Small group cooking holiday in Thailand
| country: | Thailand |
| location: | Southern Thailand, Northern Thailand, Central Thailand |
| departures: | 2010: 16 Jan, 13 Feb, 13 Mar, 2 May, 31 Jul, 9 Oct, 13 Nov |
| price: | From £1800 (15 days) including direct flights from the UK |
| more info: | This trip can also be booked without flights from £1200 (this operator has 100% financial protection in both cases). Price includes accommodation, cooking and other activities/excursions, chauffeur-driven minivans and most meals. Spending money guideline £300. Maximum group size 10. No single supplement. Please note special vegetarian/Vegan departures on 13th March & 9th October. Vegetarians are welcome on any date, but these departures are specifically for vegetarians and vegans. |
| offers: | Up to £100 off 16-30 January 2010 (fixed price of £1,800 instead of up to £1,900). Limited places, contact us now. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Cook and chop your way around Thailand on this 2-week authentic cooking itinerary. Perfect for those keen to savour and learn more about Thai food and how to cook it whilst making new friends and having a relaxing holiday too. This trip is more than a gourmet feast for solo travellers as it has an absolute maximum of 10 people in the group, no single supplements and your own room.
This itinerary is perfectly balanced, taking in four different areas and having a variety of enriching experiences that represent Thailand, but unlike most ‘adventure holidays’ not constantly moving around from place to place and changing accommodation. As well learning to cook different types of Thai food and secret family recipes to entertain your friends with when you get home, you will have unforgettable experiences such as picking your own on an organic farm and snorkelling in coral reefs teeming with tropical fish.
You'll begin your holiday with a professional Thai cooking lesson in Bangkok to kick-start your skills before you head off on your tour around Thailand, you will learn how to pick and choose the freshest ingredients and cook up a storm in professional cooking schools as well as in the kitchens of passionate home cooks. You will explore the fertile Central Plains, northern Thailand including Chiang Mai and the Krabi area on the Andaman Coast, home to Malaysian-style cuisine.
We are a very specialist operator with our own staff on the ground in Thailand and have put together this itinerary with our unique network of local people. This trip is only available from us. We have put a summary of the itinerary below, but contact us directly for the full itinerary. We are also happy to have a chat on the phone, including in the evenings, 7 days a week.
This itinerary is perfectly balanced, taking in four different areas and having a variety of enriching experiences that represent Thailand, but unlike most ‘adventure holidays’ not constantly moving around from place to place and changing accommodation. As well learning to cook different types of Thai food and secret family recipes to entertain your friends with when you get home, you will have unforgettable experiences such as picking your own on an organic farm and snorkelling in coral reefs teeming with tropical fish.
You'll begin your holiday with a professional Thai cooking lesson in Bangkok to kick-start your skills before you head off on your tour around Thailand, you will learn how to pick and choose the freshest ingredients and cook up a storm in professional cooking schools as well as in the kitchens of passionate home cooks. You will explore the fertile Central Plains, northern Thailand including Chiang Mai and the Krabi area on the Andaman Coast, home to Malaysian-style cuisine.
We are a very specialist operator with our own staff on the ground in Thailand and have put together this itinerary with our unique network of local people. This trip is only available from us. We have put a summary of the itinerary below, but contact us directly for the full itinerary. We are also happy to have a chat on the phone, including in the evenings, 7 days a week.
best time to go
This holiday has departures throughout the year. However, please note there is some risk of rain on trips between May and October. day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly overnight with Thai Airways between London Heathrow and Bangkok (or join the tour in Bangkok, we will make sure you are met at the airport) |
| Day 2: | Settle in and welcome dinner. Transfer from Bangkok airport in air-conditioned private minibus to boutique hotel. Unpack, have a dip in the pool, then you’ll have an evening walk and a welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant. |
| Day 3: | Learn the basics of Thai cooking. After a morning lie-in, you will have your first cookery lesson this afternoon at a professional cookery school. Evening tour of Bangkok taking in a bustling night market and a sky bar. |
| Day 4: | Sightseeing in Bangkok with a boat trip on the river and a visit to the Grand Palace with one of our expert guides (or you can opt out and meet the group at lunch). Afternoon 1.5 hour transfer to a small village in the Central Plains, local area tour and temple visit with a sunset boat trip. Dinner and Thai desserts lesson. |
| Day 5: | Local food market and cooking demonstration with the headman's wife. Afternoon cycle ride around the surrounding countryside (or relax on the verandah), then transfer to nearby Ayutthaya for a relaxing evening. |
| Day 6: | Guided tour of the spectacular ruins of Ayutthaya a UNESCO heritage site by bicycle (with minivan support). Back to your resort for a shower and change before taking the train north (sleeper train to Chiang Mai). |
| Day 7: | Relax at a luxury private home with pool after your transfer from the train station and welcome breakfast. Massages in the garden followed by a walk around the local village with your host. Evening at your leisure in Chiang Mai. |
| Day 8: | Organic farm cooking. Pick the freshest vegetables and herbs before trying your hand at cooking a variety of northern Thai dishes. |
| Day 9: | Guided sightseeing in Chiang Mai. Visit temples and explore the Sunday market. |
| Day 10: | Jungle survival skills on an unusual cooking lesson. Learn how to make a makeshift kitchen of bamboo and banana leaves and cook over an open fire. Then, enjoy some time by the pool. |
| Day 11: | Vegetarian cookery demonstration and lunch. Fly in the afternoon to the south of Thailand. Settle into your private bungalow in a mini-resort. Night market visit for dinner. |
| Day 12: | Half day to yourself, half day southern cooking. Spend the morning by the pool before learning sizzling Southern-style dishes at Krabi’s best cooking school. |
| Day 13: | Desert island experience. Explore the Andaman sea on a boat, you'll snorkel in coral reefs teeming with tropical fish, drift through hidden lagoons and have a picnic lunch on a desert island. Evening visit to local village for a tour of their smallholdings and an authentic home cooked meal. Thai desserts lesson. |
| Day 14: | Handicraft village and waterfalls followed by beach time, or have the day to yourself. Farewell dinner. |
| Day 15: | Fly home from Krabi via a quick change in Bangkok. Arrival back in the UK approx 7pm (same day). |
small group cultural tours
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends it's good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as experiencing new cultures.how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment:
Accommodation - The accommodation on this holiday is small and local, within existing buildings or built with comparatively low impact to the environment. Transport - We encourage our customers who wish to add domestic flights to take the train to Heathrow instead, which makes both environmental and economical sense. In our customer packs, we provide tips on how to offset carbon via changes in lifestyle. Although we design our itineraries with visiting less places and spending more time there for experience purposes, this also has the benefit of cutting down on miles driven. Where possible our cars and minivans are fuelled by LPG. You will also spend some time exploring local areas by foot, bicycle and boat. Community: All our holidays are deliberately designed to be as socially responsible as possible, working in harmony with the daily lives of local people. You will spend most of your time areas away from the main tourist destinations. We often provide opportunities for people who are not involved in tourism to benefit from cultural exchange as well as financially. We are also proud to say we often build in ‘shopping stops’ these are at places like out-of-the-way villages which specialise in a particular handicraft – a great way to break up the longer journeys whilst supporting local economies. You will learn about real life in Thailand, both traditional and modern, sustainable ways of living and farming, local festivals, dances etc. We find people who will show these to you and compensate them accordingly, which helps local efforts of keeping traditions alive. We employ people locally which helps us work with local people on a highly individual basis. When we say we use local guides, we don’t mean guides from Thailand, but guides in each local area, not just those from the ‘big city’. We of course also provide cultural and responsible travel guidelines in our customer packs. |
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. |