It’s easy to find inspiration for new dishes to try — viral social-media recipes, your collecting-dust cookery books, that omelette from season two of The Bear — but executing those well-intentioned ideas can feel daunting. To improve your culinary nous, nothing quite beats the hands-on approach: learning from the best in a cooking class.
We’ve cherry-picked hotel cookery classes across Europe, for those looking to learn new skills or hone their craft. Whether you’re slicing sashimi in Scotland or cooking up a traditional Tuscan storm, seasonal produce will be your tools, expert local chefs your teachers, and new skills and recipes your rewards.
THE OLD SCHOOL GUESTHOUSE
For mastering dough and pastry
Set amid gardens and vineyard-lined Styrian countryside, The Old School Guesthouse inspires even the most kitchen-averse with its bucolic bounty. Husband-and-wife owners Petra and Oliver run two-day cooking classes from November to April. Each course spotlights a concept (meat, fish, vegetables) and you’ll leave armed with the necessary skills and recipes to branch out in your chosen domain. Of course, eating is as much of an activity as cooking here, so your weekend kicks off with a convivial Friday-evening dinner.
In their ‘Dough and pastry’ class, you’ll perfect short, puff and choux varieties alongside mastering sweet and savoury leavened breads. And you’ll give Prue Leith a run for her money as Oliver introduces you to the science behind baking, to avoid any soggy bottoms, collapsed soufflés or unrisen dough.
Extra bite Get your bake on from 5 to 7 December 2025 to show off your new skillset come Christmas-lunch dessert.
BALLINTAGGART FARM
For slicing up sushi and sashimi
The Cook School at Ballintaggart Farm prides itself on its views: out to the rolling Highlands and down to its fields, the spoils of which find their way onto your plates. Owner-chef Chris Rowley and his talented team have a jam-packed calendar of half- and full-day classes, plus three-day residential workshops that spotlight round-the-world cuisine, such as Middle Eastern, Indian or Italian.
The hotel’s offerings are diverse, but the constant is seasonal Scottish produce, sourced from Perthshire-based suppliers. In the ‘Sushi and sashimi’ masterclass, local trout and garden-fresh vegetables are the centrepieces; you’ll learn the art of perfect-cooked rice, key knife skills, pickling and plating your colourful creations. You’ll leave full of pride — and nigiri — along with a goodie bag.
Extra bite The farm hosts monthly themed feast nights, which foster a sense of community around the convivial dining table with season-led set menus.
CASTELLO DI VICARELLO
For traditional Tuscan feasting
Tuscany delivers treats in many forms; at family-run Castello di Vicarello, it’s dishes just like nonna used to make — or more specifically, recipes from owner Aurora Baccheschi Berti’s well-loved cookbook. Hyper-local produce is transformed into fresh, comforting plates at the hotel’s greenery-gazing restaurant. A fine way to get a taste for the region, but you could take a more experiential approach.
Make — and break — bread or master vegetarian Italian plates with Aurora as your guide or take the extra-special ‘Traditional Tuscan’ workshop. You’ll start with a visit to the organic kitchen gardens to gather ripe herbs and vegetables, which you’ll turn into pappa al pomodoro, fresh pasta and fluffy focaccia, with trays of tiramisù to end on a sweet note. This all takes place in a fittingly trad setting, too: stone arches and floors feel like a classic cucina, and the estate’s pooch, Uva, might even stop to say ciao.
Extra bite Castello di Vicarello runs wine tastings, where you can sample their estate-grown bottles and find out which vintages pair best with your homemade dishes.
FOWLESCOMBE FARM
For camera-ready eats
Fowlescombe Farm is photogenic in many ways: its heavenly Devon locale supplies nature-based pursuits and scenery in spades. The hotel’s sustainable-luxe suites, acres of wildlife-roamed farmland and estate-to-plate dining will fill your camera roll, as will snaps from its foraging or cooking workshops.
