Overview

Just 5km from the city center of Hue lies Thuy Bieu, an area of lush greenery known throughout the province for the gorgeous taste and scent of pomelo that historically reached even the most royal palettes of the Imperial Citadel. Pomelo was grown in great numbers for gigantic royal feasts, which put the many orchards and gardens of Thuy Bieu on the map.

Nowadays, Thuy Bieu is a paradise of immense vegetation, which lines the village paths of this tiny community. The Cooking Class and Thuy Bieu Eco-Village Tour combine the sight of Thuy Bieu’s rural beauty with the well-established taste of Hue, where the majority of Vietnam’s many popular dishes originated. This tour, operated by Incredible Asia Journeys, takes you on a boat trip down the Perfume River, followed by a bike tour of Thuy Bien’s several natural and architectural attractions, and finishes with an informative cooking class led by a professional and local chef.

Leave the urban life behind in Hue, on the Cooking Class and Thuy Bieu Eco-Village Tour.

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Places you’ll see

Hue

Highlights

Exploring Hue’s gorgeous outlying areas, where royals used to relax, by boat and bicycle
Walking around some of Thuy Bien’s beautiful buildings, including communal houses, temples and garden houses
Taking a cooking class with a local chef as they demystify some of the secrets of Vietnamese cooking

Itinerary

Activities: Taking a boat trip down the Perfume River, followed by a bicycle tour of Thuy Bien Village. A local chef will lead a cooking class before we head back to Hue by bus.

Pick up from your hotel in Hue will be between 08.00 am and 08.30 am.

We begin with a boat cruise along the romantic Perfume River. Watch the morning scene unfold on its waters and banks as fishermen and farmers are hard at work. We will reach Thien Mu Pagoda (the Pagoda of the Heavenly Lady), a beautiful religious tower overlooking the river, built in 1601 and repeatedly added to by many of the dynastic rulers in Hue.

We will disembark the boat and climb onto our bikes to begin our discovery of Thuy Bieu. Village paths lined with abundant greenery and hanging pomelo will make up a lot of our scenery for the day, providing a perfect escape from the city life just 5km away in Hue’s city center.

We will stop along the way at stately communal houses, historically important places in villages around Vietnam where events and meetings were held. There will be many ancient temples, with walls and gates decked in beautiful Chinese calligraphy and colorful depictions of gods, as well as a traditional garden house, one of many created in Hue’s rural surrounds for private country escapes by the royal family that ruled from here. We will take a look around the well-preserved cottage and its accompanying luxuriant garden, noting the gates and fences created through the carving of ornamental trees.

We continue our cycling to the quiet hamlets of Nguyet Bieu and Luong Quan, where more quiet country roads cut through forests and around the houses of friendly locals.

Returning to Thuy Bieu, we will join a local host for a cooking class. Soak up the years of culinary experience as our chef instructs us on how to prepare elements of our lunch feast. Enjoy your newly created lunch and maybe take the option afterward of a regional spa treatment, which involves dipping your feet in medicinal herb water.

The bus will meet us here to take us back to Hue. You will arrive at your hotel at about 15.00 pm when the Cooking Class & Exploring Thuy Bieu Eco-Village tour will conclude. Thank you for joining us on Day Trips from Hue, we hope to serve you again in the future!

Meals: Lunch