Smoke, Spirits & Spice

A Día de los Muertos Culinary Journey Through Puebla & Oaxaca with Chef Diego Campos

October 30th to November 6th, 2027

Optional Mexico City Add-On: November 6th to November 9th, 2027

Mexico, Through the Eyes of a Chef Coming Home

Some journeys are about discovering a destination.

This one is about discovering where a chef comes from.

Join Chef Diego Campos, Head Chef of CAMP in Greenville, South Carolina, and Chef Richard Gruica, founder of The Gourmet Vacation, for an extraordinary culinary homecoming through Oaxaca and Puebla, timed around one of Mexico’s most beautiful, emotional, and exhilarating celebrations: Día de los Muertos.

Smoke, Spirits & Spice isn't designed to simply show you Mexico.

It is designed to bring you inside it.

We begin in Oaxaca, where the streets come alive with marigolds, candles, music, Catrinas, comparsas, elaborate altars, mezcal, and generations of tradition. But rather than experiencing Día de los Muertos only as spectators, we'll explore the stories and beliefs behind the celebration and experience it through its food, art, families, artisans, and communities.

We'll eat our way through Oaxaca's markets and neighborhood kitchens, make tortillas alongside an abuela, cook with local families, meet textile artisans, discover Oaxaca's remarkable printmaking and street-art traditions, taste mezcal where it is produced, transform ourselves with private Catrina face painting, and follow the music into the streets as Oaxaca celebrates life while remembering those who came before.

Then we hit the road.

And with The Gourmet Vacation, the road is part of the experience. Our journey toward Puebla takes us through landscapes of towering cacti, ancient agricultural traditions, and centuries-old salt works. We'll taste one of Puebla's great seasonal treasures, Mole de Caderas, with a local family before experiencing the deeply moving monumental Día de Muertos altars of Huaquechula.

And then the journey becomes even more personal.

Diego Comes Home

We arrive in Puebla, Chef Diego's home state, and travel to Atlixco, his hometown.

Suddenly, Diego isn't simply the chef traveling with us. He's our storyteller.

We'll walk the streets he remembers, taste the foods he grew up with, explore local markets, meet farmers and cooks, visit the surrounding countryside, and discover the ingredients, traditions, and people that helped shape his culinary identity. One evening, Diego takes over the kitchen for an intimate homecoming dinner created exclusively for our Gourmet Vacation guests.

Think of it as his story told through food: childhood flavors, family traditions, memories of Puebla, and the global experiences that have influenced the chef he has become. Throughout the journey, we'll cook, taste, sip, explore, and learn together. Expect mole, maíz, mezcal, maguey, markets, artisans, ancient traditions, unexpected roadside discoveries, and plenty of surprises that aren't going to fit neatly onto an itinerary.

Because that's exactly the point.

This isn't Mexico viewed through the window of a tour bus.

It's Mexico around the table.

It's meeting the people behind the ingredients. It's getting your hands dirty. It's following the music when the evening takes an unexpected turn. It's tasting something you've never tasted before and hearing the story of why it's been eaten for generations. And most importantly, it's experiencing a part of Mexico alongside a chef who can say: This is where I come from.

And Why Stop There? Mexico City Is Calling

For guests who want the complete experience, continue with Chef Diego and Chef Richard for an optional three-night Mexico City finale.

After experiencing Oaxaca and Puebla through tradition, family, food, and Diego's personal roots, we'll finish in one of the world's great culinary and cultural capitals.

And we're not exactly planning to tiptoe into town.

We'll hit Mexico City with Tacos & Tequila, dive into the spectacle of VIP Lucha Libre at Arena México, enter the intimate world of Frida Kahlo at Casa Azul, and test our culinary courage with a Bugs & Beers Market Experience, where chapulines, escamoles, maguey worms, and Mexican craft beer await the adventurous.

Then we'll travel thousands of years into Mexico's past at magnificent Teotihuacan, exploring the Avenue of the Dead and the monumental pyramids before descending underground for lunch in a spectacular restaurant set within ancient volcanic rock.

And for our final night?

Mariachi. Mexico City. One last incredible table.

We'll raise a glass amid the music and energy of Plaza Garibaldi before gathering for our final farewell dinner together.

Oaxaca gives us tradition.

Puebla gives us Diego's story.

Mexico City gives us the grand finale.

You've already come this far.

Why stop now?

Meet Your Chefs-Hosts

Chef Diego Campos

Head Chef | CAMP, Greenville, South Carolina

For Chef Diego Campos, this journey is personal. Today, Diego leads the kitchen at CAMP, the acclaimed modern American restaurant in the heart of downtown Greenville, South Carolina. CAMP's cooking takes classic ideas and reimagines them through globally influenced flavors, seasonal ingredients, and a playful, creative approach. Diego also curates the restaurant's intimate tasting-menu experience in Nora's Cellar, where his team builds evolving menus around seasonality and fresh inspiration. But long before Greenville, there was Puebla.

