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Many folks coming to Paris have asked about cooking classes on the non-professional level. Here’s a list of cooking programs offered around town. Some offer professional-level classes lasting a week or several months, while others are for dedicated home cooks where you can prepare a meal with a local cook in their Parisian kitchen and perhaps visit a market. Click on the links to find their scheduled classes and what language they’re taught in. (Note: This list was updated in Spring of 2020.)

Because I haven’t gone to most of them I can’t offer personal recommendations. But a visit to their websites should give you an idea of the nature of their classes. For professional-level classes outside of Paris, there’s a list below of those that specialize in pastry.

jam in tart

Cooking Classes in Paris

Atelier des Chefs

Atelier des Sens

Atelier Gastronomique de Alain Ducasse

Charlotte Puckett

Cook ‘n With Class

Cordon Bleu

Ecole Ferrandi: Paris’ school for professionals who want to cook, classes in English and French

Ecole Bellouet Conseil: Professional courses

Ecole Lenôtre: One-day classes for home cooks, and professional programs

Les Coulisses du Chef

Le Foodist

Chez Bogato (Offers kids classes as well)

Cuisine de Bernard

La Cuisine: English & French classes

Le Foodist

Ecole Escoffier: at the Ritz Carlton

On Rue Tatin with Susan Loomis: Classes in Paris & Normandy

Patricia Wells: Week-long cooking programs


spatulas chocolate
Specialized Chocolate Classes For Professionals Outside of Paris

Ecole Chocolat: Pam Williams offers an online course in chocolate-making, with the option of coming to France (and Italy) and learning with selected professionals.

Chocolate Academy of Barry-Callebaut

Ecole du Grand Chocolat at Valrhona

Read about my visit to Valrhona’s Chocolate School

Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie


Never An Empty Glass
Wine Tastings and Classes in Paris

Musée du Vin

Ecole du vin

David in Paris

Jacques Vivet’s Centre de Désgustation

Paris by Mouth Wine Tours

O-Château: Wine tasting in English with sommelier Oliver Magny and his excellent team of sommeliers.


Cheese Tastings and Classes in Paris

Check out my post: Cheese Tastings in Paris


Related Paris Posts

Recommended Paris Guides

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25 comments

    • Lyn

    Excellent list — it will be printed a filed for future Paris trips! Thank you.

    • Holly

    What a great list. When my husband and I were in Paris this summer we took the wine class at
    O-Chateau and had a really good time. We also used your reccomendations from your chocolate book and visited a lot of the pastry and chocolate shops you suggested. They were great!
    -Holly (David, my husband just gave me one of my birhtday gifts-i’m coming to cooking class at Sur la Table in Los Gatos. See you there.)

    • mercotte

    Your blog is very interesting and beautiful ! I love your macarons !
    About ‘L’Ecole du grand chocolat’, you can have a course even if you are not a professional !
    You can see the description of the courses on my blog in the part : Stage à thème

    • Alisa

    I went to O Chateau on your recommendation last night. It was great. If given the opportunity, I could be a walking testimonial for Mr. Olivier – but that might make me seem just a bit “touched”!

    • Marie, Paris

    This list represents a lot of work, merci beaucoup David!

    • Jenny

    Perfect! Exactly what I have been seeking. Thank you so much for compiling the recommends.

    • Marjorie Greenberg

    I am a chef in Scottsdale Arizona and would like to take a cooking course given in English, preferably in Paris during the summer of 2009.

    • carlos mccracken

    i am sending a couple to Paris May 26th for 5 nights. the husband will attend the French Open and the wife wants to attend a French cooking school on May 27th. We have not selected a hotel. would like a 4 star hotel – do any the hotels provide a French cooking school. budget less that $200 for a day. We have not selected a hotel yet, do you have any suggestions – safe for wife and walking ditance to many of the aris sites? Each access to metro for husband to get to Roland Garros.

    • David

    HI Carlos: The only hotel I know that has cooking classes is The Ritz, which is higher than your budget. On the My Paris page, here at the site, you’ll find a link to a list of hotels I recommend as well as other information for visitors to Paris.

    • Hilary

    Hi! Thanks so much for the links above, but do you know of any baking/pastry vacations in France? Like a one or two week course?

    Thanks!

