Ten cultural travel bargains for 2007

— -- Fewer travelers these days seem content to visit destinations just as "tourists." The demand for "authentic" cultural travel—travel that puts you directly in touch with a people and their arts and history—has created a boom of cultural tours, learning vacations, and living-history programs.

From cooking vacations and folk arts classes to language-immersion programs and visits with indigenous tribes, there are now more ways than ever to get in touch with new cultures or reconnect with your own heritage. Because learning and people-to-people interactions are at the center of most cultural tours, these experiences can be quite affordable.

To get an idea of the possibilities, here's a look at 10 vacations that deliver authentic culture and are a good value for the money.

Learn to cook gourmet Italian meals at a Tuscan wineryProvider:Badia a Coltibuono Price:from $212 to $3,418

Let's face it, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel paintings are inspiring and Puccini's operas can move one to tears, but it's the handiwork of nameless Italian chefs—the texture of homemade pasta, the subtle flavor of extra virgin olive oil, the taste of vegetables so fresh they're still warm with the afternoon's sun—that often stands out foremost in the memories of visitors home from a trip to Italy. To prepare dishes so simple yet flavorful and exquisite in presentation, all paired with the perfect wines, now that is cultural expression worthy of more advanced study.

Cooking schools and tours are cropping up all over Italy, but if you really want to learn in style, you can book a cooking lesson or multi-day course at Badia a Coltibuono organic winery and estate in the Chianti region of Tuscany. A 1,000-year-old former abbey on the property serves as a B&B and cooking school where you can stay and take cooking lessons with Chef Guido Stucchi-Prinetti. Over the course of one, three, or five days, you'll learn how to prepare and pair wine with full four-course meals.

"We prepare all sorts of regional Italian dishes according to the season and the availability of fresh ingredients, always keeping an eye out for well-balanced meals," says Stucchi-Prinetti. "In each lesson students learn to prepare a whole menu with hands-on experience. A sample menu might include Tuscan flat bread with rosemary, spinach and Ricotta gnocchi, roast loin of pork with crackling and roasted sweet peppers, and pears cooked in spiced wine and served with a light crema pasticcera." Dishes are made from historic recipes but designed to translate into meals you can modify and cook at home.

One-day courses feature a cooking lesson, lunch with wine, tastings, and a guided tour of the estate. Multi-day courses include accommodations in the abbey, tastings of Coltibuono wines and olive oils, guided excursions to nearby medieval towns, dinner at private villas owned by prominent local families, breakfast and lunch with wine at the estate, and transfers from Florence.

The detailsDay courses can be arranged on Wednesdays and Fridays between May and October. Three- and five-night courses are scheduled on select dates from April through October. Badia a Coltibuono is about an hour's drive from Florence. Late-summer and fall round-trip flights from New York to Florence are priced at $350, excluding taxes, on Alitalia.

Take a Spanish immersion course in colonial MexicoProvider:Cuernavaca Language School Price:$200 to $290 per week

There's no better way to learn a new language than total immersion and no better way to immerse yourself in a new culture than to converse with the locals in their native tongue. Combining the two on a vacation seems only natural, and one that has proven attractive and effective for the countless students who have traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico, to study Spanish and live with local families through the Cuernavaca Language School (CLS).

One of Mexico's oldest and most respected language schools, CLS offers travelers of all language abilities a very affordable way to learn Spanish, and the chance to live like a local in a colonial city near the center of the country. While there are dozens of Spanish language programs throughout Latin America, CLS has earned a loyal following of students who credit the school's quality teaching and excellent staff as the reason they return year after year.

"The courses have exceeded my expectations," says Darald Hanusa, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin who has taken courses at the school on four separate occasions. "The curriculum is very well developed and planned. The instructors are well trained and very serious about the learning process."

Courses can last anywhere from one to 16 weeks, with classes held five days a week. Every day you'll take part in four 50-minute immersion classes with no more than five other students. There's also a daily lecture covering topics such as indigenous cultures and Mexican art. Weekly field trips to notable sites in and around Cuernavaca are also part of the curriculum. There's plenty of free time to explore in the afternoons and on weekends.

You'll be encouraged to take part in the school's homestay program, wherein you'll live and eat meals with a local family, so as to continue your immersion in Spanish and learn more about the culture.

The details Tuition for one week of classes costs $290. Prices for subsequent weeks of study decrease to $200 after four weeks. The cost covers classes, a weekly field trip, and access to the school's media lab. Homestays cost extra and start at $22 per night with breakfast included or $30 per night for three meals. Textbooks are extra. Classes start every Monday year-round. Cuernavaca is 50 miles by bus or car from Mexico City. Fall travel from Houston to Mexico City starts at $197 round-trip, plus taxes, on American.

Learn traditional folk arts and crafts in the Appalachian MountainsProvider:John C. Campbell Folk School Price:from $384 to $940

While the trend of educational vacations has exploded recently, John C. Campbell Folk School has been way ahead of the curve, having offered such experiences in the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina for more than 80 years. The school was originally started in 1925 to preserve and pass on the Appalachian arts and culture, but it has grown to encompass an annual schedule of more than 800 classes in traditional and contemporary arts from around the world.