Culinary tours offer travelers a heady cocktail of food and wine combined with learning and recreation. These trips are a different species from the usual tourist vacations and much better than just going out to eat at restaurants from time to time. There is a touch of artistry involved, as evidenced by the fact that a cooking school teaches the culinary arts and not some scientific methods of cooking.

There are many possibilities, when it comes to culinary tours. It can be a simple itinerary with visits to many different restaurants in one destination, or it could be a multi-colored journey with learning, some recreation, and many food and wine tasting expeditions to different locations. The second option obviously offers more room for customization to suit the traveler’s preferences.

A typical example would be a luxury resort offering its guests cooking sessions with their star chefs. The package would include resort stay and meals, with one or more live demonstrations by celebrity chefs where guests will be taught how to prepare a specific dish or dishes. Sometimes the resort may also offer a guided tour of nearby attractions.

But the most popular type are the packages offered by professional tour operators. These can be spread over one or two weeks and take participants to different destinations in a region famous for its cuisine and specific types of food and wine. Sometimes a tour may revolve solely around trying a specific dish or food at multiple locations.

This works best in valleys that are among the world’s leading wine producers. Visitors here can enjoy not only local wines, but also exquisite cuisine and full 5-course meals at upscale restaurants. This kind of wine country getaway can be found in famous places like Bordeaux and Provence in France, Napa Valley in California, Tuscany region in Italy, and Hunter Valley in Australia.

Let’s go back a bit to the first type of culinary tours, where visitors enjoy the culinary offerings of a specific destination. So while a visitor to Paris may be eating macaroons, brioche, and eclairs while taking a tour of historic pastry shops, another visitor to New York may be walking through Greenwich Village, stopping at pizzerias and specialty food stores. Another visitor to London may be enjoying greasy breakfasts on a tour of Classic Caffs or taking a chicken tikka masala tour of various curry houses.

Some are also inclined to take things slowly, literally. These are culinary tours for slow food lovers, where the concept is to not only eat the food, but also learn how to prepare the food and bond with the locals. Obviously, it is not something that can be done in a hurry, and it requires enjoying the trip, local life and the experience of preparing dishes as well as eating or enjoying the local attractions.

The sum of this is that it can be a well-planned affair organized by a professional tour operator, or it can be a solo experience of wandering around a destination without a plan. Regardless, what doesn’t change is that the goal is to travel to a specific place to enjoy a specific set of foods, dishes, and drinks. Throw in a little learning and some vacation fun, and you’ve got everything that’s available in culinary tours.