    • David

    Hi Hiliary: I don’t know any specific one-week baking vacation classes (I assume you mean for non-professionals). There might be some, but I’m not aware of any. I’ll think you’ll have to poke around the internet to hopefully uncover one.

    • Hilary

    I had looked around but couldn’t find any, so I was hoping you had maybe heard of one. I’ll keep looking. Thanks again!

    • Cecilia

    Hi,
    Merci for compiling such a great list. I’m interested in taking a macaron class while I’m in Paris in October. Do you know of any good ones? I know there are good classes at Lenotre, but I’m not fluent in French so I think that may present a bit of a problem. Thanks for you wonderful blog.

    • Steve Levi

    David, thanks for the info. I am looking to take a 2-3 week cooking class in Paris or elesewhere. I have some professional experience cooking french food and my skills are pretty good. Do you have any ideas for a fit?

    Thanks,
    Steve

    • David

    Steve: I went to Ecole Lenotre, which was great. Classes are for professionals and each lasts one week so you can create your own curriculum. But there are others, listed in the post, that might be suited for you since everyone is looking for something different, so I would check the others out as well.

    • narizza

    thanks for the list David, so helpful. I will be in Paris around Feb-Mar 2010, is it possible that you have early paris-pattiserie tour with you in those months? :-)

    • Elizabeth Morrison

    For which cook school would you recommend a gift certificate for a Parisienne daughter who loves to cook surprises for her husband? We are looking at Lenotre and the cooking school at the Ritz. Would you choose one of these for a three hour experience or is there another one to consider?

    • David

    narizza: I only do week-long tours, which you can find out more about on my Tours page.

    Elizabeth: Because I haven’t attended many of the schools, only the professional program at Lenotre, I can’t advise. But the Atelier des Chefs offers a lot of classes in various areas (in French), in well-equipped kitchens, and might be worth checking out via their site.

    • Dee

    Hi David, thanks for this list, it’s coming in handy as I look at options for wine tastings and cooking classes for my upcoming trip to Paris. I just wanted to let you know that the link for the Jacques Vivet school has changed — I found it on Google at http://www.ecolededegustation.fr/

    • jenny

    Hello all,
    I was wondering if anybody out there had done one of the half day or full day weekend courses at the Escoffier School, Ritz Hotel Paris? I am tempted to do one but I’d love to hear what an actual participant thought of it. Was it stuffy or fun? Was the English translation good? How many other students were in the class?
    Thanks for any input.

    • Danielle

    David, I just bought your book, Ready for Dessert, and I am in love with your banana butterscotch cream pie – oh my!
    It turns out I’m moving to Paris next year and I am HOPING you will still be doing tours? I am looking forward, incredibly so, to doing a chocolate tour.
    On another note, do you have any site recomendations for finding cheap appartments to live in in Paris that you could pass on to me?
    Thank you so much! Not only for that but also for this site – I love it! I’m one of your New Zealand followers :)

    • David
    David Lebovitz

    Dear Danille: You’ll find helpful links at my post: Finding an Apartment in Paris.

    My annual week-long Paris tours get posted on my Tours page, so you can check there to find out future dates, when available.

    • Alberta

    Hi David, thank you for the very informative list of cook courses in Paris! I’m not fluent in my French at all (I’m from Singapore). Since you’ve attended the professional program at Lenotre, is it advisable for me to take up courses at Lenotre? I heard the lessons are conducted in French.

    • chi

    hello, i am thinking of having a short term bakery course in paris or italy , around 3-6 months . I have searched for the le cordon bleu one, it’s kind of expensive. Is it worth? Are there any cheaper courses or they are mostly of this price?
    I have also read the ‘Nationale Superleure de la Patisserie’ s course information, is the 2 -months campus good enough?
    Moreover, i am worrying of the accomodation during the course period, will the college recommend any accomodation nearby or i need to find it by mysefl?

    Looking forward for your reply. THANKS.

    • Linda Houston

    Dear David. I have had a cottage in the medieval Bastide of Domme in the Dordogne for 26 years. I have tried various recipes for “tarts aux Citron” and made yours tonight- and give it top marks! Now I just have to master writing Citron in a chocolate swirl in that iconic way French patisseries do! Thank you!
    I have had rental guests staying in Domme but Covid restrictions meant
    that I did not visit my beloved cottage
    this last year and so greatly look forward to going back. When next in Paris I will love to book a tour through you.

A

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