Tastes and flavors of Thailand

Bangkok – Amphawa – Ayuthaya – Khao Yai –Phitsanulok – Sukhothai – Phrae – Chiang Mai –Phuket

16 Days & 15 Nights

Duration
16 Days & 15 Nights
Group Size
Max 8 people
Place Visited
Thailand
Minimum age
Travellers need to be at least 10 years old
Transport
Airplane
Best time to go
From October to April

Highlights

  • Don’t be shy, try food that is not available elsewhere!
  • A tour for food lovers and others
  • A culinary tour from North to South and gastronomy experiences in Thailand

Itinerary

Discover the beauty of Thailand – 16 Days & 15 Nights

You will be warmly welcomed at the airport by your guide and travel by air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel. The rest of the day will be free at your leisure.Tonight you will aboard a wooden rice barge in Bangkok and will have dinner on Loy Nava junk while enjoying a traditional Thai dance is an unmissable experience.

In the morning, you will explore hidden alleys where decades old family owned restaurants and streetcars are bustling away from the attention of popular guidebooks and tours. Then you will queue with locals who dine there daily to try their signature dishes difficult to find anywhere else. In the afternoon, visit the highlights of Bangkok and in the evening, you will spend a wonderful time with hosts to create an extraordinary evening for your palate. The chef will be pleased to serve you some delicious dishes which comprise of a Thai-fusion 12-Course Set Menu. Enjoy your time sitting, eating and chatting before sweeping views of the Bangkok skyline; here all attention is focused on your needs.

Start your day with an exciting tour on the Chao Praya River to reach the cooking school, which is located on the bank of the river. Upon your arrival, Khun Tam, your chef for the morning, will welcome you into her personal home and botanical garden. Then a cooking demonstration will follow before the hands-on cooking experience begins.

The finale to this fabulous experience will be to sit down, relax and enjoy your own Thai cooking!In the afternoon, you will visitthe district Kudeejin -a multicultural neighborhood where Chinese, Portuguese and Muslim cohabit. You will meet with locals and be surprised to see strangers walking so far from the usual tourist areas. After the tour you will go back to your hotel.

From bustling Bangkok, head out to the quiet and natural communities of Samut Songkram province. Start your day by biking around the village, learn how to make both fermented sweets ‘charcoaled fruits,’ and visit the organic garden. Then have a private lunch at a traditional wooden stilt-house surrounded by lush greenery, and take part in the preparation of the lunch.

After lunch, create your own art work under the guidance of local Benjarong teacher. In the evening, the boat will guide you to a fairy-tale scene, lit by thousands of fireflies!

Wake up early to see the traditional alms giving offered to monks who collect food approaching local houses by small boat. After breakfast, head to the small district of Tha Kha and discover the peaceful but productive daily life of the community. On the weekend in Tha Kha, you might see a lively floating market, full of produce vendors gathering around the canal.

Start your canal excursion on a paddle boat, you will be invited by a friendly woman who will teach you – coconut leaf weaving – Continue on your relaxing tour to see how the sugar palm from the raw coconuts are made, then follow the locals to cook some Thai sweets, made and colored by natural ingredients.Your last stop will be Talad Rom Hub, the “Folding Umbrella Market,” which huddles right next to the train tracks –practically on top of them! You will then continue to Ayuthaya.

You will transfer to Khao Yai National Park. Khao Yai means “big mountain” and the area of the park spans more than 2.000km². It is home to a huge variety of wildlife like elephants, gibbons, hornbills, deer, etc. and some iconic waterfalls. During your visit at the park you will hike along one of the nature routes with a park ranger.

The next stop will be gran Monte winery visit. Hilly landscapes and moderate climate favouring grapevine planting makes Khao Yai the prime wine-making region in Thailand. Arrive at Gran Monte – one of the most renowned wine producers where you will be provided with a vineyard tour ending with wine tasting.

