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This article originally appeared in Departures.
Two Bordelais, a company run by French husband-and-wife team Jean-Pierre and Denise Moullé, is no ordinary mom-and-pop shop.
Jean-Pierre, who formerly led the kitchen at the groundbreaking Bay Area restaurant Chez Panisse, is one of the world’s most venerated chefs.
So when the couple welcome visitors to their home in Bordeaux twice a year for a week of cooking instruction and cultural concentration, it is something special.
“We want it to be a full immersion into French life,” says Denise. And it is — the kind from which guests come away knowing how to roll chocolate truffles or spit-roast a duck.
What the Moullés seem to have perfected is the art of the educational vacation. Though common to think of leisure travel as an opportunity for relaxation and exploration, how-to trips introduce a third element: the development of a new passion or skill, whether it be surfing, painting, riding a horse or learning a language.
Guests at Two Bordelais, for example, stay in private homes and gather throughout the day for lessons, excursions and, of course, memorable meals. Jean-Pierre, without a sous-chef or middleman, teaches guests to cook for a few hours a day in either the professional kitchen at nearby Château la Louvière or in his personal kitchen at their home, a 17th-century restoration set on a vineyard.
The endeavors go beyond cooking. At the Tuscan Photo Workshop (TPW), seasoned photographers and total neophytes come together for a few weeks of shoots, critiques and family meals in the Italian countryside. For the more experienced, the intensive is a way to dose a vacation with structure and enrichment; for first-timers, it is a comprehensive introduction to the art.
“It’s so easy to take a picture now,” says Sally Gall, a longtime instructor at TPW. “But people want to learn what makes a good picture, and this is a wonderful way to do it. Because you get intense access to seven teachers and 100 photographers, all shooting somewhere between four and ten hours a day, the exposure is just much wider than you’d get taking a regular class.”
Similarly, at the Lamborghini Academy in Bologna, Italy, students come from all over the world to spend a few days learning to drive some of the world’s best high-performance cars. By the end of the course, they are racing around the famed Autodromo Imola—proof that these types of getaways can lead to big things. Here are our favorites.
More articles from Departures:
Painting, Authentic Adventures, Gozo, Maltese Islands
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Learning to paint doesn’t require a spectacular view, but on Gozo, a small Mediterranean island near Malta, the view comes with the course.
The Authentic Adventures painting workshop here takes a group of painters (usually about ten per cohort) around the island over the course of a week, painting the sights and receiving demonstrations and personal instruction from one of the company’s four tutors.
The days tend to be casual and idyllic, picnicking at ancient hillside chapels, exploring the local market and painting the Mediterranean Sea before diving in.
From $1,800 for 7 nights
44-14/5382-3328
authenticadventures.co.uk
Surfing, Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa
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Luxury surf company Tropicsurf operates a number of high-end excursions, but none more extravagant than its collaboration with Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa. Guests stay in floating bungalows located on the sand or over the water itself.
The Australia-based outfit dedicates a boat, a guide and equipment to participants (board valet included) and provides private instruction that caters to beginners and pros alike. Participants can hit the water multiple times a day, and the resort’s surf locations offer everything from gentle swells to thundering racetrack waves. Anyone who tires of surfing can sail, kayak, fish, snorkel or visit the Four Seasons Spa.
Accommodations, from $1,024 (plus $233 transfer fee); beginner lessons, $110 per hour; intermediate private lessons, $250 per half-day; advanced surfing, $160 per half-day, including guide and boat
61-7/5455-4129
tropicsurf.net
High-Performance Driving, Lamborghini Academy, Bologna, Italy
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Who hasn’t fantasized about getting behind the wheel of a powerful racing car and executing a roaring 360-degree turn? At the Lamborghini Academy in Bologna, Italy, students of the Track Driving Academy get to do just that on the Autodromo Imola, one of the world’s legendary counter-clockwise tracks.
Drivers receive one-on-one coaching in a range of Lamborghinis, from the Gallardo to the Aventador LP 700-4, learning the ins and outs of the cars as well as racing techniques. The instruction culminates with an advanced race simulation on the Imola.
From $3,800 for 2 nights
39-04/5485-2519
lamborghini.com
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