Cúrate Travel

Cúrate Travel From : Immersive small-group food & wine tours across Spain, the Americas, and Beyond.

Sin maíz no hay país. Without corn, there is no country.In Mexico, this saying embodies a contemporary social movement—a...
19/08/2026

Sin maíz no hay país. Without corn, there is no country.

In Mexico, this saying embodies a contemporary social movement—a movement the founders of La Condesa’s Maizajo have embraced as their unifying ethos.

Corn was domesticated in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago, and the practice of nixtamalization was already well established by the time Maya and Aztec civilizations cemented maíz as their staple crop. Their corn varieties central to the process, maíz criollo, were diverse and consisted of rich, earthy flavors and vibrant colors. Nixtamal—the traditional product of steeping the vibrant dried kernels overnight in slaked lime mixed with water, then breaking down the tough outer hull to reveal the crops’ rich inner nutrients—was ground by hand into masa to feed centuries of ancient civilizations.

These days, hundreds of native varieties have been replaced by industrial strains selected for uniformity and yield, displacing this historic practice and depleting corn of its nutrients. The corn’s natural variance in color, nutritional complexity, regional diversity, and the overall vibrancy that defined Mexican corn for millennia, minimized into uniformity.

Maizajo, however, is devoted to reversing corn's reduction to fit a monolith. Both a restaurant and living museum, the kitchen nixtamalizes native corn varieties daily using slaked lime sourced directly from regional producers.

We’ll visit Maizajo for a private, hands-on demonstration, witnessing maíz criollo go through every step of the process: dried kernels steeped in cal, rinsed by hand to soften the nixtamal, and ground into fresh masa.

While bookings for our 2026 Mexico City trips are now full, our 2027 travel dates are now live. Request a discovery call at the link in our bio to access the full itinerary.

Girona is a city where history accumulates rather than recedes.Roman foundations run beneath medieval streets. Fortified...
13/08/2026

Girona is a city where history accumulates rather than recedes.

Roman foundations run beneath medieval streets. Fortified walls still circle the old city, and tucked into the hillside above the Onyar River in Barri Vell, El Call–one of the best-preserved medieval Jewish quarters in Europe–contains centuries of scholarship and survival built into its stone.

At its height, El Call was one of the most intellectually significant Jewish communities in Iberia, home to a rabbinical school whose thinkers shaped medieval Jewish philosophy and early Kabbalistic thought. However, by 1492 the community was formally expelled, forced out across a century of incremental erasure.

Its presence, however, remains. The quarter exists today as both archaeological site and living neighborhood. Laundry hangs above Carrer de la Força. The stone stairs off Sant Llorenç are somebody's route home.

Girona is a stop on our Catalonia itinerary where the region's layered history is most tangible. Barcelona's architecture, the Costa Brava coastline, and Dalí's Cadaqués together tell a larger story about a place shaped by centuries of creativity, scholarship, and cultural identity.

While bookings may be closed for our 2026 trip to Barcelona & Costa Brava, our 2027 dates are now LIVE. Learn more about the full Catalonia journey at the link in our bio.

Roma Norte's wide avenues and Art Nouveau mansions were built in the early 1900s for Mexico City's rising professional c...
28/07/2026

Roma Norte's wide avenues and Art Nouveau mansions were built in the early 1900s for Mexico City's rising professional class, an exclusive enclave in the city's vast expanse. However, the 1985 earthquake emptied much of this upperclass neighborhood of the majority of its existing residents, opening the door for a vibrant reclamation. Chefs, artists, gallerists, and independent shop owners moved in over the decades that followed, together building what is now one of Mexico City’s most vibrant cultural hubs.

While in Mexico City during our upcoming itinerary, our travel guests will stay on Álvaro Obregón — the neighborhood's main street — at Hotel Onto, with a rooftop terrace opening onto full views of the city. Galleries, cafés, mezcalerías, restaurants, and street carts we'll visit both through guided experiences and during afternoon free time are all just a short skip outside our door, ready to explore.

Leave the hotel on foot and you'll find yourself immersed in CDMX’s creative energy.

Our first CDMX departure for this itinerary is already all booked up, but a limited number of spots remain for our October 21–26 adventure. View the full Mexico City itinerary at the link in our bio.

06/07/2026

The window to join our Cúrate Travel | Asheville Roots, Spanish Soul 2026 Barcelona & Costa Brava trip, happening from September 12 to 19, closes this week, and it's the only year the itinerary is offered at 10% off.

Félix grew up in Roses, on the Costa Brava, and he still gets a jolt of pride every time he brings someone north of Barcelona, along the coastline he calls home, toward Cadaqués and Cap de Creus.

