Choosing the right villa for our culinary tours, takes many hours of research. I have found a villa rental company that I have been using for my tours in Puglia, Sicily and now Greece. The Thinking Traveller is an amazing company to do business with. First the properties they represent are always fabulous properties that are well maintained. The staff for TTT is always very knowledgeable, very polite, professional and helpful.
If you are looking to travel with your family or friends to Puglia, Sicily or Greece and you would prefer your home base to be a villa rather then a hotel I highly recommend checking out their website. There is a large variety of villa’s from very small to very large. TTT will help with groceries being delivered, rental car arrangements, private cooks to prepare meals, local representatives to help plan activities. They really take the stress out of some of the planning.
The magic number of guests on a culinary tour for me is 8 – 10 guests. So usually I am searching for a villa that will sleep 10 – 12 people. It is important for me to find villa’s where each bedroom has its own bathroom for the comfort of all the guests. we usually travel when the weather is warm, so a swimming pool is always top on my list.
For our June culinary tours we have found a villa with six bedrooms and six bathrooms. This particular villa has one bedroom in the main house, two bedrooms in an upstairs living space with a sea view veranda. Two more bedrooms in a guest house and one more bedroom in a master guest house. Such a wonderful spacious villa giving guests their privacy.
I love a villa with plenty of outdoor spaces. We like to all get together and socialize outdoors. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktails with a view. This villa has many intimate smaller outdoor spaces so if a guest would like to quietly read a book, take a nap and just chill it’s all possible.
An outdoor kitchen is a must for me. If the kitchen happens to have a pizza oven that is a bonus for me. We will be having a Greek Pizza Night one evening in this outdoor kitchen.
I prefer open floor plans for the indoor kitchen space. Here we will do our prep work for breakfast, lunch, snacks & dinner. We also will have a private chef working in this kitchen for our welcome dinner for all of our travelers.
A large living room where everyone can gather is a must. You never know when you might have a little rain storm and you need to be inside. Or if you feel like you have had a little to much sun. This villa has a very open floor plan through out which makes the space just perfect for groups.
Also with villa selection I consider the ease of travel of how our guests will arrive to us for their week at the villa. With this Greece tour our guests will fly into Athens, Paros island is a 35 minute flight from Athens or a three hour ferry ride. Many of our guests will spend time in Athens either before or after their villa stay. Many travelers are also island hopping to different Greek islands for extended travel.
My next post I will chat a little about Athens.
Signing off for now.
Chef Shelly