Born and raised in Atlixco, Diego grew up surrounded by one of Mexico's richest culinary landscapes, a place where food, agriculture, family, celebration, and tradition remain deeply intertwined. Those roots are what make Smoke, Spirits & Spice so special.

This isn't a chef arriving in Mexico to lead a tour. It's a chef going home and taking us with him.

Throughout the journey, Diego will cook alongside our guests, explore markets with us, introduce the ingredients and dishes of his childhood, share the stories behind the foods of Puebla, and reconnect with the people and places that helped shape his relationship with cooking.

The culmination will be his intimate Roots: A Homecoming Dinner, created especially for our group. Each course will draw from the flavors, memories, family traditions, and ingredients of his Puebla upbringing while reflecting the chef and culinary voice he has developed today.

Traveling with Diego gives us something no ordinary itinerary can manufacture: a personal connection to place.

We're not simply going to Puebla.

We're going to Diego's Puebla.

@diegocv

@campgvl

Chef Richard Gruica

Founder & CEO | The Gourmet Vacation

For Chef Richard Gruica, food has always been one of the greatest ways to understand a place.

A chef, restaurateur, culinary traveler, photographer, storyteller, and founder of The Gourmet Vacation, Richard has spent years traveling the world in search of the experiences that exist beyond the typical itinerary: the family kitchen, the tiny producer, the chef willing to open the restaurant on a day off, the market stall everyone local knows, the winemaker pouring something that never leaves the region, and the roadside meal that somehow becomes one of the highlights of the entire trip.

As founder and CEO of The Gourmet Vacation, Richard creates intimate, chef-hosted culinary journeys built around food, culture, access, and human connection. His philosophy is simple: the best way to understand a destination isn't merely to see it. You have to taste it!

Richard's trips bring guests alongside acclaimed chefs, creating opportunities to cook with local families, meet farmers and artisans, explore markets, visit producers, experience regional traditions, and sit around tables most travelers would never discover on their own.

He is also the founder of Good Eats & Meets, a large international gastronomic community, and The Gypsy Table, a roaming culinary pop-up series bringing chefs and local ingredients together in unexpected locations. His work as a photographer and storyteller further shapes how he approaches travel, always looking beyond the postcard to the people, flavors, and stories that give a destination its identity.

@chefrichardgruica

@thegourmetvacation

For Smoke, Spirits & Spice, Richard has partnered with Chef Diego to create something particularly personal: a journey that doesn't simply visit Mexico's culinary destinations, but follows the threads connecting food to family, ingredients to landscape, traditions to generations, and a chef to the place he calls home.

Together, Chef Diego and Chef Richard invite you to come hungry, stay curious, and experience Mexico the way The Gourmet Vacation believes it should be experienced:

Not simply as a destination, but as a story told one table at a time.

Arrival Day | Friday, October 29th, 2027

We are asking all guests to arrive in Oaxaca one day before the official start of the tour. Arriving early provides a little extra cushion in case of flight delays, missed connections, or other unexpected travel issues, while also giving you time to settle in, relax, and get acclimated before our adventure begins.

Arrival Airport: OAX – Oaxaca International Airport

Arrivals: Throughout the day on Friday, October 29

Oaxaca is easily accessible from the U.S., with nonstop service from select major gateways including Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles, with convenient connections to these gateways from Greenville, Atlanta, Charlotte, and other U.S. cities.

Pre-Tour Meet & Greet | Friday Evening

Once everyone has arrived and settled in, we’ll gather in the evening for a relaxed Meet & Greet with Chef Diego Campos and Chef Richard Gruica. It will be a chance to meet your fellow travelers, enjoy a few drinks and bites, and toast to the adventure ahead.

Overnight Stay-A boutique hotel in the heart of Oaxaca

Day 1-Saturday, October 30th

The Journey Officially Begins: Art, Altars & Ancestral Flavors: Oaxaca Comes Alive

We’ll begin with a hands-on Oaxacan printmaking workshop led by a talented local artist, diving into one of the city’s most distinctive and visible artistic traditions. Oaxaca has become renowned for its vibrant relief and woodblock printmaking scene, with striking prints appearing in galleries, workshops, markets, and across the city’s walls.

We’ll learn how an original design is transformed into a hand-carved printing block before being inked and pressed to create the finished artwork. Then it’s our turn to get creative, working alongside the artist to design, carve, ink, and print our own piece of Oaxacan-inspired art.

More than simply an art class, this is an opportunity to understand how printmaking has become such a powerful form of artistic expression, storytelling, and cultural identity in Oaxaca. Best of all, everyone leaves with a one-of-a-kind print created by their own hands, a very personal keepsake from The Gourmet Vacation and our time in Oaxaca.

Next, we’ll turn our attention to what Oaxaca does extraordinarily well: FOOD! On a private culinary tour, we’ll eat our way through markets, local eateries, and favorite neighborhood stops, discovering the ingredients and dishes that have made Oaxaca one of Mexico’s great gastronomic destinations. Expect everything from mole and quesillo to corn, chiles, chocolate, and other regional specialties, while learning how Indigenous traditions, local ingredients, and generations of culinary knowledge continue to shape the cuisine.

After lunch, we’ll explore another side of Oaxaca’s creativity on a colorful street-art tour. Murals, prints, political art, and contemporary works transform the city’s walls into an open-air gallery, offering another fascinating window into Oaxacan identity, history, and culture.

After some time to relax and refresh, we’ll regroup that evening for a very special introduction to Xandú, the Zapotec Día de Muertos tradition particularly associated with the communities of Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Xandú is centered around the belief that during this sacred period, the dead are welcomed home and reunited with the living. Families prepare elaborate altars filled with photographs, candles, flowers, copal incense, traditional foods, mezcal, and favorite offerings for loved ones who have passed. It is at once colorful and celebratory, but also deeply rooted in remembrance, hospitality, family, and maintaining the connection between generations.

In recent years, Oaxaca City has brought these Istmeño Zapotec traditions into its Día de Muertos programming through “Xandú, Fiesta de Todos los Santos,” with traditional dress, music, dance, food, altars, and representatives from communities of the Isthmus.

For us, it will be an extraordinary way to begin Smoke, Spirits & Spice, not simply watching Día de los Muertos from the outside, but starting our journey by understanding the people, traditions, and meaning behind it.

Overnight Stay-A boutique hotel in the heart of Oaxaca

Day 2-Sunday, October 31st | Roots & Revelations

A Day of Oaxacan Wonders, Culinary Traditions, Mezcal Magic & Día de Muertos

Today, we journey beyond the city to experience the roots, traditions, flavors, and craftsmanship of Oaxaca, before returning for an extraordinary evening as Día de Muertos celebrations fill the streets.

Our day begins beneath the enormous canopy of the legendary Tree of Tule, one of Oaxaca’s great natural treasures and famous for having the stoutest tree trunk in the world. We’ll explore the surrounding community and artisan market before continuing into the countryside.

Next, we’ll dive into Oaxaca’s remarkable textile traditions, meeting local artisans and discovering how plants, flowers, insects, and other natural ingredients are transformed into brilliant dyes. We’ll watch these colors come to life through traditional weaving techniques passed from one generation to the next.

From there, it’s time to get our hands deliciously dirty. At a sustainable local farm, we’ll join an abuela for a hands-on tortilla-making experience, learning about the importance of corn and the traditions surrounding the Oaxacan table. Chef Diego Campos will join in as we prepare and share a beautiful farm lunch inspired by the ingredients and flavors around us.

No exploration of Oaxaca would be complete without mezcal. Our final countryside stop takes us to a boutique artisanal producer, where we’ll follow agave from field to bottle, learn about traditional production methods, and taste a selection of mezcals right at the source.

We’ll return to our hotel with time to relax, refresh, and recharge, because tonight Oaxaca transforms.

When Oaxaca Comes Alive: Día de Muertos & the Gran Comparsa

As evening falls, we’ll head into the streets for one of the most colorful and exhilarating experiences of our journey. Oaxaca comes alive with comparsas, brass bands, Catrinas, mojigangas, elaborate costumes, candles, marigolds, music, dancing, food, mezcal, and celebration.

We’ll experience the anticipated Gran Comparsa, joining locals and visitors as the procession makes its way toward the historic center. Rather than over-scheduling the evening, we’ll allow ourselves to follow the rhythm of Oaxaca, wandering the decorated streets, discovering altars and celebrations, sampling food and drinks, listening to music, and simply becoming part of the incredible energy surrounding us.

Tonight isn’t about watching Día de Muertos from the sidelines. It’s about stepping into the celebration and experiencing Oaxaca at one of its most unforgettable moments of the year.

Overnight Stay-A boutique hotel in the heart of Oaxaca

Day 3-Monday, November 1st | Spirits, Catrinas & Celebrating the Ancestors

A Day to Explore, a Taste of Mezcal & Día de Muertos After Dark

After two incredible days exploring together, today begins at a slower pace. The morning and early afternoon are yours to enjoy Oaxaca however you choose. Sleep in, linger over breakfast, shop for beautiful textiles and artisan crafts, wander through the markets, revisit a favorite neighborhood, grab a coffee or simply explore the colorful streets as the city continues its Día de Muertos celebrations.

We’ll regroup in the early afternoon and turn our attention to one of Oaxaca’s most celebrated spirits with a special tasting of mezcal at a favorite local spot. Having already experienced mezcal production in the countryside, today we’ll explore what happens inside the glass, discovering different varieties of agave, production techniques, regions, and flavor profiles while gaining a deeper appreciation for the families and traditions behind this iconic Oaxacan spirit.

