Cooking holiday in Thailand
| country: | Thailand |
| location: | North East Thailand, Central Thailand |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade throughout the year at a time to suit you and be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements. |
| price: | From £1575 (14 days) including flights from the UK, accommodation, activities, chauffer-driven cars and most meals |
| late availability: | Late availability for October and November departures Also availability for October Half Term |
the amazing things you'll be doing
What better way of really getting to know a country than through its food? How about a fortnight away of sun and relaxation, returning with newfound skills? This perfect two week itinerary will see you come back with expert skills to brighten up your winter meals and spice up your parties!
You'll savour dishes from all over Thailand and learn to cook them for yourself. You'll pick your own freshest ingredients on organic farms and jostle with the locals for the best vegetables at markets.
And what better way of ensuring your seafood dishes have the freshest fish than catching your own in the Andaman sea? You'll be have plenty of time to relax too, you'll have time on your own to cycle along rice fields, swim in majestic waterfalls and relax on beautiful beaches.
You'll start off your tour with a couple of days in Bangkok. After your direct overnight flight from the UK, you'll be picked up at Bangkok airport a driver to a charming boutique hotel in the old town which will act as your base as you take in the sights and the shopping. Then it's time to kick off your culinary adventures - you'll have an introductory course to Thai cooking at the world-famous Blue Elephant cooking school.
Then, it's time to pack your apron and expand on your newfound skills and learn from the real experts in Thai cooking! First you're off to the agricultural heart of the Thailand, the Central Plains. You'll arrive in a picturesque canal-side village where the pace of life is incredibly relaxed. Here you'll visit the vibrant market, learn to fish in the canals and the village headman's wife herself will show you the tricks of making rural Thai dishes and desserts.
Next, you'll go to Isan in the north east, well away from the tourist trail. You'll get a gourmet tour of the region's strongly-flavoured dishes and learn to make the best sticky rice and Som-Tam, the famous spicy fiery papaya based salad. You'll also visit organic farms to pick the freshest vegetables from crops as varied as aubergines to Shiitake mushrooms.
You'll notice that some of the food in this region is influenced by bordering countries, and you'll also see architectural influences when you take in some culture by visiting Khmer ruins which are related to Angkor Wat.
Finally, you're off the Andaman coast to savour and master the fiery cuisine inspired by Malaysia to the south. You can make sure you have the freshest catch of the day by catching it yourself! There's plenty of time to relax on Thailand's beautiful beaches or drift along in a long-tail boat before you return home to try out your new-found skills.
Best time to travel
November - April, to ensure warm, dry days in all of the areas on this tour. Please note that we can create a similarly-themed itinerary throughout the year which would visit different parts of Thailand.
You'll savour dishes from all over Thailand and learn to cook them for yourself. You'll pick your own freshest ingredients on organic farms and jostle with the locals for the best vegetables at markets.
And what better way of ensuring your seafood dishes have the freshest fish than catching your own in the Andaman sea? You'll be have plenty of time to relax too, you'll have time on your own to cycle along rice fields, swim in majestic waterfalls and relax on beautiful beaches.
You'll start off your tour with a couple of days in Bangkok. After your direct overnight flight from the UK, you'll be picked up at Bangkok airport a driver to a charming boutique hotel in the old town which will act as your base as you take in the sights and the shopping. Then it's time to kick off your culinary adventures - you'll have an introductory course to Thai cooking at the world-famous Blue Elephant cooking school.
Then, it's time to pack your apron and expand on your newfound skills and learn from the real experts in Thai cooking! First you're off to the agricultural heart of the Thailand, the Central Plains. You'll arrive in a picturesque canal-side village where the pace of life is incredibly relaxed. Here you'll visit the vibrant market, learn to fish in the canals and the village headman's wife herself will show you the tricks of making rural Thai dishes and desserts.
