Flavors of Rome and Paris Itinerary

It’s the aromas that excite at Piazza D’Allessandria. They tantalize, tempting you towards the colorfully laden stalls. Explore with a local guide, chatting with the traders as you learn how to judge the quality of raw ingredients. Atmospheric and authentic, the food market has hardly changed in centuries, and you can spend many hours walking and exploring. So take a rest when you’ve finished, and sip on a proper Italian espresso – or a cappuccino if it’s before midday – in the Villa Albani gardens. The guide will have purchased ingredients at the market, and you spend the afternoon cooking, preparing a three-course gourmet menu that delves into many Italian specialties, including the ubiquitous pasta. From market to table you’ll see how subtle little tricks make Roman food so special.

Olive groves bake on the sunny hills of Castelli Romani. An expanse of green vines stretches higher onto the slopes. Stone farmhouses separate the rows of grapes, their terraces providing views as far as St Peter’s Basilica and the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is Frascati, one of the world’s oldest wine-making regions, home to rich five-grape blends that have been refined over millennia. Sit down and taste. Try past vintages with the cellar-master. Visit a second vineyard and compare the flavors. Then continue the tasting experience with olive oil and charcuterie. Walk off the indulgence by touring the olive groves and following the process from tree to pressing to bottle, before returning to Rome and another free evening on one of the piazzas.

With food as a lens, you go explore the contrasts of old Rome. Like most big cities the Italian capital is a patchwork of styles and influences, with each neighborhood having its own characteristics and flavors. Wander Campo De’ Fiori to find the fragrances and treats of historic bakeries. Search for food around Piazza Navona, where fruits and vegetables from the hills are sold by vibrant traders. Take a walk through the Jewish Ghetto to see how food connects cultures. Explore Fori Imperiali and Piazza Venezia, joining the locals on a cafe terrace. You try Roman wine donuts, great collections of cheese, pies you wouldn’t expect, and crisp Roman pizza. Then the afternoon is free, perhaps a good time to visit one of the city’s most iconic sights.

It’s easy to forget that Rome is on the Mediterranean, which traditionally provided the basis of most diets. It brings a soft breeze that cools vineyards and olive groves. It provides fresh seafood that’s been enjoyed for millennia. It was a way to transport produce and ideas from elsewhere in Italy and beyond. Mediterranean cooking is a jigsaw as complex as the salty sea, one that doesn’t have an origin and can be molded to your own palate. Spend this morning cooking with a renowned local chef, using creativity and experimentation to cook something that could only come from the Mediterranean.

With a free afternoon, you can continue the Rome exploration. This is one of the great cities for people watching and one of the best experiences is to simply sit back at a cafe, probably on a piazza, enjoying the world passing by. Jazz music and candlelight greet you at tonight’s dinner table. You’re dining aboard a vintage 1947 railroad car, a glass of dry Spumante from Lazio served before starters and the languorous journey from Lazio into central Rome. The main courses come out as the train stops outside the Colosseum. The band keeps playing as you dine on a menu that’s as traditional as the gladiatorial arena.

This day is left completely free, the only thing that’s fixed is the breakfast buffet. Like each morning you dive into an assortment of mozzarella, Parmigiano, tomatoes, fresh fruits, cured meats, and home-made pastries. There are many places you could end up today, the Vatican Museums or the Catacombs just two of these. Rome is also a good base for wider adventure, with Venice and Naples both just over 1 hour away on the high-speed railway. A Tuscany or Abruzzo tour are also possibilities, along with another day in the vineyards.

After an early flight to the French capital, you laze away the afternoon on a scenic river cruise. The River Seine is everything to Paris, the waterway along which most of the world-famous icons and neighborhoods can be found. You’re dining, of course, three courses served in the glass-encased restaurant, each paired with wines from across the country. Embark at the Eiffel Tower, travel past Sant Chapelle and Notre Dame, admire all the architecture, and soak your senses into a Parisian culinary introduction. There’s no better way to start understanding the city and its cuisine, no better way to slow your pace down and indulge as the locals do.

Crisp-crusted baguettes lure you into bakeries. Chocolates and macarons tempt you at chocolatiers. Cafes are places to stop, drink, taste, and energize. Welcome to the Parisian neighborhoods around the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain, where cobbled streets hide the city’s finest local establishments. At each stop, you taste, from velvety chocolate to blue cheeses and aperitifs. On each main thoroughfare, you bypass the tourists and dive off into the alleys, turning and twisting until you end up with a platter of olive oils and cured meats. This is the best way to get to know the city and its flavors, with historical stories accompanying almost every street corner. You’ll eat and talk for hours, with the guide also showing you restaurants you can return to later on your tour.

Parisian pastries are soft and fluffy, yet crispy as they crumble in your mouth. Parisian macarons are delicate and dainty with so much flavor packed into a single bite. This is the city of the croissant and the culinary treat. This morning reveals some of the secrets. You go on a cooking class at Ecole Ritz Escoffier, a kitchen in the heart of the Ritz Paris. Like in Rome, it’s all about the attention to detail, a renowned chef teaching you how subtle changes make all the difference. You’ll bake pastries, prepare macarons, get your hands sticky with chocolate, and take so much back to the hotel with you. Hands-on and informal it’s a class where you can hardly go a minute without putting something in your mouth. After a free afternoon, you dine in style tonight, the Michelin-starred restaurant in the Eiffel Tower providing a tasting menu with a view.

A cork pops and the bubbles flow out as you sip a glass of champagne in Champagne. The wine region is about an hour from Paris and you visit two producers. One is Don Perignon, the legend from which this sparkling wine has its roots. Follow the process on a macro scale, enjoy the extravagance, take a tutored tasting, and tick the name off your list. Then visit a smaller, boutique producer, where the bubbles are just as good but are rarely seen outside France. You get to taste with the winemaker or cellar-master, understanding what goes in to selecting the grapes and preparing a good bottle of champagne. As an option, you can choose to take a helicopter back to Paris or to spend some time exploring Reims, the medieval city surrounded by vines.

This morning is left free and ensures you have time to visit anything you deem unmissable in Paris such as The Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, shops of the Champs Elysees, or something along the Seine. As always, the continental breakfast provides a feast of Parisian flavors and can be enjoyed in your room at no extra cost. Through the late afternoon and evening you go tasting in the bistros, where the best produce from around France is brought together into atmospheric tasting rooms; Pinot Noir from Burgundy, delicate cheeses from the south, cured black pork of the interior and specialties from the coast. By visiting three bistros with a local guide you taste more than Paris. You sample the finest French foods and wines, without having to leave your chair.

This day is free until a private airport transfer.