Cooking Vacations & Culinary Tours in Italy, Portugal & Croatia

Culinary Vacations with the best hands-on cooking classes & cultural tours in Italy, Portugal & Croatia. Culinary Tours in Tuscany, The Amalfi Coast, Sicily Portugal and more. Learn to cook traditional Italian recipes with local Nonnas, famous chefs, pastry artisans & pizza masters. Our Italian culinary holidays are all inclusive, authentic, and include market, vineyard & cultural tours and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Make wine in Tuscany’s vineyards, go truffle hunting in Umbria, make limoncello on the Amalfi Coast, Cannoli in Sicily, Tortellini in Bologna, experience "local" Croatia, and exclusive Portuguese dishes in Portugal. You are Family in our Italian, Portuguese and Croatian Kitchens, and share our love for cooking and family on our culinary vacations in Italy, as well as our culinary vacations in Portugal and our experiential vacations in Croatia.



Featured Vacations:

The Duoro Valley, where grapes are grown that are destined to become Port Wine.
Porto, Portugal
Portugal – Family, Culture, Wine & Cooking

A week of true cultural immersion & local traditions with the wonderful people of Portugal. Discover Port wines in Porto, explore the Douro Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site, breathtaking towns, & cook local dishes.

  • 8 D / 7 N
  • 3 Cooking Classes
  • All Inclusive
The famous masks of Venice, Italy are an ancient tradition of the area.
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Culinary Treasures of Bologna, Venice, Michelin Stars & Exotic Cars

Bologna, Venice, Cooking Classes, Winery, Parmesan Cheese, Prosciutto Factory. Ferrari Museum, Lamborghini Factory, Traditional Balsamic & More!

  • 8 D / 7 N
  • 3 Cooking Classes
  • All Inclusive
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Sicily, Italy
Sicily, The Motherland - Wine, Cooking, Culture & Adventure

NEW! - Small Group Sicily Coast to Coast Tour with Exclusive CDV Only experiences, Boutique Lodging, Cooking & More.

  • 12 D / 11 N
  • 4 Cooking Classes
  • All Inclusive
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Tuscany / Umbria, Italy
Wine & Cooking Under the Tuscan & Umbrian Sun

Local Living Cooking Vacation with Wineries, Olive Mill, Cheese Making & Sightseeing in Tuscany, Umbria and Alto Lazio

  • 8 D / 7 N
  • 4 Cooking Classes
  • All Inclusive

All of Our Culinary Vacations

Our Culinary Vacations in Italy, Portugal & Croatia

We promise you will fall in love with each of our all-inclusive italy cooking vacations, as well as our culinary vacations in Portugal and our immersive vacations in Croatia. They about much more than just sightseeing, food, and cooking. We create an experience of a lifetime, immersing you into the culture while giving you the sense of having found your home away from home. You will truly feel like family with us. We don’t do the traditional tour thing. When we cook, we are a group of friends doing hands on cooking classes based on traditional Italian family recipes. When we are on excursions, we are a group of friends exploring the beautiful hamlets and countryside together. It is a unique experience like none other, and time again our guests tell us it was the best vacation they had ever taken, and we had completely changed the way they will travel forever. Have a look at our hundreds of Italy Cooking Vacations reviews, and learn more about our:

A Truly Authentic Family Experience

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It all started with a simple idea that we wanted people to experience the real Italy. We had our own friends and family visit us regularly, and they always said they had the experience of their lifetimes visiting us. They said we had shown them the culture of food, family and friends in a way they could not imagine, and our parting was always in tears. They experienced olive oils from our trees, wine from our friends cellars, fresh ingredients from our farm, and we would even take them truffle hunting. So one day we thought that this simple idea was missing in tourism. We would do exactly what we do with our own friends and family… and it worked.

It starts with location. There is nothing quite like small town hospitality when you get away from the areas infected with mass tourism. The people are warm and welcoming, and the more you eat their food and drink their wine, the more they fill with joy. That sense of Italian hospitality is our number one priority with every guest on our culinary holidays. Our goal with each guest is not to simply show you the sights and offer culinary experiences. It is to bring you into our family. Everything we do revolves around that premise. It is all so relaxed and fun. Our guests quickly find that we don’t treat them like customers. We treat them like visiting relatives (The kind we enjoy having, that is!). Of course, this sounds like marketing mumbo jumbo, but it simply isn’t. It is one of the reasons our guests so regularly tell us we far exceeded their expectations.

