Luxury Culinary Vacations

Food is one of the best, and certainly one of the most enjoyable, ways to understand and appreciate other cultures. We offer private, luxury culinary vacations to mouth-watering destinations throughout the world, and our clients tell us repeatedly that our foodie-focused journeys rank as some of their favorite trips. On our culinary travel tours, you’ll eat the best food you’ve ever had in your life.

You’ll also enjoy many exclusive experiences that only we can arrange, such as shopping spice bazaars with chefs in Delhi, making hand-pulled noodles with experts in China, sampling the best olive oil on earth in a remote village in Turkey, hand-picking tea at plantations in Sri Lanka, and learning the centuries old technique of cooking tagine from Berbers in Morocco. You’ll tour local farms, distilleries, and vineyards, and feast everywhere from vibrant night markets to cutting-edge molecular gastronomy labs masquerading as restaurants. Absolute Travel’s superb culinary vacations are truly one of the most rewarding ways to experience the world.

Luxury Culinary Vacations

The options for culinary travel are endlessly appetizing. Vietnam is one of our favorite destinations for a culinary vacation. The food is some of Asia’s most delicate and delicious—it’s full of lemongrass and mint, and is laced with French flavors. On your Vietnamese culinary adventure, you’ll learn to make perfect pho noodle soup and bì cuốn summer rolls, and other regional delicacies. You’ll eat in the most sophisticated restaurants as well as at the street-side stalls whose food is every bit as delicious.

South Africa is wonderful country for a sophisticated culinary vacation. Glittering Cape Town is filled with hip, chic restaurants serving locally sourced haute European cuisine and modern-African fare, and is quickly becoming a hive for foodies. Here, you’ll tour local markets, prepare meals with famous chefs, and even have the opportunity to dine at one of their homes. Just beyond Cape Town’s borders are some of the best wine regions in the world, including Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, which are known for producing complex Cabernet Sauvignon and crisp Chenin Blanc. These areas are filled with boutique vineyards, gourmet markets selling artisanal chocolate and cheeses, and luxury hotels serving award-winning food.

China is another fantastic option for a tantalizing culinary travel tour — each province has its own distinctive cuisine, such as Sichuan, which relies on a “numbing” hot peppercorn to give its dishes heat, and Xinjiang, which is known for its Middle Eastern-influenced Uyghur dishes. Thailand is also popular for culinary vacations because of its street food, which includes everything from basil heavy beef phat kaphrao to phad kee mao noodles, and crispy fried grasshoppers, as is India, with its endless samosas, chaat, and dosas. In Cartagena, Colombia, you can eat tangy ceviche and wash it down with Aguardiente, and in Lebanon, you can gorge on the Middle East’s best hummus and falafel.

We could go on forever, but in the interest of time, here are some of our favorite places for culinary vacations around the globe:

• Japan: In Tokyo, you can spend the early morning at the intense tuna auctions at Tsukiji fish market, where discerning chefs try to outbid each other for the day’s best catch, and then spend the evening devouring outrageously fresh sashimi and washing it down with a cold Sake flight. Japan is simply an outstanding place for a culinary vacation.

• Brazil: Brazil is a marvelous place for a culinary travel tour, as it offers an exciting mix of cuisines, from Bahia’s Caribbean influenced seafood dishes to Rio’s churrascarias, where carnivores will think they have died and gone to heaven.

• China: Relish a private, eight-course meal at China’s first “slow food” restaurant, which is nestled among tea plantations in Hangzhou, and tour its organic gardens with Dai Jianjun, the pioneer of the locavore movement in China.

• South Africa: Eat at the private Cape Town home of celebrity chef Bruce Robertson, who will regale you with stories as you dine on his deck, which boasts fantastic ocean views, and sip award-winning South African wine.

There are so many great places to take a culinary vacation and culinary travel tour. Give us call to discuss your ideas, and we’ll happily create a luxury trip for you where you’ll eat some of the world’s most exciting and inventive cuisine.