Spanish Culinary, Wine & Cultural Tours
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Culinary Tours
Cooking tour in Northern Spain : Indulge in the Local Flavour
Itinerary | Features | Prices | Travel Options
Highlights of your unforgettable visit include:
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Accommodations in a 4-star traditional style hotel in the heart of Barcelona and in an authentic Spanish stone Villa in the countryside
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Gourmet cooking lessons and full 3 course meals with Spanish chefs and a market shopping experience in Spain's famous market, La Boqueria
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A day visit to a local winery including a tour of cellars and vineyards, and complete with wine tasting
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A fine luxury dining experience in a 3-star Michelin Restaurant
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Tastings of exquisite gourmet Spanish foods including ham, cheese, olives, wines, dried fruits, nuts and chocolate
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Guided tours of Gaudi's architecture, the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, a 13th century castle, an olive oil production site and Girona's old Jewish Quarter.
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You will start your vacation with airport pickup and chauffeured transfer to your 4-star traditional Spanish style hotel in downtown Barcelona. Formerly, your hotel was a residence of a wealthy Duke in the city and is deep-seated in its history. A basket of fruit and chocolate will be waiting for you in your room to welcome you to Spain. Tonight, we suggest a light dinner at the hotel or several informal dining options we can recommend upon request.
This morning after a delicious breakfast, you will meet your guide and share a welcome drink where you will receive an itinerary of your personalized tour and plenty of suggestions for restaurants and free time activities.
Then, you will meet the chef for this morning's cooking class. The first stop is La Boqueria, Spain’s most important market place because it offers the freshest and most diverse selection of produce from all over Europe. You and your chef will choose the freshest ingredients for seafood paella or fideuá and other specialties, that you will be cooking for lunch, and he will answer any questions you have about the array of products you see before you. Next you will have a gourmet cooking lesson where you will enjoy both the chef’s personalized attention and an authentic and sumptuous Catalan lunch.
After lunch, you will head up the Passeig de Gracia with your guide for a walking tour of the fanciful works of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. You will start with the “Passage of Discord” and view 3 famous facades, including the Casa Batllo. Afterward, you will head to the rooftop of Gaudi´s architectural masterpiece, La Pedrera, for a bird’s eye view of Barcelona and a glimpse of the Sagrada Familia in the distance.
Surely after this day of activity you will welcome the Spanish siesta time and relish a free evening on your own. Our guide will gladly provide you with suggestions for authentic local restaurants and bars, if you wish.
This morning you will traverse the city on a gourmet walking tour through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona! Our journey will focus on the authentic gourmet foods in Catalonia, but will pass by a few architectural feats as well, including a gothic cathedral, Santa Maria Church. The Gothic Quarter is the heart of Barcelona and home to an abundance of tucked away cafes and shops.
You will taste fresh Spanish cheeses at a charming local cheese shop paired with wine, and stop at the oldest venue in Barcelona for refreshments, dried nuts and fruits. You will visit a delicious traditional delicatessen and sample Spain’s famous hams, cold meats and sausages provided by local farmers. The meats will be complemented by fine local Catalonian wines, including ecological varieties from nearby Barcelona vineyards.
After a day of walking, you will move to your new home for the next 4 nights in an authentic Spanish Villa in Besalú. The afternoon will be free to get to know this charming villa and perhaps sip cava (Spanish Champagne) out by the pool in the breeze of the Mediterranean climate.
This evening you will have a cooking lesson with a local Catalan chef, who will share classic recipes like escalivada, prepared over an open flame in the villa’s kitchen as the appetizer, before moving onto a the traditional dish of duck and pears made in stoneware. Enjoy the wine and appreciate the warmth of the atmosphere in the Catalonian kitchen along with the delicious three-course meal.
Today you will investigate the medieval village of Besalú, a village renowned for its beauty and the picturesque bridge that once adjoined this small village to land. Here you will visit the old Jewish Quarter and the local public gardens where villagers grow the herbs needed for their traditional homemade wine, ratafia, which you will certainly have a chance to taste.
For lunch you will be treated to a true Catalan dining experience at a famed local restaurant owned by three Catalan brothers. Local recipes are the inspiration for the exquisite dishes served here. Chef Joan has adopted these traditional recipes and in combination with the freshest local produce and a little innovation, he creates memorable Catalan dishes. His brother, a famous sommelier widely acclaimed to make the best pairings of wine with meals in all of Spain, will be marrying the local wines of the region with each course of your lunch. From the aperitif to the dessert, you will remember this dining experience for years to come!