"Be" The View

Some of the best wines in the world come from Montepulciano and we harvest Sangiovese grapes there!
People often talk about what they “saw” on their vacations. Our guests talk about what they “experienced”. While tourists are busy taking pictures of the beautiful sights they see, our guests are travelers. They are the sights. That is because we integrate into the lifestyle as we fully immerse ourselves into local living.. We are doing... not just seeing. So as every opportunity presents itself, we are right there. During the wine harvest, while others are wine tasting, we are harvesting grapes and making wine. During the olive harvest, while others are buying new oil, we are making extra virgin olive oil from olives we picked together. While others are just buying and eating fresh Italian cheese, we are making fresh ricotta cheese with a local shepherd. The same goes with our Portugal vacations and Croatia vacations, in which we always do what the locals do, and live like locals. Every trip with us is a new and unique life experience that our guests cherish for the rest of their lives.

Small & Intimate Groups

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We need to get to know one another and all become friends and family, so our cooking holidays in italy, Portugal and Croatia are all about small groups. How do we transform a group of guests from customers to family? One way is to limit the size of our groups. They are big enough to ensure we have compatible personalities, but small enough that people never feel like cattle. Like-minded people with a sense of fun and adventure, not to mention a love of good food and wine, become your extended family too. We eat in small town farm-to-table restaurants that don't handle large groups, and we want to always make sure we have the best of the best. Add to that the fact that the cooking classes should be big enough to feel like a fun party, but small enough to get one on one learning. All said, we bring you a wonderful balance of hands-on cooking experiences, culinary outings, excursions to major sightseeing destinations, as well as some of Italy's most wonderful hidden treasures. More importantly, for many of our guests, .

All-Inclusive Vacations

In June, the lentil fields of Castelluccio bloom with beautiful flowers and create amazing photo opportunities
The family feel of our tours and vacations in italy, as well as our Portugal tours would go away quickly if you suddenly found us asking you to pay extra for something, so we don’t... never. Unlike most other tour companies, we won’t offer any optional add-ons... it is all just included on all of our culinary vacations. From the moment we meet, we take care of all transportation, all classes, all excursions, all meals, etc. Because of this, we also make sure our schedule has something going on all day, from morning to night. Of course, you don’t have to do everything. If you prefer, you can always stay back and take it easy until you want to rejoin us, but you will always know we have something going on... and it is always included in the base price. In other words, if you were visiting friends and family, they would show you the time of your life... they wouldn't start hitting you up for money at every turn

The CDV Difference

Truly Exclusive Experiences

Experiences you could never have on your own or with any other tour company...

All-Inclusive Vacations

Most of our vacations are all-inclusive. We take care of everything except gifts you bring home...

Local Living & Boutique Hotels

We choose truly special and small locations that reflect the local living wherever we go...

Truly Unique Locations

Get to know the real Italy, Portugal & Croatia as you visit the places that excite the locals, as well as bucket list destinations...

Small Groups

Nobody wants to feel like cattle, and we want to know you! So our average group size is 16 to 18 guests...

No Shop-Steering

We will never "steer" you into tourist traps that give tour company incentives or kickbacks...

Live the Local Life

All personal with true local culture at the center of it all. A true sense of family and belonging...

Farm to Table Food

Experience Italian & Portuguese Food by Local Standards, where restaurants have their own farms...

No Surprise "Options"

Everything is included in our up-front pricing. When you are with us, we have nothing to sell you...

Guest Reviews & Testimonials

Letters & Reviews From Our Guests...

Trip Advisor Hall of Fame

   As soon was pulled into the front gate of this medieval town, I knew it would be a special week.   

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   F-amily, Outstanding, L-ife Long Memory, I-nteresting, G-reat food, N-ever a dull moment, O-h my - can't wait to come back.   

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   We feel truly blessed to have you as family. Cooking is pretty amazing and fun after all, starting with the ravioli at the Sunday class.   

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   Olive harvest was an amazing experience. De’ Ricci winery in Montepulciano it’s Enrico and his family Cooking classes with Carla   

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   Traveled with family and found more family.   

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   Thank you for such an amazing time with ya'll! All of you went out of your way to make us feel welcome and special.   

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   his trip has been far more fun and entertaining than I could have imagined. It was such and amazing mix of fun and learning   

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   Before I made reservations I read the reviews and I promise you - they're all true! You won't be disappointed!   

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   I loved this experience and we were looked after so well. You get to be a part of Italy - the food, wine, culture and warmth. The CDV team were fantastic, creating a local experience.   

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   Incredible hospitality Meeting the locals, cooking and eating family style with them Delicious recipes for any skill level Sightseeing in area - cheese, olive oil, wine, and more wine !   

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   Thank you Aly for being a great guide and good sport   

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   Thank you all so much for your warmth, love, generosity and hard work. Everything was fabulous!!   

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   What a spectacular time with Viterbo University alumni and friends and Culture Discovery!   

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   CDV is everything it claims to be! That feeling of an authentic experience with genuine people!♥️   

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   Massimo was the ultimate 'little brother' guide and host! The excursions were enjoyable, the cooking classes a blast, and the scenery everywhere we went was breathtaking!   

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