One of our favorite destinations for a cooking vacation: sunny, friendly, down-to-earth Portugal!
Read MorePortugal is unlike any of its European neighbors, and unlike any place we’ve traveled before. It has everything you could ask for in a cooking vacation destination: great food, friendly people, wonderful local wines, a beautiful and diverse landscape, and amazing cultural sites to explore.
Looking for a Lisbon food tour? Or Porto wine tours? We offer some of the best food and wine tours in Portugal, and we can also design custom Portugal cooking vacations made-to-order.
Portugal is one of Europe’s hottest destinations, with an amazing climate, fascinating history, friendly people, and of course amazing food that you will cook during our Portugal food tours and wines that you will savor on our Portugal wine tours.
The Portuguese diet includes many staples of traditional Mediterranean cuisine, and on our Portugal food tours you will taste fish (in particular dried cod or “bacalhau” and sardines), lean meats, an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, traditional almond pastry desserts, and the famed “pastel de nata” custard pastry. Portuguese cuisine varies from region to region, but one thing remains constant: the love of good, fresh food and wonderful wines, including famous styles of fortified wine, Port and Madeira, that both originate here.
Our Portugal cooking vacations also offer amazing discoveries. There are castles seemingly on every hilltop, some beautifully restored, others crumbling ruins to explore, all of them a sign of a time when Portugal was a major maritime power. There are fascinating art and architecture here, particularly the “Manueline” style that is characteristic of the country. And the Portuguese themselves are a friendly, down-to-earth, quietly confident people who are ready to share their country’s bounty with you, whether you are on a Lisbon food tour, a Porto wine tour, or one of our Portugal cooking vacations in the countryside.
Hard at work in the kitchen during a Portugal cooking vacation with The International Kitchen.
September 27, 2024
We sure are excited about Lisbon! We've been sending travelers to the capital of Portugal during our cooking vacations Flavors of Portugal and Lisbon Food…
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November 16, 2020
When my mother and a friend of hers asked about a custom-designed culinary vacation to Spain and Portugal my first thought was, "Excellent!" My second…
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November 16, 2020
Portugal is one of Europe's hottest destinations (find out why!), and it is growing in popularity each year at rapid rates. And it's no wonder!…
Read This PostThere is a lot to discover in Lisbon, and we recommend any traveler on our Portugal cooking vacations experience the capital city. We have several Portugal food and wine tours that include stays in Lisbon, but we can also design custom stays in the fascinating city. Whether you are doing a Lisbon food tour with other foodies, a Portuguese cooking class with a local chef, or tasting the local wines on a Lisbon wine tour, you’re sure to enjoy one of Europe’s most popular destinations.
But it’s not just Lisbon that you should visit while on our Portugal wine tours and cooking vacations. Head north to the city of Porto, an aesthetically captivating town full of colorful tiled buildings, wrought iron balconies, and steep, narrow streets. It is also full of Porto wine tours, many of which explore the local Port wines that hail from the grapes of the Douro Valley.
Head outside the main cities to discover the rest of Portugal, including the agricultural Alentejo region and the rugged, seaside Algarve. Our Portugal wine tours and cooking vacations include hands-on cooking classes in which you’ll learn authentic Portuguese dishes, as well as excursions to see local castles, monasteries, wineries, olive mills, cork producers, and more. Although a relatively small country, the breadth of experiences you can have on our food and wine tours in Portugal is staggering!
We can also design custom culinary tours that travel throughout Portugal or even ones that add in a trip to neighboring Spain. Whether your interests like in our Portugal wine tours or our authentic hands-on cooking classes, we’re happy to design the perfect Portugal culinary vacation package for you.
