Get hands-on and study a brand new talent whereas supporting native creatives with Intrepid’s new cultural craft experiences.
Craft experiences are probably the greatest methods to attach with native individuals in a meditative, significant manner. As you attempt your hand at felting with farmers in far-flung Finland or pause to study a brand new talent with seasoned ceramicists in Cambodia, historical past, tradition and id weave collectively to depart you with a deeper, extra lasting impression of a rustic than if you happen to’d merely simply whizzed by the sights. Overalls on the prepared: listed here are ten new craft experiences to think about in 2026.
1. Strive calligraphy with a Tunisian artist
The clever strokes of Arabic calligraphy stretch again centuries – however that is removed from a dying artwork. On Intrepid’s new nine-day Premium Tunisia journey, you’ll enter into the studio of an area effective artist and painter, who practises the artwork of calligraphy day by day in his conventional dar (home) within the historic medina of capital Tunis. Admire his instruments splayed out throughout the tables, together with pots of particular ink created from silk fibres and stacks of sharp bamboo pens, earlier than making an attempt the craft your self. You’ll uncover how the Nineteen Forties French avant-garde Lettrism motion has influenced the talent, leading to trendy interpretations comparable to ‘calligraffiti’ (a mix of graffiti and calligraphy) that may be seen – if the place to look – all through Tunisia at the moment.
2. Strive sheep-to-souvenir felting in Finland
Faucet into your children’ inventive juices with a brand new hands-on crafting workshop as a part of the Finland Household Vacation. After travelling to a wild neighbour-free property in distant Lapland, exterior Rovaniemi, you’ll study the artwork of felting, utilizing wool from the household’s personal sheep, whereas mastering important abilities comparable to wool washing, carding and shaping. You’ll additionally discover ways to bake conventional Finnish kampanisu pastries utilizing the household’s secret recipe, tasting them (in fact) with a sizzling drink when you’re executed. In between, you’ll loosen up within the open air round a hearth and meet the resident livestock.
Learn extra: Take a master-led calligraphy class in Tunisia
3. Be taught an Edo-era textiles method in Kyoto
From ikebana flower arranging to ukiyo-e woodblock printing, Japan is the house of numerous distinctive crafts. And now, on the Premium Japan journey, you have got the prospect to change into a part of this millennia-long heritage. The itinerary visits Marumasu Nishimuraya, a Nineteen Twenties Kyoto townhouse, providing craft workshops. There, as a part of a brand new expertise for 2026, you’ll attempt your hand at kyo-yuzen, a textile-dying method relationship again to the Edo interval. Select from greater than 3000 stencils and create your design by layering colors to disclose a fragile gradient impact. Higher nonetheless, you’ll get to take something you make again residence.
4. Trend artwork from ocean waste on the Galapagos
As one of many world’s most fragile-yet-biodiverse locations, the Galapagos has lengthy been on the forefront of ocean conservation – and this yr, your entire household can become involved with the archipelago’s ongoing efforts. As a part of a brand new expertise on the Galapagos Household Vacation journey, you’ll meet an area Galapagos artist for a hands-on sustainability workshop, spent remodeling washed-up plastic collected from the seashores into significant artwork. By storytelling and sensible expertise, you’ll begin to see discarded supplies not as junk, however as assets for lovely, inventive works.
Learn extra: 11 new household journeys and experiences
5. Weave your personal tartan in Scotland
Whether or not you’re tracing your clan’s ancestry or just have a penchant for plaid, Intrepid’s Premium Scotland journey will aid you to grasp what it means to be Scottish. New for 2026, you’ll go to Stirling-based Radical Weavers – so-called for his or her unorthodox strategy to deploying crafting to fight low confidence inside group teams – for a devoted tartan workshop. You’ll find out about tartan patterns and their reference to Scottish households and id, attempt conventional weaving strategies and create your personal tartan piece to take residence.
6. Handmake hanji paper in South Korea
Delicate-looking however sturdy, hanji paper has been part of Korean historical past for greater than 1000 years. Created by weaving the web-like fibres of mulberry bark and hibiscus collectively, it’s utilized in every thing from lining doorways, home windows and partitions to adorning lanterns. Now, due to a brand new expertise on the Important South Korea journey, you’ll higher perceive its significance in Korean tradition. On the Jeonju Hanji Museum, you’ll find out about how hanji has impacted Korean lives previous and current, view historic hanji-making instruments, manuscripts and books, after which be a part of a workshop to attempt your hand at making your personal.
Learn extra: 10 new Premium journeys and experiences
7. Assemble cacao-bark potpourri in Thailand
The Actual Thailand & Laos journey for 18 to 35s presents an genuine glimpse of the Southeast Asian countryside – and, as of 2026, this features a go to to Cocoa Valley, an area farm and tourism initiative that gives farmers in Thailand’s Nan Province with a sustainable livelihood. Right here, they don’t simply use the beans to make scrumptious chocolate. Throughout a workshop, you’ll discover ways to use cacao bark – normally discarded as a waste product – to make bag of aromatic potpourri, a lip balm or a candle. If time permits, you’ll then attempt your hand at making chocolate.
8. Uncover the secrets and techniques of Silk Highway artisans in Uzbekistan
When crossing the border from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan on the Central Asia Explorer journey, you’ll uncover the secrets and techniques of two artisanal crafts that have been as soon as carried by merchants alongside the Silk Highway. In a brand new expertise for 2026, you’ll go to a manufacturing facility within the jap metropolis of Margilan – as soon as a crossroads for trade-carrying caravans heading westwards from China. On the manufacturing facility specialising in ikat silk, you’ll see weavers at work and find out about each stage of the ikat-silk manufacturing course of, in addition to exploring native markets and workshops. Within the metropolis of Rishton, you’ll additionally be a part of a potter for lunch, studying concerning the Ninth-century origins of the native ceramics trade.
9. Strive basket weaving on a household safari in Botswana
The brand new Botswana Household Safari Consolation journey features a cease at Shorobe Basket Co-operative, simply exterior Maun, gateway to the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. You’ll be a part of an area artist who will speak you thru the method of harvesting, dyeing and weaving, study the importance of the totally different patterns, get palms on with weaving your self and learn the way the co-op empowers girls to help their households. Afterwards, you’ll head to Planet Tradition Cafe for a standard Setswana lunch of seswaa (pounded meat), phaleche (maize meal) and mebele (sorghum).
10. Meet craftspeople in Cambodia’s ceramics capital
The Cambodia Actual Meals Journey slows issues proper down – letting you are taking within the sights (and flavours) of South East Asia. New for 2026 is a cease in Kampong Chhnang, a less-visited metropolis generally known as the ‘Port of Pottery’ or pottery capital of Cambodia for its centuries-old ceramics traditions. You’ll go to native creatives within the pottery village, residence to 300 artisan households, then watch an illustration, seeing first-hand the standard Cambodian craftsmanship and strategies handed down via generations. After, you’ll go to an area household for a home-cooked lunch.
Discover out what else is new for 2026 with The Items – a set of recent journeys and experiences to encourage a yr of journey.
Picture credit: Basket weaving photos equipped by Journey for Impression.