In the afternoon you will venture into Girona, where you will discover their ancient gothic cathedral and appreciate the Jewish influence on Catalonia. You will wind through the narrow streets and stoned walls of the Gothic Jewish Quarter and encounter little shops, cafes and medieval homes that families have passed down through the generations.
For the evening, the choice is yours--boutique shopping in Girona, dinner and drinks in the downtown historic district, or maybe you would prefer returning to your authentic villa for a quieter night!
This morning you will visit the excellent Perelada vineyard with a long tradition of wine making, commenced by monks in the 14th century. A wine expert will show you around the vineyards and then you will visit Perelada´s 13th Century castle; see an ancient wine press as well as the current wine and cava making facilities. The Gran Claustre cava, which is the finest cava available at this vineyard, is still fermented with the same process and in the same location used by the Carmelite Monks to prepare it in the 14th Century. This cava was selected in a blind tasting between the world´s finest champagnes to be served at the wedding in 2004 of Prince Felipe of Spain. Your in-house wine expert will then guide you through a tasting of their best cavas and wines including Gran Claustre and you will be able to appreciate its balanced coupage of Xarelo, Macabeu and Parellada grapes.
At lunchtime you will be the special guest of a local Catalan chef at his modern, but still cozy, cooking school, just a short drive from Perelada. You and your guide will join him for an afternoon of inspired cookery Catalan style! You will have the opportunity to participate in the chef’s preparations or, if you prefer, you can sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy his cooking from aperitif to dessert. Our chef appears frequently on local TV and has a charming personality, so feel free to ask him everything you would like to know about the Spanish cuisine! The delicious cuisine you enjoyed preparing will be even more rewarding when you eat your four course masterpiece, paired with local wine, complete with desert and coffee.
After your exciting cooking experience, surely an unforgettable visit to the fabulous Dali Theatre/Museum in Figueres will be a nice way to end the day. The great artist purchased the museum building and personally oversaw its reconstruction and renovation. Now restored in a style appealing to Dali, it is home to some of his greatest works of surrealism. Our guide is a great expert on Dali's work, will accompany you on your private guided visit of the Museum so that you can ask him all the unofficial and unconfessed secrets of this quirky artist!
Today you will visit Empurieshome of the picturesque ruins of a once great Greek town in a very privileged location on the coast. The agreeable walkways take you by sand dunes, palm trees and small coved beaches. An old stone village awaits your visit at one end of the walk or, if you prefer, you can go down to the beach and relax!
After working up an appetite from your stroll, lunch will be at the former villa of Catalan author Caterina Albert, who wrote under the male pseudonym "Victor Catalá." Because she was an exceptional cook, her generations-old hand-written recipes are used in the villa’s kitchen for authentic and delicious Spanish dishes of days gone by. The meal will not be complete until you try a tasting of sweet wine from the ancient cellar on the first floor of the converted house.
This afternoon brings free time to relax back at your villa, perhaps by the pool and then a farewell dinner in the evening. You will partake in a variety of the local delicatessens you have sampled over the week, including tapas and appetizers, and celebrate with wine and cava to commemorate your vacation of traditional Catalan cuisine!
Your tour concludes with a lovely breakfast at the villa, followed by a chauffeured transfer to Barcelona for your departure.
We hope you join us for this unforgettable experience!
Your Cooking tour in Northern Spain includes:top
- English speaking expert culinary guide for the items as stated in the itinerary
- All transfers in a luxury vehicle
- Accommodations for 2 nights in luxurious 4-star traditional style hotel (double occupancy)
- Accommodations for 4 nights in authentic Spanish Villa (double occupancy)
- 6 full breakfasts
- All the culinary, cultural visits and tastings indicated in the itinerary
- 3 private cooking classes followed by meals and wine
- 1 lunch including wine in a local restaurant
- 1 tapas lunch
- 1 gastronomic menu dinner married with wines in 3-star Michelin restaurant
- Online Personal Travel Webpage including daily itinerary, general local information, details of places of interest, suggestions for restaurant reservations, and your free time, etc.
- Customized Travel Journal, including the information from your Personal Travel Webpage, which you can take with you to use as a reference throughout your tour
- Travel Insurance
Your Cooking tour in Northern Spain does not include:
- Flights
- Meals and Drinks not Specified
- Personal Expenses such as Telephone, Minibar, etc
- Tips and Gratuities (Restaurants, etc)
- Cancellation Insurance
Cooking tour in Northern Spain dates:
Available upon request all year round.
Cooking tour in Northern Spain Prices:
Please note our tours are available for PRIVATE GROUPS ONLY and are not scheduled tours for mixed groups.
The tour price varies depending on the Travel Option you choose. Please click on the option which suits you best in order to request a quotation.
In order to find out more about Gourmand Breaks' Travel Options, please Click Here
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