Day One

Welcome to Brussels! Our tour begins in a beautiful abbey-turned-hotel in the heart of the city. Yes, you’ll hear monks chanting in the elevator and have access to incredible Trappist beers everywhere you turn. Meet your Cheese Journeys team for a morning gathering on velvet couches, then hit the cobblestones with a local guide for a walking tour of the city’s best specialty food shops. Along the way, you’ll sample warm waffles, Belgian frites, and the world’s finest chocolates before meeting the top Belgian cheesemongers, who happen to be a mother-and-son team. Véro and Léo will share the story of their exquisite shop, La Fruitière, and prepare a fondue lunch for you in their tasting room where several rare beers are on tap. You’ll have the afternoon to explore the boutiques in their neighborhood before returning to La Fruitière for a happy-hour tasting of Belgian beer and cheese. Tonight, you’ve got the evening to yourself. Hit a brasserie, grab some street food, or find a bar stool in one of the many beer cafés around our hotel.

Day Two

You’ll enjoy breakfast in the abbey courtyard, then we’re off to the train station with tickets to Bruges, the charming capital of West Flanders. This medieval city is famous for its picturesque town square and canal-lined walking paths. You’ll tour a family-run brewery, De Halve Maan, and enjoy a tasting of Straffe Hendrik (“Strong Henry”) – the delicious beer made on site. After a brewery lunch, you’ve got the afternoon to explore. Check out the historic district, enjoy sips along the water, or take a photo walk across bridges and past gingerbread-like houses. In the evening, you’ll return to our luxurious abbey-hotel in Brussels for the night.

Day Three

Get ready for a deep dive into chocolate and beer, Belgian’s most beloved delicacies. You’ll spend the morning with a renowned couple who has perfected unique bean-to-bar chocolates. We’ll make our own chocolate bar, learn all about sourcing beans, and the secrets to creating the most coveted bars- Willy Wonka type secrets! After a light lunch and tasting, we’ll whisk you off to legendary Cantillon Brewery, where traditional lambic, gueuze, and kriek have been made since 1900. If you’re a beer nerd, you know that very few people still produce traditional Belgian fruited beers. Once you peer into the wooden alcove where Cantillon practices open-air fermentation in their “koelschip” right under the sky, you’ll have a new appreciation for the process of small-batch Belgian beer production. Enjoy a tour and tasting, then we’ll finish the evening at a classic Brasserie style restaurant for some hearty Belgian cuisine.

Day Four

After an abbey-hotel breakfast, our cheese chariot departs for a seaside cheese experience Betty Koster, Holland’s “Julia Child of Cheese”.  You’ll learn all about how Betty travels the countryside selecting Holland’s best wheels to age in her caves. A dynamic speaker and much -loved figure in the International Cheese world. Betty’s port-side cheese shop, L’Amuse Fromagerie, is a dairy destination with unique cheeses from around Europe.  Check out the wall of Goudas and enjoy a deep dive into cheese and tea! Betty, a foremost educator of the finest teas in the world pairs them with 12 beautifully ripened artisan cheeses-a once in a lifetime experience!

We’ll say farewell to Betty as our cheese chariot departs for the Wadden Islands, a stunning coastal area in Northern Holland that has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Expect to see rainbows of color as we pass through tulip fields, and of course, you’ll be able to spot windmills in every direction.  We’ll arrive at Wierschuur, our home for the week: a beautifully restored seaside home with a traditional thatched roof, once a warehouse for drying seaweed. Once you settle into life on the North Sea, you’ll enjoy a food photography class and then time for cocktails. Meet Cheese Journeys’ private chefs, Sylvain Jamois and Milo Waterfield as they have prepared a lovely welcome dinner.

Day Five

After a traditional dutch breakfast, you’ll be transported into another world of beauty  at Keukenhof Gardens – one of the great gardens of the world – for a visual feast of tulips, orchids, and exquisite landscaping. Enjoy a private guided walking tour, shopping, and just drinking in the scenery. We’ll return home for drinks and dinner.

Day Six

Prepare for a relaxing day in our light-filled farmhouse, which was once used for drying seagrass. After breakfast, you’ll grab your aprons and notebooks, then spend the day cooking with chefs, exploring food photography with Madame Fromage, and learning how to build the ultimate cheese board with Anna Juhl and Jilly Sitch. For dinner, you’ll feast on all the treats we prepared today. Plus, there’s a special cocktail.

