Signature Journeys
Europe, served course by course
12Days
3Countries
2Guests
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OverviewTwelve days from Paris to Milan through the great food cultures of Western Europe: Le Train Bleu, Bordeaux's grand cru estates, Lyon's bouchons, the Glacier Express dining car, the markets of Bologna and Florence, designed for two, and curated by one person from first enquiry to arrival home.
You arrive in Paris and check in to Hôtel des Grands Boulevards, an 18th-century building on Haussmann's grand axis, with a hidden rooftop bar called The Shed. The evening begins not just as dinner but as a declaration of intent: Le Train Bleu, the gilded Belle Époque brasserie inside Gare de Lyon, one of the most extraordinary restaurant rooms in Europe. Painted ceilings, velvet banquettes, impeccable service. Order the foie gras, the entrecôte and the soufflé. Tomorrow the journey begins in earnest, tonight, this room is enough.
Board the high-speed TGV at Gare Montparnasse and arrive in Bordeaux in a little over two hours. Afternoon transfer to Château Grattequina on the Left Bank, a private tasting in the cellar, the estate opening around you, the iron-earth smell of the chai. In the evening, the journey's first headline meal: dinner at Le Pressoir d'Argent, the two-Michelin-starred table at the InterContinental overseen by Gordon Ramsay, where the blue lobster is pressed tableside in solid silver, one of only five such presses in the world. The Garonne quiet outside.
A morning among the vines. A private guide walks you through Saint-Émilion's medieval lanes, the limestone church carved underground, the tasting rooms that open off the cobbles. The afternoon is yours: return to the château to read under the plane trees, nap, or wander the Left Bank at your own pace, a short list of recommended stops is provided, none of them booked. Evening back at the château with a candlelit dinner by the estate's own winemaker. You will never approach a wine list the same way again.
Train east to Lyon: France's self-declared gastronomic capital. Check in to Cour des Loges, set within the Renaissance quarter of Vieux Lyon beneath the Fourvière basilica. A slow afternoon along the Saône, watching the terracotta rooftops climb the hill. Dinner at a traditional bouchon Lyonnais: quenelles de brochet, tablier de sapeur, tarte praline, long tables, wine from the valley, the city's iconic supper ritual.
A morning walk through the traboules, the hidden passageways of Renaissance Vieux Lyon. Lunch at the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, at your own pace: forty stalls of cheese, charcuterie, fish, pastry and truffles, named after the chef who defined French cuisine in the 20th century. The afternoon is yours: rest at Cour des Loges, wander Fourvière, or simply read under the arches of the cloister. Dinner at La Table de la Villa Florentine, the celebrated restaurant above the old town, perched on Fourvière hill just minutes from the hotel, the Saône glittering below.
Train to Geneva for a lakeside lunch at the Hôtel d'Angleterre, the Jet d'Eau framed in the terrace windows, Mont Blanc beyond. Then the mountain train south to Zermatt, climbing through the Valais as the valley narrows and the peaks close in on both sides. Check in to Hotel Ambassador. The evening belongs to raclette by an open fire: the smell of melted cheese, the Matterhorn visible through the restaurant window, a carafe of Fendant. Simple, correct, and exactly what Zermatt requires.
A day with no train to catch. Ride the Sunnegga funicular up through the rock and walk the gentle path to the hamlet of Findeln, where Chez Vrony has been serving mountain-farm cooking for four generations: dried meats from their own cattle, alpine macaroni, a terrace facing the Matterhorn head on. Lunch here is the Swiss answer to everything. The afternoon is yours, the Gornergrat railway if you want the glaciers, the spa if you do not. Dinner in the village, unhurried, because tomorrow the journey's centrepiece departs.
The centrepiece of the culinary itinerary arrives not in a restaurant but on a train. Board the Glacier Express at Zermatt and settle into the panoramic dining car for eight hours crossing the Swiss Alps. A three-course Alpine lunch is served as the train climbs over the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres, crosses the Landwasser Viaduct and winds through the Graubünden gorges. This is the meal you will describe at dinner parties for years: not for the food itself, but for the combination of food, motion, altitude and light.