‘Camera eats first’ is an ethos many 21st-century diners (knowingly or not) adopt, and curating that aesthetic shot has become an art form. In Fowlescombe’s ‘Pick, plate and portray’ experience, the farm’s chefs and local photographer Rachel Hoile will guide you in gathering wholesome ingredients, whipping up a seasonal meal and taking the perfect photograph to do your culinary and creative handiwork justice. Whether you share it with your inspiration-seeking Instagram followers or to your thumbs-up-responding dad, you’re set to achieve some culinary clout.
Extra bite Girl power fuels the culinary offerings here: executive chef Elly works closely with head gardener Shelley and farm manager Rosie to curate the always-changing menus.
HOTEL NAFARROLA
For heritage fish dishes
Stays at family-run farmhouse Hotel Nafarrola are nourishing for the body and soul. It’s set in the heart of the Basque Country, where sea and fertile farmland meet on the outskirts of Bilbao; and the owner-brothers use the region’s foodie heritage to their advantage. Letting chef Gaizka and manager Josu Goikoetxea Larrauri wine and dine you is an apt way to uncover the local culinary heritage — particularly during a txakoli wine tasting or lingering lunch — but so is one of their epicurean experiences.
Down the hillside from the hotel, Bermeo has a long tradition of tuna fishing, and in the ‘Tuna gastronomic workshop’ Nafarrola nods to this. You’ll be introduced to Basque recipes and pintxos through a tour of the kitchen garden, followed by fashioning plates of tartare, traditionally dressed fillet and marmitako: a stew made using the star-of-the-show tuna, before finishing with a made-by-you dessert. The hand-me-down cooking methods are inspired, and your culinary hosts, inspiring.
Extra bite Hotel Nafarrola pulls back the curtain on close-to-home food traditions, which you can discover in an anchovy-curing workshop or visit to an organic cheese farm.
TREURER OLIVE GROVE & GRAND HOUSE
For island-inspired dining
As if its name wasn’t a bit of a giveaway, Treurer Olive Grove & Grand House deals in liquid gold — aka, extra-virgin olive oil. It’s honeyed hue and peppery taste will be the sensory markers of your stay, and it comes in generous supply thanks to the estate’s vast groves. But you’ll also find it in the organic bath products and liberally used at convivial, communal barbecues.
This homegrown treat is also an integral ingredient to the three regional recipes you’ll try your hand at during the finca’s half-day ‘Mallorcan cooking workshop’. You’ll transform market-sourced, sun-ripened produce into island favourites, such as tumbet (a dish of potatoes, aubergines and peppers) or coca de trampo (pizza-style flatbread); and on balmy Balearic days, you’ll cook and dine under one of the time-worn olive trees. The Earth-kind estate is cautious about food waste, too, encouraging diners to order meals in advance so the chefs can prepare accordingly, but we’re sure you won’t need any extra encouragement to mop up your pools of olive oil or polish off your handcrafted plates.
Extra bite Time your Balearic break around 21 October 2025 for an autumnal lesson; otherwise, Treurer runs its cookery classes on most Tuesdays.
THYME
To unleash your inner chef
Green-fingered Thyme is a wholesome retreat, with its two-acre kitchen garden, sheep-grazed fields and on-site farm, but it’s skilled in other ways, too, offering holistic spa rituals, country-pub-style dining and rural pursuits. There’s a lot to feel moved by at this Cotswolds retreat, but its cookery school is where inspiration strikes, thanks to a comprehensive calendar of classes covering sourdough, canapés and apéritifs, and classic cakes.
Its ‘Instinctive cook’ series is the estate’s stalwart. It welcomes little Smiths over 12, so the whole family can get involved with harvesting prime produce from the gardens; preparing a main course, dessert and fruit cordial (grown-ups will get a glass of English champagne, too), and building kitchen confidence with chef-loved tips and techniques. You might prepare a chard and ricotta ravioli with sage butter, paired with a cherry and rose cordial; the festive edition of the cookery class could feature salmon-topped poppyseed blinis followed by a chestnut-and-chocolate meringue roulade.
Extra bite ‘Instinctive cook’ is the cornerstone of Thyme’s culinary school, and it runs year-round. Its festive edition on 13 and 27 November 2025 make for thoughtful early Christmas presents or ahead-of-the-game party prep.
Looking to expand your culinary repertoire further? See our full, global collection of hotels with cookery schools