Taste of Vietnam

Arrive into Hanoi and transfer around 50 minutes to your hotel in the city centre, with a private driver and guide waiting to greet you. Settle in before an evening welcome dinner at Tam Vi, a Michelin-starred restaurant set inside a beautifully restored tea house, serving refined takes on classic Vietnamese dishes in one of Hanoi's most atmospheric dining rooms.

Spend the morning exploring Hanoi's landmarks with a guide, starting at the Temple of Literature, founded in 1076 as Vietnam's first university and used to educate the country's royalty and scholars for 800 years. Continue to either the Vietnam Women's Museum or Hoa Lo Prison, once known to American POWs as the 'Hanoi Hilton', before wandering the Old Quarter's tangle of 36 historic guild streets. In the evening, set out on foot from the Sofitel Metropole for a deep dive into Hanoi's food culture: coffee and pastry near St. Joseph's Cathedral, a bowl of countryside noodles under a shade tree, a stop for banh mi, a wander through a local wet market, and two Hanoi institutions, Bun Cha Huong Lien, where Barack Obama once shared a meal with Anthony Bourdain, and Pho Thin, serving beef noodles since 1979. Round out the evening with spring rolls, lotus stem salad and a scoop of Trang Tien ice cream, a Hanoi favourite since 1958.

Drive around two and a half hours to Halong City and board your private cruise for a night among the limestone islands of Halong and Lan Ha Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Enjoy lunch as you cruise past thousands of karst formations rising from the emerald water, with time in the afternoon for onboard activities before anchoring for the night. Watch the sunset from the deck ahead of dinner.

Wake to breakfast among the islands before cruising back to port. Disembark and transfer around three hours to Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport for a short flight south to Danang, the gateway to Hoi An. On arrival, transfer around 50 minutes to your hotel in Hoi An, with the rest of the afternoon free to settle in.

Spend the morning exploring Hoi An's UNESCO-listed old town with a local guide: former merchant houses, colourful communal halls, and the Japanese Bridge, built more than 400 years ago to link the town's Japanese and Chinese trading communities. Wander the smaller laneways for a closer look at daily life before the afternoon at leisure.

Transfer a short distance from town to an organic farm founded by a local nutrition expert, and spend the morning learning the principles behind Vietnamese cuisine's balance of flavours. Pick ingredients from the farm before a hands-on cooking class, including making rice paper from scratch with a traditional stone grinder, then sit down to a meal of everything you've cooked. In the afternoon, join a local guide, who grew up eating at these same stalls, for a street food tour through Hoi An's old town and quieter outskirts, sampling specialities at family-run stops along the way.

Enjoy a free morning before departing for Hue, the former imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty. The route climbs over the Hai Van Pass, a 20-kilometre stretch of coastal road with views over the surrounding hills and out to sea, before descending along the Lang Co Lagoon and continuing on to Hue. In the evening, enjoy a private dinner at a traditional Hue garden house, a style of home built around a central altar room and courtyard garden.

Spend the morning at the UNESCO-listed Imperial Citadel, taking in Kien Trung Palace and the stories behind the Nguyen Dynasty's rise and fall, before a cyclo ride to Tinh Tam Lake and on to Khai Dinh's tomb, a striking blend of Vietnamese and European design. In the evening, climb aboard a vintage Vespa for a food-focused ride through the city: local specialities like banh beo and banh nam, the illuminated Citadel and Flag Tower after dark, a Hue-style rice paper 'pizza' with pork skewers, and a bowl of bun bo Hue, the city's signature noodle dish, finished with a local dessert.

Visit An Cuu Market with your chef to pick out fresh ingredients before a short transfer to a family garden in Ngoc Anh village, founded in 1558. Spend the morning cooking a six-dish vegetarian menu rooted in Buddhist tradition, preparing two dishes yourself while your chef demonstrates four more, and learn how Hue's vegetarian cuisine has stayed true to its roots even as the city has changed. Return to your hotel by early afternoon.

Transfer to Phu Bai Airport for a short flight south to Ho Chi Minh City, still known to locals as Saigon. In the evening, hop on the back of a scooter for a ride through the city's back alleys and residential streets: sizzling banh xeo and banh khot, a seafood dinner in a local neighbourhood, a round-the-clock flower market, and a bustling night market. Finish with banh mi at a spot that's been serving the same recipe since 1975, and, if there's room, a scoop of coconut ice cream.

Explore the city's historic centre on foot: City Hall, Dong Khoi Street, the Continental Hotel and the Saigon Opera House, followed by a heritage building now home to a new generation of independent shops and cafes. Continue to the Central Post Office, past the former CIA building, site of one of the last helicopter evacuations in 1975, and on to the Reunification Palace, where the underground war rooms remain preserved as they were. Finish at Ben Thanh Market. In the afternoon, trace Vietnam's coffee culture through a 90-year-old coffee shop, the oldest in the city, and a restored shophouse, where you'll learn to prepare ca phe trung, Vietnamese egg coffee.

At leisure until your transfer to Tan Son Nhat Airport for your onward flight, bringing your culinary journey through Vietnam to a close.