Cooking Vacations: Off the Beaten Path
Off the Beaten Path Travel
Many foodie travelers contact us because they want a culinary tour that is off the beaten path. But what is an off the beaten path food tour?
Certainly, our culinary tours that are in a remote location or that are difficult to get to we consider “off the beaten path.” Sometimes examples of off the beaten path culinary tours are dramatic. If you have to ride a camel to get to your luxury camp in the Sahara, that is off the beaten path! Similarly, if you have to float down a river in Vietnam, or hike through the cloud forest of Peru, we would consider it an off the beaten path culinary tour. But even if you can arrive there in a car, there are plenty of remote destinations for our cooking vacations.
Some countries are themselves off the beaten path. Most of our travelers look for a culinary vacation in Europe, so for our clientele, a destination not often-traveled by tourists can automatically be considered as off the beaten path. This includes most of our trips in Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and India, which we classify as off the beaten path.
But we also count as off the beaten path any culinary vacations that are in a destination that is for some reason unusual. This might be in a popular country – Italy, for instance – but in a town or region that is almost unknown to most tourists. For example, an agriturismo in the countryside of Abruzzo, or a farm in Emilia-Romagna, would be considered off the beaten path. A small town in northern Lombardy, or anywhere in the little-known Friuli-Venezia-Giulia can be considered off the beaten path to our culinary travelers. Quite simply, if you are traveling to a country that is a popular destination but you are going someplace most tourists have never heard of, let alone thought to visit, then we would call it off the beaten path, including Scotland, Greece, France, and Spain, which are themselves some of our most popular destinations.
What to Expect on Our Off the Beaten Path Food Tour
Just because you’re traveling off the beaten path does not mean you’re roughing it or that you can’t expect the same level of care and quality as on our other cooking vacations. When you are traveling with The International Kitchen you can find a standard of excellence including:
- Top-quality, clean accommodations
- Talented and friendly professional guides and chefs
- Delicious and authentic foods and wines
- Safe and comfortable transportation
- The protection of booking with a licensed and insured tour operator that has been organizing top-notch tours for twenty-five years.
Some of our favorite off the beaten path cooking vacations include:
Culinary Journey into the Amazon
Discover a part of the world truly untouched by mass tourism by traveling to northern Peru. See ancient ruins that rival Machu Picchu in the Amazon cloud forest, meet the friendly locals, and explore delicious Peruvian cuisine.
Cooking on Turkey’s Aegean Coast
Travel to a part of Turkey many people have never heard of, and enjoy the pristine coastlines, flavorful Mediterranean cuisine, and visit local farms and food cooperatives run by local Turkish women.
Visit the Scotland of your fantasies in the Mid-Argyll while staying in a charming cottage and cooking with a local woman. Forage for herbs, collect mussels from the sea and explore the local sites.