Becoming Part of the Celebration

Then it’s time for a little transformation.

We’ll gather for a private Día de Muertos face-painting experience with local artists, who will create individual Catrina-inspired designs for our group. Guests are encouraged to wear black or darker clothing, allowing the dramatic makeup, flowers, and brilliant colors of Día de Muertos to take center stage. Add a flower, shawl, hat, or something special you discovered during our time in Oaxaca and make the look your own.

After all, tonight we aren't dressing for dinner. We're dressing for Oaxaca!

Oaxaca After Dark: Follow the Music

As the sun disappears, we'll head back into the streets to experience another side of Día de Muertos.

Tonight is intentionally left a little fluid. Depending upon the official 2027 programming, we may find ourselves following a neighborhood comparsa, dancing behind a brass band, experiencing a traditional muerteada, discovering elaborate altars, or joining celebrations in one of the communities surrounding Oaxaca.

There will be music. There will be dancing. There will undoubtedly be mezcal. And somewhere along the way, we'll find something delicious to eat.

Rather than watching from the sidelines, tonight we'll follow the music, the people, and the energy, allowing Oaxaca to determine where the evening takes us.

After three days together, we've experienced Día de Muertos from several different perspectives: through its art, food, ancestral traditions, family rituals, mezcal, music, and celebration. Tonight brings all those threads together as we step into the streets and become part of one of Mexico's most extraordinary cultural traditions.

Tonight, we celebrate life while remembering those who came before us.

Overnight Stay-A boutique hotel in the heart of Oaxaca

Day 4-Tuesday, November 2nd

Cactus, Corn & Mole: The Road to Puebla

Ancient Landscapes, Salt Traditions, Seasonal Flavors & a Final Día de Muertos Tradition

After three unforgettable days immersed in Oaxaca and Día de los Muertos, we’ll enjoy a leisurely breakfast before saying goodbye to Oaxaca and beginning our journey toward Chef Diego Campos’ home state of Puebla. But with The Gourmet Vacation, a travel day is never simply about getting from one place to another. Today, the road becomes part of the experience.

Our journey takes us into the spectacular Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape where humans have interacted with the land for thousands of years. This remarkable region played an important role in the early domestication of plants and the development of agriculture in Mesoamerica, including the story of corn, the ingredient at the very heart of Mexican cuisine.

A Walk Through a Forest of Giants

We’ll stop in Zapotitlán Salinas for a private guided experience through the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden, surrounded by a surreal landscape of towering columnar cacti.

Rather than simply admiring the scenery, we’ll discover the edible side of this extraordinary ecosystem, learning about cacti, agave, native plants, ancient agriculture, and the ingenious ways people have learned to cook, cultivate, and thrive in this seemingly unforgiving landscape.

For a group of food lovers traveling with a chef, it’s an opportunity to look beyond the finished dish and discover where some of Mexico’s culinary story actually begins.

Salt From the Earth

Our exploration continues with something even more unexpected: salt.

For generations, the people of Zapotitlán Salinas have harvested salt from naturally saline springs using traditions that stretch back centuries. We’ll visit the local salt works to see how water, earth, sun, and human knowledge come together to create an ingredient so simple that we often take it for granted.

Corn. Cactus. Agave. Salt. Four ingredients and landscapes that tell an extraordinary story about Mexico before we ever sit down at the table.

A Taste of the Season: Mole de Caderas

And then comes lunch.

November brings us through Tehuacán at exactly the right time to experience one of Puebla’s great seasonal culinary traditions: Mole de Caderas.

Rather than simply stopping at a restaurant along the highway, we’ll truly go local and share this experience with a local family, discovering the story behind this deeply regional dish of goat, chiles, spices, and local ingredients that appears for only a short season each year.

With Chef Diego alongside us, we’ll learn about its preparation, meet some of the people keeping the tradition alive, and, most importantly, gather around the table and taste it for ourselves.

This lunch marks an important moment in our journey. We’re leaving the flavors of Oaxaca behind and beginning to taste our way into Chef Diego’s Puebla.

One Final Día de Muertos Story: Huaquechula

Before reaching Puebla City, we’ll make one final and very meaningful stop in Huaquechula, where Día de Muertos takes on an entirely different character from the exuberant celebrations we experienced in Oaxaca.

Huaquechula is renowned for its extraordinary Ofrendas Monumentales, a centuries-old tradition recognized as part of Puebla’s cultural heritage. Families who have lost a loved one during the previous year create magnificent, multi-level white altars inside their homes, filled with photographs, candles, flowers, food, incense, personal belongings, and symbols honoring the person who has passed.

