10 Campings, glampings & holiday parks offering cooking courses

How do those vegetables stay so crunchy? How do I make my own pasta or cheese? Which fresh ingredients make the best potato salad? Cooking yourself is delicious and healthy, and what could be more fun than spending a morning or afternoon at a campground or bungalow park discovering a new recipe or learning a new cooking technique under the guidance of a culinary professional? Afterwards, of course...at the table.

Winter has started, you watch all the cooking programmes on TV, new cookbooks are on the table, it's time for a cooking course. From a cooking studio in the Eifel, a family kitchen in Tuscany to a vegetarian cooking workshop in the Azores, in this article we present 10 glamping sites, campgrounds and vacation resorts that are already capitalising on the cooking class trend.

On São Jorge, the Azores' greenest island, you will find glamping Retiro Atlântico, a small ecological paradise with its own food forest. Among Europe's largest collection of rare and organic tropical and subtropical fruit trees, you'll find four traditional Mongolian yurts with tropical names like Cedar, Acacia, Eucalyptus and Insence. Waking up to the sound of the birds, enjoying a fruit juice while admiring the view of Pico Island or hiking along steep cliffs and cliffs, you will feel reborn after a stay at São Jorge.

Of course, you can cook for yourself in the communal kitchen and socialise with the other guests. But you actually come here for Hugo and Natacha. Hugo is an expert in edible plants and is happy to give you a tour of the certified organic farm. He will explain how around 1,500 plant species grow in the kitchen garden and food forest, including Europe's largest collection of rare and organic tropical and subtropical fruit trees. Health coach Natasha runs vegetarian cuisine workshops, where you will learn to make simple, healthy and tasty dishes with the herbs, vegetables and fruits you have previously learned about in the food forest and kitchen garden.

Participant Sandra says the following about the workshop: “I loved participating in the workshop. A family environment conducive to sociability and sharing, with Natacha showing passion for what she does and having a sense of humour and the ability to communicate and transmit knowledge. All of this provided an awakening to other ways of looking at my daily life and awareness that it is possible to change for the better at any time and how versatile and tasty vegetarian food can be.“

Retiro Atlântico is located in Urzelina

The Dormio Resort is beautifully located on the edge of the Eifel National Park, about a 1-hour drive from Cologne and a 3-hour drive from Frankfurt. The resort has a lovely indoor and outdoor pool, large and small apartments and villas (up to 12 people) and its own brewery where you can enjoy locally brewed Heimbacher beer. On the edge of the park is the Heimbacher Kochstudio where you can learn to cook under the guidance of a professional. The cooking studio offers three different workshops where you get to work with fresh and seasonal products. There is a traditional German cooking workshop that focuses on local dishes such as a real kartoffel salad, venison with bock beer sauce or a Schwarzwälder-kirsch pie. In the Italian cooking workshop, you will use authentic recipes to create a fresh pasta or a limoncello ice cream parfait. During the Mediterranean workshop, you will learn to make a delicious paella or antiboise. After a delicious lunch or dinner, you will of course receive the recipes to take home. 

Dormio Resort Eifeler Tor is located in Heimbach

The 4-star campground and centuries-old farm are set in 10 hectares of parkland in the heart of Périgord, on the banks of the Vézère. The wooded campground offers spacious, shaded campsites, modern mobile homes and pretty lodge tents. Besides a refreshing swimming pool, there is a fishing pond, a playground and farm animals. The campground has an ecological way of working in which food waste is avoided, rainwater is collected, as many raw materials as possible are reused, chemicals (for the vegetable garden, for example) are avoided and farm animals are used instead of lawnmowers. Alexandre Machala is head chef of the summer restaurant Perdigat. Under his direction, cooking classes also take place at the campground. You will work with and taste the regional products that have made Périgord gastronomy so famous. The lessons (reservation required) last 2.5 hours and take place in groups of 4 to 8 people. With fruit and vegetables coming straight from our own organic kitchen garden, this will be a culinary feast for friends or family.

Camping La Ferme de Perdigat is located in Limeuil

Misano Family Camping Village is a true family campground 15km south of Rimini near Riccione and Cattolica. The campground is located by the sea and is a perfect starting point for visits with the children to the Le Navi Park, Oltremare and Aquafan theme parks. The campground on the Riviera Romagnola has a nice village feel and offers comfortable campsites and various types of bungalows and mobile homes, some with mini-whirlpool. 

Participation in the Italian cooking school is based on registration (via a simple e-mail) and costs €69.00 per day per person including accommodation. During the cooking class, you will learn to prepare local fish, meat and pasta dishes using fresh products from the market or local suppliers.

Camping Village Misano is located in Cattolica

About 30 minutes from the Suffolk coast and situated between three charming market towns, you'll find Fire & Feast. If you love wood fires and grilling, this is a real treat. Each glamping tent has its own outdoor grill and the campground has its own herb garden. You can order meal packages from the campground and if you have your own food, there are fridges and a freezer to keep everything fresh. In addition to spacious campsites, the campground has two fully equipped safari tents. Cooking over a wood fire is an art. Book a workshop and learn how best to light a wood fire and how best to grill, roast or bake your meat and vegetables. Get the best local produce at the local market (e.g. the one in Framlingham) including fish from Lowestoft, organic vegetables and fresh bread. With a meal together you finish the day. There are beginner, family and advanced courses. The price of a course ranges from £60 to £130. Don't feel like cooking for a while? On Saturday evenings or at Sunday brunch you can sit down and relax.