Ask him what makes the region special, and he points to something he notices every time he goes back: no matter how much he travels, the place still catches him off guard with how beautiful it is. The landscape is a meeting point: cliffs and wind-scoured rock dropping into the Mediterranean on one side, the pre-Pyrenees rising on the other. That same coastline drew Salvador Dalí to paint in Cadaqués and Ferran Adrià to cook at elBulli, further up the coast.

Félix calls it a restless kind of creative energy, the same pull that runs through the whole Barcelona & Costa Brava itinerary, all the way to its final stop in Roses. And for him, sharing this region with guests is less a job and more a chance to watch them fall for a place he already loves.

The deadline to sign up for our 2026 Barcelona & Costa Brava departure is this Sunday, July 12th. Click over to the link in our bio to learn more about this itinerary and secure your place!

30/06/2026

Just south of Mexico City, the canals of Xochimilco open into a landscape that looks unlike anything else in the capital. Long, narrow plots of farmland rise directly out of the water with willow trees trailing their roots into the canals between them. Trajineras–colorful, flat-bottomed wooden boats–drift slowly through these channels as they have for centuries, transporting goods, flowers, and spectators.

These are chinampas, active farming plots built directly into the lakebed by layering aquatic vegetation, sediment, and soil into anchored islands. Water circulates between them through the canals, regulating moisture and creating microclimates that allow for near-continuous cultivation. The system predates the Spanish colonial period by centuries and once supplied Tenochtitlan with corn, beans, chiles, squash, and flowers carried by canoe through the city's great markets.

After the Spanish assumed control of the Valley of Mexico in the 1500s, they began draining the lakes for dry land agriculture. Most of what remained was eventually covered by the expansion of Mexico City, now home to nearly 22 million people. However, farmers still continue to work their plots here, now on roughly 2.5 percent of the area's original chinampas.

It’s one of the most enduring agricultural systems in the Americas, designed to work within the natural landscape, rather than against it.

On our Mexico City itinerary, we'll board a trajinera and move south through these canals. Félix first encountered Xochimilco on an early visit to the city, and it became one of the anchors of this itinerary, a beautiful symbol of the strong role agriculture plays in the region’s history and design.

Two Mexico City departure dates are available this October. Visit our website to view the full itinerary and secure your place.

A behind-the-scenes visit to elBulli1846 is one of the most meaningful stops on our Barcelona & Costa Brava itinerary.Se...
23/06/2026

A behind-the-scenes visit to elBulli1846 is one of the most meaningful stops on our Barcelona & Costa Brava itinerary.

Set in Cala Montjoi, just outside Roses, the former elBulli has become a museum and research center dedicated to creativity, innovation, and the ideas that changed modern gastronomy.

While a destination on its own, our tour of the elBulli foundation comes with a rare layer of personal context.

Long before Cúrate Bar de Tapas found its home in Asheville, North Carolina, Cúrate Travel co-founder Félix Meana, who grew up in Roses, served as Front of House Manager at Ferran Adrià’s famed institution. During Félix’s years there, elBulli was at the center of the global culinary conversation, earning the title of The World’s Best Restaurant from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants multiple times between 2002 and 2009. He knows the grounds, the history, and the lasting influence of this place–both on his own story and on the international culinary stage–from the inside.

Katie Button’s own path to elBulli came later, after beginning her restaurant career with fellow elBulli alum José Andrés. Her time there was a clear catalyst for her future as a chef and laid part of the foundation for what would become Cúrate.

Together, their connection to elBulli gives this stop a depth unmatched by any guided tour: a closer look at the place, the history, the people, and the ideas that defined one of the most influential restaurants in the world.

Join us in Catalonia for a rare look behind the curtain at elBulli1846, guided by the personal history that connects Cúrate to this remarkable place. View the full Barcelona & Costa Brava itinerary on the Cúrate Travel website and sign up for a meeting with our travel team to learn more!

18/06/2026

So, why DID we decide to offer travel and trip itineraries in the first place?

The answer is pretty straightforward. Cúrate Travel grew naturally from the same ideas that inspired us to open Cúrate Bar de Tapas : our hospitality roots, our genuine curiosity, and the opportunity to work alongside our friends and international food & bev community.

When Katie first traveled through Spain with Félix, she saw what many Cúrate guests already know: he is an incredible host. He remembers the details, knows which places are worth returning to, and has a way of getting to the heart of each destination and opening those personal connections to others.

