Your holiday to Vietnam begins with a crash course in Vietnamese food culture, designed to get you involved from the word go. Start with a tour of Hanoi’s famous sites with a guide to find out how its ancient temples, colonial-era history and Communist monuments add to its rich and unique flavour. Then switch gears to the foodie side of your trip, with a Vespa evening tour that'll see you weaving through Hanoi's famous traffic riding pillion whilst stopping off to sample bun cha and spring rolls. Switch gears and sit down with a local family for a home-cooked meal served alongside generational stories of life in the city.

We could happily spend a lifetime in Hoi An – it's that kind of place – but when you can't stay forever, this is our ideal two-day visit. Flipping the usual routine, you’ll start by heading out of the World Heritage town centre and into the rural outskirts, where you'll enjoy lunch in a local house, chat to the village elders, and visit an organic farm to see how green agriculture and ecotourism is supporting the community. Then, head back into town to soak up the atmosphere of the lantern-strung streets and markets, visit hidden bars for a cocktail tour and eat in some of the finest restaurants and cafés in Vietnam. Contrasting bustling, lantern-lined streets with laid-back, rural life, this is the absolute best of Hoi An.

If there’s one place in Vietnam that can claim a real culinary pedigree, it’s Hue. This former imperial capital was the home of Vietnam’s last royal dynasty, the Nguyens, so its food is quite literally fit for kings. After you've toured the Citadel by cyclo, stop for a sumptuous lunch at one of the city’s Garden Houses – the beautiful former residences of 19th-century aristocrats. For us, the foodie highlight of any visit to Hue is a sedate dinner cruise along the Perfume River, sampling Bún Bò Huế and Chè Huế as you listen to stories of the city.

As you journey south and the weather gets hotter, Vietnamese cuisine gets sweeter and spicier. Ease into it with a slow boat cruise through the coconut groves and rice paddies of the Mekong Delta, stopping to drink honey tea, eat tropical fruit, and listen to stories of riverside life. Then, return to Vietnam’s biggest city for a set of workshops covering an array of Vietnamese classics: pho noodle soups, ca phe trung (egg coffee) and single-origin locally produced chocolate. It’s a wonderful contrast, and a fitting end to a delicious journey through Vietnam.