Love Culinary Vacations? Check Out These Hands-On Experiences!
As you start planning your next year of travel, consider honing your kitchen skills and experiencing new flavors in some of the South’s most sought-after destinations. We’ve rounded up the best hotels and resorts with cooking classrooms, unique culinary retreats and tours, and luxe cooking schools to help you plan your own lineup of hands-on culinary vacations!
HOTELS & RESORTS WITH COOKING CLASSROOMS
The Laurel Hotel | Auburn, AL
The Laurel — Alabama’s first and only AAA Five Diamond darling — isn’t just a hotel; it’s a hospitality Jedi academy that’s part of Auburn’s Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center.
Embarkers of the yearly Epicurean Adventure join chef-in-residence Joel Antunes for cooking demonstrations, multi-course meals, rooftop receptions, and educational wine tastings from visiting winemakers and on-site Master Sommelier Thomas Price. The schedule allows time for spa treatments, poolside cabana hangs, and exploring downtown Auburn before the culminating farewell brunch.
Blackberry Farm | Walland, TN
This luxe Smoky Mountain retreat isn’t just a pretty face; it’s a foodie paradise, and this year is shaping up to be Blackberry Farm‘s biggest culinary-driven season yet. Seven momentous food and wine weekends have already been announced, including Passing the Torch (August 24 to 27, 2025) with host chef Grant Achatz from Chicago’s Michelin-starred Alinea and Heritage and Harvest, featuring Eric Solomon-selected wine pairings and seminars.
Year-round, the Blackberry Farm offers a three-hour Artisan Cooking Demonstration experience that gives guests a true farm-to-table immersion with chefs, gardeners, and preservationists. You’ll learn how to prepare a meal from the freshest produce and meats, make traditional cheeses, preserves, and pickles, then dive into a three-course lunch prepared before you.
The Biltmore Hotel | Miami, FL
This swanky Coral Gables landmark isn’t just about luxury rooms, poolside cabanas, and upscale dining. The Biltmore has a prestigious and well-appointed Culinary Academy that’ll knock your chef’s hat off. They typically offer both kids’ culinary camps and adult classes.
Grand Bohemian Mountain Brook | Birmingham, AL
Habitat Cooking School at Grand Bohemian Mountain Brook offers lively, guided culinary experiences, including cooking classes, wine blending, and intimate gatherings. Guests can get outside their kitchen comfort zone by choosing from various classes, including The Trick to Tapas, Classic Italian, The Southern Table, or International Street Food.
The Culinary Institute of America San Antonio
(in conjunction with) Hotel Emma | San Antonio, TX
Did you know San Antonio is one of just two UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy recognized in the U.S.? A stay at Hotel Emma gets you right up in on the action. Ping the concierge before your stay to join a variety of unique CIA Foodies classes, including multi-day signature CIA boot camps, wine-tasting courses, and single-day classes covering everything from regional Mexican and Italian specialties to live-fire BBQ techniques at the one-of-a-kind outdoor cooking station.
Chateau Elan | Braselton, GA
Chateau Elan hosts a busy calendar of festivals and F&B events throughout the year, but few people know about its on-property cooking school. The Culinary Studio is a stunning 1,600-square-foot teaching kitchen in the Chateau Elan Winery, equipped with top-tier Viking Range appliances. The resort’s kitchen gurus are itching to spill their culinary secrets. Each class includes professional cooking instruction for a three-course meal, sommelier-picked wine pairings, and a recipe booklet.
The Alluvian Hotel | Greenwood, MS
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, thousands of students — kids, parents, business professionals, and more — head to The Alluvian Hotel for rest, relaxation, and culinary learning. Their Viking Cooking School‘s expert instructors deliver the same top-notch performance as a Viking range, keeping things fresh with seasonal menus and the latest food trends.
Southall Farm & Inn | Franklin, TN
Southall is a 400-acre farm-centric resort with seven apiaries and buzzy culinary programming. Guests can don beekeeper suits and head off on a Bee Cruise to explore bees’ vital role in agriculture, followed by a live tasting of various honeys from the farm. Their Field Tour & Tasting is a hands-on journey through Southall’s fields, culminating in a tasting of seasonal, farm-to-table dishes.
Quercus | Gay, GA
Guests of this new boutique hotel and fine-dining destination can schedule private hands-on culinary experiences with James Beard-nominated Chef Ryan Smith of Atlanta’s acclaimed MICHELIN-starred Staplehouse. Quercus is also home to Intuitas Wellness, its resident nutrition company founded by Quercus co-owner Chiara Visconti di Modrone. As an integrative nutritionist, she combines nutritional, herbal, and lifestyle support for guests to empower themselves to make lasting and sustainable changes.
