Vacationers usually come home with plenty to show off--great tans, photos, souvenirs--but more and more are returning with something else: newfound knowledge. As travelers seek to combine fun and relaxation with an educational experience, resorts, hotels, and inns are responding by offering programs on countless subjects.

It's possible to improve a skill, learn a hobby, even explore a career change, such as innkeeping. At Elizabeth Pointe Lodge (904-277-4851), which sits on the Atlantic near quiet beaches on Florida's Amelia Island, David and Susan Caples offer an in-depth look into all aspects of the inn business. Three-day seminars and a B&B Bootcamp in the beautiful 1890s-style hostelry provide hands-on working experience in situations an innkeeper might encounter. If you prefer the West Coast, explore the world of innkeeping at California's Groveland Hotel (209-962-4000, ext. 301). Its Innkeeper's Inn-Stitute presents two-and-a-half day seminars, covering financial and staff management, and every other area of innkeeping.

The Captain Freeman Inn (800-843-4664) in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, holds innkeeping seminars as well as cooking school weekends. Cooking classes are popular everywhere, with food lovers heating up kitchens all across the country. The Blair House (877-549-5450), a lovely eight-room inn in Texas Hill Country, always wins rave reviews whenever chef Matthew Ship-man presides over three-day cooking classes. Each focuses on a specific topic such as seafood or spring cuisine.

A former church in Niantic, Connecticut, now houses a charming B&B, Fourteen Lincoln Street (860-739-6327), where owner-chef Cheryl Jean offers occasional weekend culinary retreats, tempting students with such delights as a Mexican weekend or Baker's weekend. At CasaLana (877-968-2665) in California's Napa Valley, owner Lana Richardson conducts Gourmet Weekend Retreats and enriching five-day Culinary Learning Vacations that often include excursions to specialty food markets or a winemaker.