Vietnam Culinary Discovery

Vietnam Culinary Discovery start by following your arrival to Tan Son Nhat International Airport, join an orientation walk and introductory presentation before returning to your hotel.
In the evening, our experience driver on a vintage Vespa will pick you up from your hotel. You will have a welcome drink at a local bar before we bring you around the City, to enjoy the landmarks of Saigon, to small alley where you see the real life of Saigonese an well as tasting local foods.

Today, begin Vietnam Culinary Discovery by visiting HCM Agricultural Villages. Hands on cooking class with three dishes and 1 dessert and enjoy what they have done. After lunch, you will visit Rice Paper Factory to understanding the whole process to make rice paper and explore Cu Chi tunnels (Ben Dinh). Proceeding to an underground hut to watch a short video and presentation about Cu Chi tunnels before having a real hand-on experience of what it took to live in the tunnels. Afterward, test tasting the steamed tapioca root which is the main staple food in Cu Chi during the war. For those interested, there is an opportunity to fire off an AK47 or MK16 with real ammunition at the nearby shooting range.

After breakfast, the tour offer you a different travel style to Ben Tre on the bank of Mekong river.
Depart from Saigon and head straight to Ben Tre, crossing the impressive Rạch Miễu Cable-stayed Bridge. Board a small boat to visit typical workplaces including small brick factories, a coconut processing workshop and a local mat-weaving house.
Stop at a quiet village, take a short walk to experience local life and hop on your xe-lôi (a kind of motorized rickshaw) and stop at a riverside restaurant for a lunch with local food.
After lunch, take a short cycling tour to explore the surrounding fields before boarding a sampan for a tranquil trip along the picturesque canals. Come back to the port visit Ben Tre local market before back to Saigon.

Today, Vietnam Culinary Discovery tour will let you fly to the former imperial capital of Hue. For those who are able, a cycling trip will be offered to the old city, including the moated ruins of the Forbidden Purple City, where the last rulers of Vietnam’s Nguyen Dynasty reigned. Next, a visit to a local market and in an in depth introduction to the local ingredients that infuse the region’s foods will have you salivating in anticpation of tasting Hue’s regional dishes. The day’s adventure concludes with a very special dinner, prepared and served in the bonsai garden of the Tinh Gia Vien restaurant, famous for its colorful dishes served in the traditional style of Hue’s imperial court and prepared by master chef Madame Ha – a descendant of the royal family.

The morning begins with a trip to the magnificent tomb of the Emperor, followed by a cruise on a private dragon boat trip along Perfume River and famous Thien Mu Pagoda. A delicious lunch will be followed by a drive along the scenic coast, weaving through the Hai Van Pass to Danang. Next, a short walk to the Cham Museum, which houses the most important masterpieces of the vanished Champa Kingdom and Marble Mountain, precedes a drive to the beautiful, ancient town of Hoi An.

After breakfast, our driver will take you to cooking class. You will start the day with a welcome drink at Hai Café. Visit Hoi An’s colourful market, and experience the amazing sights, sounds and aromas of this busy market. We will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers and learn about all the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later.
We board the Red Bridge boat for a leisurely cruise (25 minutes) along the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. This is a chance to view local river life, so make sure your camera is handy.
On arrival, we explore the cooking school’s herb garden, before learning about some of Hoi An’s and Vietnam’s well-known dishes. The cooking lesson runs for about 2 hours – the Red Bridge chefs first demonstrate each dish before we prepare the same dish ourselves. Included in the class is a brief introduction to Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration). After the lesson, we sit down and eat what we have cooked.

After breakfast, our guide will meet you at the hotel’s lobby and start the tour.
We will ride bicycle to Hoi An’s colorful central market. Here you will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers and learn about the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later. So make sure your camera is handy.
We continue to cycle to Tra Que vegetable village where we will have a cooking class
At Tra Que, we will have a welcome drink for rest. Then, we walk through the vegetable gardens where local farmers work on their fields, using the traditional methods of hundreds of years ago, no electrical machinery here.
After foot massage, it’s time to cook lunch. We will go to the restaurant & work together with the chef. With the instructions of the chef, we will learn the traditional ways of preparing and cooking Vietnamese food.
After the lesson, enjoy what you have cooked and then back to your hotel in Hoian.

Free morning to do you own exploring before the group departs to Hanoi. On arrival, Vietnam Culinary Tour gives you a different view of Hanoi by walking through Hanoi’s Old Quarter street markets and enjoy a performance of a traditional water puppet show. This fantastic art form originated in northern Vietnam and is best seen in Hanoi. The Municipal Water Puppet Theater is located on the shore of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Morning cooking class: Today’s class begins with a walk, accompanied by the Chef of Hanoi Cooking Centre to the local market, where participants get a chance to learn all about Vietnamese ingredients. After that, everyone rolls up their sleeves in the kitchen to prepare a proper Vietnamese meal. After the class lunch will be served in the Hanoi Cooking Centre to sample all the different dishes prepared during the class. This afternoon, you will be free to discover the Old Quarter by yourself, which was made up of the so called “36 streets,” most of which are named after the crafts or merchandise traditionally sold there.

Today, Vietnam Culinary Tour introduce with you the beauty of Hanoi through cultural sites and culinary.
We visit the best known highlights of Hanoi including Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh’s former residence. Followed by a short walk to One Pillar Pagoda – Its design depicts a lotus blossom rising out of a sea of sorrow.
Then, we continue to visit the Temple of Literature – the oldest and possibly the finest architectural complex in Hanoi and also known as the first university in Vietnam since 11th century.
After lunch, we take a short drive to the outskirts of Hanoi for visiting the Museum of Ethnology where collects, classifies, assesses, preserves, restores and displays artifacts relating to Vietnam’s 54 different ethnic groups. You will then stroll through “food alley” in the heart of Hanoi’s restaurant district and taste regional delicacies and unsual dishes that are a tradition for generations of Hanoians – a very rare and unique treat that few foreigners experience.

The journey from Hanoi to Halong takes you through the rich farmlands of the Red River Delta and the incredible scenery of river valley rice fields. Upon arrival in Halong Bay, you will embark on a private wooden junk for your next river cruise, lead by a friendly captain and his professional crew. You’ll sip local wine and gaze upon thousands of precipitous limestone peaks jutting dramatically out of the bay, as a celebrated local chef prepares lunch as the boat glides lazily across the unbelievably calm sea. The afternoon includes a visit to caves, swimming and kayaking before taking part in a Vietnamese seafood cooking demonstration on the boat’s sundeck, where you can test your skills in a fruit & vegetable carving contest. A delicious evening meal, prepared with ingredients procured during the afternoon at the local market, concludes the day.

Just when you think you’ve taken in all the beauty you can absorb, today’s cruise brings you through even more spectacular seascapes, fishing villages and floating houses. Following a delicious seafood lunch served on the boat, you’ll return to the harbor for your final evening in Hanoi, where you can explore the local cuisine and shopping with the guidance of our specialists, who will remain available to provide suggestions as to the best local restaurants and dishes to choose from.

Free at leisure until transferring to the airport to take departure flight for next destination.