Next, you'll go to Isan in the north east, well away from the tourist trail. You'll get a gourmet tour of the region's strongly-flavoured dishes and learn to make the best sticky rice and Som-Tam, the famous spicy fiery papaya based salad. You'll also visit organic farms to pick the freshest vegetables from crops as varied as aubergines to Shiitake mushrooms. You'll notice that some of the food in this region is influenced by bordering countries, and you'll also see architectural influences when you take in some culture by visiting Khmer ruins which are related to Angkor Wat.
Finally, you're off the Andaman coast to savour and master the fiery cuisine inspired by Malaysia to the south. You can make sure you have the freshest catch of the day by catching it yourself! There's plenty of time to relax on Thailand's beautiful beaches or drift along in a long-tail boat before you return home to try out your new-found skills.
Best time to travel
November - April, to ensure warm, dry days in all of the areas on this tour. Please note that we can create a similarly-themed itinerary throughout the year which would visit different parts of Thailand.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Depart UK, regional departures available. |
| Day 2: | You'll arrive in Bangkok and be picked up by your driver. Rest of the day free to relax in your private courtyard at charming boutique hotel. Dinner in riverside restaurant set in beautiful gardens, frequented by Bangkok society and the Royal family. |
| Day 3: | Morning free to stroll around the nearby Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha Morning before an afternoon lesson at the world-famous Blue Elephant cookery school. |
| Day 4: | Transfer to the rural Central Plains, afternoon cookery lesson in traditional Thai desserts before you have a tour of the canal, by wooden boat. |
| Day 5: | Morning visit with the village headman's wife to the local market, followed by freshwater fishing. Then it's time for traditional Thai cooking lessons. |
| Day 6: | Morning cycling along the fields and canals to watch the farmers at work. In the afternoon, your driver will take you just outside Nakorn Ratchasima in the north east where you can settle into your private villa and walk around the lush grounds and pick herbs for dinner. |
| Day 7: | Day at leisure to stroll in surrounding forests and swim in spectacular waterfalls. |
| Day 8: | Visit local farms to discover how organic and sustainable ways of farming are being developed. Choose your own vegetables and fruit to take back for cooking lessons. |
| Day 9: | Culture day - visit to Khmer temple complex from the 11th century, a UNESCO world heritage site. Evening cooking lesson. |
| Day 10: | Sleep in. Your driver will then take you to Bangkok where you will catch a short flight to Krabi in the south. Afternoon free. Evening introduction to southern cooking. |
| Day 11: | Day at leisure to relax on the beautiful beaches. |
| Day 12: | You'll go fishing at dawn in the Andaman sea with local fishermen. Then it's time to cook up a fiery storm! |
| Day 13: | Day at leisure to relax on the beautiful beaches. Alternatively, you can do more cooking today. |
| Day 14: | Transfer to Krabi airport and fly home to the UK via Bangkok. |
tailor made holidays
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This holiday is designed for people who like to travel on their own, as a couple, as a family or as friends (not in a group with other people they do not know previously). You will not have a 'tour leader' or an 'escort' with you all the time. We run our own operations so do not need to rely on this type of arrangement to make sure your holiday is organised. We work hand-in-hand with our unique network of local people who are backed up by our carefully-picked drivers and local office. This means you will meet a range of trusted local people throughout your holiday and have time on your own, with full confidence that your holiday will run smoothly at all times.
how this holiday makes a difference
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All our holidays are deliberately designed to be as socially responsible as possible, working in harmony with the daily lives of local people. On all of our holidays, you will spend most of your time areas away from the main tourist destinations, therefore providing additional income in local economies that may not normally benefit from revenue from tourism.
On this holiday, as well as tasting the different flavours of Thailand, you will get genuine understanding of life for the different people throughout the country. In the Central Plains, tourism is being developed in a way that it does not detriment traditional ways of living. Furthermore, some of the money from this holiday will go to improving the local area, such as keeping the canals clean. The north east of the country is not often visited by tourists and by encouraging traditional farms which use local indigenous knowledge of sustainable farming, you will help people take pride in traditional ways and withstand the onslaught of industrial farming. Finally, though not directly hit by the tsunami, the area near Krabi was affected by the subsequent downturn in tourism so you will help replace lost income. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |