruby in United States
• CHICKEN STEW AND APPAM with Leela in India
• MEXICAN MEATBALLS with Margarita in Mexico
• GREEK VEGETARIAN DISHES with Christina in Greece
• PUNJABI ALOO PURI with Shveta in India
• INDIAN MASALA DOSA BRUNCH with Kavitha in United States
• GEORGIAN KHINKALI DUMPLINGS with Tina in Georgia
• CHICKEN CURRY AND COCONUT ROTI with Buddhima in Sri Lanka
• CHICKEN 65 with Tara in India
• RISOTTO AND CAPRESE SALAD with Mariangela in Italy
• KERALA BEEF FRY with Tara in India
• SOUTH INDIAN TIFFIN MEAL with Kavitha in United States
• MALVA PUDDING AND BABOTIE with Lorette in South Africa
• ISRAELI DESSERTS with Shira in Israel
• COLOMBIAN AJIACO with Gerardo in Colombia
• MEDITERRANEAN MEATBALLS & SALAD with Kit in England
• GLUTEN-FREE INDIAN FLATBREADS with Kavitha in United States
• PERUVIAN CASSEROLE AND COOKIES with Cinthia in Peru
• TANDOORI CHICKEN with Shveta in India
• COFFEE with Leandro in Colombia
• AUTHENTIC VIETNAMESE CUISINE with Linh in Vietnam
• MASALA DOSA AND CHUTNEY with Kaushik in India

VIEW ALL CLASSES

100% of our hosts are vetted

Satisfaction guarantee

100% private experiences

"Traveling Spoon is a brilliant idea. The world needs it." - Alice Waters

100% of hosts are personally vetted.

We find the best home cooks around the world so you can immerse yourself in meaningful food experiences and cultural traditions passed down through generations. Connect with local culture through food . Visit a grandmother in her kitchen in India and learn how to make crisp dosas or spend time on a farm in Northern Thailand and grind curry pastes, and experience how local people live.

Experience the joy of a homemade meal (and eat it the way the locals do) over conversation about food and culture

Discover cultural and culinary traditions passed down through generations as you learn to cook with your host in their kitchen

Explore a nearby market with your host, discovering the best local produce and its producers

Traveling Spoon Destinations

Let us help

Need help finding a host? Fill out our form and one of our travel specialists will get back to you!

Traveling Spoon © 2024. All Rights Reserved

Terms | Privacy Policy | Annual Report | Copyright | Blog

• Become a Host
• Give a Gift

Creating authentic experiences throughout the world

Other featured deals.

Experience the stunning landscapes and historic towns of Siena, Cortona, Montepulciano and Pienza with your private guide and sommelier.

The inland Pueblos Blancos (white towns) provide a sunny taste of Spain in the region of Andalusia and Province of Malaga. The Culinary...

Your Puebla culinary vacation is located in the lovely village of Tlaxcala, a well-hidden gem that is off the usual tourist routes and takes you back to Mexico as...

It is difficult to forget the breathtaking beauty of the Adriatic Sea and the mountains of central Italy, from seaside to medieval villages…

The Swiss Alps has been Europe's playground for hundreds of years. This paradise of glistening peaks, tumbling glaciers, and gushing waterfalls...

Two Asian cultures in one tour. Experience Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City on this gastronomic odyssey. Discover diverse Thai curries, travel through the...

Poros is a very beautiful pine-forest island on the gulf between Athens and the Peloponnese. Poros is famous for its naturally formed harbor that...

A Foodie’s palate on parade in the culinary center of the world! You will learn why Paris overwhelms every food lover with delight as you discover...

Amalfi Coast Culinary Vacations: Mediterranean Cooking Experience

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,550

Spend a week at a 5* hotel exploring one of the most beautiful and famous coastlines in the world.

Tuscan Splendor - Luxury Cooking Vacations in Tuscany

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,990

Experience the authentic Tuscany of your dreams on a journey to the this deluxe family-owned property.

Northern Italy Cooking Vacations: Piedmont and Liguria

6 Nights Starting At $5,580

Taste the flavors and wines of northern Italy on this private tour to Piedmont and Liguria, including the Cinque Terre.

Poros Cooking Odyssey Vacations in Greece

7 Nights Starting At $3,050

Enjoy our best-selling Greek culinary tour, full of delectable food and great memories.

Delectable Portugal: Food & Wine Evora, Portugal Tours

5 Nights Starting At $3,660

Explore the beauty of sunny Portugal on an authentic and unforgettable culinary vacation....

Worldwide Best Food Tours at The International Kitchen®

We have specialized in private, custom, and small group food tours since 1994. Our food tours provide authentic, intimate, and unique foodie experiences that will satisfy your tastebuds and your love of travel! Our food tours are designed to satisfy you, whether you want to cook traditional Italian food with a “nonna,” taste the wines of Burgundy at countryside vineyards, explore the markets of Mexico, or discover the street food of Vietnam. Through visits with artisan food producers, farmers, cheese-makers, bakers, pizzaioli, and more, you will discover the rich culture of the country you are visiting, and make friends to last a lifetime.

Why book your food tours with The International Kitchen®? When you book a private tour with us you’re not just getting an authentic and top-quality food tour, you are entrusting your culinary tour to a group of expert, experienced, and passionate culinary tour coordinators and food lovers who are dedicated to making sure you have the ultimate culinary vacation and foodie tour. Give us a call — we’re here to help you find the food tour of your dreams.

In The Media

Recommendations & features.

What are others saying about TIK? We’ve been featured or recommended in such industry- recognized media as:

Our Tried And True Bestsellers

Cooking under the tuscan sun: best food & wine tours in cortona 2024.

3 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,175

Food & Wine Tasting Tour in Puglia, Italy

6 Nights Starting At $4,600

Elegant Taormina and The Eastern Coast

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $4,800

A Food Lover's Paradise in Norcia Cooking Vacations

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $3,150

Custom Food Tours

Which of our food tours can be customized? Any of them! We can also start from scratch and design foodie tours entirely around your personal wishes, even in regions you don’t see represented among our current offerings. Our decades of working exclusively in the field of culinary tourism mean we have contacts all over the world and can put together custom foodie tours usually in about 48 hours or less. Just give us a call or send us an email and we’ll get your food tours started!   Contact Us

How About a One-Day Class?

For those who don’t have time for a full food tour, The International Kitchen® offers one-day cooking classes in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, and more. Our cooking courses provide an authentic and educational cooking experience that is rich in food culture and cuisine – not to mention being a lot of fun. If you don’t see your destination of choice listed, please contact us about a custom class, as we may still be able to make your culinary dreams come true . Learn More

New Trip Offerings

Small group culinary vacations in sicily.

7 Nights Starting At $4,900

Intensive French Cooking Holiday: Farm to Table Culinary Vacation

5 or 6 Nights Starting At $4,280

Client Testimonial

Cooking in the French Alps

Deborah T. , California

“Overall, the cooking program in the French Alps was a wonderful culinary and cultural experience provided with great heart, warmth, hospitality and pride by the hosts!!!”

Similar Vacations

Deluxe southern france culinary tour.

5 Nights Starting At $5,425

Luxury Food Tour of Northern France

4 Nights Starting At $3,995

Michelin Star Experiences

Cooking and walking in umbria.

6 Nights Starting At $4,530

A Five-Star Retreat in the Veneto

6 Nights Starting At $3,670

Emilia Romagna Food & Wine Tasting Tours 2024

4 or 7 Nights Starting At $2,875

Culinary Tour of the Italian Countryside: Discovering Authentic Flavors

3 Nights Starting At $1,975

The Best Basque Country Cooking Vacations in Bilbao and San Sebastián

4 Nights Starting At $3,980

Michelin Star Cooking Tours on the Prosecco Road

2 or 3 Nights Starting At $1,150

Don Alfonso

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,760

Cooking Classes

Private cooking class in paris.

One-Day Class Starting At $360

Genoa – Cooking Class with Chef Enrica

One-Day Class Starting At $260

Cortona – Lesson with Chef Silvia or her Chefs

One-Day Class Starting At $335

Lisbon – Sintra and Cascais Driving Tour

One-Day Class Starting At $200

Lisbon – Walking Tour and Premium Wine Tasting

One-Day Class Starting At $175

Wine Tour of the Priorat

One-Day Class Starting At $490

Wine Tour of the Penedes

Barcelona – boqueria market visit and cooking lesson.

One-Day Class Starting At $110

Marseille – Lesson with Chef Gilles

One-Day Class Starting At $495

Aix-en-Provence – Lesson with Chef Gilles

One-day cooking course in paris – lesson with chef dominique.

One-Day Class Starting At $195

One-Day Cooking Course in Paris – Lesson with Chef Marthe

One-day cooking course in paris – lesson with chef frédéric, venice (lido) – lesson with chef marika.

One-Day Class Starting At $155

Tuscany Tours – Colors and Savors in Florence

One-Day Class Starting At $295

Tavarnelle Val di Pesa – Lesson with Chefs Cecilia and Massimo

One-Day Class Starting At $185

Family Friendly

Best food & wine tours in rome, italy.

3 or 5 Nights Starting At $1,630

Flavors of Puerto Rico - Food Tour in Old San Juan

3 or 6 Nights Starting At $1,725

Taste of Puebla and Oaxaca Culinary Tour of Mexico

6 Nights Starting At $3,120

Magical Mexico City Culinary Vacation

4 Nights Starting At $2,075

Best 2024 Cooking Vacations in Molise, Italy

6 Nights Starting At $4,135

Splendid Five-Star Sorrento Food Tour on Amalfi Coast

6 Nights Starting At $6,750

Colors and Flavors of Northern Peru

5 Nights Starting At $1,945

Cuisine and Culture of Provence

6 Nights Starting At $3,550

Catalonian Culinary Vacations and Wine Tasting Tours in Costa Brava

3 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,325

Cooking on the Riviera Maya

4 or 7 Nights Starting At $1,270

Cooking Vacations in Provence: A Gastronomic Holiday in Aix

5 Nights Starting At $2,650

An Adventurous Cooking Vacation at Zakynthos Island

7 Nights Starting At $2,850

Highlights of India Cooking Tour

11 Nights Starting At $5,750

Authentic Italian Cooking Vacation in Piedmont

3 Nights Starting At $1,100

Sorrento Cooking Adventure

4 or 6 Nights Starting At $2,875

A Culinary Vacation in Vasto

6 or 11 Nights Starting At $1,855

From Our Blog

Recipes, travel ideas and tips, high-lights from our cooking travels, chef interviews, and more. Check out our blog for insights in an industry where we have a ton of experience.

Recipes from Sarteano: Pici al Ragù Toscano

February 21, 2024

Meet Chef Chiara, the culinary instructor behind our Authentic Tuscan Cooking in the Val d’Orcia Valley and this recipe for Pici al Ragù Toscano! Chef…

What to See in Normandy France

February 20, 2024

We love all the regions where we offer cooking vacations, but some locations really stand out! Normandy is certainly one of those places, offering amazing regional cuisine, fantastic…

This website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By using this site without changing your settings you indicate your consent.

NOW IT'S EVEN EASIER TO JOIN THE CULINARY ADVENTURE WITH 0% INTEREST PAYMENT PLANS OPTIONS

Lets Eat The World

Culinary Experiences for Travel Lovers

No products in the cart.

Culinary Tours & Cooking Workshops Around The World – Let’s Eat The World

Book your culinary tours, cooking workshops, or culinary vacation with let’s eat the world, chef-created culinary tours for food and wine lovers – discover cultures through food with uniquely-curated experiences.

France tours, Italy tours, Georgia (country) tours, Spain tours

Welcome to Let’s Eat The World , a unique travel experience where the joys of travel, food, and culture beautifully intertwine. I am Yetunde Oshodi-Fraudeau, the driving force behind this venture. Through my extensive travels and cultural explorations, I’ve come to realize that food is more than a culinary pleasure; it’s a rich narrative woven with history and cultural significance.

At Let’s Eat The World , we emphasize the importance of gathering around the table. It’s not simply about enjoying exotic dishes; it’s an immersive journey into the stories, traditions, and histories that define each culinary creation. Our culinary adventures are tailored for intimate groups, creating a space where each dish is not only a meal but a shared exploration and a bridge to understanding diverse cultures.

