Paradise Travel
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Culinary Travel

Luxury culinary travel, planned around the table.

Luxury culinary travel is how most of my clients remember a trip. Years later they don't talk about the hotel lobby. They talk about the lunch that ran three hours in a Tuscan farmhouse, or the wine they still can't find at home.

I plan trips where the food is the point, not a reservation squeezed in between tours. That means the right region in the right season, a cooking class with someone who actually cooks for a living, and dinners booked before the tables disappear.

Food trips work best slow, with long lunches and time at the market, so I keep the bases few and the days loose.

Where I plan food and wine trips

Each of these rewards a different kind of eater, so I start with what you love to eat and drink, then pick the region.

Italy

Piedmont in the fall for truffles and Barolo. Emilia-Romagna for Parmigiano Reggiano and real balsamic in Modena. Tuscany for long lunches and Chianti. Sicily when you want the food and the sea together. I've completed specialist training for Italy, and I build these trips slow, two or three bases instead of a new hotel every night.

France

Bordeaux and Burgundy for wine people. Provence for markets, olive oil and rosé. A river cruise through Bordeaux is one of the easiest ways to taste a region without driving after the tasting.

Greece

Island food is simple and it's hard to beat. Santorini's volcanic wineries, olive oil on Crete, grilled fish on a harbor in the Cyclades. Greece is another country where I've completed specialist training.

Wine river cruises and chef-led voyages

A river cruise is a wine trip in disguise. The Douro in Portugal, Bordeaux, the Rhine and the Danube all run through wine country, and several of the river lines I'm certified with run wine-focused sailings with winemakers or hosts aboard. You unpack once and the vineyards come to you.

On the ocean side, PONANT runs gastronomy voyages with Anne-Sophie Pic, the most Michelin-starred female chef in the world, and Le Commandant Charcot's Nuna restaurant is by Alain Ducasse. I'm a certified PONANT Explorations Expert, so I know which voyages carry which chef.

How I plan a culinary trip

I ask about the meal you still talk about. Then I build around it. The cooking class, the market morning with a guide, the winery that only takes visitors by appointment, the dinner that needs booking months out.

I also leave room. The best meal of the trip is often the one nobody planned, so I don't fill every night.

Is a culinary trip right for you?

It fits you if

  • You plan your days around where you'll eat.
  • You'd rather visit three wineries well than ten in a rush.
  • You want to cook with locals, not watch a demo.
  • You're celebrating something and want the meals to mark it.

It's not the best fit if

  • You'd rather see as many cities as possible in a week.
  • You have strict dietary limits that rule out the region's cooking. I'll tell you honestly.
  • You don't drink and the trip is built on wine country. I can build it around food instead.

Questions

Questions I get asked

September through November is my favorite. It's harvest season, white truffles show up in Piedmont in the fall, and the summer crowds are gone. Spring works well too, especially April and May.

Travelers who remember trips by what they ate. Couples, friends who travel together and anyone marking a milestone around a good table. It also works beautifully for small groups.

If you want to cover a lot of ground fast, a food-first trip will feel slow. It's built around long meals and fewer moves.

The best tables and winery visits book early and some only take guests by appointment. I know when to book, which cooking classes are worth it and how to keep you from driving after a tasting.

Book the one dinner that matters most first, then build the trip around it. Everything else moves easier than a hard-to-get table.

Ten to fourteen nights in Europe with two or three bases. A river cruise usually runs seven nights, and I add a few nights before or after in a food city.

Six to nine months for fall harvest season in Italy or France. Wine-focused river cruises fill earlier, so nine to twelve months.

It depends on the region, the hotels and how many private experiences you want, so I quote each trip directly. River cruises include most meals and wine with dinner. Land trips are priced by what we build together.

You'll connect through a hub like Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver or Dallas, then fly overnight to Rome, Milan or Paris. I time the flights so your first day is easy.

Tell me the best thing you've ever eaten on a trip. I'll start there.

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