At Go Ahead Tours, we celebrate cuisine on each trip we design so that you can get to the heart of a destination and experience its culture firsthand. We even have dedicated Food & Wine Tours with even more of your favorite culinary moments! Here are the five ways you can discover the flavors of your destination on all of our tours.
Taste
Food tastings
Maple sugar in Canada, chocolate con churros in Spain, Parmigiano-Reggiano in northern Italy—you’ll have countless opportunities to taste the best bites on tour. Traveler Scott discovered this firsthand on our Food & Wine: France through Bordeaux & the Loire Valley tour. “During our Arcachon Bay Cruise excursion, we stopped at an oyster-tasting bar in Canon, France,” he said. “The combination of salty brine and lemon juice on the oysters, paired with a light white wine, heightened the culinary experience.”
Make
Cooking classes
Whether you add a culinary excursion or your itinerary includes a cooking class, crafting a regional dish from scratch is one way to get to the core of a country’s food scene. When travelers Margaret and Chris set off on our tour of Vietnam & Angkor Wat, they had the opportunity to make regional staples like fish sauce, peanut sauce, and rice paper for spring rolls. “Our cooking lesson in Hôi An began with a market tour led by the chef who would be our instructor,” Margaret explained. “Sourcing the local foods we’d later cook was a phenomenal way to start.”
Sip
Wine, beer, and spirit tastings
Drinking what the locals drink brings you closer to tradition on our tours. Want to sip Chianti alongside a trained sommelier amidst rolling Tuscan hills, try Cognac with an expert at a French distillery, or tip back a stein of Bavarian beer at Oktoberfest? You can! While on our Food & Wine: Southern Italy & Sicily tour, traveler Mark got to sip some of the region’s best vinos. “During dinner we tasted four wines: a sparkling rosé, two reds, and one white,” he said. “The food and wine were delicious—we all felt like we were eating with family.”
Shop
Market visits
If a destination’s freshest flavors are what you seek, open-air markets are the places to go. You’re sure to get a true feel for daily life as you browse fresh produce and shop among locals, oftentimes with your Tour Director leading the way. During our Food & Wine: France through Bordeaux & the Loire Valley tour, Go Ahead Tours staffer Laura set off on a walking tour through the market in Périgueux. “I couldn’t help but marvel at the wide selection of goods,” she said. “There were hundreds of different cheeses, meats, pastries, flowers, and produce—whatever you were looking for, there was most likely a vendor who sold it.”
Connect
Culturally immersive dinners
On many of our tours, you’ll get closer to culture by dining on regional specialties while watching a traditional performance that captures the spirit of a destination (Argentine steak at a flamenco show, anyone?). You can even sit down to eat in small, intimate groups at a local family’s home! Traveler Rick did just that our New Zealand: Untamed Landscapes tour. “The hosts was very generous and gracious, and sitting down to a meal at their table was a real highlight,” he said. “It’s rare to connect with local people and it was just a magical evening.”
Ready for a memorable on-tour culinary experience? Check out all of our Food & Wine Tours.
