Avanti Destinations has unveiled a series of 12 new culinary experiences for independent travelers to get a better taste of Europe and South America.
These customized adventures can included in over 150 bookable itineraries and excursions celebrating local food and beverage. Based on client preference, agents can add a single epicurean activity, or create an entire tour, such as the following:
New European Wine & Dine Tours
- Sicilian Culture (Italy) – Eight days/seven nights in Palermo, Agrigento, Ragusa and Taoromina with a driving guide to help clients discover Greek ruins and breathtaking scenery. The trip includes two three-course dinners, sampling local pastries and wine. Prices start at $3,450 per person, based on double occupancy.
- Highlights of Lyon (France) – Three days/two nights. The trip features dinner in a typical “bouchon” restaurant, a wine tasting and a private city tour. Prices start at $545 per person.
- Private tours of Central European coffeehouses (Prague and Vienna) – Guests will take private tours in two cities where revolutionary ideas were brewed along with coffee. The Prague four-hour tour is $125 per person, and the Vienna two-hour tour is $155. Avanti also offers a new three-hour Culinary Walking Tour of restaurants, bars and cafés along Vienna’s Ringstrasse for $105 per person.
- “Local in Focal” Icelandic Cooking Class - Guests will learn how to make Scandinavian specialties, including fresh local fish and lamb, in a group cooking class at Salt Eldhus (Reykjavik) for $275 per person.
- Douro Valley (Portugal) - A three day/two night voyage along the Douro River. Wine tastings are offered along the way, beginning at $299 per person.
- Taste of Franconia (Germany) – A three day/two night stay in the medieval citadel of Wurzburg in the heart of wine country. The trip includes dinner and wine tastings from $475 per person.
- Taste of Tuscany (Italy) – A four day/three night stay at Bagno Vignoni with its ancient hot springs near the hilltop towns of Pienza and Montalcino, birthplace of one of Italy’s most prestigious wines. The trip includes two dinners, a cooking class, a cheese tour, wine tastings, and a rental car. Prices start at $865 per person.
Central & South American Tastings
- Journey to the Source of Chocolate (Ecuador) - Three days/two nights in the Andes and into the rainforest to visit an agrotourism project where cacao is harvested and Pacari organic chocolate is made. Clients will have the opportunity to make chocolate. Prices start at $985 per person.
- Luxury Chilean Wine – A four day/three night itinerary starting in Santiago followed by two nights at Chile’s premier winery, Casa La Postolle (owned by the same French family that created Grand Marnier). The trip includes a cooking class using organic produce from the hotel’s garden, a wine-tasting, and a full-day tour of Colchaqua Valley, the most important red wine-producing area in the region. Prices start at $3965 per person.
- Mistura Festival (Peru) – Three days/two nights in Lima at South America’s largest gastronomy festival. The trip includes entrance to the festival, food vouchers and a gastronomy tour in the city that invented Peru’s original fusion cuisine. Prices start at $585 per person.
Agent commissions for complete customizable itineraries or individual components, such as hotels, sightseeing and transfers start at 10 percent.