Get hands-on and learn a new skill while supporting local creatives with Intrepid’s new cultural craft experiences.
Craft experiences are one of the best ways to connect with local people in a meditative, meaningful way. As you try your hand at felting with farmers in far-flung Finland or pause to learn a new skill with seasoned ceramicists in Cambodia, history, culture and identity weave together to leave you with a deeper, more lasting impression of a country than if you’d simply just whizzed by the sights. Overalls at the ready: here are ten new craft experiences to consider in 2026.
1. Try calligraphy with a Tunisian artist
The artful strokes of Arabic calligraphy stretch back centuries – but this is far from a dying art. On Intrepid’s new nine-day Premium Tunisia adventure, you’ll enter into the studio of a local fine artist and painter, who practises the art of calligraphy daily in his traditional dar (house) in the historic medina of capital Tunis. Admire his tools splayed out across the tables, including pots of special ink made from silk fibres and stacks of sharp bamboo pens, before trying the craft yourself. You’ll uncover how the 1940s French avant-garde Lettrism movement has influenced the skill, resulting in modern interpretations such as ‘calligraffiti’ (a blend of graffiti and calligraphy) that can be seen – if you know where to look – throughout Tunisia today.
2. Try sheep-to-souvenir felting in Finland
Tap into your kids’ creative juices with a new hands-on crafting workshop as part of the Finland Family Holiday. After travelling to a wild neighbour-free estate in remote Lapland, outside Rovaniemi, you’ll learn the art of felting, using wool from the family’s own sheep, while mastering essential skills such as wool washing, carding and shaping. You’ll also learn how to bake traditional Finnish kampanisu pastries using the family’s secret recipe, tasting them (of course) with a hot drink once you’re done. In between, you’ll relax in the open air around a fire and meet the resident farm animals.
Read more: Take a master-led calligraphy class in Tunisia
3. Learn an Edo-era textiles technique in Kyoto
From ikebana flower arranging to ukiyo-e woodblock printing, Japan is the home of countless unique crafts. And now, on the Premium Japan trip, you have the chance to become part of this millennia-long heritage. The itinerary visits Marumasu Nishimuraya, a 1920s Kyoto townhouse, offering craft workshops. There, as part of a new experience for 2026, you’ll try your hand at kyo-yuzen, a textile-dying technique dating back to the Edo period. Choose from more than 3000 stencils and create your design by layering colours to reveal a delicate gradient effect. Better still, you’ll get to take anything you make back home.
4. Fashion art from ocean waste on the Galapagos
As one of the world’s most fragile-yet-biodiverse destinations, the Galapagos has long been at the forefront of ocean conservation – and this year, your whole family can get involved with the archipelago’s ongoing efforts. As part of a new experience on the Galapagos Family Holiday adventure, you’ll meet a local Galapagos artist for a hands-on sustainability workshop, spent transforming washed-up plastic collected from the beaches into meaningful art. Through storytelling and practical experience, you’ll start to see discarded materials not as junk, but as resources for beautiful, creative works.
Read more: 11 new family trips and experiences
5. Weave your own tartan in Scotland
Whether you’re tracing your clan’s ancestry or simply have a penchant for plaid, Intrepid’s Premium Scotland trip will help you to understand what it means to be Scottish. New for 2026, you’ll visit Stirling-based Radical Weavers – so-called for their unorthodox approach to deploying crafting to combat low confidence within community groups – for a dedicated tartan workshop. You’ll learn about tartan patterns and their connection with Scottish families and identity, try traditional weaving techniques and create your own tartan piece to take home.
6. Handmake hanji paper in South Korea
Delicate-looking but durable, hanji paper has been a part of Korean history for more than 1000 years. Created by weaving the web-like fibres of mulberry bark and hibiscus together, it’s used in everything from lining doors, windows and walls to decorating lanterns. Now, thanks to a new experience on the Essential South Korea trip, you’ll better understand its significance in Korean culture. At the Jeonju Hanji Museum, you’ll learn about how hanji has impacted Korean lives past and present, view ancient hanji-making tools, manuscripts and books, and then join a workshop to try your hand at making your own.
Read more: 10 new Premium trips and experiences
7. Assemble cacao-bark potpourri in Thailand
The Real Thailand & Laos trip for 18 to 35s offers an authentic glimpse of the Southeast Asian countryside – and, as of 2026, this includes a visit to Cocoa Valley, a local farm and tourism initiative that provides farmers in Thailand’s Nan Province with a sustainable livelihood. Here, they don’t just use the beans to make delicious chocolate. During a workshop, you’ll learn how to use cacao bark – usually discarded as a waste product – to make bag of fragrant potpourri, a lip balm or a candle. If time allows, you’ll then try your hand at making chocolate.
8. Discover the secrets of Silk Road artisans in Uzbekistan
When crossing the border from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan on the Central Asia Explorer trip, you’ll uncover the secrets of two artisanal crafts that were once carried by traders along the Silk Road. In a new experience for 2026, you’ll visit a factory in the eastern city of Margilan – once a crossroads for trade-carrying caravans heading westwards from China. At the factory specialising in ikat silk, you’ll see weavers at work and learn about every stage of the ikat-silk production process, as well as exploring local markets and workshops. In the city of Rishton, you’ll also join a potter for lunch, learning about the 9th-century origins of the local ceramics industry.
9. Try basket weaving on a family safari in Botswana
The new Botswana Family Safari Comfort trip includes a stop at Shorobe Basket Co-operative, just outside Maun, gateway to the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. You’ll join a local artist who will talk you through the process of harvesting, dyeing and weaving, learn the significance of the different patterns, get hands on with weaving yourself and find out how the co-op empowers women to support their families. Afterwards, you’ll head to Planet Culture Cafe for a traditional Setswana lunch of seswaa (pounded meat), phaleche (maize meal) and mebele (sorghum).
10. Meet craftspeople in Cambodia’s ceramics capital
The Cambodia Real Food Adventure slows things right down – letting you take in the sights (and flavours) of South East Asia. New for 2026 is a stop in Kampong Chhnang, a less-visited city known as the ‘Port of Pottery’ or pottery capital of Cambodia for its centuries-old ceramics traditions. You’ll visit local creatives in the pottery village, home to 300 artisan families, then watch a demonstration, seeing first-hand the traditional Cambodian craftsmanship and techniques passed down through generations. After, you’ll visit a local family for a home-cooked lunch.
Find out what else is new for 2026 with The Goods – a collection of new trips and experiences to inspire a year of adventure.
Image credits: Basket weaving pictures supplied by Travel for Impact.