You will depart to Lopburi and visitthe main sites of Prang Sam Yod, the Khmer sanctuary, and San Phra Kan. Afterward, you will travel to Phitsanulok. En route you will make a nice stop and take a boat trip on the Sakaekrang river to see the traditional lifestyle and floating houses of people along the river. In the evening you will head out in the provincial town of Phitsanulok by local transportation. Phitsanulok was once an important outpost of the Ayutthaya Empire, today it is a typical provincial township.

After the transfer to Sukhothai,UNESCO World Heritage Site,you will take a bicycle and wind your way through the ancient city of Sukhothai, which translates as the ‘dawn of happiness’, to uncover the classical history of one of Thailand’s most important feudal kingdoms.Then you will go to a local house not far from the Historical Park where you will meet the owner, a local history expert. He will make you feel right at home while sharing his knowledge with you. Lunch will be a simple but tasty local dish of “Sukhothai noodles”. You will also have the opportunity to make your own Buddhist amulet to take home as your own unique lucky charm.

You will depart after breakfast and go to Phrae. En route visit of Thung Hong village which is notable as a source of Mo Hom dyed fabric. Here, you will have a chance to uncover the time-honored process of how the dye is extracted from the plant and then used to color the fabric.

In the afternoon, you will spend time visiting the Vongburi House-one of the oldest, most well maintained teak housesin Thailand. After a visit of the “house museum”, when the doors are already closed to the public, the owner of the house will invite you upstairs for a traditional dinner comprising of her favorite dishes, such a tasty coconut milk soup with chicken as astarter or blue rice made of butterfly-pea flowers for dessert.

Today you will go to Lampang and visit Phra That Lampang Luang-aphenomenally impressive Buddhist temple built in the Lanna architectural style that still retains its traditional design.Then you will travel to Chiang Mai and arrive for the end of afternoon.

Today you will discover Wat Phra Singh within the ancient walls and the encircling moat of Chiang Mai. Afterwards, head to one Chiang Mai’s most drenched in spirituality sites-Doi Suthep Temple soaring towards the sky from the top of the mountain.You will then visit a tea house run by an expat who is a genuine tea aficionado and will delight in telling you all about how tea has been used for centuries in the region. After tea tasting, it will be time to try out some more new flavors with a lunch based on Northern Thai food and tea-based dishes.

In the afternoon, you will visit Warorot Market, the biggest market in the city, where the nightly atmosphere and excitement of the place are the opportunity to taste some local dishes such as seasonal Thai fruits, fried insects and sticky rice.

Your tour will start at the Ping river bank and takes you through the hustle and bustle of Kaad Luang, the great market, as locals call it. During the tour you will get to know all about the history of the market and its surroundings while enjoying fresh produce and local specialties along the way.

Then you will spend time with a local family whose Lanna traditions go back for 5 generations. The family will explain about the different aspects of their everyday life, about their traditions, architecture, handicrafts, herbs, food and more. After exploring the traditional houses and the vast gardens you will cook up a delicious meal over a charcoal fire.

In the morning you will travel to Chiang Mai Airport for a flight to Phuket. Upon arrival, you will meet your driver at Phuket airport and travel to your hotel.Exquisite white-sandy beaches, clear emerald sea water and bright sunlight are all synonymous with Phuket, an international magnet for beach lovers all over the world. Present-day Phuket has been shaped by its diverse ethnic groups, cultures, architectural influences, and traditional fine cuisines. The island also has more to offer visitors than its natural heritage of sea, sand, sky, beach, forests and world renowned diving sites.

Enjoy your first relaxing day at the beach until mid-afternoon. Then you will be invited for a privileged experience in a private house. You will meet the locals at the house and have a unique experience to cook and eat the traditional Phuketian dinner. Here you will learn how famous noodles from Phuket are made.

Enjoy your relaxing day at the beach.

Spend time at leisure until the pick-up by your driver to the airport for your departure flight.