Day Seven

After breakfast, we host a special guest, local guide, chef, and culinary herbalist Naomi Nieuwenhuis, owner of Country Home Cooking. Namoi brings her culinary knowledge of both regional cooking and using edible flowers, plants, and herbs as she joins Chef Sylvain Milo for a hands-on culinary experience you can recreate at home featuring local foods and flora.

After a deliciously spring lunch, you’ll depart for De Rijp to learn about village life in Holland and to explore its famous waterways, windmills, and the historic herring trade.  We’ll have a special tour around this local village and shop at Holland’s smallest and oldest candy store!  We’ll also hop on a boat to see up close the famous Beemster Polder (a UNESCO site and a geographic curiosity), it’s wildlife and habitat. Then you’ll settle back in at the farmhouse for a cocktail, followed by a hearty family-style dinner.

Day Eight

Have you ever dreamed of publishing a family cookbook? After breakfast, author, educator, and well-published expert Tenaya Darlington will walk you through the nuts-and-bolds of recipe structure, writing steps, and creating a table of contents!

You’ll then set off for Den Oever, a small fishing village on the Wadden sea. Pack your windbreaker – we’ll be hopping a sailing vessel and carrying picnic baskets for lunch, brimming with cheese and trimmings, fresh seasonal fish options, and a few of Chef Sylvain’s favorite Dutch beers.

After our day trip, you’ll return home for a slow afternoon -- enjoy free time or a special chef demonstration - followed by cocktail hour with Madame Fromage. This evening, sit back and relax as Chef Sylvain and Milo offer a sumptuous meal featuring local specialties.

Day Nine

Today we’re off to learn about sustainable dairy farming from one of Holland’s most forward-thinking farmstead cheesemakers. Grab your boots and prepare to meet some beautiful cows with enormous horns. You’ll spend the day at Remeker Farm, learning to make butter and cheese in their new state-of-the-art classroom – bring your apron! And, of course, you’ll taste the farm’s award-winning wheels straight out of the cave. Then, kick back for a chef-prepared lunch overlooking the pasture. We’ll roll back to our farmhouse in the afternoon so you have free time to walk or rest before happy hour. Tonight’s farewell dinner promises to be extra special.

Day Ten

Did you know that Holland’s canals were famous for transporting and trading cheese? This morning, you’ll experience Alkmaar’s famous cheese market. We’ll meet a private guide  who will walk us through the weighing of wheels and explain other rituals carried out by the local brotherhood of cheese traders. You’ll have time for lunch on your own, then we’ll head to Beemster HQ to observe larger-scale Gouda production at a special facility below sea level that is run by a local cooperative. You’ll taste Goudas of different ages and have time to purchase Gouda at Beemster’s shop, then we’ll depart for our hotel in Amsterdam.

Day Eleven

Pack your chocolates and your cheese, then prepare to catch a flight home or keep exploring! We’ll have one last breakfast at the hotel, then bid good-bye – don’t worry, you’ll have some new cheese pen pals!

TOUR PRICE INCLUDES

Lodging for ten nights, breakfast provided ten mornings, eight noon meals, and eight evening meals (alcoholic beverages served with meals and events) and additional food events and tastings. All transportation during the tour, all classes, tour tickets, and day trips provided by local hosts, cheese educators, and chefs. Alcoholic beverages and food, other than those served at meals and tasting events, may be purchased separately from the host or at locations during the tour.

TOUR PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE

Transportation to Brussels, return flights from Amsterdam airport to home country or return to Brussels airport from Amsterdam after the tour. Hotel accommodations before or after the tour, a couple optional lunch and dinner meals, personal shopping during the tour, or any activities during free time, shopping, and personal sightseeing.

DISCLOSURE

To the best of our ability, this tour itinerary is final. However, if, due to unexpected extreme weather, a schedule emergency with hosts, or limitations due to imposed travel restrictions, etc., Cheese Journeys reserves the right to substitute an event if needed. During the tour, you have the option of declining a particular excursion or tour, but we are unable to make refunds for any missed meals, classes, or events. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details.