Gourmet Tours

The ultimate outing for those who love Indian food is a tour to India and the Spicy Lands.

Pat Chapman pioneered the concept of Gourmet Tours to India in 1983.

Amazingly no one had done it before, or indeed since.
This is, perhaps, because a tour centred around food is more difficult to organise than the average tour. The sightseeing is easy. But the normal tour guests eat the "buffet" meal-of-the-night. Gourmet Tour guests get bespoke food not on the menu. Pat makes big demands of the chefs and management at his chosen hotels. That said, his occasional tours rapidly became welcomed by India, whose hospitality and hotel industry is now world class. Pat’s tours are unashamedly luxury. The main hotel groups we use are Taj, Oberoi, Welcomgroup and Ashok. Their managements are used to 22 years of Pat's Gourmet Tours. His groups are regarded as important because of interest they have in Indian cuisine.

Says Pat: “I love Indian business hotels ~ they are real India ~ basic, and down to earth.
But a tour group is a different matter. They want the best there is. And that’s what we deliver”.

Averaging about one tour every 18 months, he has taken his groups to over 40 Indian cities, at each one getting the local cooks to cook their local specialities:

• He has also taken groups to Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
• Each tour lasts 15 or 16 days and visits an average 6 destinations.
• The 6 or 7 day extension might dwell in one place, or continue touring.
• Long-haul Airlines regularly used include scheduled flights on British Airways, Air India and Emirates.
• We use highly reputable IATA-bonded Agents in Britain and India (or the relevant country).

These are Pat’s typical 15 /16 day tour routes:

India:

• Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Aurangabad and/or Ellora, Bombay.
• Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Roopangarh (Ajmer), Jodpur, Jaisalmeer, Delhi.
• Delhi, Kajaraho, Benares, Lucknow, Patna, Darjeeling, Calcutta.
• Bombay, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ooty, Mysore, Cochin, Goa, Bombay.
• Bombay, Cochin, Alleppy, Trivandrum (Kovalum), Kumarakom, Periyar, Madurai, Madras, Bombay.

Pakistan:

Islamabad, Taxila (Rawalpindi), Peshawar, Khyber Pass, Lahore, Chiniot, Faisalabad, Islamabad.

And Pat’s 6 / 7 day extensions have visited:

Goa, Gulmarg and Srinagar Kashmir, Nepal, Sri Lanka.

And our next Gourmet Tour?

The itinerary is now ready.
Click here to see itinerary and other details.

To go onto our mailing list and be sent our printed brochure, booking form, and place availabiltity when we have this to hand please click  pat@patchapman.co.uk