Envision yourself in the culinary epicenter of Italy, donning an apron, hands coated in flour, as you learn the art of pasta making from a local chef. Or, picture yourself meandering through the bustling markets of Tbilisi, Georgia, inhaling the fragrant blend of spices and fresh produce, discovering the unique flavors of regional cuisine. Delve into the subtleties of French gastronomy, enjoying the region’s finest wines while forming bonds with fellow food enthusiasts. Our experiences are varied, yet they all share a common purpose: to connect, learn, and celebrate the universal language of food.

Our adventures are carefully crafted for groups no larger than eight, ensuring a personalized and immersive experience for every participant. Whether you’re an experienced cook or a culinary novice, our local experts will guide you through the rich flavors and traditions, unraveling the complexity of each cuisine.

But our journey extends beyond the realms of the kitchen. We incorporate cultural excursions, historical landmark tours, and market explorations. These elements enhance our understanding, enabling us to appreciate not just the flavor but the essence of every dish we encounter.

Let’s Eat The World is more than a travel agency; it’s a gathering of like-minded individuals bonded by their love for culinary exploration. We invite you to join our table, to learn, share, and create unforgettable memories. Together, let’s explore the world, one delicious bite at a time.

2024 Culinary Tour Dates – 2024 Cooking Workshops

Discover our 2024 dates and Let’s Eat The World

Select your tour below by clicking the Book Now button for more info.

ALL OUR CULINARY TOURS & COOKING WORKSHOPS

Let’s eat georgia a culinary holiday in tbilisi, georgia.

Join us for an 8-day, 9-night culinary holiday taking you from Tbilisi, Georgia to the Georgian countryside and back. This is a food & wine lover’s dream holiday where hospitable local guides will lead you on a cultural and gastronomical journey

Let’s Eat Parma – Food & Wine Holiday in Parma, Italy

Embark on a 7-day culinary adventure in Parma, Italy. Experience 6 nights of authentic pasta crafting, exquisite prosciutto tastings, and explorations of Italian wines. Perfect for enthusiasts of food and wine.

Let’s Eat Uzès! Week in Uzès – A Provencal Cooking Vacation in Southern France

6 days of cooking, baking, touring, and tasting. Hands-on French cooking classes. Explore markets, visit producers, and be immersed in French cuisine. All skill levels are welcome. 7-nights lodging included.

Let’s Eat Seville – Week-long Culinary Vacation in Southern Spain

6 days of cooking, tapas, wine, & flamenco in Andalusia. A culinary tour in Seville for food & wine lovers. Explore markets, taste with us & enjoy! All skill levels are welcome. 7-nights lodging included.

Let’s Eat Paris – Week Long Cooking Classes in Paris

5.5 days of pure foodie love. A French culinary tour in Paris filled with food, wine, & cooking? Yes, please! Join our chefs & guides you on a gastronomic journey through French cuisine à la Parisienne, Champagne & wine tasting, & more. Jump in!

Let’s Eat Seville: 5-Day Culinary Tour in Seville

Seville, Spain is calling. Join your chef in this 4-days, 5-night Spanish cooking, tapas & wine tasting tour. A mini version of our longer Let’s Eat Seville tour and a chance to discover the Andalusian capital through its food, music, & dance.

3-Day Bread Master Class

This 3-day Bread master class is perfect for anyone who would like to learn how to make, maintain and use a starter. Learn to make better bread at home like a pro. We’ll teach you the techniques you need to beef up your bread-making skills. Open to bakers of all levels.

Questions about our culinary packages? Feel free to contact us.

Your Name (required)

Telephone Number (required)

Your Email (required)

Your Message

BOOK YOUR FRENCH COOKING CLASS!

• Date, Time and Participants
• Your details and Payment

Please fill in the form to register on our waiting list. You will be notified if the requested seats become available.

Participants 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Country —Please choose an option—

Mobile phone

Number including country code, ex. US +1

Message (optional)

Subscribe to our newsletter for great recipes from our chefs in your inbox

Your details

Booking request pending, terms and conditions, cancellation policy.

The slot will be held for 10 minutes

You will be redirecting in 1 minutes...

Privacy overview.

Looking for recipe E-books, souvenir aprons, video tutorials, and gift vouchers? Visit our online shop for the perfect souvenir or gift idea from Let’s Eat The World.

Cooking Classes Cruises & Tours

Best cooking tours, trips & cruises for 2024-2025, discover argentina, vietnam discovery, taste of argentina, wine tours - concha y toro, exclusive thailand, luxor to aswan, highlights of indochina, colors of provence, antigua culinary tour, top destinations for culinary cruises & tours, peru culinary tours & cooking classes, argentina culinary tours & cooking classes, france culinary tours & cruises, vietnam culinary tours & cooking classes, bali culinary tours & cooking classes, thailand culinary tours & cooking classes, egyptian culinary tours & cooking classes, 10 best cooking class of latin america for 2024-2025, top 10 culinary cruises of asia & the south pacific for 2024-2025, 8 best european culinary cruises for 2024-2025, colors of provence - cruise only, cruising scandinavia & the baltic sea, spectacular south of france, melodies of the danube, idyllic rhône, bordeaux affair, cooking class traveler stories, spanish cooking class with taller andaluz de cocina, more than just a cooking class, why travel with adventure life, recognized by.

We are the leaders in culinary tours, hands-on cooking classes, food market visits & cultural adventures in Italy.

Visit Our Cooking Tours In Italy’s 20 Regions

Amalfi Coast & Campania

Rome & Lazio

Florence & Tuscany

Sicily & Sardinia

Venice & Veneto

Bologna & Emilia-Romagna

Lombardia & The Lakes Region

Liguria & The Cinque Terre

1 Day Cooking & Market Tours

Best Sellers

Spain, Greece and France

On-Line Cooking Classes

“It’s a Dream Place – Stories of Food, Love and The Amalfi Coast”

By lauren birmingham.

This is a dream cookbook. Who in the world wouldn’t want to try ‘Catch of the Day for a Beautiful Woman of the Sea?’ But in addition to being a cookbook, it’s a slice of life from the impossibly beautiful Amalfi Coast: how it looks, how it feels, how the interactions with the people there are so soulful and rewarding. It takes a particular kind of person to attract the kinds of magical stories Lauren Birmingham Piscitelli does. And it takes something more to get chefs to give up their recipes. Call this author not only a charming writer, but a sorceress whose company in these pages we are privileged to keep,” Elizabeth Berg, award-winning New York Times bestselling author.

Take a look of the book’s preview contents

Not registered yet? Create an Account

Privacy Overview

Get the Hottest Deals First!

Many of Collette’s culinary travel experiences put you at the heart of where a meal is made — in the kitchen. From exclusive cooking classes and culinary demonstrations to breaking bread with locals, we seek out the truly immersive culinary experiences. These are a few of our favorite ways to savor the flavors of the world.

HOME-HOSTED MEALS

Be welcomed into the home of a local family where you’ll share a delicious meal and experience a destination’s culture firsthand. Make lifelong friends as you savor authentically prepared food and drink that you won’t find in any restaurant, bar, or café. See why food is the international language when you pull up a seat to the table.

Home-Cooked MEAL IN ITALY

While traveling through Italy, you’ll learn that much of the cuisine is heavily dependent on the region in which it’s being prepared. Tuscan and Umbrian cuisine has agrarian roots, and meals consist of what’s farmed or foraged from its fertile land. You can learn more about this regional cuisine when you are welcomed in to the home of an Italian family. Enjoy a home-hosted meal as you swap stories and share laughs.

Embark on one of our tours to the resplendent countryside of Italy.

UNIQUE CULINARY EXPERIENCES

Sometimes, you yearn for more than a meal in a restaurant or a drink in a café. As travelers and foodies ourselves, your desire to taste a country’s true flavor is something we understand. From off-the-beaten-path excursions to centuries-old ceremonies, we seek to engage all your senses with our unique culinary experiences. If your palate and imagination are looking for an adventure, here are some appetizing options:

HUNTING FOR A DECADENT DELICACY: The French Truffle

For some culinary experiences, the hunt makes the experience more memorable. In France, you can travel through the forests in the early morning hours to find a European delicacy — the truffle. Using the heightened sense of smell of a trained dog or pig, travelers are led to truffle-producing trees where this delicious mushroom-like delicacy can be found. Après hunt, you’ll marvel at the landscapes said to have inspired van Gogh, Picasso, and Renoir.

Chef and truffle-hunting lead, Jean-Marc Larrue , is passionate about tracking down this coveted natural food.

This thrilling culinary quest is just one example of the cooking experiences you may have while visiting France.

DISCOVER WHY MAINE IS KNOWN FOR lobster

When in Maine, indulging in lobster is a must. On your way to Bar Harbor, make a stop at a traditional lobster shack for a taste of fresh lobster, caught just steps away. Then, find out what life is like for local lobstermen and see traps hauled out of the water as you cruise the waters on a traditional Downeast-style lobster boat. Experience this New England foodie experience on Roaming Coastal Maine.

SPAIN’S CULINARY OUTLIER: Catalan Cuisine

Catalan cuisine offers its own distinctive set of flavors with its proximity to the Mediterranean coast and Pyrenees Mountains. The food and drink here can best be described as surf and turf with a twist. Imagine yourself exploring La Boqueria, the city’s largest and oldest open-air market to experience the sights, sounds and flavors of Catalan culture and cuisine. 

COOKING CLASSES

Sharpen your skills in the kitchen with an engaging cooking class. You’ll learn the secrets behind authentic, regional cuisine while you exercise your culinary muscles. Whether you consider yourself a master chef or just a beginner, you will come away with some useful culinary tips and tricks.

CREOLE OR CAJUN? All About New Orleans Cuisine

During an interactive cooking class in America’s foodie city, New Orleans, Louisiana, you’ll discover the nuances in Creole and Cajun cuisine. While the two cuisines use similar ingredients, you’ll learn they are distinctly different.

Creole cuisine is often referred to as “city food.” It traces back to 18th century New Orleans. Creole blends influences from around the world and is considered high-class. Complex sauces and dishes with higher-priced ingredients are Creole.

Cajun cuisine is often referred to as “country food.” Its origins date back to the Acadian French colonists who settled in the region now called Acadiana. Cajun food is bursting with spices and most dishes start with the “holy trinity of Cajun cuisine” – onion, celery, and bell pepper. But with Cajun cooking, it really is all about the spice!

Learn the nuances of Creole and Cajun cuisine on one of our New Orleans tours.

COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS

If you’re mesmerized by a good cooking show, or always wondered what secret ingredient goes into your favorite dish, we have a treat for you. You’ll get exclusive access to local chefs who will demonstrate exactly how they work their culinary magic. Watch, learn, and be amazed by regional professionals.

COOKING WITH Nature’s Bounty in the Azores

In the Azores islands, the autonomous region of Portugal, you’ll savor tropical fruits, a seemingly endless amount of seafood, and rustic cuisine. You’ll learn that in the Azores, the food relies on its quality and freshness, rather than on an elaborate blend of spices and flavors. And, as most of the recipes didn’t leave with the inhabitants who migrated out of the Azores in the 1900s, the food and drink here is still very much a mystery to the world.

You can discover the secrets of Azorean cuisine with an interactive cooking demonstration when you travel to Portugal and its islands.

– LOCAL LESSONS –

How to make a margherita pizza.

GET SPIRITED AWAY

A TASTE OF TRADITION

FAVORITE FARE AROUND THE WORLD

JUST DESSERTS

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Find a travel agency.

Once you've found the perfect Collette tour, your local travel agent can assist you in making reservations. To find a preferred travel agent in your area, please enter your 5-digit zip code, then click Search.

Enter a Whole or Partial Zip Code

Please tell us everything, we want it all.

We really value your feedback, please be open an honest. Tell us where we can improve, how we can get better. This feedback is anonymous, but if you would like us to get in touch with you regarding an issue provide your email address as part of your feedback and we will get right back to you.

Talk to an Expert

Please fill out the form below, and a Collette Expert will contact you shortly.

• Yes, I'm a Travel Professional
• Yes, I am working with a Travel Professional
• I am traveling with 8 or more travelers

View or Download

Solo Traveler

Solo travel tips, destinations, stories... the source for those who travel alone.

Culinary Travel Experiences Around the World

February 10, 2021 by Tracey Nesbitt

One of the great joys of travel is discovering the cuisine of the destinations you visit. You can learn a lot about the history and culture of a place through its food and drink. I have pulled together some of the fabulous culinary travel experiences we have had as we have traveled solo around the world.

Over the years I've enjoyed a market tour and cooking class with a Michelin Star chef in Barcelona, learned about Italian home cooking in a town devoted to food, been bossed around in a professional kitchen in New York State, and made discoveries about French culture in Paris markets. In Italy, Janice found liquid gold. All of these stories are gathered here.

