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Take a Cooking School Vacation

Explore your culinary talent by merging it with a great vacation.

Travel with a Cooking School Twist

The growing popularity of cooking school vacations means that you can likely find a way to incorporate cooking classes into your trip, no matter where you'd like to go.

You can explore the culinary delights of an exotic locale like France, Italy or Thailand—or you can stick closer to home and take a workshop in a culinary hot spot like Napa Valley, New York City or New Orleans.

If you are interested in coming home from your vacation with something other than a suitcase full of soon-to-grow-dusty trinkets and postcards, here's a mini-guide to planning your cooking school vacation:

What You'll Pay

All-inclusive cooking school vacations—which typically offer activities from morning till night, in addition to covering meals and accommodations—can run $400 to $700 (or more) per day, per person. At the opposite end of the spectrum, half-day cooking classes, generally run $100 to 150 per day, per person. If you're traveling on a budget, you might consider vacationing in the U.S., taking a shorter vacation (three day packages are common), or take a more traditional vacation and add in a cooking class or two.

How Long You'll Be Gone

Again, there are lots of options when it comes to planning the length of your cooking school vacation. Most commonly, these trips tend to run from three to seven days, but you can also find one- or two-day options (which you can include as part of a longer, more traditional vacation). At the other end of the spectrum, 10-day (or longer) options can allow those with larger budgets the luxury of total immersion in the cuisine and culture of their destination.

What Your Vacation Will Include

Some vacation packages stick strictly to the kitchen, while others include visits to local farmers' markets, vineyards, and walking tours with stops at various restaurants and bakeries in addition to cooking classes. Whether you're looking for an intensive cooking experience or something more along the lines of a "culinary sightseeing tour plus unlimited pastries," you should be able to find the perfect vacation for you.