Food and drink make for some of our top travel memories. Explore the world, one cuisine at a time, with these delicious foodie-themed journeys, including Italy, Thailand and Peru
Sicilian cannoli with orange (Dreamstime)
From fresh pasta and sweet pastry desserts to zingy gelato and locally caught fish, Sicilian food is guaranteed to delight and leave you wanting more, especially when you stay at two charming Agriturismo properties, the Agriturismo Il Granaio near Modica (eastern Sicily) and La Foresteria near Menfi (western Sicily), both with excellent kitchens serving local, seasonal and home-cooked menus.
This trip also provides the opportunity to visit Modica, where rich dark chocolate is produced following ancient Aztec recipes, as well as archaeological sites, including Agrigento and Selinunte and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Piazza Armerina.
Wine tasting and cooking classes are on offer too, making this trip the perfect introduction to the history, people and gastronomy of the largest island in the Mediterranean.
Trip: Delicious Sicily Fly Drive Holiday
Who: Sunvil Discovery
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 7 nights
How much: £989 (inc. flights)
Eating Thai food (Dreamstime)
Welcome to your own private tour of Thailand’s delicious and diverse cuisine. From sprawling markets, steaming street stands and huge food courts through to fine restaurants and simple beach cafes, you’ll sample and learn about the different regional dishes that form the basis of Thai cooking.
You’ll start in bustling Bangkok, with an extensive walking tour of the city and its famous street food stalls and markets. Next stop is Chang Mai, where you’ll dine at the Huan Soontaree Vechanont, renowned for its authentic northern food, culture and hospitality. You’ll also take part in a famous cooking class focusing on classic northern cuisine.
Finally, you’ll hit the beach at Koh Lanta in the south-west, where you’ll be introduced to Southern Thailand’s distinct cuisine, heavily influenced by the Muslim population that live in the area. Here, you’ll attend the Lanta Thai Cookery School, where you'll learn to balance fresh ingredients and cook some Thai classics. You will also get your own recipe book, so you can replicate the dishes you've sampled when you get home.
Trip: Thai Food Lovers
Who: Experience Travel
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: Flexible
How much: From £1,014 (exc. flights)
Seafood NZ-style (Dreamstime)
Experience New Zealand’s world-renowned food and drink scene on this mouth-watering self-drive holiday. Enjoy local delicacies, such as the crayfish in Kaikoura, and savour exquisite dishes made with seasonal fruit and vegetables grown in your hotel’s own gardens, all with fine regional vintages to wash it down.
Dine in some of the country’s top restaurants and visit the lovely vineyards in the premier wine regions of Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough.
Along the way, discover the other beauties of New Zealand, enjoying memorable landscapes, beaches and coves, and staying in beautiful and unique places, from boutique island retreats to sprawling farms and luxury treehouses.
Trip: New Zealand's Gourmet Highlights: Luxury Food And Wine Tour
Who: Exsus Travel
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 13 nights
How much: From £3,375 (exc. flights)
Typical Peruvian highland food (Dreamstime)
Peruvian food and topography go hand in hand. Using what Pachamama (Mother Earth) gave them, the Peruvians have developed a cuisine that combines local and international flavours.
The coast provides an abundance of fresh seafood, the Andean highland supplies a variety of potatoes, and the Amazon rainforest delivers delicious seasonal fruits. It is little wonder that Peru is one of the world's renowned foodie hotspots.
On this tour, you’ll learn to prepare ceviche in a cooking class held at a Lima fish market, sample traditional Andean delicacies in the Sacred Valley, and see how the famed Pisco Sour is made at a local bodega. You’ll journey to the ancient site of Machu Picchu too, and tuck into a traditional pachamanca feast.
Trip: Peru Real Food Adventure
Who: Intrepid
When: Regular departures throughout the year
How long: 10 days
How much: From £1,715 (exc. flights)
Turkish gullet anchored in an isolated bay (Dreamstime)
Sample some of the freshest and best Turkish cuisine on a traditional wooden sailing boat as you explore the Turkish coast by gullet. As well as enjoying feasts served up by the onboard cook, you will also drop in on small traditional restaurants, helping to conjure up regional delicacies that you’ll eat with local Turkish people.
Your guide, Sedar, is a trained archaeologist with a passion for both the region’s cuisine and its history. Together, you’ll explore some of the most impressive ancient sites along the coast, including Kaunos, Knidos and Lydae. Expect a culinary and cultural adventure through one of the least developed and beautiful areas in Turkey.
Trip: A Gastronomic Gulet Tour In Turkey
Who: Peter Sommer Travels
When: Jun
How long: 8 days
How much: £2,395 (exc. flights)
Goi cuon, a typical Vietnamese street food (Dreamstime)
Vietnam is a foodie paradise. On this tour, you’ll discover the endless variety on offer across northern, central and southern cuisines. You'll enjoy meals at highly regarded restaurants, get one-on-one instruction in cooking schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi, and take in the country’s must-see cultural highlights.