If you are looking for some tips to help you research and plan ahead for your own tasty travel experiences, have a look at Culinary Travel: Top Tips for Food and Wine Travel Planning.

Table of Contents

Food, Wine & Culture: Cooking in Barcelona

In the course of planning a trip to Barcelona, I signed up for a cooking class which promised to teach me how to make some traditional Spanish dishes. I was a bit leery as the website indicated that the classes were geared for tourists, but I crossed my fingers, booked the optional market tour, and hoped for the best.

The Adventure Begins

On the appointed day, a small group of travelers, (a few, like myself, solo travelers), trudged up a steep staircase to find an apartment converted into a huge kitchen area, with a small office and washroom. I was in the  Cook and Taste  cooking school. Stools lined one side of a long counter, while huge windows looked out over La Rambla.

Once gathered and introduced to one another, we set out for a tour of the famous Boqueria Market . What a treat to have a skilled guide! Our instructor showed us what to buy, who to buy it from, and where to eat when we were finished shopping.

Getting Down to Work

Back in the kitchen, we unloaded the ingredients that we had gathered, and got down to work. The interactive class format allowed for as much or as little participation as desired.

My classmates and I, hailing from the United States, Sweden, the UK, Canada, France, and Australia were an enthusiastic bunch. We chopped and stirred, listened and laughed, and ate and drank our way through the next few hours. We created – then ate – a delicious cold tomato soup topped with a mound of idiazabal cheese, a classic tortilla, chicken paella, and crema catalana.

The Delicious Rewards of Culinary Travel

The free-flowing wine may have contributed to us overstaying our scheduled class time, but luckily the chef didn’t seem to mind. We picked her brain for restaurant recommendations, shopping tips, and all manner of food and wine-related topics to help guide us to other culinary travel experiences.

My fears that this would be a low-level, touristy outing proved unfounded. In fact, our instructor was a chef from a Michelin-starred restaurant in Barcelona. She gave us a peek into the world of a top female chef in a male-dominated profession, in a cultural context very different from my own. It was fascinating.

Taking a cooking class is a great option for solo travelers. You can learn a lot about the local food and culture, pick up a new skill, then dine with your new-found friends. You also leave with all of the recipes, so that you can recreate the meal and relive your trip back at home. I loved it! And that’s not just the wine talking.

Cook and Taste offers virtual events, cooking classes, food walking tours and more in Barcelona. Get all the details on their website.

Forlimpopoli: A Culinary Travel Dream Town

Forlimpopoli.

Just saying the word makes me feel a little bit Italian!

This town of approximately 13,000 people in north-eastern Italy was one of the highlights of my food and wine exploration in the Emilia-Romagna region. Easily reached by train from Bologna in about an hour (everywhere I went in Italy seemed to be just an hour’s train ride away), Forlimpopoli appears to have always been a center for agriculture and gastronomy. It was the birthplace of Pellegrino Artusi, arguably the father of modern Italian cooking, and author of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well .

Casa Artusi

In the heart of Forlimpopoli lies Casa Artusi , which is a sort of living, breathing monument to Italian gastronomy and culture. Combining a cooking school, library, restaurant, museum, wine cellar, and event venue – not to mention a jaw-droppingly beautiful church—Casa Artusi is dedicated to the art of home cooking.

Did you catch that? Home cooking . This is what was so fascinating to me: the focus of all of this love and care and attention (and money) is the everyday cooking that Italians do at home. Not celebrity chefs. Not Michelin-star restaurants. Real people making real food in their homes for their families.

This theme is carried throughout the exhibits and events at Casa Artusi. I took a pasta-making lesson in their bright and airy kitchen, and was taught not by a chef or a local restaurateur, but by women known as Le Mariette. These women, members of the Associazione delle Mariette, teach practical cooking skills in traditional Romagnolo cuisine, drawing on their own home cooking experience. Although I do not speak Italian, and they spoke very little English, they taught me to make fresh pasta using our hands – which, in my opinion, is the best way to learn.

A Reverence for Gastronomy

There was something really wonderful about creating food from scratch, by hand, instructed by someone who has done this her entire life, who probably learned it from her mother, who learned it from hers.

There is a sense of reverence in Italy not just for food, but for the ingredients, the process of creating it, and the joy of sharing a homemade meal. This is really captured in the spirit of Casa Artusi, where you can hang out in the library and marvel at an early edition of Artusi’s famous book, now translated into multiple languages over innumerable editions; dine in the restaurant; take a hands-on course yourself; or take a break and visit the adjoining church of Chiesa dei Servi.

I think Pellegrino Artusi, after whom the center is named, would be proud.

There are lots of reasons to build in a day trip to Forlimpopoli, not least of which would be to attend one of the many festivals and events that take place throughout the year. Festa Artusiana, a nine-day gastronomic extravaganza that takes over the town in late June each year would be one culinary travel experience I would like to plan around next time.

For more information about visiting the first center of gastronomic culture devoted entirely to Italian home cookery, taking a virtual or hands-on cooking class, check out the Casa Artusi website .

Cooking in Canandaigua

Early on a Saturday morning in June ( very early for this non-morning person!) I found myself surrounded by the sights and sounds of a busy farmer’s market. Organized by a group of local farmers, the Canandaigua Farmers' Market runs from June to October in a parking lot in downtown Canandaigua, in New York’s Finger Lakes Region.

But I wasn’t just there to browse: I was on a mission. I had been handed $20 and instructed to check out the local produce and choose a few ingredients that I would like to cook with.

As I wandered up and down the small market, I picked up big bunches of kale, curly garlic scapes, bright red strawberries, and snow-white fresh goat cheese. I teamed up with a mother-daughter duo from Rochester, Rose and Mary Ann, and we added a few more items to our shopping bags.

Then, we were off to what is now called New York Kitchen (formerly the New York Wine and Culinary Center) for a cooking class. Their Hands-On Kitchen is located in a beautiful building on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, which also houses a tasting room where you can explore local wine and beer; a restaurant, NYK Cafe; private event space, and more. They host a wide variety of cooking classes, both in-person and virtual, and food and wine related events.

I was excited to work with the fresh ingredients that we had gathered at the market, and equally excited to have such a well-equipped kitchen to play in. I had a kale pesto in mind, and I couldn’t wait to get started. As it turned out, however, Rose had her own ideas about what we would make. And who would make it. And it wasn’t me.

Mary Ann took me aside early in the process to let me know that her mother was always in charge in kitchen. She wanted to apologize in advance because she knew that we were both about to get bossed around. And indeed, my pesto idea was thrown out with the kale ribs and strawberry stems. I was allowed only to sautee the greens under Rose’s watchful eye, and help fetch ingredients for the other dishes. My biggest contribution to the meal was spreading goat cheese and hot pepper jelly on crackers.

Sometimes, it’s more important to go with the flow than to worry about fulfilling expectations. It seemed pointless to share with Rose that I was, in fact, a personal chef. Instead, I accepted her orders and watched her in action. She had years of experience cooking up Italian specialties for family and friends, so she knew exactly how she wanted things to be done.

Letting go of my desire to do things my way also freed me up to wander around the kitchen and see what our fellow classmates were up to. At each station, different dishes were being whipped up with the guidance of our patient and friendly chef, Jose Morales. Within less than two hours, everyone was finished, and we walked around the kitchen filling our plates with tastes of more than 20 different dishes. It was delicious!

Although the class didn’t turn out quite as I had expected, as a culinary travel experience, it combined many wonderful elements. From visiting the farmers market and getting a feel for what was growing in the Finger Lakes region, to meeting new people, to having the opportunity to work in a professional kitchen under the tutelage of a local chef, to tasting great food made alongside new friends, it was time well spent.

At the end of the class, Rose gave me a big hug, and I gifted her and her daughter with some lovely bread that I had picked up at the market. It was a sweet ending to an interesting morning.

To find out more about virtual and in-person cooking classes, tastings, dining, and other culinary travel events offered in the Finger Lakes region, see the New York Kitchen website .

Lessons Learned in the Markets of Paris

When I’m at home, I spend a lot of time traveling around my city, and the surrounding countryside, visiting farmer’s markets – at least during the limited harvest season we have in Ontario. I love to see what’s being grown, what’s in season, what delicacies vendors have created from their harvest. When I’m traveling, this becomes even more interesting, and I can’t wait to seek out the local markets.

On my first solo trip to Paris, I was in market heaven. I had drooled over a beautiful coffee table book about the numerous Paris markets before setting out. I had even rented an apartment close to one of them, with the idea that I would shop at the market and then experiment with French cuisine. Naturally, this did not happen. The last thing I wanted to do after 10 hours of walking around the city each day was to start cooking. I did, however, make terrific use of the markets: eating lunch at one, picking up prepared food for dinner at another, and loading up my suitcase with treats that would likely have been confiscated at the airport had they been discovered.

What Culinary Travel Can Teach Us

You can learn a lot about a new place from its markets. Drawn in by the sight of a woman stirring a huge cauldron of paella, I’m sure I stared like a kid in a candy shop. As I took in the aroma and watched the steam rising from her pot in the cool autumn air, I was shocked to see her pick out a grain of rice, pinch it between her fingers, then frown and flick it back into the pot! It was the first of several experiences on that trip that would bring me face-to-face with my hyper-hygienic North American cultural bias. Lesson number one .

Even though I was taking the paella home for later, this chef made me wait for some time as she would not dish it out until the rice was perfectly cooked – which required a few more pinches and flicks to determine. She took tremendous pride in her creation, and there would be no short cuts taken. I would just have to wait. Lesson number two .

At a market near the Bastille, I was surprised to see some of the very people whose photographs had graced the pages of the book I had read back at home. Even though that book had been published almost 10 years earlier, the old man soaking his feet in his famous bath salts and the woman with the huge smile, describing her African finger foods were still there, still selling the products that they were passionate about. Lesson number three .

Markets Are Perfect for Solo Travelers

For a solo traveler and diner, markets are a wonderful place for food and entertainment. At Richard Lenoir, I wandered through, picking up a fresh-baked baguette at one stall, some perfectly ripe, runny brie at another, olives in a variety of sizes, colors, and flavors at still another. I sat on a bench in the sunshine and watched the locals do their weekend shopping, listened to some musicians play, and savored my meal. I will never forget that experience – and am reminded of it every day by the photos of the components of that meal which now hang on my kitchen wall at home.

From the Paris Tourist Office, here is a list of many of the food markets in Paris, their locations and hours .

Joy and Balsamic Vinegar: This Is What Life’s About

La dolce vita.

That's what I found.

What I was looking for was traditional balsamic vinegar and its glorious taste. I wanted to savor it. I wanted to understand it. I wanted to know how to buy it.

You see, before leaving for Bologna, I was given a mission by my sister to find a supplier of the real Balsamico. I accepted the assignment with pleasure but I needed details.

Modena, the Home of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale

Traveling in the Emilia-Romagna region, I learned that there is industrial food and there is food. There is:

• Parmesan and then there is Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Prosciutto and Prosciutto di Parma
• Balsamic vinegar and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena

Most balsamic vinegar you buy is produced by industry in vast quantities. Quality varies and the taste is simple.

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena is produced by families with their own vineyards and sometimes generations of experience. Its flavor is rich and complex. It is carefully regulated by the Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena so if a bottle has the Tradizionale seal as shown in a picture below, you can be sure that it has been produced in the traditional method that has been passed down for centuries.

Balsamic Production at Antica Acetaia Villa Bianca

So, back to my story.

I found la dolce vita at the Antica Acetaia Villa Bianca .

Upon arrival at the Antica Acetaia Villa Bianca (acetaia is directly translated as vinegar cellar), we were greeted by Emilio and Aurora – brother and sister. Just as they were getting started with our tour Irene, their mother, arrived with great flare. While Emilio had one plan for the tour, she had another. He took back the reigns and then his sister had a suggestion. Back and forth it went, first Emilio, then his mother, then Aurora, and then Emilio again. The family dynamic was delightful as was their exuberance for sharing their passion for Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale with us.

As you can imagine, touring the acetaia was both educational and fun.

The Making of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar

To make Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena the grapes must reach a sweetness level of at least 18% before harvesting. The grapes are then crushed and the must (freshly pressed juice) is cooked. The cooked juice is then put in barrels for aging.

