Food, quite simply, makes the world go round. It is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and a near-universal one at that. It is only natural to think of basing your travels around food and the enjoyment thereof; good taste knows no borders, but borders have made for some incredible tastes. How might you go about planning such a bucket-list gourmet adventure?
How to Plan a Food Tour
A luxurious food-centric trip is a not a trifling matter. It is a trip that requires a great deal of time and attention to plan, and not just thanks to the intricacies of international travel after Brexit! Eating well needn’t cost the earth, but a big part of your trip planning will be securing and sequestering the finances necessary to afford ancillary concerns like travel and board.
If this is your retirement holiday to end all holidays, then you have more options than most; for example, you’ll be eligible to retrieve value from your home via a form of lifetime mortgage. Using an equity release calculator could give you an idea of the budget available to you before you plan.
Where to Go
Speaking of planning, the most exciting part – and, for many, the part that’s almost more exciting than the trip itself! – is choosing where to go. What destinations hide the best cuisine, and which locations are you positively salivating to see?
Let’s start with Italy, and the foodstuffs that have conquered continents. You don’t need to go to Italy to have good pizza, but you do need to go for the incomparable seafood along the Amalfi coast, and for the stunning rural dishes of Tuscany.
A little closer to home, France is equally reputable for its contributions to nouvelle cuisine, and for its no-nonsense approach to modern restaurateurs.
It also borders with Spain, where bold flavours and intricate dishes brashly mix across small plates and delicious wine. If you’ve the money and mind, a trip could take all of these incredible destinations in with one stacked itinerary.
When to Go
Finally, there is the golden question of ‘when’. When should you plan your majestic culinary excursion for? Unfortunately, this question isn’t so easily answered – it is inexorably tied to your shortlist of culinary hotspots, owing to a number of variables.
These variables include the on- and off-season for the region, and the seasons in which certain raw ingredients are best grown. Italy in the winter is a very different gourmet experience than Italy in the summer! Travelling in the winter can make better financial sense, particularly in Mediterranean or Balearic countries where tourism and tourism-inflated costs are at a minimum.