Your culinary adventure begins in Ho Chi Minh City, where you’ll buy fresh ingredients from Ben Thanh Market before heading to the Mai Home cooking class for a hands-on cooking lesson.
Next, you’ll cruise the Mekong on a traditional teak boat, helping to prepare and then eat a sumptuous three-course lunch of Mekong specialties. You’ll learn to cook cao lau at the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An, feast on an authentic Hue dinner beside the Perfume River, and then head to Hanoi, sampling street food and learning to prepare northern specialties at the Hanoi Cooking Centre.
Trip: Gourmet Vietnam
Who: Buffalo Tours
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 11 days
How much: From £1,092 (exc. flights)
A selection of tapas (Dreamstime)
Having added Michelin star restaurants and world class wineries to its cosy taverns and atmospheric tapas bars, the cuisine of Spain’s northwest is starting to get the attention it deserves. With vineyard-speckled hills that hide pretty medieval towns to a dramatic coastline that’s dotted with welcoming fishing villages, it’s the foodie destination you’ve been looking for.
You’ll explore it all with the use of a private driver and the services of a regional gastronomic expert. Throughout your trip, they’ll be able to guide you between local markets, coastal seafood restaurants, backstreet tapas bars, cooking courses and winery tastings, while making sure you catch all of the region’s heritage highlights, including its Celtic hill forts and grand Romanesque cathedrals.
There’s also plenty of room to tailor activities to your tastes, whether it’s making a reservation at a Michelin-starred restaurant or enjoying an island hike with a beach picnic.
Trip: Gastronomy of Galacia
Who: Wexas Travel
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 8 days
How much: £2,935 (inc. flights)
Sunset over a South Australian vineyard (Dreamstime)
Prepare to set your palate alight with some of the finest flavours Down Under. This private, all-meals-included tour of Australia offers a hands-on, immersive experience for the food and wine fanatic.
You'll be accompanied by a specialist guide, who will take you from Adelaide to some of the finest South Australian wine regions, where you'll be introduced to gourmet food producers and treated to delicious wine tastings everywhere you go.
South Australia's first class food and wine is waiting for you.
Trip: South Australia Culinary Adventure
Who: Exsus Travels
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 13 nights
How much: From £11,700 (inc. flights)
Tavce Gravce, a traditional Macedonian dish (Dreamstime)
No one leaves this Balkan food adventure hungry. Picnic on the lush banks of the Treska River, stroll through national parks and soak up picturesque scenes of waterfalls, church-filled villages and some of the region’s most spiritual sites. This trip guarantees total immersion in the culinary delights of Macedonia and Montenegro.
It’s a foodie trip like no other. Sip a traditional fermented drink (boza) for breakfast, master the art of the perfect pastry with the village women of Janche, sample homemade rakija (fruit brandy) in Ohrid, and dine on a home-grown meal in the private garden of a Dihovo family. The incredible hospitality of the people you meet will stay with you, as will the foodie memories.
Trip: The Balkans Real Food Adventure
Who: Intrepid
When: Departures May-Sep
How long: 12 days
How much: From £1,715 (exc. flights)
Tuscan soup (Dreamstime)
Tuscany is the jewel in the impressive crown of Italian cuisine, combining the simple elegance of traditional, rural Italian cookery with its famous and more refined exports of truffles and wine.
On this gourmet weekend holiday, you'll get to sample some of the region's very finest produce, indulging your palate in the beautiful setting of the rolling Tuscan countryside.
If you’re keen to treat your taste buds even further, you can combine this trip with an Italian cookery holiday in Florence and Puglia that includes the chance to take part in a traditional truffle hunt.
Trip: Luxury Foodie Weekend: Wine And Truffles In Tuscany
Who: Exsus Travel
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 3 nights
How much: £995 (inc. flights)
Swedish gravlax (Dreamstime)
Sweden’s West Coast is a seafood lovers delight, with fresh, innovative dishes uses produce that is literally just off the boat. After two nights in Gothenburg, where Michelin Stars adorn the walls of six of the restaurants in the city’s delightful canal-lined centre, you’ll head to Fjällbacka, a charming fishing village and the setting for Camilla Lackberg's famous crime novels.
Using its brightly coloured houses as your base for two nights, you’ll drive up the coast to Grebbestad, where you’ll join an oyster safari. Boarding a beautiful blonde-timber fishing vessel, you’ll cruise through the austere, cragged beauty of the archipelago as you learn how the oysters are drawn up from the bed before having a go at shucking them yourself. Your tastings will be paired with seaweed crackers, elderflower juice and dark oyster-flavoured stout.
Trip: West Coast Seafood Safari -Sweden
Who: Wexas Travel
When: Departures throughout the year
How long: 5 days
How much: From £540 (inc. flights)
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