The first stage of aging is 6 years. At this point, the vinegar is wonderful but the standards of the Consorzio require more. The vinegar must be aged for at least 8 more years to produce 12-year-old vinegar (the minimum age at which Balsamico Tradizionale can be sold) and 40 years to produce 25-year-old vinegar. These numbers don't add up because every year 1/3 of each barrel is added to a barrel of the next year to keep the vinegar making process alive. Because of this, it takes more than the years declared on the bottle to have all the vinegar inside aged for the stated number of years.

Trust me, I don't really understand the math but this is how it was explained to me.

Does the fact that I don't understand bother me? No, the proof is in the tasting.

Tasting a Vinegar Made with Love

After seeing the production process we went into the attic of the house where the barrels of vinegar were aging beyond six years. They are housed in the attic so that the vinegar lives the heat of summer and the cold of winter – a necessity in the making of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale.

And the taste? As Emilio explained, taste is affected by personal experience. The stories of how one has lived with food will determine how we describe a new food experience. I tasted cherries and chocolate with a bit of an acidic kick.

I would call it liquid gold.

The family is pleased to accept people for tours throughout the year though they recommend the spring and fall. Tours must be arranged in advance , but there is no minimum number required so solo travelers are welcome anytime.

What have been your favorite culinary travel experiences? Please share them with us in the comments section below.

Sharing is caring!

Publisher Janice: info @ solotravelerworld.com

Editor Tracey: tracey @ solotravelerworld.com

Sales Simon: simon @ solotravelerworld.com

Get Solo Travel News & Deals

• Create Your Advertiser Account
• Login to Your Advertiser Account
• Solo Travel Statistics
• Media & Speaking
• Privacy Policy & Disclosure

The content of Solo Traveler and any resources published by Solo Traveler are meant for entertainment and inspiration only. Please note that while we have advertising clients promoting destinations, products, services, trips and tours on Solo Traveler and that we endeavour to only work with companies in which we have confidence, we are not responsible for the delivery or quality of their products or services. Every person and every travel situation is different. Your safety, satisfaction and fun traveling solo are your responsibility alone and not that of Solo Traveler, its publisher, editor and/or writers.

PRIVACY POLICY & DISCLOSURE: In accordance with FTC guidelines, I disclose that I may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize links located throughout the content on this site. Additionally, some posts might be sponsored to support this site. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers. All opinions are my own. Please read our full Privacy Policy here.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Sweepstakes
• Intelligent Traveler

8 Immersive and Delicious Cooking Classes Around the World That Anyone Can Book

For food-obsessed travelers, these immersive experiences offer a thorough look into culinary arts, from smoking wild game in Sussex, England, to pickling vegetables in Vermont.

Courtesy of Away from the Ordinary

The pandemic transformed many home cooks into dynamos. At my house, we kneaded, glazed, and julienned our way through long months stuck inside, funneling frustration into dishes that served up bold flavors — and created fodder for our Instagram feeds.

With travel now on everyone’s mind, the quest for advanced cooking know-how has become a focal point for those booking trips. These expert-led culinary experiences offer participants the chance to get down and dirty with ingredients while acquiring skills for butchering, cheese making, fermentation, and more.

Foraging in the Hudson Valley

Courtesy of Deep Forest Wild Edible

Longtime chef turned forager James O’Neill leads three-hour excursions through New York’s Hudson Valley with his company, Deep Forest Wild Edible. The tours gather seasonal plants, including watercress, wild carrots, and multiple kinds of mushrooms, as well as edible flowers such as dandelions. O’Neill explains how to identify medicinal or poisonous species, and how to best prepare edibles for the table. Some workshops culminate in a picnic prepared by O’Neill using foraged ingredients.

Scottish Culinary Adventures

Tour operator Away from the Ordinary crafts artisanal food (and whisky) experiences in rural pockets of Scotland. On tap: craft butchery at the 650-acre family-run Peelham Farm , close to the coast of Berwickshire, where guests help break down a whole lamb and pig, then learn to air-dry and cure the meat. In southwestern Scotland at the Ethical Dairy , travelers can sign on for a full-day cheese-making course (one soft cheese, one hard), which includes a farm tour and lunch. Crannach Bakery , at the edge of Cairngorms National Park, offers a full-day class in bread making. Participants work through the various steps — fermenting, shaping, and proofing — to bake classic loaves, sweet breads, and buns.

Pizza and Pasta Making in Southern California

From left: Courtesy of Ojai Valley Inn; Burgundy Blue/Courtesy of Ojai Valley Inn

Set on 220 acres in the foothills of the Topatopa Mountains, Ojai Valley Inn is known for its serene atmosphere. But the sage-scented enclave is also a destination for epicureans, thanks to culinary workshops and collaborations with star chefs like Nancy Silverton and Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini. Neapolitan-style pizza classes involve making herbed ricotta and making dough from scratch using protein-rich Caputo 00 flour; for pasta classes, students craft the dough, shape it, and sauce it with pesto made with a mortar and pestle.

Wild Game in Sussex

The idea of skinning and preparing wild game in pastoral Sussex, about two hours south of London, piques the sense of adventure in many travelers. Now they can book an all-day session with Hunter Gather Cook . This is a rustic, mostly outdoor undertaking: guests forage through the forest; learn how to butcher deer, game birds, or rabbit; then try various smoking and wood-fired-cooking techniques. The group can celebrate a job well done with a “wild” cocktail crafted with found herbs like nettles and pineapple weed.

Crafting Sausages in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Courtesy of Chop Shop Butchery

From heritage-breed pork sourced within 12 miles of the premises to the neighborhood craft beer sampled before class, the Chop Shop Butchery , in Asheville, North Carolina, celebrates homegrown flavor in all its forms. The experience kicks off with a sampling of house-made charcuterie and beers. Next, participants head to the “cut room,” where they learn to season and grind the meat and stuff fresh casings. The end result is 2 1/2 pounds of links to take home.

Canning in Vermont

At the women-run Green Mountain Girls Farm , a two-hour course on the art of canning and preserving involves making vinegar brine, prepping the produce and spices, sterilizing jars, and monitoring temperatures. Participants go home with jars of dilly beans, giardiniera , and Mexican-style pickled carrots.

Smoking Meat in Kansas City

Champion pitmaster Richard McPeake’s four-hour “smokology” class at the Culinary Center of Kansas City shows barbecue enthusiasts how to pair meat with the right variety of wood — oak, hickory, or maple. The classes tackle timing and temperature, trimming ribs, shredding pork, and understanding the “four stages of flavor.”

Cheese Making in the Rockies

From her sun-dappled Briar Gate Farm in Longmont, Colorado, Kate Johnson, founder of the Art of Cheese , hosts tastings, teaches workshops, and leads tours to introduce students to her herd of Nubian goats. One class on the property, which is about 30 minutes from Boulder, focuses on making mozzarella, stracciatella , and burrata; another looks at crafting and waxing hard cheeses; a third is all about farm-to-table milking and ricotta making.

A version of this story first appeared in the September 2022 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline “Class Is in Session.”

• 1 800 970 7299
• Live Chat (Online) Live Chat (Offline)
• My Wishlist
• Find a Trip

Your browser 'Internet Explorer' is out of date. Update your browser for more security, comfort and the best experience on this site.

Food Tours & Vacations

• Ways to travel

Uncover a world of authentic, mouth-watering food.

Food not only brings people together, it anchors you in the present moment. That’s why years after a trip, you can still remember the taste of fresh, juicy olives in Greece , or the fragrant smell of pho simmering on the stove in Vietnam . By pairing the classic grassroots Intrepid travel style with a focus on food, you’ll get under the skin of the world's most exciting food cultures. It might be spoiling your tastebuds with flavor-filled curries in  Sri Lanka , mastering the art of making soba noodles in  Japan  or sharing a meal with Buddhist monks in  South Korea .

Created with the culinarily curious in mind, these are real, local experiences with a foodie twist: one part culture, one part adventure and three parts delicious. From bite-sized trips to gastronomic odysseys, we’ll get you munching, crunching, sipping and slurping just like the locals. Hungry? Join us!

Our Real Food Adventures

South korea real food adventure, 8 days from 3312.

Slurp, crunch and spoon your way into the heart of South Korean cuisine, snacking at...

Morocco Real Food Adventure

12 days from 1475.

Lift the lid on local cuisine on a 12-day food adventure through Morocco, taking in...

Mexico Real Food Adventure

9 days from 2066.

Take a 9-day culinary journey through Mexico, tasting the flavours of Oaxaca, Puebla,...

Vietnam Real Food Adventure

12 days from 2119.

Travel the breadth of Vietnam, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, experiencing Halong Bay,...

Sri Lanka Real Food Adventure

12 days from 2290.

Take a food-filled journey through Sri Lanka, spending 12 days cooking and eating in...

Tailor-Made trips

Take four or more on an exclusive trip and tailor your itinerary

Italy Real Food Adventure

8 days from 3211.

From Venice to Rome, you’ll indulge in the best things to eat in Italy, with stops in...

Japan Real Food Adventure

11 days from 4192.

Take a foodie’s adventure to Japan, starting in Tokyo and hitting the streets of...

Greece Real Food Adventure

9 days from 3236.

Meet passionate cooks and producers on a food adventure in Greece, via amazing ancient...

China Real Food Adventure

11 days from 2990.

Visit energetic China, where culture, history and cuisine come together to create a...

Cambodia Real Food Adventure

8 days from 1247.

Munch your way through Cambodia on this mouth-watering food adventure from Phnom Penh...

Jordan Real Food Adventure

6 days from 1658.

Discover diverse heritage and delicious dishes on a 6-day food-focused journey through...

India Real Food Adventure

15 days from 2627.

Relish the sights and flavours of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Goa on this...

Thailand Real Food Adventure

8 days from 1750.

Take an 8-day Intrepid tour to Thailand, full of adventure, fun and flavour. Explore...

Georgia Real Food Adventure

8 days from 2093.

Taste your way across Georgia on an unforgettable food adventure from Tbilisi to Telavi...

Turkey Real Food Adventure

11 days from 1999.

Eat your way through tantalising Turkey on a Real Food Adventure. Visit markets in...

Portugal Real Food Adventure, featuring Galicia

8 days from 3497.

Feast on Portugal and Galicia on this food-focussed journey through Santiago de...

Northern Spain Real Food Adventure

10 days from 4228.

Taste your way from Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela, through Logrono, San Sebastian...

Spain & Portugal Real Food Adventure

17 days from 7290.

Discover the delicacies of Northern Spain and Portugal on this food-forward adventure,...

Split to Skopje Real Food Adventure

14 days from 4985.

Sample the cuisines of Croatia and the Balkans on an adventure from Split to Skopje,...

Ljubljana to Split Real Food Adventure

8 days from 2487.

Journey through Slovenia and Croatia, including Split, Bled, Zadar and Motovun, tasting...

Croatia Real Food Adventure

6 days from 2202.

Taste your way through the olive oil, seafood, meats, fruits and wines of Croatia on...

Slovenia & Croatia Real Food Adventure

13 days from 4896.

Journey through Slovenia and Croatia, visiting Split, Bled, Dubrovnik and the islands...

The Balkans Real Food Adventure

9 days from 2670.

Taste your way through the Balkans on a culinary adventure, stopping in Croatia,...

Slovenia to Macedonia Real Food Adventure

21 days from 8400.

Explore Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia on this Intrepid food tour, enjoying...

Vietnam & Cambodia Real Food Adventure

19 days from 4160.

Taste the true flavours of Vietnam and Cambodia, feasting on local food and catching...

Jordan, Israel & the Palestinian Territories Real Food Adventure

14 days from 6105.

Discover the authentic flavours of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories on...

Israel & the Palestinian Territories Real Food Adventure

9 days from 4025.

Discover the diverse dishes of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, tasting sabich...

Browse by region

India and Sri Lanka

Central and South America

The Middle East

Why choose intrepid.

Real, authentic experiences

We love the highlights, but for us the real magic is found off the tourist trails. Our trips combine iconic sites with hidden gems that you’ll only discover with Intrepid. We’re talking mornings exploring the Taj Mahal, followed by a Mughlai cooking class with a passionate home cook.

Local expertise

Whether you’re perusing markets, hunting down the best street food bites or learning how to cook centuries-old family recipes at a homestay, there’s no better way to get the inside scoop on a destination – and its culinary traditions – than with an expert local leader by your side.

Small groups

Big coaches and flag-toting tour guides don’t cut it for us. With a maximum group size of 12, our groups blend in with the locals and have plenty of opportunities to interact with chefs, street food vendors and group leaders. It also means you can really connect with your fellow foodies.

