11 Days - GOURMET VIETNAM

Day 1: Arrive Ho Chi Minh City
Your gourmet experience begins in Ho Chi Minh City. Depending on your flight arrival time, you can spend the day at leisure or a visit to the historic Cu Chi Tunnels can be arranged.

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City
You will be picked up from your hotel between 1:30pm and 2pm and drive to the War Remnants Museum, where your guide will tell the story of Saigon’s darkest hours during the Vietnam War.

Next, visit the Reunification Palace, once a symbol of the former South Vietnam. It was here, in April 1975, that a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates, ending a bloody war that killed an estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese. Continue with a visit to the Central Post Office, designed by Gustav Eiffel in Gothic style, where you can take a few minutes to send a postcard. Across the road is the Notre Dame Cathedral, the iconic Saigon landmark built by the French between 1863 and 1880.

From Notre Dame Cathedral get a feel for street life on a walk to the city’s 1901 opera house. Shelled during World War II and used as a shelter for French citizens fleeing North Vietnam in 1954, it reassumed its original function as a theatre in 1975.

End your afternoon with a speedboat cruise to discover the low-lying city’s riverside communities. You may be surprised to find people living in stilt houses alongside the rich in such a prosperous megacity!
You’ll return back to the pier around 6pm and transfer to your hotel.

Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City Cooking Class
This half-day tour offers a hands-on lesson on how to shop for and cook authentic Vietnamese cuisine. It begins with a transfer at 8am from the lobby of your hotel where your driver and guide will be waiting. Then travel to downtown’s Ben Thanh Market to meet a local chef. Stroll the market stalls learning how to spot the best herbs, spices and sweets. Then select the vegetables for your day’s culinary pursuits!

At the Saigon Culinary Arts Centre you will learn the basics of southern Vietnamese cuisine. Depending on the time of year, your chef may introduce you to any number of dishes, from Banh Xeo, a rice-flour crepe, to Che, a dessert made from tapioca balls and candied fruits. In contrast to northern Vietnamese food, southern specialities are in general sweeter and spicier. And since so many people from southern Vietnamese have emigrated to the United States and other countries, many around the world associate Vietnamese food with southern preparations.

Day 4: Mekong Delta Le Jarai day cruise
Depart from your hotel and head to the delta town of Ben Tre, the starting point of your tour. Board a small boat to begin touring a region known as Vietnam’s rice bowl. The country is among the world’s top rice exporters, and the Mekong’s climate allows farmers to produce two or even three rice crops per year. The other major export is seafood, especially shrimp and catfish.

Your boat arrives at an artisanal factory where workers process coconuts by separating their oil, flesh and husks to be used in products like matting and candy. Learn how it all works! Then you will transfer to Le Jarai, a converted rice barge, to continue your cruise along the Mekong River. Here you can join in a demonstration of Vietnamese cooking before enjoying a sumptuous three-course lunch of Mekong specialties like claypot! After lunch take in the river scenery as you return to Ben Tre and then on back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 5: Hoi An
From Saigon, fly to Danang, Vietnam’s fourth-most populous city. From Danang it is a 40-minute drive to the central coast and Hoi An, a restored 15th century fishing village. Many of Hoi An’s colourful buildings have been lovingly refurbished, and the UNESCO recognized town now has a vintage vibe.

Hoi An is full of interesting things to see and do, including expert tailors, art galleries and boutiques. Not to mention the delicious noodle dishes. At night, the riverside promenade becomes one of Vietnam’s few pedestrian-only streets. Watch as locals light floating candles and set them free on the Thu Bon River.

Day 6: Hoi An Cooking Class
This morning visit the local produce market before cruising along the Thu Bon River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. Here you will tour the school’s herb gardens and enjoy an informal cooking lesson. Your chef will explain the secrets of popular Hoi An specialties. The town is famous for dishes like Cao Lau, a medley of a yellow noodles, pork slices and pickled hot peppers, and Mi Quang, a noodle dish featuring boiled quails eggs and chunks of baked rice cakes.

Spend the afternoon lazing on the beach or getting that last minute fitting at the tailor!

Day 7 Hoi An – Hue
Today, drive along one of Veitnam’s most beautiful stretches of road, the Hoi Van Pass and on to the former imperial capital of Hue. Spend your afternoon exploring the Citadel, once the seat of power for the Nguyen Dynasty. Tonight enjoy a talk by a local chef to learn about the regional cuisine before feasting on an authentic Hue dinner. You must try the petite, tapas-sized cakes made from rice or tapioca flour they are delicious!

Day 8: Hue City - Hanoi
After breakfast, visit Emperor Minh Mang’s Mausoleum, perhaps the most impressive of all the Nguyen Dynasty Emperors’ Tombs. The tomb is a complex of 40 various buildings made up of palaces, temples and pavilions. It is said to be a perfect combination between nature and man-made architecture that sits in balance with the surrounding landscape.

In the afternoon, take a northbound flight to Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. After checking into your hotel, enjoy dinner at one of Hanoi’s oldest restaurants. The specialty here, “Cha Ca,” is an aromatic blend of grilled fish, fresh dill, peanuts and vermicelli rice noodles. 

Day 9: Hanoi 
This morning, visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the resting place of Vietnam’s founding president, and the Temple of Literature, an 11th century university.  Then stroll Hanoi’s iconic Hoan Kiem Lake and nearby Ngoc Son temple.  After taking a cyclo ride to the city’s bustling old quarter, explore the quarter’s narrow streets at your leisure.

Late this afternoon begin your adventure into the world of street food. Begin by sampling the local brew, “bia hoi,” an extra-carbonated draft beer that traces its roots to Eastern Europe. Continue through the bustling old quarter as your guide describes what’s on offer at local stalls. Then feast on Vietnamese flame grilled barbecue of meats, tofu and vegetables on skewers. End the night with a walk around the lake and dessert at Hanoi’s most famous ice cream parlour.

Please note: The Ho Chi Minh Masoleum is closed afternoons and all day Monday and Friday. And in case of heavy rain the itinerary may be altered to visit a covered local noodle stall.

Day 10: Hanoi Cooking Class
Today you will have an all day cooking course at Hanoi Cooking Centre. The centre is the best place in Hanoi to gain a hands-on understanding of Vietnamese cuisine, and its long-time expatriate owner has written many cook books about Vietnam’s best-known dishes.

Sip a welcome tea on arrival, as your chef and guide explains the basics about the dishes you’re about to make. Walk to nearby Chau Long Market and stroll among hundreds of stalls selling everything from pumpkins to silkworms. Take in all the smells, and pause for photographs with the vendors!  Then it’s hands-on as you return to the centre and learn how to make a traditional dish. You also have the option to purchase many of the tools and spices used during the class.

Day 11: Depart Hanoi
Time to savour some last sights, sounds and snacks! Transfer to the airport for your onward flight.