Dining
The Culinary Pilgrimage: Planning a Trip Around One Table
More travellers are choosing the destination after the reservation, not before it.
6 min read · Updated September 2026
There is a particular kind of trip that starts with an email confirmation from a restaurant. Everything else — the flights, the hotel, the three free afternoons — is arranged around it.
It is a more reliable way to plan than any list of sights, because a great kitchen tells you more about a city in three hours than a week of museums.
Book the table first
Reservations open on a schedule. Learn it, set a reminder, and only then look at flights.
- Pujol
Eat · Mexico City, Mexico
- Septime
Eat · Paris, France
- Gramercy Tavern
Eat · New York, United States
Then build the day around it
Keep the afternoon before dinner deliberately light. The best meals deserve an appetite and an empty diary.
- Museo Frida Kahlo
Do · Mexico City, Mexico
- Bar Cañete
Eat · Barcelona, Spain
- St. JOHN
Eat · London, United Kingdom
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