Small-group operator Intrepid Travel has unveiled eleven new Premium cultural experiences rolling out across its 2027 trips, and the common thread is access: the kind of behind-closed-doors moments that are tough to arrange independently. Think less tick-box sightseeing, more making things and meeting people.
A few standouts. In a 14th-century village in Croatia's Dalmatian hinterland, travellers on the Venice to Split route learn to make soparnik — a chard and onion pie with protected cultural status — in a family home, cooked over a wood-fired hearth. In Mexico City to Oaxaca, you'll work alongside Dona Viviana, the artisan credited with single-handedly reviving her neighbourhood's beeswax candle-making tradition, and craft your own floral-design candle using her hand-carved heirloom moulds.
History buffs get real experts rather than scripted guides. On Premium Vietnam in Depth, the day trip to My Son Sanctuary from Hoi An is led by Nguyen Van Tho, an archaeologist with more than two decades spent restoring Champa Kingdom monuments built between the 4th and 13th centuries. In Japan's Kanazawa — one of the country's best-preserved Edo-period cities — a local architect walks you through a 400-year-old samurai house and a century-old dye shop on the Highlights of Japan trip. And in Spain, you can step into the private studio of Jesus Richarte, a master of imagineria, the traditional craft of religious sculpture, and see works in progress up close.
There's a spiritual bent to some of it, too. In Bhutan, a monk blesses two prayer flags for you at hilltop Gangtey Monastery: one gets unfurled to catch the wind, the other comes home with you. In Marrakech, dinner in a private riad comes with live hikayat storytelling — Morocco's fading oral tradition, now being revived by a new generation. In Jaipur, hosts whose haveli has stayed in one family for six generations pour local liqueur on a rooftop while sharing tales of the city's regal past.
Not everything happens indoors. The New Zealand South Island trip adds a hands-on planting session at a community-led project protecting one of the country's last intact wetlands. Turkey in Depth pairs coastal cruising with a visit to a marine conservation non-profit, including a boat trip along the Manavgat River with a conservationist. And Sri Lanka in Depth keeps it simple: a short hike to a quiet, little-known waterfall for a swim and a picnic away from the crowds.
Why it matters: these experiences sit inside Intrepid's Premium tier, its more comfortable, style-conscious trips, so they're aimed at travellers who want depth and local connection without giving up good hotels. The expert-led access — an archaeologist, an architect, a master sculptor — is the real draw, and it's the sort of thing that's genuinely hard to book on your own. Worth flagging if you're comparing small-group operators for 2027.