RT Lodge | Maryville, TN
Quickly becoming the South’s most anticipated culinary gathering of the year, The Gathering at RT Lodge returns September 26 to 28 this year. Created to bring together chefs, farmers, and makers (plus the appreciators/eaters/guests!), the weekend consists of collaborative dinners and an array of interactive activities like foraging excursions, pottery making, demonstrations, panels, tastings, and special breakfasts/farewell brunch. The hotel also hosts the Morningside Supper Series, featuring famous chefs from around the South.
Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyard | North Garden, VA
Picture sipping bubbly in a vineyard while learning the art of making pasta from scratch. That’s the Pippin Hill cooking school. Their seasonal cooking classes, led by Chef Victoria Cosner, mix garden tours with hands-on cooking and wine pairings, and the experience culminates in a family-style feast. While Pippin Hill has the historic Crossroads Inn, many additional charming wine-country stays are nearby!
COOKING RETREATS & UNIQUE TOURS
No Taste Like Home | Asheville, NC
No Taste Like Home offers a unique foraging and feast experience year-round. Get your group and gather edibles with expert guides: mushrooms, greens, fruits, roots, berries, flowers, nuts, and more. Then, enjoy a cooking demo and tasting, and you’ll have the opportunity to have your finds prepared that evening at one of Asheville’s top restaurants. Tours average about eight participants and are suitable for all ages and abilities.
Epitourean Adventures | Various Locations in the Southeast
Epitourean is a fantastic resource for finding local food tours and cooking vacations worldwide. They offer a few organized retreats throughout the Southeast, including Southern Succulence in Savannah, Culinary Getaway in New Orleans, Culinary Getaway & Biltmore Tour in Asheville, and the Ultimate Culinary Retreat in Charleston. These three-day, two-night weekends include upscale accommodations, gourmet dinners, private tours/tastings, and flavor-packed itineraries led by local experts.
John C. Campbell Folk School | Brasstown, NC
Tucked away in the mountains of western North Carolina, the John C. Campbell Folk School (“the Folk School“) offers weeklong and weekend classes year-round in cooking, homesteading, and gardening (more than 50 subjects!).
Within their cooking studio and out by the wood-fired hearth oven, learn to prepare foods that sustain the body and nourish the soul. From breads and soups to traditional foods of various nationalities, there’s a course for the beginner cook and expert chef alike.
WORTH-THE-TRIP COOKING ACADEMIES
C’est si Bon! Cooking School | Chapel Hill, NC
Set on three acres and cooking up culinary education since 1997, C’est si Bon! Cooking School is a charming, French-inspired cooking school offering in-person classes and overseas retreats. It’s all about hands-on, ingredient-driven experiences that feel like a delicious escape to Provence minus the plane ticket.
The Cook’s Warehouse Cooking School | Atlanta, GA
Equal parts gourmet playground and serious skill-builder, The Cook’s Warehouse is an Atlanta staple that offers classes for every skill level. Think hands-on workshops, demo-style lessons, and expert chefs walking you through everything from sushi rolling to pasta perfection. It’s attached to a high-end kitchen store, so good luck leaving without some shiny new cookware you suddenly “need.”
New Orleans School of Cooking | New Orleans, LA
Located in the heart of the French Quarter, the New Orleans School of Cooking is like a cooking school, live performance, and history lesson mixed into one raucous experience. The instructors — equal parts chefs and entertainers — spill the secrets of Cajun and Creole cuisine, ensuring you leave with full bellies, recipes, and stories.
Glenfiddich Farm Cookery & Gardens | Loudon, VA
NorVa’s Glenfiddich Farm Cookery & Gardens is set on a 175-year-old former dairy with resident wild turkeys and rolling lush terrain. The picturesque farm-to-table cooking school has on-site gardens for a rustic, hands-on experience guided by a passionate chef who makes farm-fresh cooking feel approachable and magical. It’s a little bit country, a little bit gourmet.
Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table | Savannah, GA
Chef Darin Sehnert has garnered acclaim (and thousands of five-star reviews) for his hands-on cooking classes in Savannah for a decade. Originally the opening chef instructor for the Mansion on Forsyth Park, he has opened his own cooking school designed to give guests a lively and delicious hands-on experience.
Book some food-focused travel this year, and you’ll eat well and learn along the way!
**********
Ready to hit the road and explore? Check out our travel archives to start planning your next Southern escape!
Zoe Yarborough
link
