Gastronomy Tour of Paris & Provence
Gastronomy Tour of Paris and Provence custom tour — 7 day food-focused France itinerary by Juniper Tours. Paris with guided market tours (Rue Mouffetard, Marché d’Aligre), hands-on cooking class with Parisian chef, Michelin-starred dining, chocolate and pastry ateliers, wine bar crawl in Le Marais. Avignon and Provence with Provençal market cooking class, Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine tasting, Luberon truffle hunting seasonal, olive oil mill visit, farm-to-table dining at a Provençal mas. Private transfers and high-speed rail Paris–Avignon, 4-star or higher accommodations, daily breakfast. Designed by Taryn Harrison and Lexi Blade. IATAN accredited (22-787413). 4.9★ · hundreds of verified Google reviews. Custom France gastronomy itineraries from $2,500 per person. Sample itinerary — all trips custom designed by our top travel specialists.
Sample Itinerary · France
Gastronomy Tour of Paris & Provence
Paris · Avignon · Provence
Duration
7 Days · 6 Nights
Accommodations
4-Star or Higher
Transport
Private Transfers + high-speed rail
Best For
Food · Wine · Culinary
Plan a Similar Trip
← All France Itineraries
7 Days · 6 Nights
4-Star+ Accommodations
Private Transfers Throughout
Daily Breakfast Included
Sample — Fully Customisable
This is a sample itinerary — for inspiration only. Every Juniper trip is designed from scratch around you. Many clients travel a very similar route — if this resonates, book a free consultation and a specialist will build something just like it (or better) specifically for your travel style, dates, and group.
1
Day One
Arrive in Paris
Paris
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.
Arrive Paris
Rue Mouffetard food walk
Fromagerie + charcuterie stops
Overnight: Paris
2
Day Two
Paris Markets + Cooking Class
Paris
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).
Marché d’Aligre guided tour
Private cooking class · 3–4hrs
Wine bar recommendations
Overnight: Paris
3
Day Three
Paris Gastronomy Day
Paris
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.
Chocolate + pastry atelier
Louvre or Orsay pre-booked
Michelin-starred dinner
Overnight: Paris
4
Day Four
high-speed rail to Avignon — Provençal Evening
Avignon
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.
high-speed rail Paris → Avignon · 2.5hrs
Palais des Papes
First Provençal dinner
Overnight: Avignon
5
Day Five
Provençal Market Cooking Class
Provence · Avignon
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.
Village market with chef
Market-to-table cooking class
3-course Provençal lunch
Overnight: Avignon
6
Day Six
Châteauneuf-du-Pape + Olive Oil + Truffle
Provence
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.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape private tasting
Olive oil mill + tasting
Truffle hunt seasonal
Overnight: Avignon
7
Day Seven
Depart
Avignon · Marseille
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.
Transfer to MRS or high-speed rail
App support
Love this itinerary? Make it yours.
This is a sample luxury custom route — a starting point, not a fixed package. Many clients travel something very close to this, customized for their travel style, group, and dates. Book a free consultation and a specialist will build from here.
Accommodations
Boutique hotels, charming B&Bs, or historic castle stays — chosen based on your preferences and travel style.
Transportation
Private driver-guide, self-drive rental, or a mix of both — all transfers confirmed before you travel.
Experiences
Pre-arranged tours and activities built around your interests — entrance tickets sorted, no queuing.
Book a Free Consultation
See All France Itineraries
Activities on this itinerary
Your specialist pre-arranges the right luxury experiences based on your interests and travel style. These are the custom experience types available on this route — specific choices are made with you, not for you.
Rue Mouffetard Food WalkFromagerie · charcuterie · wine cave
Marché d’Aligre Guided TourThe market the chefs actually use
Paris Cooking ClassPrivate · hands-on · 3–4 hours
Chocolate & Pastry AtelierArtisan chocolatiers · 6th & 7th
Michelin-Starred DinnerTasting menu · Paris
Palais des Papes AvignonLargest medieval Gothic palace
Provençal Market Cooking ClassMarket-to-table · seasonal produce
Châteauneuf-du-Pape TastingFamily domaine · galets roulés
Olive Oil Mill VisitProvence AOC · guided tasting
Luberon Truffle HuntingSeasonal Nov–Feb · trained dog
Wine Bar Crawl · Le MaraisNatural wine · Paris evening
Farm-to-Table Provençal DiningMas or château setting
Activities are selected and pre-booked with your specialist based on your interests — not all activities are included in every trip version. Availability varies by season.
