Italian Riviera Culinary Tour

Day 1 – Welcome to the Italian Riviera

Today is your arrival day. Benvenuto!

Check-in at your boutique hotel in Genoa and prepare yourself for a tasting dinner chez Roberto aka The King of Pesto! Overnight in Genoa.

Day 2 – Genoa food market and pesto class at palazzo

After breakfast, you’ll meet your private local tour for a great morning to spend in the biggest food market in Genoa.

You will be captured by the smell of fresh focaccia, by the various cheese stalls, meat stalls, bakeries, shops that sell handmade pasta, fresh fish, fruits, and vegetables in season. This colorful market is a food lover’s paradise!

Your immersion in local perfumes and flavors continues with a special pesto class. Our local culinary expert will welcome you in a noble palace to participate in a pesto sauce lesson with mortar and pestle, just as the tradition wants. After the pesto lesson, you will taste the fruit of your labor with pasta and some other local specialties.

Afternoon at your disposal

Overnight in Genoa

Day 3 – Flavors of Portofino - cooking class at the old mill

Your private guide will pick you up at the hotel to start an amazing tour of the Portofino area.

Take a stroll among villas and gardens in the elegant coastal resort of Santa Margherita with its painted palaces and lovely harbor. From here, you will reach Portofino with a panoramic trip by public boat.

In Portofino, a small minivan will wait for you to reach an old mill immersed in the Mediterranean vegetation of the National Park. First, you will visit the amazing hop plantation and learn about the very first beer made in Portofino. Then you’ll meet our local culinary expert who will teach you to prepare some of the most typical local recipes such as Corzetti hand-made pasta, pesto sauce done with mortar and pestle, and a typical dessert.

In the end, you will have lunch with pasta, pesto, the dessert you will have prepared, and some other traditional local specialties such as local cheese, salami, and vegetable pies. You will also taste the only beer made in Portofino r some amazing local white wine.

Overnight in Genoa

Day 4– Cinque Terre orientation tour and sunset vineyards

After breakfast, check out from your accommodation in Genoa and transfer to Cinque Terre. Check-in at your boutique accommodation in Cinque Terre.

Here you’ll meet your expert private tour guide for a 3 hours orientation tour of the villages. You will visit two of the villages and discover how to make the most of your time in the Cinque Terre. In addition to the main things not to be missed, you will discover much more. You will have tons of personal recommendations and in-the-know info. You will discover local secrets that only the people who actually live there know.

This tour will help you to figure out this crazy popular place and will definitely make a difference!

At sunset, a local wine producer will welcome you in his vertical vineyards: you will hear about his story and discover the huge job there’s behind the heroic wine of Cinque Terre. After admiring the breathtaking panorama you will visit his ancient cellar and taste the most typical Cinque Terre wines among which the rare Sciacchetrà, paired with traditional appetizers.

Overnight in Cinque Terre

Day 5– Learn traditional Cinque Terre recipes

Today you’ll get in touch with the real soul of the Cinque Terre through its tastes! Today you’ll be welcomed in a lovely location just above Monterosso village. Here you will have a  cooking lesson where you will learn the secrets of traditional Ligurian recipes based on fresh, local ingredients such as for example hand-made pasta with the traditional pesto, the typical focaccia, vegetable pies, and local fish.

After the lesson you will be able to enjoy the four-course meal you will have prepared in this stunning location in a relaxed atmosphere where you will feel like one of the family

Afternoon at your disposal.

Overnight in Cinque Terre

Day 6 – Day at your disposal

Enjoy the day as you prefer, relaxing hiking or exploring more on your own with our tips by locals.

Overnight in Cinque Terre

Day 7 – Arrivederci day!

Check-out and departure.

Important information

• This is a private trip idea and can be fully customized.
• Daily departures available all year round by request.
• Suggested duration: 7 days / 6 nights.

This trip is not suitable for people with mobility problems.

What’s included

• 3 nights in a boutique hotel in Genoa, breakfast included
• 3 nights in a boutique hotel in the Cinque Terre area, breakfast included
• Private guide in Genoa market, Portofino, Cinque Terre
• Private Pesto lesson in Genoa followed by lunch
• Cooking class in Portofino followed by lunch
• Sunset visit to the vineyards and wine tasting in Cinque Terre
• Complete cooking lesson in Cinque Terre followed by lunch
• Private transportation to/from the cooking class location
• Train and boat tickets

What’s not included

• meals and beverages other than those mentioned above
• transfers other than those mentioned above
• city tax
• travel insurance
• airfare to/from Italy

Price

This is a tailor-made trip. There are a number of factors that could influence the price; these include the standard of accommodation, the season, the mean of transportation you prefer and the number of private tours and activities.

Feel free to ask for a customized quote, send an email to booking@beautifuliguria.com