Cooking Classes with Locals: Why Every Traveler Should Do One (And Why Bogotá Is the Perfect Place)
There are countless ways to explore a new city: museums, bus tours, walks through the historic center. But one experience changes everything — cooking alongside the people who actually live there. Cooking classes with locals have become one of the fastest-growing segments in global tourism, and for good reason. Learning to prepare traditional dishes in a local’s home can teach you more about a culture in two hours than weeks of conventional sightseeing ever could.
If you’re planning a trip to Bogotá — or you’re already here — here’s everything you need to know about why a Colombian cooking class with locals should be at the top of your list.
Culinary Tourism: A Global Trend That Keeps Growing
Traveling to eat — and learning to cook — has evolved from a niche curiosity into one of the most powerful forces shaping global tourism. According to a 2025 industry report by SkyQuestt, the culinary tourism market was valued at nearly USD $964 billion in 2024 and is projected to surpass USD $3.9 trillion by 2033, growing at an annual rate of 16.9%.
But beyond the numbers, what drives this phenomenon is a fundamental shift in how modern travelers think. According to research compiled by glo-explore.com, 64% of tourists say food contributes significantly to their overall travel satisfaction, and 54% actively choose destinations based on the culinary opportunities available there. Among younger travelers, the trend is even more pronounced: 44% of Gen Z respondents and 31% of Millennials have taken trips specifically centered around gastronomic experiences.
And within all the culinary experiences on offer, cooking classes hold a special place. A 2024 survey reported by GetExperience found that 50% of food travelers participate in cooking classes as part of their trips.
Why a Cooking Class with Locals Is Worth Far More Than a Restaurant Visit
1. It’s Real Cultural Immersion, Not Surface-Level Tourism
Eating at a restaurant — however excellent — keeps you in the role of observer. Cooking alongside someone who grew up preparing those dishes makes you a participant. As culinary tourism researchers note, cooking classes held in local people’s homes allow foreign tourists to catch a genuine glimpse of what daily life and cuisine look like for the people of the country they’re visiting. Food is deeply intertwined with a region’s history, geography, climate, and traditions: to cook with a local is to read that history from the inside.
2. You Build Human Connections No Bus Tour Can Replicate
Cooking classes in someone’s home have something that restaurants and organized tours simply cannot reproduce: the warmth of a shared private space. There’s conversation, there are family stories, there’s the kind of hospitality that only happens when someone opens their front door to you. Those connections are what travelers remember years later.
As Curata Travel notes in their culinary tourism guide, food has a remarkable ability to bring people together, fostering cross-cultural dialogue and understanding — whether it’s learning a family recipe from a local chef or simply sharing a meal you prepared together.
3. You Leave with Something That Lasts Forever
You can photograph monuments and buy souvenirs, but a recipe you learned to cook with your own hands — one you can recreate in your kitchen back home — is a memory that reactivates every time you cook it. It’s one of the few travel experiences that genuinely travels back with you.
4. You Directly Support the Local Economy
Unlike large restaurant chains or mass-market tours, cooking classes with locals put money directly into the hands of community members. According to culinary tourism market data, food tourism helps local economies grow by bringing revenue not only to restaurants but also to farmers, markets, and artisans — creating a multiplier effect that benefits entire neighborhoods.
5. It’s Accessible to Any Traveler
One of the great virtues of culinary tourism is that it doesn’t discriminate by budget or prior experience. You don’t need to be a chef or have any cooking knowledge. The best classes — the ones that happen in real homes with real people — are approachable, human, and memorable regardless of whether you’re traveling on a backpacker’s budget or staying in a five-star hotel.
Bogotá: A Gastronomic Destination the World Is Discovering
Colombia in general, and Bogotá in particular, have claimed a privileged spot on the map of Latin American culinary tourism. The international guide TasteAtlas recognized Bogotá as the sixth best gastronomic destination in Latin America — the only Colombian city to make the ranking.
The numbers back up the enthusiasm. In 2024, Bogotá welcomed over 14 million visitors — a 14% increase over the previous year — and six out of ten of them named local gastronomy as one of the most memorable parts of their trip, according to the Viajeros 2024 report by Bogotá’s Tourism Observatory. Even more telling: 45% of all tourism revenue in the city comes from gastronomic spending.
