Culinary Travel · Mexico City & Oaxaca
Travel Through Food.
Private journeys of three to six days, for a maximum of six guests, built around markets, kitchens and the people who cook.
Request an Itinerary
The Premise
A Chef’s Access, Not a Tour.
The best way to understand a place is often through its kitchens, markets and tables.
Chef James creates intimate culinary journeys designed for travelers who want access to a destination beyond the usual itinerary. Current experiences include private 3–6 day journeys through Mexico City and Oaxaca, exploring one of the world’s great culinary cultures through a chef’s perspective.
Groups are intentionally small, with a maximum of six guests per booking, allowing each itinerary to remain personal and flexible. Plans move with the group — if a market visit turns into three hours and lunch, it turns into three hours and lunch.
What a Journey Can Include
Assembled Around You.
Depending on the itinerary and the group, days are built from some combination of the following.
- 01
Markets & Neighborhoods
Mornings in the markets with someone who can explain what you are looking at, and the neighbourhoods worth walking slowly.
- 02
Extraordinary Street Food
The stands and comals that deserve their reputation, visited at the hour they are actually at their best.
- 03
Destination Restaurants
Tables at the rooms worth planning a trip around, arranged in advance.
- 04
Private Culinary Experiences
Meals and tastings arranged privately, including experiences that are not on any public list.
- 05
Cooking Classes
Hands-on sessions with local cooks and chefs — masa, moles, salsas and the techniques behind them.
- 06
Culture & Craft
Time away from the table: mezcal, ceramics, textiles, architecture and the occasional long drive worth taking.
Luxury accommodations and private transportation can be incorporated into the journey, or coordinated around arrangements you already have in place.
Travel Advisors & Personal Assistants
Planning for Someone Else.
We work directly with travel advisors, assistants and hospitality professionals to coordinate culinary experiences around existing itineraries, preferences and service expectations.
That means one point of contact, written itineraries you can forward without editing, clear pricing, and a realistic answer when something will not work as described.
We are equally comfortable being the whole trip or one exceptional day inside a programme someone else is running.
Travel Questions
Culinary Journeys, Answered
What travelers and advisors ask before booking a private culinary journey.
- Where do the culinary journeys go?
- Current journeys run through Mexico City and Oaxaca — markets, street food, destination restaurants, cooking classes and time with chefs and producers, led by Chef James Kelly.
- How long is a journey, and how many guests?
- Three to six days, with a maximum of six guests per booking so each itinerary stays personal and can change shape as the week does.
- What is included?
- Itinerary design, the culinary experiences themselves and Chef James’s guidance throughout. Luxury accommodation and private transportation can be built into the journey or left to your own arrangements.
- Can you plan a food-focused trip in Costa Rica instead?
- Yes — a stay in Santa Teresa with private chef dinners, a cooking class and market and fishing-boat visits is effectively a culinary journey on our home coast. Private chef in Santa Teresa
Inquire
Request an Itinerary.
Tell us roughly when you want to travel, how many are in the party and what kind of trip you have in mind.