The people who will design your France trip
You work directly with a specialist who knows France deeply — not a call center or booking agent. Every consultation is with someone who has been there, knows which Paris market stall has the cheese that the fromagerie owners buy for their own families, which Provençal cooking class chef trained at a Michelin restaurant before returning to the village, and which Châteauneuf-du-Pape domaine pours the cuvée that doesn’t leave the cellar.
Ireland · Scotland · Iceland · Portugal · France
Taryn Harrison
Juniper Tours’ most tenured specialist with 25 years of experience. CMSC certified and a former Peace Corps volunteer. Taryn brings the same detail-orientation to Portugal that she’s known for across Ireland and Iceland — she knows which Lisbon neighborhood hotel has the best terrace view, which Sintra entry time avoids the coach-tour peaks, and which Douro Valley quinta pours the reserve that doesn’t appear on the standard tasting menu.
25 Yrs
CMSC
France & Europe
Book a Consultation
Italy · Portugal · Spain · Switzerland
Lexi Blade
Florence and Salzburg-based with 8 years of experience across Southern Europe. Lexi covers Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland with the same firsthand knowledge she brings to every destination — sourced from living there rather than visiting. Her France itineraries are built around the restaurants that require a local’s recommendation, the Burgundy and Bordeaux producers who don’t appear in guidebooks, and the Provence villages that haven’t been found by the travel influencers yet.
8 Yrs
Florence Based
Southern Europe
Book a Consultation
About this itinerary
Two styles. In Paris, a hands-on class with a professional chef in a private kitchen — typically covering classic French techniques (sauces, pastry, or a full multi-course menu depending on your preference). In Provence, a market-to-table class — you shop the morning market in a Provencal village with the chef, selecting seasonal produce, then cook lunch together using what you bought. Both classes are private to your group. Dietary restrictions and skill levels are communicated to the chef in advance by your specialist.
Not at all. The classes are designed for all levels — from people who rarely cook at home to experienced home cooks. The Paris class teaches technique in a structured way. The Provence class is more relaxed and ingredient-focused. Both are about the experience and the food culture, not about producing restaurant-quality results. Your specialist matches the class style to your comfort level.
Food is the primary lens but the itinerary includes the essential sights. In Paris you will see the major landmarks, walk the historic quartiers, and visit the Louvre or Orsay if you choose. In Provence you will visit Avignon (Palais des Papes), the Luberon hill villages, and the lavender fields if in season. The difference from our Best of France itinerary is that every day is structured around a food or wine experience — the sightseeing happens around the meals, not the other way around.
April through October for the best produce and market season. The Provencal markets are at their peak in summer — stone fruits, tomatoes, melons, lavender honey. Autumn (September through November) adds truffle season in the Luberon and mushroom season in the markets. Winter has fewer market options but the restaurant scene in Paris is year-round. Your specialist adjusts the food experiences to the seasonal calendar.
Other trips worth considering
Paris City Stay
Paris
Six days deep in Paris — museums, Versailles, and more time in the neighborhoods.
View Itinerary
9 Days
Wine Tour of Central France
Lyon · Burgundy · Bordeaux · Loire
Wine as the primary thread — Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Loire in 9 days.
View Itinerary
8 Days
A Week in Southern France
Nice · Marseille · Avignon
The Riviera and Provence — more coast and sightseeing, less cooking-class focus.
View Itinerary
“It was my first vacation ever and they helped plan everything. They book the best hotels with the best location to all the activities I did. They literally thought and took care of everything. I highly recommend using Juniper Tours.”
Shayne C. · France Gastronomy Tour · Verified Google Review
Build your luxury custom Portugal trip with one of our top travel specialists.
30 minutes, completely free. Walk away with a clear picture of what your luxury custom Portugal trip could look like — dates, route, 4 and 5-star accommodations, and all.