FROGS' LEGS & PHO

This gastronomic tour through Vietnam starts with you landing into Saigon, where you’ll stay at the luxurious Park Hyatt Saigon, a colonial-style hotel in the heart of town, for three nights. Here, you’ll venture on a guided tour, taking in the classic sights, before being taken on a foodie tour on the back of a vintage Vespa, pausing at typical coffee houses and sampling the incredible array of street food, from rice pancakes to banh mi.

Roll up your sleeves for your first hands-on culinary experience, beginning at Tan Dinh Market, where you will purchase the ingredients to prepare a tasty Vietnamese lunch under the expert guidance of a chef at the Chopsticks Restaurant.

Just outside of town lie the fascinating Cu Chi tunnels, a network of tiny passages that the Viet Cong used to travel and launch attacks from, which you’ll visit on a tour by US Army Jeep led by a veteran.

Once you’ve tested your dexterity skills assembling your own delicious spring rolls, you’ll have time to yourself and we recommend spending a few leisurely hours on a Mango Cruise, floating down the Mekong Delta, meeting those who make a living along the water and sampling everything from honey tea to sticky rice.

Your next stop is Hoi An. After checking in to your charming colonial hotel, Anantara Hoi An, you’ll uncover a few more secrets of Vietnamese fare on a walking tour through the city that ends in the evening, where you’ll board a floating restaurant and enjoy a traditional meal as you drift down the river at sunset.

The next day, your tastebuds are in for a treat as you’ll visit an organic farm, tasting the delicious produce, before joining a cooking class to try your hand at creating some traditional dishes. To help digest all of that food, you'll then be treated to a herbal foot massage. Why not consider hiring a bike and zigzagging your way through the alleys, savouring the sights, smells and flavours of Hoi An’s incredible streets?

Today you’ll be taken along the beautiful winding drive over the photogenic Hai Van Pass to Hue, where your home will be the glorious La Residence Hotel & Spa on the south bank of the Perfume River. Hue itself is an elegant city that served as Vietnam’s imperial capital until the 19th century, and retains its royal charm.

You’ll be taken around the city and its iconic ancient citadel on a cyclo, before going on a private food tour with a food blogger, where you’ll discover colourful markets, watch locals cooking up their specialities and stop at many famous street restaurants to sample the local delicacies. You’ll then get to try some of the cooking techniques you witnessed on a cooking class with the gastronomy artisan Ms. Nhu Huy, who will welcome you into her home and give you a private, hands-on cooking lesson of traditional Hue cuisine.

Next you’ll be transferred to the grand dame of hotels, the Sofitel Legend Metropole, for two nights in Hanoi. With ochre-coloured colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and scenic lakes, Hanoi is a charming capital, and while here you’ll be taken on a tour of the city’s best highlights, from the lavish mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh to the ornate ‘One Pillar Pagoda’.

Having worked up an appetite, you’ll then visit a local family for a memorable home-cooked meal, accompanied by insightful conversation about life in Hanoi. We also suggest making time for a walk around the Old Quarter, ambling along the labyrinth of ancient streets and taking a break at a tea stall to watch the fascinating daily maelstrom.

Hanoi explored, you’ll make the journey to beautiful Halong Bay, where you’ll spend two nights aboard the Halong Violet, a 1930s Indochine-style junk boat. Drifting between the surreal limestone islands that rise up out of glistening turquoise waters, you’ll pay a visit to tiny, local fishing villages and venture into the depths of the Tien Ong cave, spectacularly adorned with magnificent stalactites and stalagmites.

In between excursions to rock formations that inspired Vietnamese legends and to secluded golden sand beaches just perfect for leisurely afternoons, you can try some tai chi, go kayaking around the calm bays or simply soak up the stunning landscape from the deck at sunset.