Must-try dishes around the world

Peru – ceviche

Ceviche is the unofficial national dish of Peru. It's made by marinating cubes of raw fish and seafood in lime juice, onions, salt and aji amarillo chilli peppers, and is served cold with sweet potato chunks, plantain chips and corn on the cob.

Spain – paella

This saffron-flavored rice dish originated in Valencia hundreds of years ago when hungry servants would combine rice with leftovers from Moorish kings' lavish banquets. The dish varies across the regions, but the mixed version with chorizo, mussels and prawns is the most popular internationally.

India – thali

Struggling to choose just one curry? Fear not. A thali comprises several eye-popping dishes served on a large plate. The dishes typically include grains, lentils, vegetables or meat curries, chutney, raita, pickles and pappadum – creating the perfect balance of sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy flavors.

Balkans – cured meats and cheeses

When traveling through the Balkans, treat your tastebuds to delicious charcuterie boards loaded with traditionally preserved meats, cheeses, vegetables and bread. Some of the most popular Balkan meats to try include cevapi (homemade grilled sausage), njeguši (dry-cured ham) and pljeskavica (Balkan burger).

Israel & Palestinian Territories – falafel

Considered to be Israel’s national dish, these balls of deliciousness (made with ground chickpeas, herbs and spices) are a must-try plant-based dish. They’re usually served on a platter or in a warm pita pocket filled with pickled vegetables, crunchy cabbage salad and generous lashings of creamy tahini sauce.

Thailand – khao soi

There’s a whole world of Thai noodle dishes to discover beyond the obvious (and delicious!) pad thai. Khao soi is a chicken and coconut noodle soup from northern Thailand. It’s packed with vibrant aromatics and is served with crispy fried noodles, shallots and fresh lime wedges on top.

Food tour highlights

Asia’s answer to Seoul food

Hit South Korea to wash down crunchy Korean Fried Chicken (aka KFC) with a glass of soju, share a traditional plant-based meal with Buddhist monks at your monastery stay, and get the inside sip on Busan’s bustling craft beer scene at a brewery.

Find out more

Pilgrimage through the Portuguese plate

Head to Iberia to cook up a Galician feast using Vigo’s finest seafood, sip world-class wines in the spectacular Douro Valley wine region, sip Ginjinha while snacking on petiscos, and discover Portugal’s best-kept foodie secret – the Alentejo countryside.

Temples to tempura, shrines to sashimi

Journey to Japan to discover the country's most delicious foodie hotspots. Feel like a real Iron Chef during an ‘Art of Sushi’ masterclass, experience the seasonal flavors of obanzai ryori at a cooking class, and enjoy the simple and delicious flavors of monastic cuisine in Koya-san.

Master Morocco’s medina flavors

Make your way to Morocco and enjoy a home-cooked dinner with a family in Chefchaouen, share a Berber meal at a desert camp in the Sahara, watch ras el hanout being freshly ground in a Marrakech spice souk, and eat mechoui (slow-roasted lamb) cooked in an earth oven.

Enjoy mouthwatering Mexican food

Get a true taste of Mexico in some of the country’s most famous culinary regions. Enjoy a tasty taco feast in Mexico City, visit a traditional mezcaleria to learn about this famous Oaxacan tipple, feast on fresh seafood at a cooking class in Huatulco and maybe sample the surprisingly delicious delicacy of chapulines (grasshoppers).

Savor vibrant Vietnamese flavors

Chop, slice and slurp your way through Vietnam on a culinary quest from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Cook up regional dishes like cao lau noodles in Hoi An, tour Hue on a motorbike followed by a plant-based lunch at a pagoda, and feast on southern Vietnamese specialties at a Mekong Delta homestay.

Introducing vegan food tours

Tour reviews

Food tour faqs, what food can i expect.

Expect to eat the local way. We don't call these trips ‘food adventures’ for nothing. Forget Michelin stars and 20-course degustations – our local leaders will help you get behind the scenes of local food culture, track down the freshest street food, discover the most authentic local restaurants and reveal the traditions and techniques that make these destinations so deliciously mouth-watering. From lining up with locals for fresh tortillas in a Mexican market to hopping between Logrono’s thriving tapas bars, they’ll show you local food from the perspective of those who eat it every day.

How does a Food Adventure differ to a regular Intrepid trip?

All of our food trips have been designed with one thing in mind – experiencing the best local food on the planet. But we all know that there’s much more to food than just eating it – so whether it’s browsing markets for fresh produce, sizzling up a storm in a cooking class or meeting a local street-food legend, we’ve stuffed your plate to the brim. And once you’ve devoured all the local food you can handle, we’ve made sure our Food Adventures are rolled up into a burrito with the lot so you won’t miss out on the iconic sights and authentic cultural experiences that are found on all our Intrepid trips.

Is there any freedom & flexibility in the itineraries?

Like all Intrepid itineraries, we’ve made sure our food trips provide free time between activities, allowing you to digest a destination either with your group or on your own. You might spend the morning exploring a buzzing local market with your guide and cooking a delicious local dish with your group before heading off on your own to wander the marbled halls of a museum or cycling through ancient alleys.

We’ve also left plenty of mealtimes free of organized activities, which gives you the flexibility to ‘get your gourmet on’ at a fine dining restaurant or simply seek out your own ‘real food’ adventure. Needless to say, your leader will be there every step of the way with suggestions and recommendations.

What transport is used?

Sometimes, the best way to eat like a local is to travel like one too. That could mean jumping on a boat to discover the flavors of the Mekong Delta, riding the Tokyo subway to a sake bar or rattling along in a rickshaw in pursuit of Agra’s finest chaats. We love to use local transport because it gives us a chance to experience everyday local life from a new perspective.

What is the accommodation like?

Whether you’re spending the night in an ancient fortress or in the home of a local family, most of our trips include a memorable overnight stay that is designed to make your trip extra memorable. When we do choose to use hotels, all of our accommodation options are in our Original style, which means a mix of 2-3 star establishments that are safe, clean and comfortable.

How do Intrepid's Food Adventures benefit local communities?

We help support local economies by purchasing snacks and meals from street-side vendors, dining in local restaurants, eating seasonal produce from the destination, and using local guides throughout our itineraries. Many of our trips incorporate visits to community projects, and we choose locally-owned accommodation wherever possible. We are committed to a style of travel that is culturally, environmentally and socially responsible.

Why does every Food Adventure include a plant-based meal?

Plant-based foods generally have a much lower carbon footprint than animal-based foods, and incorporating more plant-based eating into our diet is a major opportunity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. As Intrepid continues to innovate in ways that promote and support sustainability, including a delicious meal that showcases local fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds is just one way that we are investing in the health of our planet.

What about vegan travelers?

We do our best to accommodate dietary requirements (including vegan diets) on all of our trips, and all our Real Food Adventures will include at least one plant-based meal. If you want a more tailored experience, that's where our Tailor-Made team can step in. We can use our 30 years of experience and regional specialists to help you create your perfect vegan food adventure.

Read more about food and travel

Apr 01, 2024

Savor delhi with the best of the....

Check out this insider's guide to Delhi's street food. With most Intrepid trips...

Mar 13, 2024

An agricultural renaissance is....

This Intrepid Foundation partner in Italy is challenging their government's status...

Nov 21, 2022

5 of australia’s best first nations....

Together with our friends at Welcome to Country, we’ve compiled a list of some of...

Dec 05, 2019

Vegan vegetarian food intolerances....

Two vegans, one vegetarian, one lactose intolerant and one gluten intolerant...

Nov 24, 2022

A local explains why south korean....

Korean food doesn’t fare best in white-tablecloth atmospheres. It's more about...

Apr 23, 2022

What to eat in jordan: 10 dishes you....

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Jordanian food is, to put it simply,...

Jan 19, 2024

Love at first bite: 10 famous....

Warning: don’t read this if you’re hungry.

Apr 13, 2023

Bueno, bonito & barato: what i....

We sent Colby Holiday (@worldofawanderer), one of our favourite travel bloggers,...

Aug 12, 2023

Australia or new zealand where to go....

Here's an idea: visit one and then immediately go to the other one straight after.

Aug 14, 2022

9 byron bay restaurants to get your....

Because exploring beautiful scenery is hunger-inducing...

Nov 28, 2023

17 new dishes and drinks to sample on....

Foodie travellers know it’s not just about the new flavours when you travel, food...

How the Icelandic hot dog became an...

Forget fermented shark. In Iceland, the humble hot dog has gone from fast food to...

Protect Your Trip »

9 Cooking Vacations to Take This Summer

Elevate your culinary skills with interactive courses and guided tours in exotic locales.

Getty Images

Join master chefs for private cooking classes, interactive demonstrations, wine tastings and top-tier meals on an unforgettable vacation.

For many foodies , the art of cooking has evolved beyond a hobby and into a passion. Knowledge about what people are putting into their bodies, how it is being prepared, finding the best way to add the most nutrients that will excite your palate are topics of interest for many travelers. Culinary tourism , or trips where you can watch cooking demonstrations and join interactive cooking classes are all the rage. So, if you're inspired to take your kitchen skills to new heights, start plotting your next food-focused getaway.

[See: 15 Best Foodies Destinations in the USA .]

ITC Grand Bharat India

With its robust culinary programs, ITC Hotels are acknowledged as a leader in classic Indian cuisine. Incubated at ITC Grand Bharat, Cuisine Classica is a unique program where resident guests can interact with master chefs and learn the finer nuances of cooking. The first phase of the program includes Indian and European-inspired cooking lessons. A sample itinerary includes recipe demonstrations, refreshments and lunch, along with a year's subscription to the WelcomZest – ITC Hotels' acclaimed quarterly. Guests also receive an apron, a chef's hat, a recipe booklet and a chef's knife.

Oceania Cruises

Exceptional cuisine has been the hallmark of Oceania Cruises since the first cruise set sail in 2003. Master chef Jacques Pépin serves as the executive culinary director, offering guests outstanding curated gourmet cuisine. Additionally, Marina and Riviera line are home to the Culinary Center, the first custom-designed and hands-on cooking school at sea. Guests can learn how to cook a variety of meals in a teaching kitchen guided by master chefs from around the world. At some ports, travelers may even accompany the instructor chefs while they shop for fresh ingredients ashore at local markets on the line's exclusive Culinary Discovery Tours.

One Aldwych London

One Aldwych offers guests the opportunity to attend a gluten- and dairy-free master class hosted by executive chef Dominic Teague at the hotel's Indigo restaurant. This two-hour master class features demonstrations and three cooking sessions. Chef Dominic teaches guests how to cook gluten- and dairy-free dishes at home without compromising on taste. The day concludes with a glass of Champagne before heading into Indigo for a three-course dinner with pairing wines, coffee and pastries. To ensure guests put their new skills into practice when they return to their own kitchen, they are gifted with recipe cards and an accompanying One Aldwych apron.

Casa de Uco Uco Valley, Argentina

The best-kept secret in Argentina's Uco Valley, the 16-room Casa de Uco Resort is situated across a 790-acre estate and vineyard. Guests enjoy one-of-a-kind wine parcel tasting through the vineyards, and hop from section to section with a sommelier and chef where a glass of wine from each variety is offered with custom food pairings. The resort allows guests to learn the sector de fuego (fire pit) barbecue cooking techniques over open flames, and enjoy Argentinian cooking classes and a tasting menu of five tapas plates paired with premium wines.

[See: 10 Top Hotels in Europe for Food and Wine Lovers .]

Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Part of Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo's bespoke "Just For You" program, the exclusive "Pick Up Your Stick" experience is a guided educational tour of the Monaco fish market led by head chef Takeo Yamazaki. Chef Takeo then invites foodies into the kitchen of the Michelin-starred, Joël Robuchon restaurant for a private cooking class, followed by an intimate lunch tasting filled with Japanese cuisine paired with exceptional wines and Champagnes to highlight the diverse flavors of each delectable dish.

Chefs Club New York City

Guests at this unique restaurant can get up close and personal with such renowned chefs as Eric Werner who will be performing his culinary magic from June 22-23. Inside the Chefs Club is the intimate 24-seat Studio where guests receive an opportunity to watch the chef at work, ask questions and learn about his inspiration and technique. Werner is the chef behind Hartwood, a wood-fired Mexican restaurant rooted in the ingredients of Mundo Maya. Located on a jungle road along the Caribbean Sea in Tulum, Hartwood will serve as the next temporary location for René Redzepi's Noma restaurant.

