Explore Basque Country Through Culinary Adventures with Food Writer Ruth Reichl

If traveling across Europe alongside renowned chefs and food writers sounds like a fantasy, you’re in for a treat. Each year, food enthusiasts Ruth Reichl, Laurie Ochoa, Alec Lobrano, and chef Nancy Silverton host tours to gastronomic destinations like Tuscany, Umbria, Paris, Marseille, and Nice, taking along a select group of travelers. This year’s itinerary, just unveiled, will spotlight the French and Spanish Basque region, featuring culinary gems such as Biarritz, San Sebastian, and Etxebarri, along with Bordeaux.

Named Dinner with Friends Abroad and organized by Academic Travel Abroad, a travel provider that collaborates with institutions like the New York Times and Smithsonian Institution, this journey is scheduled for October 17–24, 2024, accommodating up to 25 participants. Travelers will immerse themselves in Bordeaux, a prominent wine capital that has blossomed into a vibrant food hub in France, and the Basque Country, straddling both France and Spain, where cooking, dining, and drinking are deeply ingrained in the culture. The Basque region is renowned as one of the world’s premier gastronomic hotspots, celebrated for both its traditional and contemporary culinary offerings.

Key experiences during the eight-day journey include a pastry class at Cité du Vin, Bordeaux’s interactive wine museum; wine tasting in Bordeaux; and a workshop at L’Atelier du Piment in Espelette, France, exploring the history of the renowned red pepper cultivated in the French Basque region. (It offers a smoky sweetness with a hint of heat.) Travelers will indulge at some of the region’s finest (and most exclusive) restaurants, such as the three-Michelin-starred Arzak in San Sebastian; Asador Etxebarri, ranked third in the world by 50 Best, celebrated for its live-fire cooking; La Grand’Vigne, a two-Michelin-starred farm-to-table restaurant in Bordeaux; and Frenchie Biarritz, the coastal counterpart of the popular Paris restaurant. Guests will stay in four- and five-star boutique hotels, including the charming Hôtel de Sèze in Bordeaux and the newly opened luxurious Hôtel Regina in Biarritz.

The four hosts will guide participants through a week of culinary experiences, sharing their knowledge and passion for food. Reichl, former editor-in-chief of the cherished Gourmet magazine for a decade and a previous restaurant critic in New York and Los Angeles, is the author of several books, including My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life and the upcoming The Paris Novel, which follows a young woman who travels to Paris impulsively after her mother’s passing; she has also contributed to Dinogo. Ochoa, currently the general manager of food at the Los Angeles Times, has received multiple James Beard Journalism Foundation Awards. Lobrano, also a contributor to Dinogo, has penned three books on French cuisine and writes for publications like the New York Times and the Guardian, earning several James Beard Journalism Foundation Awards. Silverton is the chef and owner of Osteria Mozza and other restaurants in Los Angeles, as well as the author of several cookbooks.

This trip, which encompasses all accommodations and meals as specified in the itinerary, is priced at $14,675 per person based on double occupancy or $16,365 for a single occupancy room. Bookings are currently open.