A last coffee in the Kulm Hotel bar, which is exactly the right thing to do here, then the morning Bernina Express south: Europe's highest transalpine railway, crossing the Bernina Pass at 2,253 metres before descending through the UNESCO-listed Brusio spiral viaduct into Italy. By evening you are in Bologna: Italy's food capital, called La Grassa (the fat one) for good reason. Check in to I Portici Hotel, then let the city introduce itself gently: a first walk under the porticoes and a glass of Lambrusco with mortadella, nothing scheduled, nothing missed.
Bologna at full attention. A morning walk through the Quadrilatero market, the stalls of parmigiano, culatello and fresh pasta that have fed the city for centuries. Then the journey's most distinctive culinary moment: a private session with one of Bologna's sfogline, fresh tagliatelle rolled by hand, tortellini pinched at the table, Lambrusco alongside. The craft that built Emilia-Romagna's name, learned at the wooden board where it lives. The evening is an osteria of the old school: tortellini in brodo, a bottle of Sangiovese, the room loud in the correct Italian way.
Train to Florence and straight to the Mercato Centrale: a guided tour with a local chef who explains the anatomy of a perfect Italian market, which stalls have been there for generations, which vendors can be trusted, how to read the season from what's on display. Cook a three-course lunch together using the morning's finds. In the afternoon, the Uffizi at the pace it deserves, pre-booked, no queue, just Botticelli. Dinner at La Leggenda dei Frati on the terrace of Villa Bardini, Filippo Saporito's contemporary Tuscan table, the Duomo catching the last light below.
The final morning: train to Milan, arriving into the grandeur of Stazione Centrale. Check in to Senato Hotel Milano. A farewell lunch of risotto alla Milanese, the saffron gold of it, the bone marrow stirred through, the dish the city built its name on. An afternoon in Brera: galleries, courtyards, the slow Milanese rhythm. Then one last Milanese aperitivo as the light goes, Negroni, olives, focaccia, bresaola, small plates arriving without ceremony, the way the city has always said goodbye.
Add nights, swap hotels, fold in a celebration: tell me what this trip is for, and I will redesign it around that.
The reservations that decide this trip are made before you fly: the Michelin tables held, the dining car booked, the sfoglina confirmed. Six of the moments that decide the journey:
Dinner in the gilded Belle Époque brasserie inside Gare de Lyon, the journey’s declaration of intent.
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Private cellar tastings on the Left Bank, and a candlelit dinner with the estate’s own winemaker.
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Dinner on Fourvière hill above the old town, the cathedral of Saint-Jean filling the window as the light goes.
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Filippo Saporito’s terrace at Villa Bardini: dinner with the Duomo catching the last light below.
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Eight hours in the panoramic dining car: three courses at altitude, 291 bridges as the backdrop.
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Tagliatelle rolled by hand with a Bologna sfoglina, then Florence’s great market with a local chef.
View detailsYour per-person price holds for fourteen days while you decide, firm before you pay.
Start your proposalTwelve days, eight hotels, every table and rail seat reserved. Your exact itinerary is priced in your proposal within 48 hours.
Guide prices per person by month, everything in the inclusions column included. There is no departure calendar: the journey runs on your dates within these windows.
Vines waking in Bordeaux, snow still above the Oberalp, the quietest tables of the year. The easiest window for first-class reservations.
Plan these datesThe Alps in full light and the longest days at the table. The most requested window: the Glacier Express dining car books furthest ahead here.
Plan these datesHarvest in Saint-Émilion, the estates at work as you taste. The clearest mountain light of the year on the Bernina.
Plan these datesWhite-truffle season opens in the Italian chapters and the larches turn gold above St. Moritz. The last departures run mid-October.
Plan these datesPrivate for two on the dates you choose. Bologna’s autumn fair weeks can spike hotel rates: I route your nights around them, and your price is firm in the 48-hour proposal.
The Northern Lights Arctic Adventure runs December to April.
Your request is with me. I read every enquiry personally and will reply within a day, usually sooner.