Fabulous Trips for the Food-and-Wine Obsessed

A year’s worth of fantastic tours and camps led by chefs, cookbook authors and other experts. Unless otherwise noted, prices are for one person, including accommodations but not airfare.

The Gulf Beyond Dubai

Dubai has come to define luxury travel in the Persian Gulf, thanks to the outrageous opulence of its latest resorts, shops and restaurants. Now the rest of the Gulf is vying for the jet set, with posh hotels opening in Bahrain and Qatar. At the new Shangri-La Abu Dhabi, try regional sweets like basma and Arabic coffee at the hotel’s restaurant Sofra bld (shangri-la.com).

Italy

Amalfi Coast

Sail along the Amalfi Coast to the towns of Sorrento and Ravello and visit Capri and the ancient ruins of Paestum with Italian cooking expert Peggy Markel (June 11–18; from $3,000; peggymarkel.com).

Sicily

Cycle through Sicily with Boston-area chef Jody Adams. Wine-tasting breaks are included (May 4–11; $4,980; bikeriderstours.com).

Syria

Damascus

Meet with baklava makers and shop the markets of Damascus and Aleppo with cookbook author Anissa Helou (May 9–16; $4,000; anissahelou.com).

Turkey

Istanbul

Explore Istanbul’s bazaars and Anatolia’s clay-pot cooking with writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins (April 28–May 8; from $7,200; thevikinglife.com).

U.S.

Florida

Forage for crabs in Gulf Coast waters with WaterColor Inn culinary adviser Chris Hastings (October 23–26; $1,500; brownelltravel.com).

Napa Valley

Help create a sparkling-wine blend at Schramsberg Vineyards’s winemaking camp (March 9–11; $995, lodging not included; schramsberg.com).

Seattle

Learn butchery and other culinary skills at Tom Douglas’s Culinary Summer Camp in Seattle (July 6–10; $2,500, lodging not included; 206-448-2001).

France

Alsace/Colmar

Cook Alsatian dishes like choucroute with chefs Barbara Lynch and Maria Helm Sinskey (November; price to be determined; no9park.com).

Burgundy Tour

The region’s most prestigious wineries with British Master of Wine Clive Coates (June 22–28; $3,400; bu.edu/foodandwine/tours).

Paris

Go on private chocolate-factory tours with sweets aficionados David Lebovitz and Mort Rosenblum, followed by a party on Rosenblum’s houseboat on the Seine (May 18–24; $2,895; davidlebovitz.com).

Published January 2008

100 Tastes to Try in ‘08