Regent Taipei Hotel Taipei, Taiwan

Regent Taipei has joined forces with Silks Palace, the much-celebrated restaurant at the National Palace Museum, to offer a complete cultural and culinary experience. Guests will enjoy Silks Palace's signature National Treasure Feast for two, which features menu items inspired by the museum's treasure trove of artifacts including the Jadeite Cabbage and Meat-shaped Stone. Following dinner, guests have the chance to recreate the artifacts themselves during a custard pie-baking workshop. This package also includes an overnight stay in a Taipan Deluxe room with all Taipan Club benefits and daily buffet breakfast for two.

An Intrepid Travel Real Food Adventure Oaxaca, Puebla and Mazunte, Mexico

Get an authentic taste of Mexico on a journey through some of the country's most famous culinary regions. Meander through Oaxaca 's aromatic markets and take to the streets of Puebla to sample some the city's local specialties. Explore Mexico City on a taco crawl to experience a delightful culinary heritage that goes back thousands of years. In Oaxaca, enter the heart of pre-Hispanic cuisine and taste chocolate, mezcal and the surprisingly delicious chapulines (grasshoppers). Afterward, take to the sea on a fishing expedition out on the Pacific Ocean, where you will eat fresh ceviche on a pristine beach.

[See: 6 Grown-Up Summer Camps and Other Vacations for the Young at Heart .]

The New York Wine & Culinary Center Finger Lakes, New York

Chef Danny Boome recently established the Gastronauts Academy in Rochester, New York, which offers a Devour Day Tour. Participants experience tastings at two of the region's wineries followed by lunch and an intimate class with Boome at the New York Wine & Culinary Center, where Boome explains a six dish seasonal menu. The New York Wine & Culinary Center is designed to educate, engage and excite visitors, while focusing on the region's incredible bounty of culinary, beverage and agriculture offerings. Educational classes include Crêpes & Maple Syrup, which features regional restaurant Simply Crêpes and locally produced syrup, along with a Lunch & Learn workshop focusing on seasonal ingredients paired with local wine varieties.

Tags: Travel , Vacations , cooking

About En Route

Practical advice on the art of traveling smarter with tips, tricks and intel from En Route's panel of experts.

Contributors have experience in areas ranging from family travel, adventure travel, experiential travel and budget travel to hotels, cruises and travel rewards and include Amy Whitley , Claire Volkman , Holly Johnson , Marsha Dubrow , Lyn Mettler , Sery Kim , Kyle McCarthy , Erica Lamberg , Jess Moss , Sheryl Nance-Nash , Sherry Laskin , Katie Jackson , Erin Gifford , Roger Sands , Steve Larese , Gwen Pratesi , Erin Block , Dave Parfitt , Kacey Mya , Kimberly Wilson , Susan Portnoy , Donna Tabbert Long and Kitty Bean Yancey .

Edited by Liz Weiss .

If you make a purchase from our site, we may earn a commission. This does not affect the quality or independence of our editorial content.

You May Also Like

The best things to do in maine.

Mariya Greeley and Nicola Wood April 10, 2024

The Best Pearl Harbor Tours

John Rodwan and Amanda Norcross April 9, 2024

The Best Pigeon Forge Dinner Shows

Korrin Bishop April 9, 2024

Flight Canceled or Delayed? What to Do

Amanda Norcross April 8, 2024

Carry-on Luggage Sizes by Airline

The Best Charleston Tours

John Rodwan April 4, 2024

The Best Napa Valley Wine Tours

Amanda Norcross April 4, 2024

The 10 Best Denver Tours

Lyn Mettler April 4, 2024

Top Memorial Day Weekend Getaways

Nicola Wood April 3, 2024

The Best Way to Renew a Passport

Amanda Norcross April 3, 2024

Popular Searches

• Portugal Bike Tours
• Family Trips
• National Parks
• River Cruises
• Women's Adventures

Active Culinary Tours

Delve into the local foods and culinary traditions that make each culture so unique. Join Backroads Active Culinary Tours to experience a food-focused adventure in a savory destination like Tuscany or Provence. Our expert trip designers have crafted tours that blend walking and hiking with a region's culinary story, including cooking classes, personalized visits to local farms, tastings of local specialties and of course, unforgettable meals.

Provence Active Culinary Walking & Hiking Tour

Couples, Friends & Solos

Tuscany Active Culinary Walking & Hiking Tour

Discover your next adventure.

By sharing your email address, you agree to the practices described in our  Privacy Policy .

Travel Abroad Experiences

Explore your world.

Bachelor’s degree students can join a CIA-hosted, nine-day excursion and get special access to the cuisines and cultures of these exciting locations. These amazing travel experiences will transform your world view and expand your flavor palate forever. CIA students get the best possible travel experience and are exposed to the latest international techniques and flavors, so itineraries and destinations are always changing.

Study Abroad

Here’s a few sample destinations that students had the opportunity to explore recently.

Speak to a Student

Are you curious about what it’s really like to be a CIA student? We’ve got you covered. Our students are ready to answer the questions you haven’t asked anyone else, share their own personal experiences, and give you expert and genuine advice—because they’ve gone through it, too. Find out what it means to be part of the CIA family. Connect with someone now or see more students here !

Mystical India

Mystical and spiritual, chaotic and confounding, India overflows with riches.  Staying at excellent hotels, your small group, limited to 24 travelers, travels the classic Golden Triangle: bustling Delhi; Agra, home of the sublime Taj Mahal; and Jaipur, great city of the Rajput. Begin the 17-day exploration with a three-night stay in the Indian capital, touring the important sights of both Old and New Delhi and enjoying a rickshaw ride through colorful Chandni Chowk market.  Get acquainted next with the “pink city” of Jaipur, where highlights of a three-night visit include the stunning Hawa Mahal palace, Amber Fort, and a home-hosted dinner with a Rajasthan family.  A singular experience follows with the opportunity to search for the elusive Bengal tiger on game drives during a two-night stay near Ranthambore National Park, once a royal hunting ground, with its picturesque ruins.  Departing for Gadoli, embark on a village walk to meet Meena tribespeople.  En route to the ancient Mughal stronghold of Agra, visit the impressive 3,500-step Chand Baori step well.  Marvel at the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal, and take an Indian cuisine cooking lesson. The journey ends with three nights in Hinduism’s holiest city, Varanasi.  Cruising on the Ganges, experience life along the sacred river and witness a traditional aarti ceremony.  Visit nearby Sarnath, one of Buddhism’s holiest sites; and Sarnath Museum, housing a superb collection of Buddhist artifacts.  Absorb the beauty of the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal on an optional 6-day/4-night post-tour extension that includes extensive sightseeing.

Faculty Host

Trip itinerary.

Day 1.  Depart U.S. for Delhi, India Day 2. Arrive Delhi Day 3.  Delhi Day 4. Delhi Day 5.  Delhi/Jaipur Day 6.  Jaipur Day 7.  Jaipur/Sanganer Day 8.  Jaipur/Ranthambore Day 9.  Ranthambore Day 10. Ranthambore/Gadoli Day 11.  Gadoli/Agra Day 12.  Agra Day 13.  Agra/Delhi/Varanasi Day 14.  Varanasi/Sarnath Day 15.  Varanasi Day 16.  Varanasi/Delhi Day 17.  Return to U.S.

Trip Highlights

• Enjoy tours of Old and New Delhi
• Home-hosted dinner with Jaipur family
• Visit the Magnificent Taj Mahal
• Two-night stay at Ranthambore Tiger Preserve, including game drives
• Meena tribal home visit and enjoy a traditional folk dance 
• Travel to the “Pink City” of Jaipur with historic forts, palaces, and gardens
• Visit Varanasi, Hinduisim's holiest city
• Travel to the Pilgrimage site of the Sarnath temple, where the Buddha first taught after achieving enlightenment
• [email protected]
• 617-627-0633 617-627-5323

Institute of Culinary Education Launches Los Angeles Courses

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

Classes will be available to study wine, mixology and plant-based culinary arts.

The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) has announced new programming at its Los Angeles campus. For the first time, the Pasadena-based location will offer classes available to the public. This series of classes is modeled after the school’s New York campus’ recreational cooking program, which is one of the largest and most robust recreational cooking, baking and beverage programs in the world.

“I am thrilled that ICE will now offer classes to Angelenos looking to learn more about wine, mixology and plant-based cooking,” said Lachlan Sands, ICE Los Angeles campus president. “Los Angeles is one of the most robust food cities in the world, and our population will certainly benefit from the expert knowledge of our instructors. They’re the same educators who teach our career students, using the same facilities and ingredients used in our diploma and degree programs.”

Starting on April 19, the school will host a series of wine and mixology courses across a range of topics. As the program launches, the first series of classes will offer topics such as:

• “Shaken & Refreshing” Spring Cocktail Series
• Daytime Delights Brunch Cocktails
• The Ultimate Botanical Gin and Tonic Experience
• Tiki Classic Summer Sippers
• Farmer’s Market Summer Series
• Mixology Essentials
• Wine Essentials Series
• Wines of Bordeaux Series
• Wines of Burgundy Series

Programming will be ongoing, offering training in all areas of wine and mixology as both one-time classes, as well as series. Subjects will cover explorations of wine regions around the world, deep dives into wine varietals, classic and contemporary cocktail skills, seasonal spirits and recipes, and close looks into various liquor styles.

Additionally, on April 9, ICE will launch the first-ever “personal enrichment” version of its popular Plant-Based Culinary Arts program. This multi-course series is designed for health-conscious individuals looking for in-depth knowledge of plant-based culinary skills and techniques. The curriculum offers a holistic approach to nutrition-minded, plant-based cooking with a focus on whole foods, wellness and sustainability. With a vegetable-forward curriculum, the program appeals to students living a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Split into two sessions - Introduction to Plant-Based Cooking and Advanced Plant-Based Cooking - the classes focus on the health-supportive qualities of ingredients and cooking techniques. Students are taught foundational skills and knowledge about the art and practice of plant-based cooking through hands-on training. The program focuses on standard culinary arts techniques like knife skills, mise en place and the basics of all cooking techniques in addition to how to prepare vegetables, sea vegetables, plant-based protein sources and how to prepare them from scratch, as well as fundamentals of baking and meeting special dietary standards.

The program also explores evidence-based dietary patterns for long-term health as well as special diets (paleo, keto, Ayurveda, macrobiotics and more). Expert instructors discuss the links between diet, lifestyle and well-being through the lens of body systems (cardiovascular, digestive, microbial, endocrine, etc.) and the ethos that “food is medicine.”