Fire and Feast Suffolk is located in Cratfield

Kampeerhoeve Bussloo is a farm campground with a relaxed atmosphere in Wilp, located in the countryside between Apeldoorn and book town Deventer. In cooperation with Buro In! and Buitenkokers, the campground organizes an organic cooking workshop where you experience life on the farm and its surroundings. In fact, you will not only cook, you will go around Wilp and Bussloo to collect the ingredients you need yourself. For the route past a miller, cheese farm and an organic farm, you can choose from a bicycle/tandem, scooter, Segway, car or scooter. With the flour, cheese, milk and eggs and fresh vegetables and delicious fruit, you will work in groups to finally enjoy all the delicious dishes at a beautifully set table. After a blissful apple crumble, you close the day with a drink and a cosy campfire. The farm campground rents out campsites, RV sites, cute pods and a quiet flexi workspace. On the Jeu de Boules campsite you can have a nice chat about the day.

Kampeerhoeve Bussloo is located in Wilp

In the heart of Tuscany in the countryside between Pisa and Volterra lies vacation resort La Sorgente. La Sorgente is a beautiful family-run estate where you will enjoy a family atmosphere, a refreshing swimming pool and beautifully located tennis court and a traditional Tuscan grill restaurant. The slow life, beautiful nature and delicious food will make you completely detach from your daily routine. If you like hiking or mountain biking, you should definitely set aside a day for a trek or tour of Monte Pisano. At the park you will find rustically furnished apartments (with or without pool view) for up to 6 people. In this rustic setting, getting cooking lessons from a Tuscan family is a great experience. During the cooking courses, you will learn to use traditional Tuscan recipes and create tasty dishes using local products. The highlight, of course, is tasting during lunch or dinner. Both adults and children can participate, and at the end each student receives a cooking kit with an apron, a chef's hat and a certificate of participation.

Case Vacanza La Sorgente is located in Capannoli

Going camping in Brittany and love good food? Then Rives Nature Cottages & Camping is a super choice. The campground has spacious tent campsites, designer caravans as well as village cottages and luxury safari tents. All in beautiful natural surroundings in the heart of La Gacilly, the birthplace of the Yves Rocher brand. In the morning there is a delicious breakfast prepared exclusively with organic products. The bread is supplied by the local bakery. 

Want Breton cooking lessons during your vacation? Next door is their partner restaurant La Maison Yves Rocher, a lovely place with a large wooden terrace, an inspiring vegetable garden and a nice lounge atmosphere. Various cooking courses are organised during the season that you can sign up for. Learn how to make the best sesame breaded beef tataki, rediscover the taste of real tomatoes and rhubarb or create your own baba ganoushe.

Camping Rives Nature - La Gacilly is located in Sixt-sur-Aff

Nothing is as Dutch as cheese and cheese making. At De Buitenhoeve in Haaften, Aico and Kisten make the most delicious (almost heavenly) cheeses from the Betuwe and the surrounding area. In their farm shop you can buy delicious fresh cheese and (fruit) yoghurt. Apart from their 60 dairy cows, on the dairy farm you will find a mini donkey, Shetland ponies, Haflingers, goats, a farm dog, calves, chickens, cats and two mini pigs named Tijgertje and Knorretje. Sleep on the farm in spacious 4-6p. lodge tents from Farmcamps. The luxury tents are equipped with sanitary facilities, lovely beds, a kitchen and a spacious veranda. A cheese dairy naturally includes a cheese-making mini-workshop. On weekdays, farmer Kirsten gives cheese-making and yoghurt-making workshops. In about 30 minutes, you will learn to make a delicious pound of cheese from fresh milk. Delicious for at home, where the cheese still has to ripen for about 4 weeks! 

FarmCamps De Buitenhoeve is located in Haaften

The Sopramare vacation resort, opened in 2023, is an oasis of peace where you are surrounded by fragrant lemon and orange trees and characteristic olive trees and are always delighted by the beautiful view of the sea and Mount Vesuvius in the distance. Piano di Sorrento is located between Sorrento and Vico Equenze and the Circumvesuviana train takes you to Pompeii or Naples in no time. The resort offers modern 2-4p comfort and deluxe chalets surrounded by greenery, a lovely swimming pool, two bars, a restaurant and a panoramic park of more than 2 hectares with sea views. In this Mediterranean setting you can participate in a pizza workshop or learn to prepare typical Sorrento and Neapolitan dishes under the guidance of the chef. The master pizza baker will teach you the secrets of pizza preparation, from rising to baking in the typical wood-fired oven and choosing the right fresh ingredients. The Sopramare chef has an apron ready for you and will take you through the cooking class from starter to dessert, a unique and educational experience.

Sopramare Resort is located in Piano di Sorrento