Travel: Tours With a Slice Of Sugar and Spice

For holidaymakers, everything's coming up roses—and every other scent imaginable. When quick drops into fragrance shops seem too fleeting, perfume tours allow connoisseurs to really stop and smell the lavender.

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In London, each Perfume Pilgrim walking tour visits at least a half-dozen hideaways. The 1001 Arabian Aromas outing uncovers musks of the Middle East, while Scent Sillage delves into rare formu-las ($70 per person; perfumepilgrim.com). Giving new meaning to bespoke scents, Perfume Paths customizes excursions in Paris that last up to four hours; stops might include the Guerlain boutique ($190 per person; perfumepaths.com). New York-based Sniffapalooza organizes scent events and classes in New York, Los Angeles and Italy (sniffapalooza.com).

L'Occitane en Provence offers private walkthroughs of its factory in Manosque, France (loccitane.com) but the epicenter of the French perfume world is Grasse, where several influential purveyors maintain their headquarters. Parfumerie Fragonard offers free tours of its facilities, which produce 35 fragrances that are sold in 20 countries (fragonard.com). Established in 1747, Galimard still houses antique equipment, which can be viewed during a complimentary tour. Visitors can also compose their own fragrances in a two-hour workshop that's overseen by an expert "nose" ($55; galimard.com).

And for those who consider perfume an art, the No. 1 destination is the Perfume Museum in Barcelona, which chronicles the industry's fragrant history (museudelperfum .com). Eau, how lovely.

© 2008