In 2025, approximately 70% of international visitors to Bogotá prioritized gastronomic experiences as part of their itinerary, according to the city’s own tourism observatory. It’s no coincidence: Bogotá’s food brings together influences from every region of Colombia, with dishes like ajiaco santafereño, tamales, empanadas, patacón, and lulada that each tell a story of territory, memory, and cultural diversity.
In response to this growth, Turismo Bogotá launched an ambitious Gastronomic Tourism Strategy in 2025, structured around three pillars: Gastronomic Identity, Unique Gastronomic Experiences, and International Projection from Local Roots. The initiative includes 10 thematic culinary routes and the city’s first official gastronomic inventory — a publication called “Bogotá, between stories and recipes” — developed with leading Colombian chefs and food journalists.
As chef and author Carlos Gaviria, who led the project, put it: “Gastronomy is a tourist attraction, and gastronomic identity generates experiences for both locals and foreigners. A city without gastronomic identity has no tourism future.”
The 5Bogotá Cooking Class: An Authentic Colombian Culinary Experience
If you want to experience all of this the right way, the Bogotá Cooking Class by 5Bogotá is exactly the kind of experience modern travel is built around. This isn’t a workshop in an impersonal hall — it’s a Colombian cooking class held in a local host’s home, where the learning happens in the same kitchen where that person cooks every single day.
During the class, you’ll prepare four dishes that represent the heart of Colombian cuisine:
- Patacón pisa’o — fried and smashed green plantains, crispy and endlessly versatile
- Empanadas — golden and crunchy, filled with seasoned meat and spices
- Lulada — a refreshing drink from Colombia’s Valle del Cauca region, made with lulo fruit, lime, and sugar
- Tropical fruit dessert — a sweet finale featuring Colombia’s extraordinary range of exotic fruits
Every recipe is prepared using fresh ingredients sourced from local markets, and every step comes with the stories and culinary secrets of your host. This is Colombian cooking beyond the restaurants: it’s Colombian cooking in its most intimate and genuine form.
Details at a glance:
- Duration: 2 hours
- Available: All week
- Price: USD $62 per person (ingredients and lesson included)
- Meeting point: Host’s home (address shared upon booking)
- Hotel pickup available for an additional fee
Who Is This Experience For?
For travelers of any age and any cooking level who want to go beyond standard tourist circuits. For anyone looking for authentic things to do in Bogotá that don’t appear in every travel guide. For foodies who want to learn real techniques. For solo travelers seeking genuine human connection. And for anyone who wants to take something home from Colombia that’s more lasting than a photograph.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know how to cook to take a cooking class with locals in Bogotá? Not at all. The class is designed for any skill level. Your host guides every step of the way.
How many people participate in the class? The format is intimate, ensuring personalized attention. Contact 5Bogotá for private class options.
What does the price include? All ingredients and the full lesson. Hotel transportation can be arranged for an additional fee depending on your location.
What language is the class taught in? Classes can be conducted in Spanish or English. Confirm your preference when booking.
How do I book? You can reserve your spot directly through 5Bogotá’s website or by calling +57 313 278 5898 / +57 314 359 1343.
The Best Way to Know a Country Is to Cook with Its People
Tourism has changed. Today’s travelers don’t want to observe cultures from the outside — they want to participate in them. Cooking classes with locals are one of the most direct, honest, and memorable ways to do exactly that. And in a city like Bogotá — with a cuisine as rich, diverse, and historically layered as Colombia’s — that experience carries a weight that’s hard to find anywhere else.
Book your spot at the 5Bogotá Cooking Class, cook with a local host, and find out why the kitchen might just be the most universal language in the world.
Sources: Instituto Distrital de Turismo de Bogotá (IDT) · Observatorio de Turismo – Informe Viajeros 2024 · SkyQuestt Culinary Tourism Market Report 2025 · Future Market Insights – Culinary Tourism Market 2024 · glo-explore.com – Food Tourism Experiences 2026 · Wikipedia – Culinary Tourism · Infobae Colombia · Bogota.gov.co – Gastronomic Tourism Routes 2025
No Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.