The rise of bakery tourism

May 22, 2025 by
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When you are in your 20s or 30s, a pub crawl is often a weekend activity, jaunting from bar to bar with friends to enjoy a pint or a cocktail. This doesn’t always seem like fun when your 30s (or 40s) are in the rearview mirror. What to do instead? Join the growing ranks of bakery tourists – people who trek far and wide in search of TikTok and Instagram-hyped baked goods.

Paris-New York from Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes by Dominique Ansel

Some people use the treats as an incentive or reward for a long hike or bicycle ride, planning routes with stops at renowned bakeries. Others plan entire vacations around traveling to bakeries, ranging far and wide in search of the perfect pastry or bread. Destination bakeries are usually in high demand and there are often long lines snaking around the block as people line up for the latest viral offering. Bakery tourists enjoy meeting new people while queueing as a sense of camaraderie often imbues the atmosphere as visitors discuss the bakery’s most popular items.

Unlike eating at world famous restaurants, enjoying a treat from a social-media famous bakery usually won’t set you back hundreds of dollars. Even if the items are higher in price than what you would find at a supermarket bakery, they are usually affordable indulgences – at least if you discount the amount of time and money spent getting to the bakery.

While I haven’t yet staged an entire trip around a bakery, I admit that when I do have work or leisure travel planned, I research the area’s bakeries (along with bars and restaurants) to see if I can squeeze in a side jaunt. Sometimes I am amazed by a treat that I snag from a popular bakery, but I have also come away feeling disappointed, like the time I had a rock hard kouign amann from a place that had received rave reviews.

Category: Antipasto

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7 Comments

  • EmilyR  on  May 22, 2025

    Perhaps (because the EYB staff doesn’t have enough to do…) we could crowd source a map of solid bakeries. We are all rather discerning and I would gladly share some of my beloved favorites with the community!

    • Jane  on  May 22, 2025

      Great idea EmilyR. The easiest way would be to start a Forum topic, maybe in Member Meeting Place?

  • Jane  on  May 22, 2025

    I’m definitely in this group. When visiting a city I do research on where the best bakeries are and I make sure to include stops when possible. Whenever I visit my son & daughter in NYC, my daughter and I include a bakery visit (and still manage to include a cocktail bar). My recent Mother’s Day weekend visit included a gorgeous Korean bakery Lysée at 44 E 21st St, as well as a visit to the legendary cocktail bar Death & Co.

  • FuzzyChef  on  May 23, 2025

    Funny, we’re doing a weekend trip to the coast. There’s a bakery.

  • kirbiemom  on  May 23, 2025

    I live uptown in NYC. These days I’m rarely downtown during the day but a couple of months ago I did a very fun trip to five bakeries in the East Village. Each was great and had a different atmosphere! My tour: Hani’s, Librae, Le Fournil, Abraco (more of a cafe but with an olive cookie I love) and La Cabra.

    • Jane  on  May 25, 2025

      Thanks for those recommendations kirbiemom – my daughter lives in the East Village so I’m always on the look out for new ones to try. I agree on Librae (their pistachio croissant is amazing). I also like the croissants at La Fournil and La Cabra. I’ll have to find Hani’s and Abraco. There is a highly-rated new croissant place in the West Village, Appartement 4F (they also have a small place in Brooklyn) that I’m keen to check out.

  • trudys_person  on  May 24, 2025

    We definitely do this! We plan bike rides around bakery stops, locally and while on vacation. Hello, Blacksmith Bakery in Langley, BC! And often there is a cookbook tie-in (which I must buy) – Butter Baked Goods, Vancouver, BC; Baked, Red Hook, NY; Back in the Day Bakery, Savannah, GA; Milk Bar, various; Crust, Victoria, BC … and there will be more trips.

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