Over the years, our personal travels became a natural extension of Cúrate. The wineries we work with, the chefs we admire, the producers we love supporting, our friends around the world who have welcomed us in, and the places Félix knows by heart all became part of a larger idea: what if we could bring guests with us?

That idea became Cúrate’ Travel: small-group trips built around food, wine, culture, and the personal relationships Cúrate has fostered through years of travel and operating Cúrate Bar de Tapas. These are the places and people that, to us, make each destination feel alive.

Follow Cúrate Travel | Asheville Roots, Spanish Soul to learn more about our travel program, and head to our website to explore upcoming itineraries!

Just outside Barcelona, in the limestone hills of the Garraf Massif, Finca Viladellops sits beside the castle of Olèrdol...
17/06/2026

Just outside Barcelona, in the limestone hills of the Garraf Massif, Finca Viladellops sits beside the castle of Olèrdola in a small wine-making village surrounded by vineyards, olive groves, and almond orchards.

On our Barcelona & Costa Brava trip, we’ll bring travelers into the estate for an intimate guided visit, learning how this historic family-run winery works with organically grown Garnatxa and Xarel·lo, and how the landscape, village, and Catalan wine traditions continue to shape its wines today.

finca VilaDelloPs is already part of the Cúrate Bar de Tapas story. Our Cúrate Wine Club members may recognize their wines from our October 2024 installment, and from the intimate wine dinner we hosted last June in the Wine Cellar with Viladellops winemaker Marcelo Desvalls and importer Marta Plana of TheWinetones .

We’re so excited to welcome our travel guests into this experience in person: a behind-the-scenes visit shaped by our personal relationship with the vineyard, and the kind of rare access that makes Cúrate Travel’s itineraries so personal.

For those ready to join us, sign up for our Barcelona & Costa Brava trip through the link in our bio and enjoy 10% off our 2026 itinerary for a limited time 🥂

Our Cúrate Tapas Bar travel open house events have become one of our favorite ways to connect with past and future trave...
08/06/2026

Our Cúrate Tapas Bar travel open house events have become one of our favorite ways to connect with past and future travelers, trade stories from the road, and spend time with people who share our love of food, wine, and immersive travel. Thank you to everyone who joined us for another wonderful event!

Now, a Cúrate Travel update: 2027 itinerary dates are officially live, opening new opportunities to join us for immersive, food-focused itineraries across Spain, Mexico, and beyond.

For travelers ready to join us this year, we’re also offering something we do not plan to repeat: 10% off all remaining 2026 itineraries. This one-time offer is available for a limited time and applies to 2026 departures only.

It’s our way of expressing appreciation for the guests joining us as Cúrate Travel grows into its next season.

Explore upcoming departures, including remaining 2026 trips and newly announced 2027 dates, at the link in our bio!

CDMX is a modern, electric capital built over older worlds.In its Historic Center, colonial buildings, civic plazas, and...
23/05/2026

CDMX is a modern, electric capital built over older worlds.

In its Historic Center, colonial buildings, civic plazas, and the Zócalo sit on ground that was once the center of Tenochtitlan, the Mexica capital. Modern Mexico City, layered directly over one of the most powerful cities in the pre-Hispanic Americas.

That’s part of what makes this itinerary so exciting. The history here is not tucked away in one museum or one archaeological site. It shows up everywhere: in architecture, markets, canals, museum halls, food, dance, and the way modern urban life moves through it all.

One morning, we’ll rise early and head beyond the city to Teotihuacán, one of the most significant archaeological sites in Mesoamerica. With a private guide, we’ll walk the Avenue of the Dead and stand beneath the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, taking in the scale of an ancient city that still feels almost impossible to comprehend. And for those who choose to step aboard (no pressure, of course) we’ll observe this scale from even higher: drifting over the pyramids by hot air balloon as the sun rises.

Back in the capital, we’ll visit the National Museum of Anthropology for a deeper look at Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilizations, including the role of corn as one of the foundations of Mexican identity. History lesson? Yes. But the fun kind. The kind that connects back to what makes the city itself even more alive.

Félix and our local guides will help us understand the real, human context that turns these places from major sites into something much more personal. Not just what happened here, but how these histories continue to shape Mexico City’s food, culture, identity, and daily life.

Join us this October for six unforgettable days in CDMX.

Dirección

Barcelona

Página web

Notificaciones

Sé el primero en enterarse y déjanos enviarle un correo electrónico cuando Cúrate Travel publique noticias y promociones. Su dirección de correo electrónico no se utilizará para ningún otro fin, y puede darse de baja en cualquier momento.

Contacto La Empresa

Enviar un mensaje a Cúrate Travel:

Atajos

Compartir

Categoría