These are not displays created simply for visitors. They are deeply personal acts of remembrance, and participating families traditionally open their homes to welcome those who come to pay their respects.

November 2 carries special meaning as families prepare to say farewell to the souls of their loved ones before they depart once again. The scent of copal, flowers, candlelight, and the quiet beauty of these extraordinary altars offer a powerful contrast to the comparsas, music, costumes, and street celebrations we've experienced in Oaxaca.

It will be a fitting and poignant conclusion to our Día de Muertos journey, allowing us to experience both sides of this remarkable tradition: the celebration of life and the intimacy of remembrance.

Welcome to Puebla

From Huaquechula, we’ll continue to Puebla City, arriving in the evening and checking into our boutique hotel.

Tonight is intentionally yours. Settle in, relax, explore the neighborhood, find a cocktail or enjoy dinner wherever your curiosity takes you. After a day filled with ancient landscapes, salt, seasonal mole, family traditions, and remembrance, there’s no agenda and no alarm bell calling everyone back together.

Tomorrow, we begin something very special: discovering Puebla through the eyes, flavors, memories, and personal connections of Chef Diego Campos.

Overnight Stay: A boutique hotel in the heart of Puebla

Day 5-Wednesday, November 3rd | Diego Comes Home

Through Chef Diego’s Eyes: The Flavors, People & Places of Atlixco

Today is one of the most personal days of our journey. We’re heading to Atlixco, Chef Diego Campos’ hometown, to discover Puebla not simply as visitors, but through the memories, flavors, places, and people that helped shape the chef he is today.

We’ll begin in the heart of Atlixco, wandering through the Zócalo and historic center with Diego as our guide and storyteller. Along the way, we’ll hear about growing up here, discover some of the places he remembers, and perhaps sneak in a favorite childhood bite or two. This isn’t simply a walking tour. It’s an opportunity to experience Atlixco through Diego’s eyes.

We’ll continue toward Cerro de San Miguel, taking in sweeping views across the valley toward the mighty Popocatépetl volcano, before exploring the historic San Francisco church and former convent, part of the centuries-old architectural heritage of Atlixco.

From the Market to the Table: Tochimilco

From Atlixco, we’ll venture into the countryside to Tochimilco, where agriculture, markets, traditional cooking, and the rhythms of everyday life remain deeply connected.

Here, we’ll explore the market alongside Diego and meet some of the people behind the ingredients of the region. Then we'll gather around the table for a special lunch showcasing the traditional flavors of this corner of Puebla, ideally prepared with a local cook or family.

This is the Puebla that Diego knows, where recipes are passed between generations, ingredients come from the surrounding land, and some of the most memorable meals don't begin with a menu. They begin with people.

Flowers, Farms & the Flavors of the Valley

Back in Atlixco, we’ll explore another part of the region’s identity. Known for its flowers and fertile agricultural landscape, the valley surrounding Atlixco supplies an extraordinary variety of produce, herbs, and flowers, providing most of the flowers used for the Día de los Muertos celebrations.

We’ll visit a local nursery, meeting the people who work this land and discovering why agriculture remains such an important part of Atlixco’s story.

Then we’ll experience the valley from an entirely different culinary perspective with a special stop at Michelin-recommended Vica. Rather than another full meal, think of this as a few unforgettable bites and a drink, a contemporary interpretation of the same landscape, ingredients, and traditions we’ve been discovering throughout the day.

Traditional Puebla meets modern Puebla, with Diego connecting the two.

Afterward, we'll return to our hotel with time to relax and refresh before a very special evening.

Roots: A Homecoming Dinner with Chef Diego Campos

Tonight, Diego takes over the kitchen.

After spending the day discovering the hometown, landscape, ingredients, and memories that helped shape him, Chef Diego will create a private dinner especially for our Gourmet Vacation guests, interpreting his Puebla heritage through the chef he has become.

This won't simply be a tasting menu. It will be Diego's story told through food.

The flavors of childhood. Family traditions. Ingredients that remind him of home. Memories of growing up in Puebla. And the global experiences and culinary influences that have shaped his cooking since leaving.

Each course will reveal another chapter, transforming the familiar flavors of his heritage into something personal, contemporary, and unmistakably Diego.

We’ve come to Puebla to understand where our chef comes from. Tonight, he brings it all to the table.

Overnight Stay: A boutique hotel in the heart of Puebla

Day 6 – Thursday, November 4th

Maguey, Fire & Fermentation: The Ancient Flavors of Tlaxcala

Today, we leave Puebla behind for the day and venture into neighboring Tlaxcala, where rolling fields of maguey lead us into one of Mexico’s oldest and most fascinating culinary traditions.

But first... what exactly is maguey?

