Private Full Day Parma Food Tour: Parmesan Cheese, Parma Ham, Lunch, Vinegar
Description
Learn about the culinary traditions of Parma on this amazing 8-hour tour. Explore a cheese factory, a ham producing factory and a traditional balsamic vinegar factory with an expert gourmet guide and taste these delicacies directly from their producers. Enjoy a delicious 3-course lunch including our most traditional dishes matched with excellent local wines.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Leaving Parma, you will first stop at a cheese factory to see how milk is transformed into Parmigiano Reggiano. You will also discover how this cheese, devoid of any chemical additives, can be aged for years to improve its quality. You will then learn to recognize the various aging stages by enjoying a tasting led by an expert.
Proceed to learn about Parma Ham. In the ham producing house, you will see every phase of the curing of the meat and then taste the final result, yielded by meticulous ageing. Move on to a local restaurant where you can enjoy all the delicious products of the area, including local wines such as Lambrusco and Malvasia. Your menu includes local cured meats, as well as the tortelli d’erbetta, a round shaped pasta stuffed with ricotta and herbs which is a local specialty. For dessert, you will try the famous sbrisolona and other dry cakes. Your lunch will also include water, wine and coffee.
After lunch, round your tour off with a visit of an "acetaia", where a member of the owner’s family will reveal all secrets of traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Please, let us know the name of the hotel or apartment you stay in, we offer the pick-up also at the other hotels in Parma. If you will arrive for the tour from the other city, we will advise you the best point to meet your guide. If you will arrive for the tour by train, please let us know the arrival time and your guide will meet you at the ticket office of the train station in Parma.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- May be operated by a multilingual guide
- Make a note of any dietary needs in the 'Special Requirements' box when you book
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
Reviews(132)
Wonderful experience to learn about the process, work, and quality control of cheese, salami, and balsamic vinegar. Fantastic.
Our guide, Elena, was very well informed and personable and walked us through all the details and intricacies of parmesan cheese-making, parma ham curing, and balsamic vinegar production. Amazing and enlightening. And our driver Fabio, got us around safely and efficiently (despite his bad taste in automobiles...ha-ha). We had a very fun and enjoyable day.
The experience was fantastic. Our guide was very friendly and intelligent, and I learned a lot.
A fantastic experience. Picked up by our tour guide Lisa. She was very knowledgeable and fun to spend the day with. Stopped at a Parmigiana Reggiano building where we saw the cheese makers make cheese, view the holding tanks and storage facilities. Then tried the different ages. Awesome. Then stopped at a Prosciutto factory. We went on a Sunday, so it was not in operation but we still walked through and Lisa explained the process in great detail. Viewed the storage facilities. We then left for lunch and tried the types of prosciutto at a very delicious spot. Finally we saw how balsamic vinegar was made. It was very cool and an intimate experience. This tour was everything we hoped it was to be and more. It definitely worth the cost and if you have time in Parma, I recommend!
I learned about cheese, I ate cheese, I bought cheese. This was true of everything this day. Cheese, prosciutto and traditional balsamic vinegar. Everyone was kind and informative. There were no children present.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We love how perfectly you summed up the day—learning, tasting, and taking home some great cheese (and prosciutto and balsamic too!). We’re glad you found everyone welcoming and informative and enjoyed the relaxed, adult-focused atmosphere. We hope to see you again soon! Rossella
It was wonderful to try all the family made specialty products and learn about the tradition and passion put into acquiring the certifications. It's important to learn where and how our food is produced so we the consumers can decide. I liked the message and the quality of everything we enjoyed.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear that you enjoyed discovering the family-made specialty products and learning about the traditions, passion, and certifications behind them. Sharing where our food comes from and how it’s produced is at the heart of what we do, and we’re glad that message resonated with you. We hope to see you again soon! Rossella
I did the full tour. Ham cheese lunch and acetaia. Liza was our guide, excellent person. Very friendly and warm. I recommend doing so
¡Muchas gracias por tu amable reseña! Nos alegra mucho saber que disfrutaste del tour completo, desde el jamón y el queso hasta el almuerzo y la experiencia en la acetaia. ¡Qué bonito saber que te sentiste bienvenido y atendido durante todo el día! ¡Esperamos verte de nuevo pronto!
It was a very informative tour that I really enjoyed! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the cheese and Parma ham production process, and the places we visited were definitely worth seeing for food lovers.
Thank you so much for your kind review! We’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed the tour and found it informative. It’s wonderful that the visits and tastings made the experience special for food lovers like you! We hope to see you again soon!
Such an amazing tour. Our guide was wonderful and knowledgeable, we learned so much about the process of cheese, making, prosciutto Parma making, and the balsamic vinegar process. The day went by very fast and we got to try delicious food; would definitely recommend.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear you enjoyed the tour and learned so much about the processes behind Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, and balsamic vinegar. It’s fantastic that the day flew by and that you got to taste so many delicious treats! We hope to see you again soon!
The most informative tour we have been on! Claudia was wonderful! Each stop was interesting and we felt welcome! We can’t choose our favorite stop as we enjoyed them equally!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re delighted to hear you found the tour so informative and that every stop was enjoyable. It’s wonderful to know you felt welcome throughout the day! We hope to see you again soon!
