Gastronomy Tour of Paris & Provence

Welcome to the world capital of cuisine. Your driver meets you at Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and transfers you to your hotel. Check in and orient yourself — your specialist has selected a hotel in a neighborhood where the food is the attraction (the Marais, Saint-Germain, or the 11th).

Late afternoon: guided food walk through Rue Mouffetard — one of Paris’s oldest market streets, with specialist-selected stops at a fromagerie (cheese aging explained), a charcuterie (saucisson tasting), a pâtisserie (the difference between a croissant ordinaire and a croissant au beurre), and a wine cave for an introduction to French wine regions. Welcome dinner at a specialist-selected bistro.

Morning: Marché d’Aligre (the Bastille neighborhood’s covered and open-air market — less touristy than Rue Mouffetard, the market the chefs actually use). Walk with a local food guide who explains the vendors, the seasonal produce, and the etiquette of buying at a French market.

Afternoon: private hands-on cooking class with a Parisian chef in a professional kitchen. Your specialist selects the class based on your preference — classic French sauces, pâtisserie (croissants, tarts, choux), or a full multi-course menu. The class runs 3 to 4 hours and you eat what you cook. Evening: free time to explore Paris’s wine bar scene (your specialist has the list).

Morning: chocolate and pastry atelier — a guided tour of Paris’s best chocolate makers (not the tourist shops — the artisan chocolatiers in the 6th and 7th arrondissements where each maker has a signature ganache). Tasting at each stop. Then a pâtisserie deep dive — the difference between a Paris-Brest, a Saint-Honoré, and a mille-feuille, explained and tasted at the counter.

Afternoon: Louvre or Musée d’Orsay (pre-booked — your specialist selects one based on your preference). This is the sightseeing day, balanced with the morning food experiences. Evening: Michelin-starred dinner — your specialist has the reservation at a restaurant where the tasting menu tells a story, not just a list of courses. Final Paris night.

Morning: high-speed rail from Paris Gare de Lyon to Avignon (approximately 2 hours 40 minutes — the landscape shifts from the Parisian suburbs through the Rhône valley to the stone-and-sunlight of Provence). Arrive Avignon early afternoon.

Afternoon: Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes — the largest medieval Gothic palace in Europe) and a walk through the walled city. The food shift from Paris to Provence is immediate — olive oil replaces butter, herbs replace cream, the pace slows. Evening: your first Provençal dinner — ratatouille, daube provençale, and rosé from the local terroir. Check in to your hotel.

Morning: market-to-table cooking class. Your chef meets you at a Provençal village market (the specific market depends on the day of the week — your specialist matches the itinerary to the market calendar). Walk the stalls with the chef, selecting seasonal ingredients: tomatoes, courgettes, stone fruit, herbs, goat cheese, olives. The chef explains how to judge ripeness, how to negotiate with vendors, and what’s in season.

Then to the kitchen — typically at a converted farmhouse (mas) or a château. Cook a 3-course Provençal lunch using what you bought: perhaps a tian of summer vegetables, a daurade royale with fennel and pastis, and a lavender crème brûlée. Eat together with local wine. Afternoon at leisure. Evening at leisure in Avignon.

Morning: Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine tasting — private visit to a family domaine in the southern Rhône’s most famous appellation. The terroir story here is the galets roulés (large round stones covering the vineyard soil, absorbing daytime heat and radiating it back to the vines at night). Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre blends that taste like sun-baked herbs and dark fruit.

Afternoon: olive oil mill visit — Provence produces some of France’s best olive oil (Nyons, Les Baux AOC). A guided tasting that parallels wine tasting — varieties, pressing methods, terroir. If visiting November through February: Luberon truffle hunting with a trained dog and a truffle hunter, followed by a truffle-focused lunch. Farewell dinner at a Provençal restaurant.

A final Provençal breakfast — fresh bread, confiture, and the local honey. Transfer to Marseille Provence Airport (MRS, approximately 45 minutes) or Avignon high-speed rail for a Paris CDG connection. Seven days eating through France — from Parisian technique to Provençal terroir, the Michelin table to the village market.

Your Juniper specialist remains reachable throughout departure day. Safe travels home.