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

• Uçak Biletleri
• Restoranlar
• Yapılacak Şeyler
• Moskova Seyahat
• Moskova Otelleri
• Moskova Pansiyonları
• Moskova Uçak Bileti
• Moskova Restoran
• Moskova Gezilecek Yerler
• Moskova Resimleri
• Moskova Haritası
• Tüm Moskova Otelleri
• Moskova Uygun Otel Fiyatları
• Moskova Motelleri
• Moskova Yurtları
• Moskova Kamp Alanları
• Moskova İş Otelleri
• Moskova Spa Tatil Köyleri
• Moskova Sınırlarındaki En İyi Aile Otelleri
• Moskova Eko Otelleri
• Moskova Lüks Otelleri
• Romantik Moskova Otelleri
• Moskova Kayak Otelleri
• Moskova Tatil Köyleri
• Moskova bölgesindeki 5 yıldızlı oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki 4 yıldızlı oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki 3 yıldızlı oteller
• Crowne Plaza Otelleri - Moskova
• Rotana Otelleri - Moskova
• Accor Otelleri - Moskova
• InterContinental (IHG) Hotels - Moskova
• Radisson Otelleri - Moskova
• Hilton Hotels - Moskova
• Holiday Inn - Moskova
• ibis Otelleri - Moskova
• Radisson Blu Otelleri - Moskova
• Hampton by Hilton Otelleri - Moskova
• AZIMUT Hotels - Moskova
• Marriott Otelleri - Moskova
• Moskova Yüzme Havuzuna Sahip Oteller
• Moskova Evcil Hayvanlara İzin Veren Oteller
• Moskova Ücretsiz Otopark İmkanına Sahip Oteller
• 3rd Transport Ring (TTK) Otelleri
• Merkez Bölgesi (TsAO) Otelleri
• Garden Ring Otelleri
• Doğu Bölgesi (VAO) Otelleri
• Batı Bölgesi (ZAO) Otelleri
• Izmailovo Otelleri
• Presnensky Otelleri
• Tverskoy Otelleri
• Dorogomilovo Otelleri
• Meshchanskiy Otelleri
• Moskova bölgesindeki Balayı Süiti Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Antialerjik Odaları Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Elektrikli Araç Şarjı Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Saunası Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Isıtmalı Havuzu Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Çatı Katı Barı Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Macera Otelleri
• Moskova bölgesindeki Ziyafet Salonu Olan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Açık Büfe Kahvaltı Sunan Oteller
• Moskova bölgesindeki Bisiklet Kiralama Olanağı Sunan Oteller
• Kızıl Meydan yakınındaki oteller
• Moscow Metro yakınındaki oteller
• Aziz Basil Katedrali yakınındaki oteller
• Kremlin Sarayı yakınındaki oteller
• High-Speed Train Sapsan yakınındaki oteller
• GUM yakınındaki oteller
• Tretyakov Gallery in Levrushinsky Lane yakınındaki oteller
• Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve yakınındaki oteller
• Armoury yakınındaki oteller
• Bolshoi Theatre yakınındaki oteller
• (ZIA) Zhukovsky Uluslararası Havalimanı yakınlarındaki oteller
• (VKO) Vnukovo Havaalanı yakınlarındaki oteller
• (DME) Domodedovo Havalimanı yakınlarındaki oteller
• Crystal Admiral Resort Suites & Spa
• İhlas Armutlu Tatil Köyü
• Süllü Dağ Evi
• Laguna Thermal Resort & Spa
• Hotel Stella Beach
• Eftalia Ocean
• Cortez Resort Hotel & Spa
• Ayvalık Vilayetler Evi
• Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek
• Eldar Resort Hotel
• Duman Hotel
• Bornova Öğretmenevi
• Sueno Hotels Beach Side
• Liva Bungalov
• Vikingen Infinity Resort & Spa
• Tüm Moskova Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Akdeniz Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Deniz Mahsülleri Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Fast Food Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Japon Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Kafe Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Pizza Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Rus Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Vejetaryen Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki İtalyan Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Vegan Restoranları
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Karides
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Ton Balığı
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Hamburgerler
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Deniztarağı
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Fondü
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi İspanyol Pilavı
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Çin Mantısı
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Makarna
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Havyar
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Kerevit
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Krep
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Humus
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Yeşil Köri
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Sandviçler
• Moskova İçindeki En İyi Tempura
• Moskova bölgesindeki Kahvaltı Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Öğle Yemeği Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Akşam Yemeği Restoranları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Kahve ve Çay Mekanları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Tatlı Mekanları
• Moskova Bölgesindeki Unlu Mamul Dükkanları
• Moskova bölgesinde Açık Havada Oturma Yerleri olan restoranlar
• Moskova bölgesindeki Açık Büfe Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Dışarı Yemek Servisi Yapan Restoranlar
• Moskova bölgesindeki Gece Geç Saat Yemeği Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Romantik Restoranlar
• Moskova bölgesindeki Çocuklara Uygun Restoranları
• Moskova bölgesindeki Özel Davet Restoranları
• Arbat Restoranları
• Arbat sınırlarındaki Amerikan Restoranları
• Arbat sınırlarındaki Özel Amaçlar Restoranları
• Basmanny Restoranları
• Basmanny sınırlarındaki Gece Geç Saatlerde Açık Kafeler
• Khamovniki Restoranları
• Kızıl Meydan ve Kitay-gorod Restoranları
• Maryina Roshcha (Yahudi Mahallesi) Restoranları
• Patrik Göleti Restoranları
• Patrik Göleti sınırlarındaki Kahve ve Çay
• Presnensky Restoranları
• Tverskaya Restoranları
• Yakimanka Restoranları
• Zamoskvorechye Restoranları
• Zamoskvorechye sınırlarındaki Hamburgerler
• Uygulamalar
• Eko Liderler
• Seyahat Hikâyeleri
• Gemi Seyahatleri
• Kiralık Arabalar
• Hava Yolları
• Travellers' Choice
• Yardım Merkezi
• Avrupa    
• Rusya    
• Merkez Rusya    
• Moskova    
• Moskova Restoranları    

Lilia Cooking

Puanlar ve yorumlar, konum ve iletişim bilgileri, lilia cooking, moskova - güney bölgesi (yuao) - restoran yorumları, fotoğraflar ve telefon numarası.

• Car Rentals
• Airport Transfers
• Attractions & Tours
• Bundle & Save
• Destinations
• Trip.com Rewards

Elektrostal'

Elektrostal' Travel Guide

Experience elektrostal'.

The Moscow Kremlin

Krasnaya ploshchad'

State Historical Museum

St. Basil's Cathedral

Moscow Metro

Great Moscow State Circus

Moscow State University

Bolshoi Theatre

Cafe Vostochny Express

Kroshka Kartoshka

Coffee Shop Usy Teodora Glagoleva

Fabrika Obedov

Beer Club Tolsty Medved

Cafe Antresole

Quest-Cafe 4 Komnaty

Prima Bolshogo

Other recommended cities.

Popular Types of Attractions in Elektrostal'

Popular attractions in elektrostal', popular restaurants in elektrostal', popular destinations, recommended attractions at popular destinations, more things to do in elektrostal'.

• Customer Support
• Service Guarantee
• More Service Info
• Website Feedback
• About Trip.com
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Statement
• About Trip.com Group

Other Services

• Investor Relations
• Affiliate Program
• List My Property
• Become a Supplier

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Take a Pet From the United States to Another Country (Export)

Traveling with a pet in a foreign country can be complex and time-consuming. You need to meet the destination country's specific entry requirements for pets. These may include vaccinations, tests, treatments, and a health certificate (also called an international health certificate, a veterinary health certificate, a veterinary certificate, or an export certificate). Find out what you need before you and your pet travel.

Not all animals qualify for pet travel.

What is considered a pet? A pet is a privately owned companion animal not intended for research or resale and includes only certain animal groups.

Find out if your pet qualifies to travel

Your animal doesn't qualify for pet travel and is subject to different import regulations and export regulations if you:

• Don't see your pet listed below.
• Are exporting semen or embryos from any animal.
• Have a pet that's considered livestock or poultry, like pigs or chickens.

The following animals qualify as pets, meaning they're subject to pet travel requirements:

The following birds DON'T qualify as pets, meaning they're subject to different regulations:

Because they may carry and transmit certain diseases to the U.S. poultry industry, these birds are regulated as poultry.

• Guinea fowl

View import regulations and export regulations if the type of animal you have does not qualify as a pet.

Before You Start the Process

Traveling with a dog know the latest requirements.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has extended the temporary suspension on dogs entering the United States from high-risk countries for dog rabies. If you leave the United States with your pet dog, you'll need to meet specific CDC import requirements to bring your dog back into the United States. This extension is in effect until July 31, 2024.

Visit the CDC for details on these requirements and other related information. If you have questions about CDC requirements, contact CDC-INFO or call them at 404-718-3660 .

Find a USDA-Accredited Veterinarian

With help from a USDA-accredited veterinarian , you can learn more about your destination country's entry requirements for pets, including any needed vaccinations, tests, or treatments. We recommend creating a schedule to make sure you meet all requirements within the specified timeframe.

Gather This Information for Your USDA-Accredited Veterinarian

• The type of pet traveling
• The destination country
• If applicable, countries where your pet will stop (for customs clearance or upon leaving the airport or seaport) on the way to the destination country
• The date of departure from the United States
• Whether the pet will be traveling alone, as cargo, or with a person in the cabin of the plane
• Note: If you're traveling with a pet bird or exotic animal, you may need to work with additional agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . Visit the pet travel requirements page for your destination country (see dropdown menu below).

Read These Resources

• In Spanish (En Español): Guía de viaje para mascotas que viajan a otro país desde Estados Unidos
• In Chinese (用中文（表達): 宠物出国旅行指南
• Frequently Asked Questions About Traveling With Your Pet

Where Are You Traveling With Your Pet?

Your destination country sets the entry requirements for pets, which can change at any time. You must verify the country requirements every time you plan to travel with your pet.

Find Your Destination Country Requirements

If your country is not listed in the menu, visit Pet Travel: Unknown Requirements .

Want to turn a layover into a trip? These 8 stopover programs can help.

Airline stopover programs offer free hotels and other discounts to incentivize longer layovers.

When you’re traveling great distances, you often take connecting flights to intriguing destinations without getting a real chance to experience the culture. You drop in, scope out the airport gift shop and leave.

A few airlines have been working to change that by running “stopover programs.” These initiatives allow travelers to tack more time on their layover at no extra charge, and sometimes even include a free or discounted hotel stay.

“They’re a good way for people to — at no extra cost — see a destination,” said Matthew Kepnes, the travel writer behind the blog Nomadic Matt .

Should travelers be wary of these offers? There’s no such thing as a free lunch, after all, but experts say you can think of it as a form of advertising.

“Usually they exist because they’re sponsored by the home country as a means of promoting tourism,” said Scott Keyes, founder of the flight booking site Going .

Keyes says countries and airlines have a number of reasons for offering free or discounted trips to tourists. No. 1, it’s good advertising. You may be more likely to choose an airline if they have this perk, and you may be more likely to visit a country if you can do it at a discount. Then there’s the influx of tourism dollars from stopover visitors.

Here’s a brief list of places you can go without paying any additional airfare.

Hot springs, wild horses and otherworldly natural beauty await travelers in Iceland, and two airlines offer stopover programs to go see them.

The first is Icelandair , which has offered the program since the ’50s . The program allows travelers — usually on their way to Europe — to spend up to seven days in Iceland before moving on to their final destination.

Second is the new Icelandic airline on the block, Play . The airline offers a “ stayover booking ” option allowing customers on transatlantic flights the option to stay up to 10 days in Iceland on the outbound trip, the return or both.

Stopover in Istanbul , Turkish Airlines’ program, includes a free hotel stay. It’s open to travelers with connections in Istanbul of at least 20 hours. If you’re flying coach, you’re eligible for a night at a four-star hotel. Business class customers can get up to two nights in a five-star hotel. Travelers must book arrangements for their stopover at least 72 hours before their flight, and will need to be approved for a hotel voucher through an application process.

Pause your journey to Central or South America with an interlude of up to seven days in Panama City with the Panama Stopover program from CopaAirlines. On the airline’s flight booking page, customers can select the option to add a stopover in Panama to flights to or from any destination in its network. If you want more time exploring beaches, nightlife and Panamanian cuisine, the airline also offers a second stopover, but it’s not free. According to the website, there “may be an additional cost” of $250 plus taxes and fees.

Unlock a mini trip to one of Europe’s most popular tourist countries with Tap Air Portugal’s Portugal Stopover Program. Unlike most stopover programs, this gives customers two layover destinations to pick: the beachside metropolis Lisbon , or Porto, the gateway to wine country. It also offers customers a 25 percent discount (excluding taxes) on additional domestic flights if you’d like to add a second stopover city to your trip. The program is valid on certain one-way and round-trip itineraries during the flight over or return, and can be accessed on the website’s “ book a flight ” tab. Click on “add a free TAP Stopover” to see whether your trip is eligible.

Qatar Airways stopover packages , in partnership with tourism organization Discover Qatar , include heavily discounted hotel reservations to sweeten the deal. Packages range from the standard option, offering travelers four-star hotel stays starting at $14 a night per person (based on double room share), to a luxury beachside option that includes a five-star hotel stay, breakfast and all-inclusive Doha Sands Beach access from $144. Travelers can book on the Qatar Airways website, and add stays up to four nights. The program is subject to availability and is only eligible for Qatar Airways passengers with at least 12 hours transit time in Doha.

Iberia, the flag carrier of Spain, advertises the chance to explore the country’s capital city with the Stopover Hola Madrid program. First, select a route that stops in Madrid ; next, you can select up to six nights to stay; then book and browse discounted offers available to stopover customers, including tours, food and transportation. The stopover can be selected for the outbound or return flight. While the airline website says the program is available on most routes, you may need to play with dates to find flights with stopover availability.

United Arab Emirates

The UAE is home to two lauded airlines, each with programs to entice stopover travelers.

Etihad’s Abu Dhabi Stopover markets itself as a chance to explore the country’s capital city with discounted hotel stays. The more budget-friendly “amazing stopover” offers stays up to two nights at four-star hotels, while the premium version offers up to 40 percent off luxury four or five-star hotels for two to four nights.

