Cooking with Locals: the Best Hands-on Culinary Tours around the Globe

Can you imagine not only being able to dine on fresh regional dishes while travelling, but to also learn how to prepare them yourself? Many of the guides on ToursByLocals love to cook, and enjoy sharing their culinary know-how with travellers. It’s a great (and delicious) way to immerse yourself in the local culture, by participating in the social rituals that go into the preparing and sharing of a meal.

Below we highlight a few of the culturally-immersive cooking tours offered by ToursByLocals guides around the world. As with all tours on our platform, these are private experiences – just you, your travel companions, and your guide/chef. Have fun learning to make a classic dish, and then challenge yourself to recreate it with friends back at home.

Want to find more of this sort of tour? Just use the "food and drink" filter to see what's available in any destination.

Why take a cooking class while travelling?

Food can reveal an extraordinary amount about a place: its landscape and climate, its trading history, its family traditions, and the cultures that have shaped it over generations. A hands-on cooking class takes you beyond simply tasting a regional speciality. You might spend time with your guide shopping for seasonal ingredients in a neighbourhood market, learn why a particular spice is central to the local cuisine, or discover a family recipe that has never been written down.

Cooking with a local guide also creates the kind of easy conversation that doesn’t always happen across a restaurant table. As you chop, stir and taste together, you gain insight into everyday life and the customs surrounding food, from how meals are shared to which dishes mark holidays and family gatherings.

And unlike most travel souvenirs, the skills and recipes you gather can be enjoyed long after you return home, with family and friends.

Local Cooking Classes with ToursByLocals

Tuscan Cooking Class

Massimo lives “under the Tuscan sun”, and was born in Peccioli, a country village in Italy, and home to some of the world’s most mouth-watering cuisine. Head with him to his small family-run olive farm, where the resident “Mamma” can teach you how to make traditional Tuscan dishes. Then sit down and enjoy your family-style meal with a selection of local wines.

Learn more: Tuscany Cooking Class.

Santorini Cooking Class

Santorini is legendary for its whitewashed villages and celadon sky. But if you really want to get under the skin of this volcanic island, take a local cooking class with guide Amani. After walking through some of Santorini’s volcanic vineyards, you can sample traditional Greek aperitifs such as Raki and Ouzo, and learn how to cook like a Greek under the guidance of a local chef at a traditional restaurant.

Learn more: Cook like a Greek with Amani.

Catalan Cooking Class

Not far outside of Girona and Figueres lies a little Catalan village called Capmany, home to accomplished local chef, Yves. Yves is a guide whose passion for cooking outweighs all else; his tours focus exclusively on helping guests to prepare and enjoy the fresh local ingredients and regional cuisine of the Catalan region of Spain. On this tour, you’ll get to visit a local farm to harvest fresh off the vine vegetables for your meal, then return to Yves’ 14th century village home to cook at his outdoor kitchen. Sounds absolutely idyllic!

Learn more: Farm to table in Spain’s Costa Brava.

Tokyo Cooking Class

With your guide Sachiko at your side, you can browse the stalls at Tsukiji Outer Fish Market, a long-standing establishment in Tokyo. You’re guaranteed to see items you’ve never encountered at home! Your guide will teach you about what you’re looking at, then you’ll get to see the ingredients come to life as you take a cooking class given by a licensed sushi master, the professional chef of a famous sushi restaurant in Tsukiji.

Learn more: Prepare traditional Japanese sushi with Sachiko.

Mexico City Cooking Class

Get an in-depth look at a traditional neighbourhood, while also getting a hands-on introduction to authentic Mexican cooking on this cultural tour with enthusiastic chef and foodie. Jacqueline's cooking class will introduce you to a well-known local chef, and help you dive into both Mexican food and culture, after a visit to a local museum and market.

Learn more: Cook in Mexico City with Jacqueline.

Montreal Global Fusion Cooking Class

Spend time learning some professional cooking techniques with a Michelin-star chef! Together with your host Robert, you will create four courses inspired by Montreal's global food cultures, learning professional techniques, flavour development, and how to plate a dish.

Learn more: Montreal's global food cultures cooking class with Robert.

Balinese Cooking Class

Balinese meals rely on a unique mixture of Indonesian spices to achieve their unique flavours. On this tour with your local guide Agung, you’ll get a chance few tourists do: to go inside a traditional Balinese family compound and spend time cooking with the family who have lived there for generations. Go inside a traditional Balinese kitchen and learn how to grind, mix and prepare the herbs and spices that create the texture and flavour unique to Balinese dishes.

Learn more: Family cooking class in Bali, Indonesia.

How to choose the right culinary tour

The best culinary experience depends on how you like to travel and, just as importantly, how you like to eat. Before booking a cooking class or food tour, consider what you would most enjoy:

• Market-to-table experiences: Begin at a local market, where your guide can introduce unfamiliar ingredients and explain how residents shop and cook.
• Hands-on cooking classes: Prepare several dishes yourself, with guidance from a local cook or professional chef.
• Farm and producer visits: Discover where regional ingredients come from by visiting vineyards, olive groves, farms or family-run producers.
• Speciality workshops: Focus on a particular skill or dish, whether that means rolling pasta, preparing sushi, blending spices or mastering pastry.
• Home cooking experiences: Cook in a family home or private kitchen and learn recipes rooted in personal and regional traditions.

Private culinary tours are especially helpful for travellers with specific dietary needs, younger cooks or experienced home chefs who want to explore a particular technique in greater depth. Before booking, review what is included and let your guide know about any allergies, dietary restrictions or specific interests.

Discover a destination through its food

A memorable meal can tell a story, but preparing it alongside someone who understands its history adds another layer entirely. From a Tuscan olive farm to a Tokyo fish market, culinary tours invite you to experience a destination through its ingredients, traditions and everyday rituals.

Browse food and drink tours in any destination around the world and find a private experience shaped around your tastes and curiosity.