Cooking holiday in Thailand
A private tour for two, tasting and cooking your way around Thailand – start with a professional lesson, then learn about Thai food from local people.
Bangkok afternoon at cookery school cooking with families guided tour of Bangkok market visits Central Plains lessons in Thai countryside cooking cycling Isan learn how to cook Isan food village visits and sightseeing foraging Andaman Coast choice of activities: Krabi market, cooking fish, boat trips
Price
£2175 including UK flights
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Duration
16 Days
Type
Tailor made
More info
Prices include accommodation, cooking, sightseeing and activities, transfers in chauffeur-driven air-conditioned cars and most meals.
This trip can be booked exc flights from £1,575pp.
This trip can be booked exc flights from £1,575pp.
Description of Cooking holiday in Thailand
The Lemongrass Trail
Discover Thailand through its food, tasting and cooking your way around the country, on this off-the-beaten-track cooking holiday in Thailand. Whether you're a novice or an expert cook, you'll return with new-found skills to spice up your life and make your dinner parties sizzle!
You'll start in Bangkok having a professional lesson to kick-start your skills, then explore different areas of Thailand, feasting on delicious Thai food and learning from the real experts. You'll catch, pick, choose and cook regional delicacies with locals, from fresh vegetables with a village headman's wife in the Central Plains to friendly fishermen in the Andaman Sea.
This itinerary is perfectly balanced, taking in completely four different areas and spending enough time there to have enriching experiences that represent Thailand, but not constantly moving around from place to place and having to change accommodation. As well as savouring and cooking delicious Thai food, you will also do some sightseeing, experience and still have time to relax. You'll have a balance of time with guides, time with local people and time on your own.
This tour can be customised for vegetarians and vegans.
This trip is a private tour for two people. It is suitable for all ages and is even a great honeymoon with a difference. If you wish to travel with friends/family, we may need to customise the itinerary, depending on your party size, please contact us for details,
Itinerary
| Day 1: | Depart UK. Depart London Heathrow on a direct flight with Eva Air or Thai Airways. |
| Day 2: | Pick up at Bangkok airport in private car and transfer to residential area where you can settle into your private guesthouse. Time to settle in, later a walk around the local area and dinner with friendly family. o/n Bangkok. |
| Day 3: | Your culinary adventure begins! Your driver will take you to Baipai Cooking School where you will learn about Thai ingredients before creating some dishes yourself. Evening at your leisure in the centre of Bangkok (your driver will take you where you choose from our maps and tips and wait for you). o/n Bangkok. |
| Day 4: | Tick off the main sites in Bangkok with guide taking in the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the 'Temple of Dawn', Wat Arun. Evening authentic cookery lesson with local family, learning how to make your own curry paste. o/n Bangkok. |
| Day 5: | Savour regional delicacies at a giant farmer's market before moving on to a village in the Central Plains, the rural heartland of Thailand. Afternoon boat trip to see the local area and temple and feed the fish. This evening, learn how to make traditional Thai desserts. o/n Central Plains. |
| Day 6: | Haggle with the housewives for the best vegetables at the local food market - the Headman's wife will show you how. Then lessons in Thai countryside cooking. Time to relax on the terrace, then gentle cycle (or walk) around the surrounding green and lush rice fields. o/n Central Plains. |
| Day 7: | Transfer to off-the-beaten-track Isan in the northeast via a short plane and private cars either end. Settle in and enjoy the pool before an early evening walk around the local village o/n Isan. |
| Day 8: | Pick vegetables and herbs at the organic farm before learning how to cook Isan food, influenced by neighbouring Laos. Evening in nearby riverside town, have dinner at a restaurant and browse the weekend market for local specialities such as silk. o/n Isan. |
| Day 9: | Visit local villages to see handicrafts and sightseeing day. Evening cookery lesson. o/n Isan. |
| Day 10: | Forage for berries and herbs in the forest. Free afternoon, relax by the pool before your last cooking lesson in Isan food in the evening. o/n Isan. |
| Day 11 | Fly to the Andaman Coast in Southern Thailand and transfer to your comfortable air-conditioned bungalow on the mainland, set on an old palm plantation. Evening visit with locals to the night market to sample a range of regional delicacies. |
| Day 12 | Morning and early afternoon at leisure by the small pool. Late afternoon visit to a nearby village for a walk around the various smallholdings such as cashew nuts. Dinner with deputy headman's family and make Thai desserts. |
| Day 13 | Morning visit to Krabi market for breakfast, gossip and shopping. Fish is very fresh in these parts, straight off the boats and there is also a lot of farming. Then time to cook up a storm! A couple of hours free to enjoy the pool in the afternoon and evening free to enjoy the local seafood restaurants (a driver will take and wait for you). |
| Day 14: | Private boat trip amongst the desert islands made of limestone rock and covered in rainforest that lie in the Andaman Sea. Snorkel in reefs teeming with tropical fish, swim in a emerald green lagoon or lay back on sandy beaches. |
| Day 15: | Discover Krabi mainland. Visit a local village to stock up on their handicrafts for souvenirs. Then visit a giant catfish farm, head into the hills to escape the heat, or visit a beautiful beach. |
| Day 16: | Fly home via a short flight to Bangkok to connect to the international flight back to London Heathrow. |
Price information
£2175 including UK flights
Convert currency:
Prices include accommodation, cooking, sightseeing and activities, transfers in chauffeur-driven air-conditioned cars and most meals.
This trip can be booked exc flights from £1,575pp.
This trip can be booked exc flights from £1,575pp.
Departure information
This gourmet and cooking holiday is a private tour and can be taken on dates convenient for you (subject to availability). Great for a couple but you can also travel with friends.
Travel guides
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Holiday information
Tailor made tour:
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.
Responsible Travel
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) holiday so that you can travel knowing it will help support the places and people that you visit, and the planet. Read how below.
Planet and people
Approach -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, therefore providing additional income in local economies that do not normally benefit from tourism revenue.
You will get an unrivalled insight into Thai culture and you will meet a wide range of ordinary people on an 'equal' basis, not just those involved in the tourist industry to 'serve' you.
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.
Places -
On this itinerary, 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 and some of the money from this holiday will go to improving the local area e.g. 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, in southern Thailand, traditional ways of living such as fishing and farming have often lost out to mainstream tourism, changing communities as well as areas of previous beauty, this holiday promotes a different type of tourism which works hand-in-hand to keep people and places intact.
Accommodation -
The accommodation on this itinerary is small and local, converted from existing buildings or built with comparatively low impact to the environment. All accommodation is small scale and built sensitively into the landscape.
Transport -
Although we design our itineraries with visiting less places and spending more time for the purpose of richer experiences, this also has the benefit of cutting down on miles driven. Whilst we do use private cars and minivans (not shared or public transport), where possible our vehicles are fuelled by LPG. You will also spend some time exploring local areas by foot, bicycle and boat.
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