Emirates has “Dubai Connect,” a program advertised to customers with layovers of at least eight hours (or six if you’re flying business class) and includes a complimentary hotel stay, some meals and transportation to and from the airport. There are a number of stipulations for qualifying for the program; for example, you must have a connection flight with the shortest layover available (so if there’s one with a four-hour layover to your final destination available, you won’t qualify for the freebies). Make sure to read the fine print before booking online. Already booked an eligible Emirates flight? You can add the stopover to existing reservations.

Choose your own adventure

You don’t actually need an airline to offer a stopover program to take advantage of a layover. Kepnes says you may be able to build your own stopover program for cheaper. All you have to do is search for flights with really long layovers in places you’d like to visit that don’t require too many hurdles to get out of the airport.

Last year, instead of finding the fastest or cheapest flight from Thailand to the United States, I booked one with a nine-hour layover in Tokyo ; I took the train into the city, ate delicious ramen, went shopping and even hit up a hot spring spa before heading back to the airport for my flight home. The year before that, I did something similar in Istanbul and highly recommend such side quests to anyone up for an adventure.

Where to go

Our favorite destinations: These 12 destinations are at the top of our wish list for where to go this year, without crowds. In 2023, we explored an Alaskan bear paradise, Brooklyn’s famous pizzerias and a hidden gem in Italy, among other highlights ..

Travel like a local: Residents share their favorite places in our top city guides: New Orleans , Rome , Tokyo and Mexico City .

National parks: This comprehensive guide has details on all 63 U.S. national parks. For a deep dive into five of the most well-known, you can listen to the Field Trip podcast . Then explore tips from locals for visiting Yosemite , Glacier and Everglades .

Tales from the road: Dolly Parton has opened a new resort at her theme park complex in Tennessee, while “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have a new hotel in Waco . Road-trippers may be just as excited to see the cartoon beaver at Buc-ee’s , and bargain-hunters should consider a stop at the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Ala.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

‘The Plane Is Fine’: An Airline Course Looks to Overcome Fear in the Skies

Anxiety when flying might not seem so unreasonable these days, but a British Airways program seeks to reassure the lightly nervous and the abjectly terrified alike.

By Sarah Lyall

No sooner had British Airways Flight 9240 roared into the air over Heathrow Airport than the cabin air was pierced by a sharp, scary noise, like an alarm or a siren. The power surged and then seemed to falter, and the plane became worryingly quiet. (Too quiet?)

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS.

What was it? Images of catastrophic scenarios — birds, engine failure, parts falling off, total systemic breakdown — pinballed through the passengers’ imaginations as the plane seemed to struggle to find its equilibrium. Unease gripped the cabin. But then a disembodied voice wafted soothingly over the public-address system. “Everything’s normal,” the voice said. “The plane is fine.”

This emotional roller coaster of a flight, a 35-minute loop in the air that started and finished at Heathrow, was the culmination of the airline’s “Flying With Confidence” course , aimed at people who are afraid to fly — the lightly nervous as well as the abjectly terrified.

The course includes a deep dive into the mechanics and operation of an airplane. There’s also a section on how pilots are trained to deal with various scenarios — including cabin depressurization, malfunctioning landing gear, holes in the fuselage and sudden gusts of wind on the runway that force what is called a “go-around” — when a pilot suddenly aborts the landing and sends the plane barreling straight back into the sky. The day ends when the attendees — or at least those who didn’t leave early — board an actual plane for a real-life flight.

As many as 40 percent of all airline passengers have at least mild apprehension about flying, experts say, and people with serious aviophobia fall roughly into two groups. About 20 percent have “an underlying anxiety that manifests as fear of flying,” said Douglas Boyd, an aviation researcher who runs a fear-of-flying course in Houston . Another 70 to 75 percent, he said, “think that something bad will happen to the plane — there will be a fire, the engine will fall off, the pilot is drunk, it’s going to crash.” (The rest have a hybrid of worries.)

Flying is objectively low-risk, and 2023 was the safest year for jet travel ever, according to the International Air Transport Association . But fear of flying hardly seems irrational, what with reports of aircraft malfunctions, overworked air traffic controllers and the sense that climate change is making turbulence worse .

For instance: On Jan. 5, a door plug — a door-sized panel on the side of an aircraft — blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines jet as it made its ascent, depressurizing the cabin and exposing passengers to open air thousands of feet above ground. Also in January, five members of the Japanese Coast Guard were killed when their plane collided with a Japanese Airlines jet on a Tokyo runway and both planes burst into flames. (Everyone — 367 passengers and 12 crew members — on the Japanese Airlines flight survived.) Boeing, the manufacturer of the Alaska Airlines plane and other planes that have experienced various mishaps, has faced particular criticism for neglecting safety .

Such incidents loom large in the heads of passengers, but Mr. Boyd said that people tend to ignore how rare they are. “You have to look at objective measurements,” he said. “In the last 15 years we’ve had only two fatal accidents with a U.S. carrier, and that speaks volumes.” (Those were when a Continental Airlines flight crashed into a house in Buffalo in 2009 , killing 50 people, and when a window blew out after an engine exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight in 2018, killing a passenger who was partly sucked out of the plane.)

Nobody wants to go through a flight racked with fear or beset by emotional upheaval, and airlines have an obvious interest in calm, unterrified passengers. A number of airlines, including Air France, Lufthansa and Virgin, offer fear-of-flying programs, but B.A.’s has been operating for more than 35 years and is considered the most well-established.

I — an occasionally nervous-in-turbulence but not prohibitively terrified flyer — joined an October session, paying the fee of 395 British pounds, or about $508.

My fellow attendees represented a spectrum of ages and professions and suffered from a range of anxieties.

Duncan Phillips, a high school science teacher, said that he had not set foot on a plane since his honeymoon, two decades earlier. Imogen Corrigan, a medieval history lecturer, said that she had a “generalized dread of the whole airport experience,” exacerbated by a traumatic flight some years earlier in which her seatmate, incorrectly interpreting the plane’s post-takeoff noises as systemic engine failure, rose to her feet and yelled, “We’re not going up!”

And a 28-year-old man who asked that his name not be used because he works at Buckingham Palace said that his problem was claustrophobia — he once got trapped in an elevator — but that he was committed to overcoming it. “I just don’t want to be afraid anymore,” he said.

Listening to the captain

Standing onstage in a conference room at a hotel at Heathrow and using props like slides, a plastic plane and a replica of a human ear to explain how airplanes work, Capt. Steve Allright, the B.A. pilot who led the program, provided his go-to anti-anxiety tip.

“I want you to breathe out for four seconds and then breathe in, while squeezing your largest muscles — your buttocks,” he said. “What you’re doing is taking control of your mind and your racing thoughts. Don’t sit and suffer. Breathe and squeeze.”

(Yes, Captain Allright has seen the film “Airplane!” in which Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Peter Graves play two pilots whose names — Roger Murdock and Clarence Oveur — lead to “Who’s on First”-style amusement when their colleagues bark “Roger, Roger!” and “Over, Oveur!” at them. Captain Allright knows that his name, too, sounds fictional. It is not.)

He invited the group to identify its specific worries. “How many of you have not flown for more than 20 years, or never flown?” he asked. “How many are regular business travelers, and it’s getting worse? Mums and dads who had children and it suddenly made them aware of their own mortality?”

He peered into the crowd. “Who doesn’t like the takeoff?” he added. “Who doesn’t like the landing and — everyone’s favorite — who doesn’t like the turbulence?”

One person raised her hand for all the categories.

Among the points made by Captain Allright and his team:

The wings of planes can’t just snap off.

The plane has sufficient stores of fuel and will not suddenly run out of gas. “Those Hollywood scenes where they’re circling around yelling that they’re going to run out of fuel and the plane is going to ‘land on fumes,’” Captain Allright said, “that’s not going to happen.”

The thing that sounds like the engines have suddenly ceased functioning after takeoff? It’s an auditory illusion created by the reduction in power after the plane becomes airborne; the plane needs more power to take off and less power when it gets into the air.

Those movies in which pilots are “wrestling with the controls and sweating profusely during turbulence” are totally fake, Captain Allright said. “Turbulence is uncomfortable but not dangerous.”

When you hear a strange beeping noise in the cabin, it is not a secret pilots’ signal meaning that “we have an emergency, but don’t tell the passengers.” In fact, “all airplanes make different noises,” Captain Allright said, and what you’re hearing could well be something like the “barking dog noise” that people say they hear on some Airbus jets, attributable to the planes’ hydraulics.

No pilot would ever unlock the cockpit door and let in a bunch of hijackers, even if the hijackers were threatening to kill the flight attendant with whom the pilot was having an affair, as in the TV series “Hijack,” starring Idris Elba.

The presentation seemed to allay some of the passengers’ fears. Charlotte Wheeler, an agricultural company executive still spooked by a childhood in which her acutely phobic mother would drink to excess and become obstreperous and hysterical on flights, said she appreciated Captain Allright’s willingness to journey through the weeds of her apprehension.

“That whole ‘wings not snapping off’ thing was amazing,” she said. “And I appreciated what he said about the fuel not running out.”

Ms. Corrigan, the lecturer, said she was particularly soothed by Captain Allright’s discussion of “the bit where they’ve just taken off and you don’t think it’s going to make it.”

B.A. 9240 is boarding

The hard-news presentation was followed by a segment on fear, anxiety reduction and relaxation led by a psychologist, Dr. Jan Smith. But, eventually, it was time to get on the plane, minus several unnerved people who left during the lunch break and never came back. Divided into small groups, each led by a B.A. employee in a high-visibility orange vest, the remaining passengers moved tentatively through the airport terminal. The boarding passes listed the destination as “Fictitious Point,” because the plane was both departing from and returning to Heathrow.

There was a brief setback. The first passengers boarded, only to find that they had to get off because an unspecified glitch had failed to register their existence when they scanned their boarding passes.

“This is not good,” one passenger said.

“Is this part of the course?” said another. “I have a fear of stampedes.”

Several people fretted by the door and failed to board the plane. One woman successfully got on but quickly got off, sobbing. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Everyone else took their seats: 120 customers intermingled with about 20 B.A. personnel, pilots and psychologists whose job was to provide emotional and occasionally physical support at this most delicate part of the day. People were hyperventilating, reciting inspirational mantras, folding into themselves and, in several cases, openly crying. A woman in the front row cranked up her headphones and tried to distract herself with the Lee Child thriller “No Plan B.”

“I really, really don’t like being up in the air,” she said.

The plane took off and the power surged on and then ratcheted down, as Captain Allright had explained. The collective anxiety level rose to 11. “Everything’s normal,” he said. “The speed is stable. The pilots are happy and relaxed. This would be a good time to do your breathing and squeezing.”

The plane flew around for a bit as he talked through the sights and sounds — the Millennium Dome, Gatwick Airport, the London Eye, the wing flaps, a little chirping noise signifying that autopilot had been switched off.

“That means that Nigel’s now controlling the aircraft manually,” Captain Allright said, referring to the pilot, Capt. Nigel Willing, who was at the controls and who, yes, has another name that sounds like he’s a character in a movie. “It’s perfectly normal. Let’s all make a conscious decision to squeeze our buttocks.”

As the plane began its descent, some of the passengers, genuinely amazed that they had made it this far, took proof-of-flight photos out the window.

“I’m just glad I didn’t throw up,” the “No Plan B” reader said. “I could really use a cigarette.”

The plane came to a stop and Idris Guest, an IT worker who had not been in the air since a horrific 2016 experience involving turbulence and a flight attendant with a bleeding head wound, pronounced himself if not cured, then at least not in a fetal position.

He vowed to fly again. “I’m on a massive high,” he said.

“Everything’s normal,” Captain Allright said. “Give yourself a round of applause, people.”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Read by Sarah Lyall

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

Sarah Lyall is a writer at large for The Times, writing news, features and analysis across a wide range of sections. More about Sarah Lyall

Managing Anxiety and Stress

Stay balanced in the face of stress and anxiety with our collection of tools and advice..

How are you, really? This self-guided check-in will help you take stock of your emotional well-being — and learn how to make changes .

These simple and proven strategies will help you manage stress , support your mental health and find meaning in the new year.

First, bring calm and clarity into your life with these 10 tips . Next, identify what you are dealing with: Is it worry, anxiety or stress ?

Persistent depressive disorder is underdiagnosed, and many who suffer from it have never heard of it. Here is what to know .

If you notice drastic shifts in your mood during certain times of the year, you could have seasonal affective disorder. Here are answers to your top questions about the condition .

How much anxiety is too much? Here is how to establish whether you should see a professional about it .