Maguey is the traditional Mexican name for several species of agave, the striking succulent plants that have been cultivated and used throughout Mexico for thousands of years. Far more than simply the plant behind spirits like mezcal, maguey has provided Indigenous communities with food, fiber, medicine, building materials, and one of Mexico’s most ancient fermented beverages: pulque. Today, we’re going to discover this remarkable plant from the ground up.

From the Maguey Field to the Glass

Our experience begins among the towering maguey plants at a traditional working hacienda, where we’ll discover just how important this remarkable plant has been to Mexican life for centuries. We’ll meet a traditional tlachiquero, one of the skilled artisans responsible for harvesting aguamiel, or “honey water,” the naturally sweet sap collected from the heart of a mature maguey plant. We’ll watch as the aguamiel is carefully extracted before following its transformation through natural fermentation into one of Mexico’s most ancient drinks: pulque, a lightly alcoholic, milky fermented beverage with roots stretching back to pre-Hispanic Mexico.

And yes, naturally, we’ll be tasting along the way.

But this experience goes far beyond simply having a glass of pulque.

It’s about understanding the connection between the land, the maguey, fermentation, tradition, and the generations of families who have kept this remarkable way of life alive.

After experiencing mezcal in Oaxaca, today offers us an entirely different look at Mexico’s ancient relationship with agave. No distillation. No smoky mezcal stills.

Instead, we discover maguey, aguamiel, pulque, and natural fermentation, traditions whose roots reach deep into Mexico’s past.

Fire, Smoke & the Hacienda Table

And eventually, as it always seems to do on a Gourmet Vacation, everything leads back to the table. We’ll gather at the hacienda for a special lunch inspired by the traditional cooking of Tlaxcala and the surrounding countryside. Expect the flavors of fire, smoke, slow cooking, and maguey, with regional dishes such as barbacoa and mixiotes taking center stage. And Chef Diego won’t simply be watching from the sidelines.

He’ll spend time with the local cooks, get into the kitchen, taste, ask questions, share stories, and help us connect these traditional dishes and techniques with the broader culinary journey we’ve been experiencing together.

This is exactly the kind of day we love at The Gourmet Vacation.

Rustic. Personal. Hands-on. Delicious.

No velvet ropes. No staged demonstration.

Just the people who keep these traditions alive, the ingredients they work with every day, and a table waiting for us at the end.

Maguey. Aguamiel. Pulque. Fire. Fermentation.

Today, we taste another side of Mexico.

Overnight Stay: A boutique hotel in the heart of Puebla

Day 7-Friday, November 5th | Puebla: Baroque Beauty, Mole & One Last Table

History, Time to Explore & a Delicious Farewell

After an incredible week of exploring, tasting, cooking, sipping, and celebrating together, our final day begins exactly as it should: slowly. Sleep in, linger over breakfast, enjoy another cup of coffee, and take your time. There’s no early departure today. Puebla is waiting, and we’re going to enjoy it at an easy pace.

The Historic Heart of Puebla

Late morning, we’ll regroup for a private exploration of Puebla’s UNESCO World Heritage historic center, where grand Baroque architecture, colorful façades, magnificent churches, hidden courtyards, and beautiful Talavera tile tell the story of one of Mexico’s most distinctive cities. We’ll wander through the Zócalo and historic streets, discovering Puebla’s history and architectural treasures, with stops at landmarks such as the magnificent Capilla del Rosario and Biblioteca Palafoxiana.

But this is The Gourmet Vacation, so naturally our history lesson eventually leads us back to the kitchen.

We’ll visit the former Convent of Santa Rosa, whose extraordinary Talavera-covered kitchen is traditionally associated with the creation of mole poblano. It’s the perfect introduction to the dish we’ll be getting much more intimately acquainted with later today.

Puebla Is Yours

Then we're setting you free!

Enjoy a few hours to experience Puebla however you choose. Shop for Talavera pottery, browse artisan boutiques and antique shops, hunt down traditional sweets, grab a cemita, find a café, sip something delicious, or simply wander the colorful streets.

There’s no organized lunch today and no agenda to follow. Explore, snack, shop, and enjoy Puebla at your own pace before we come together for our final culinary experience.

The Many Layers of Mole

Early evening, we’ll trade sightseeing for aprons and gather for a special hands-on mole experience with a traditional Poblana cook. Mole is far more than a sauce. It's a beautiful collision of chiles, spices, seeds, nuts, cacao, technique, patience, and generations of family knowledge. We'll taste and smell the individual ingredients, learn how they're toasted, ground, fried, and layered, and discover why recipes can vary so dramatically from one family and region to another. And, of course, Chef Diego Campos will be right there cooking alongside us, sharing his own perspective on one of the most iconic dishes of his home state. Together, we'll create our mole and then do the only sensible thing left to do.

Eat it.

One Last Table

Our cooking experience will flow directly into our farewell dinner, where the mole we've created becomes part of our final meal together. Tonight there is nowhere else we need to be.

We'll gather around one last table with Chef Diego and Chef Richard, raise a glass, share stories, and celebrate an extraordinary journey that has taken us from Oaxaca's markets, artists, and Día de Muertos traditions to mezcal, ancient corn, cactus forests, salt, family kitchens, and finally into the heart of Puebla.

After all the miles traveled, markets explored, mezcal sipped, dishes discovered, and friendships made, our journey ends in the most appropriate place possible:

Around the table.

Overnight Stay: A boutique hotel in the heart of Puebla

Day 8 – Saturday, November 6th

Two Paths, One Incredible Journey | Puebla Farewell or Mexico City Encore

After an unforgettable journey through the flavors, traditions, markets, kitchens, and communities that shaped Chef Diego, today marks the conclusion of our main adventure through Mexico. For those departing us in Puebla, transfers will be arranged to Puebla International Airport (PBC) for your journey home.

From Chef Diego, Chef Richard, and the entire Gourmet Vacation family, thank you for joining us on this extraordinary adventure. We hope you leave Mexico with far more than photographs and souvenirs. We hope you take home new flavors, new friendships, incredible stories, and a much deeper connection to this remarkable country and its people.

Safe travels, and until we meet around another table!

But Why Stop Now? Mexico City Is Calling!

Continue the adventure with Chef Diego Campos and Chef Richard Gruica as we leave Puebla behind and head for one of the world’s most exciting culinary and cultural capitals: Mexico City for our optional three-night Mexico City add-on,

Consider these three nights the grand finale to an already incredible journey. After immersing ourselves in the traditions, markets, artisans, celebrations, and unforgettable flavors of Oaxaca and Puebla, we’ll experience an entirely different side of Mexico, one that is bigger, bolder, faster, and bursting with energy.

This add-on is designed to truly round out your Mexican adventure. We’ll journey from the ancient mysteries of Teotihuacan to the deeply personal world of Frida Kahlo, then dive straight into Mexico City’s legendary street-food culture with tacos and tequila. We’ll brave unexpected flavors during our Bugs & Beers market experience, cheer from the action at VIP Lucha Libre, dine inside a spectacular ancient volcanic cave, and celebrate our final night surrounded by the music and energy of mariachi.

Ancient civilizations. Art. Street food. Tequila. Lucha Libre. Mariachi. And plenty of surprises along the way.

You’ve come this far... why stop now?

Stay with Chef Diego and Chef Richard for three more nights and experience the Mexico City finale that completes the story.

We’ll travel from Puebla toward Mexico City, stopping along the way for a fantastic roadside lunch, because some of Mexico’s most memorable food isn’t found beneath chandeliers. Sometimes it’s found beside the highway, where generations have perfected one dish and locals know exactly where to pull over.

After lunch, we continue into Mexico City and settle into our luxury boutique hotel in Polanco, our home for the next three nights.

And then... the city turns on its neon lights.

Tacos & Tequila: Mexico City After Dark

Tonight is about getting deliciously acquainted with Mexico City. We’ll dive into a specially curated Tacos & Tequila Night, exploring one of the city’s greatest culinary obsessions. From sizzling meats carved straight from the trompo to regional specialties, handmade tortillas, fiery salsas, and perhaps a few unexpected creations, we’ll discover why the humble taco is one of Mexico’s greatest gifts to the culinary world.

Along the way, we’ll pair our bites with tequila and other agave spirits, learning a little, laughing a lot, and discovering that in Mexico City, some of the greatest meals require neither white tablecloths nor reservations.

But dinner is only the opening act.

VIP Lucha Libre: Masks, Mayhem & Mexican Tradition

From tacos, we plunge straight into the electric world of Arena México for a VIP night of Lucha Libre. This is Mexican pop culture turned up to eleven.

Masked luchadores soar from the ropes, heroes battle villains, crowds roar their allegiance, and athleticism collides with theater in one of Mexico City’s most beloved spectacles. From our VIP vantage point, we’ll be right in the middle of the action, surrounded by the chants, colors, drama, and wonderfully over-the-top energy that make lucha libre so uniquely Mexican. And because simply watching isn’t enough, you’ll leave with your own custom lucha mask, a colorful reminder of one of the wildest nights of the journey.

Overnight: Luxury Hotel, Polanco

Day 9 – Sunday, November 7th

Art, Icons & Adventurous Flavors

Today reveals two dramatically different sides of Mexico City: its extraordinary artistic soul and its fearless culinary traditions. We begin in Coyoacán, stepping through the cobalt-blue walls of La Casa Azul, the Frida Kahlo Museum, once home to Mexico’s most iconic artist. Accompanied by a private art historian, we’ll move beyond the familiar images of Frida and into the intimate world that shaped her. Her rooms, gardens, personal belongings, artwork, and everyday objects reveal a woman whose creativity was inseparable from love, politics, physical pain, Mexican identity, and an extraordinary determination to live life on her own terms. It is intimate, colorful, sometimes heartbreaking, and deeply human.

Then... we turn up the adventure.

Bugs & Beers: The Fearless Fork Challenge

Mexico’s culinary history stretches back thousands of years, and some of its oldest ingredients are also among its most surprising. Inside one of Mexico City’s vibrant markets, we’ll embark on our Bugs & Beers Market Experience, a playful exploration of Mexico’s fascinating tradition of edible insects. Expect crispy chapulines, buttery and prized escamoles, flavorful maguey worms, and other discoveries selected for our group, paired with Mexican craft beers chosen to complement the flavors. This isn’t about shock value. These ingredients have been part of Mexican cuisine since long before the arrival of the Spanish and remain an important part of the country’s culinary heritage. Of course, bravery is optional. For anyone who would rather keep their lunch firmly outside the insect kingdom, we’ll have plenty of fantastic traditional market dishes to enjoy. But for those willing to taste it all, eternal bragging rights await.

One particularly adventurous guest will be crowned winner of our coveted Fearless Fork Award 🏆.

Your Night, Your Mexico City

After several days of traveling, tasting, exploring, and celebrating together, tonight belongs entirely to you. Return to Polanco for cocktails and an elegant dinner. Wander the leafy streets of Roma Norte or Condesa and discover one of the city’s acclaimed restaurants or cocktail bars. Hunt down another legendary taco stand. Find a rooftop for sunset drinks. Browse boutiques and galleries. Or simply return to the hotel, order something delicious, and recharge. Mexico City rewards curiosity, but sometimes luxury means having absolutely nowhere you need to be.

Overnight: Luxury Hotel, Polanco

Day 10 – Monday, November 8th

City of the Gods | Teotihuacan, Cave Dining & Our Grand Mexican Finale

For our final full day, we travel beyond Mexico City and thousands of years into the past.

Our destination is magnificent Teotihuacan, the ancient City of the Gods and one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in the Americas. With our private guide, we’ll explore the monumental Avenue of the Dead, stand beneath the imposing Pyramid of the Sun, admire the Pyramid of the Moon, and uncover the stories, rituals, architecture, and mysteries of a civilization whose city once ranked among the largest urban centers in the ancient world. Something about standing here is humbling. The scale is enormous, the history is profound, and despite everything archaeologists have discovered, Teotihuacan still guards many of its secrets.

And then we go underground...

Lunch Beneath the Earth

For lunch, we descend into one of the region’s most unusual dining settings: a spectacular cave restaurant set within ancient volcanic rock. Natural stone walls surround us as flickering light, traditional music, folklore, and regional cuisine transform lunch into an experience of its own. After walking among the temples of an ancient civilization above ground, dining beneath the earth feels almost ceremonial, a final connection between Mexico’s landscape, history, and food. We return to Mexico City with time to refresh before gathering for one last celebration.

Mariachi, Memories & One Last Table

As evening falls, we head to legendary Plaza Garibaldi, where Mexico City seems to find its soundtrack. Mariachi musicians fill the square, trumpets cut through the evening air, violins answer back, and suddenly the entire plaza feels alive. Tonight isn’t about simply watching. It’s about raising a glass, requesting a favorite song, laughing with the people who began this journey as fellow travelers and now feel much more like old friends, and soaking up those last delicious moments when nobody is quite ready for the trip to end.

From Garibaldi, we continue to our farewell dinner, our final table together. This is more than another meal. It is our chance to celebrate the entire journey: Oaxaca and Puebla, markets and kitchens, ancient traditions and unexpected flavors, Day of the Dead celebrations, artisans and chefs, tacos and tequila, Frida and lucha libre, Teotihuacan and mariachi. We’ll raise one final glass to Chef Diego, to Mexico, and most importantly, to the people around the table who made the journey what it was. Because ultimately, the Gourmet Vacation has never been only about where we go or what we eat.

It’s about who we share it with.

🎺✨ Salud, México .Until next time.

Overnight: Luxury Hotel, Polanco

Day 11 – Tuesday, November 9th

Hasta Luego, México

After breakfast, our Mexico adventure officially comes to an end.

Private transfers will be arranged to Mexico City International Airport (MEX) according to individual flight schedules.

For those who joined us for the Mexico City extension, we hope these final three nights were the perfect finishing touch to an already extraordinary journey. From the traditions and deeply rooted cuisine of Oaxaca and Puebla to the energy, history, art, street food, and sheer scale of Mexico City, you’ve experienced three distinct faces of Mexico in one remarkable adventure.

You came for the food.

You leave with the stories, friendships, laughter, flavors, and memories that make travel truly worthwhile.

Thank you for traveling with Chef Diego Campos, Chef Richard Gruica, and The Gourmet Vacation.

Safe travels, and we’ll see you somewhere delicious.