Middle East Cooking Trips & Packages Tours & Trips

Highlights

• Get a real insight into Moroccan food with a home-cooked dinner in the ‘blue city’ of Chefchaouen. Prepared with seasonal ingredients, you’ll tuck into a dish that’s bursting with local flavour and made with love.
• Do it yourself during hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations where you’ll learn how to make cous cous, pastilla, stuffed medfouna and local salads.
• See behind the scenes when you meet local producers of goat’s cheese in Chefchaouen, follow tasting trails through Fes and Marrakech’s medinas and visit a women's cooperative producing Argan oil.
• Grab a fork and dig into Morocco’s most iconic dishes – tagine, pastilla, cous cous and camel burgers await!
• Watch the sunset from the back of a camel in the Sahara, then enjoy a homecooked dinner at your desert camp stay under the North African stars.

Highlights

• Strap on your hiking shoes and summit the highest peak in North Africa – Mount Toubkal – with your local expert guide leading the way.
• Get a real taste of adventure on your trek through the rugged Atlas Mountains and marvel at the spectacular scenery at every turn with views across the mountain ranges, Sahara Desert and Atlantic coast.
• Experience local life after hiking to your accommodation in a traditional gite (mountain house) in an Amazigh village nestled high in the Atlas Mountains.
• Enjoy a comfortably paced trekking trip – this trip is designed for hikers of all abilities, allowing less experienced trekkers to tackle this fantastic mountain peak and discover a passion for hiking, mountain climbing and exploring.
• Embrace the vibrant souqs, sights, sounds and smells of Marrakech on a walking tour of the medina and visit to Bahia Palace. With your local guide leading the way, you'll uncover all the best spots and learn more about the culture.

Highlights

• Get to the heart of Turkey and the Caucasus’s with experienced local leaders – enjoy guided city tours, stroll the ancient streets of Ephesus, learn the secrets of Troy, marvel at Baku’s diverse architecture, explore Tbilisi’s winding narrow streets, and uncover the history of ancient Yerevan.
• Enjoy Feature Stays in Cappadocia, with elegantly decorated rooms carved from stone, and at the foot of the Tsiv-Gombori mountains, with unforgettable views of the Alazani Valley.
• Uncover the real Turkey during Exclusive Experiences, including a cooking class with a celebrated chef, visit to an empowering carpet weaving cooperative, cruise around the southern coast, and traditional dinner at a local’s home in Cappadocia
• Visit the Tserovani Refugee Settlement in Georgia during an Exclusive Experience, where you will visit a jewellery making workshop aimed at providing employment to displaced women within the camp, create a piece yourself and learn about the issues surrounding long-term displacement.
• Marvel at ancient wonders and otherworldly sights, from the Cotton Castle of Pamukkale and psychedelic rockscapes of Cappadocia to the open-air archaeological museum of Qobustan in Azerbaijan and the magnificent cave town of Vardzia in Georgia.

Highlights

• Spend a day exploring the majesty and mystery of Petra, embark on a 4WD drive adventure through wind-swept rock formations of Wadi Rum and experience the unique sensation of floating in the Dead Sea – this is Jordan.
• Experience isolated elegance during your Feature Stay at a comfortable Bedouin-style camp in Wadi Rum. Enjoy modern comforts while being surrounded by the vast desert, natural sandstone sculptures and a sky jewelled with stars.
• Lift the lid on Jordanian cuisine when you dine in a fantastic local restaurant in Amman and learn the tricks of the trade during an immersive cooking class run by three sisters in the home of their grandmother.
• Embrace local life as you travel with a passionate Jordanian leader, allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of the communities and historic sites you visit.
• Join your Bedouin hosts in Wadi Rum for an Exclusive Experience to remember. Tuck into a traditional dinner cooked in a zarb (underground oven) while learning about the Bedouin way of life.

Highlights

• Take a guided tour through the Hagia Sophia and learn the hidden tales of this magnificent one-of-a-kind monument with a local expert.
• Get lost in the labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar, passing by the myriad traders who sell their wares in this expansive space. How good are your haggling skills?
• Join a home cooking experience, discovering some simple local food with your hosts and spending some time in a tea house – just like the locals do!
• Gain a close insight into the lives of past Sultans at Topkapi Palace.
• Enjoy the hustle and bustle of the great city of Istanbul and rub shoulders with the locals.

Highlights

• Tour the Old City in Jerusalem including the Jewish Quarter and Western Wall
• Explore Mount Massada's historic fortress and enjoy a cable car ride
• Experience floating in the Dead Sea
• Visit Bible sites around the Sea of Galilee
• Discover Tel Aviv's vibrant neighborhoods and architecture

Highlights

• Marvel at Istanbul’s finest historic sites, including the Blue Mosque, Roman Hippodrome and the Grand Bazaar
• Feast like a sultan at Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace and enjoy fresh seafood beside the Bosphorus Strait
• Join the harvest celebration during the Festival of Wild Greens in Alaçati (April departure only)
• Revel in the bounty of farmers markets and fish auctions
• Sample wines at an organic vineyard and witness the Slow City movement at Seferihisar

Highlights

• Indulge in breathtaking archaeological treasures, including the Red Rose City of Petra
• Explore the spectacular desert landscape of Wadi Rum
• Enjoy a camel trek in the desert and traditional Bedouin dinner
• Visit the historic Roman ruins of Jerash
• Relax on the Dead Sea