Countryside Bike tour - Farming - Cooking in Tra Que in Hoi An

A bicycle out to Tra Que, the herb village that supplies Hoi An's kitchens, with farming and a cooking class attached.

Tra Que is three kilometres from Hoi An's old town and has been growing herbs on the same ground for around 300 years. What makes it distinctive is the fertiliser: the farmers use algae dredged from the neighbouring lagoon rather than manure, which is why the basil, mint and coriander here have a reputation among Vietnamese cooks that ordinary market herbs do not.

You farm before you cook. That means the real work: turning soil with a two-headed hoe, raking beds, and watering with two cans hung from a shoulder pole, which is harder than the farmers make it look and is the part everyone remembers.

The cooking follows, using what you just picked.

The ride out is flat the whole way along the river, so it needs no fitness, and the bikes are collected from and returned to your hotel in the Hoi An area.

Option 2 adds a basket boat: the round woven coracle that Vietnamese fishermen use in the coconut palms, which spins rather than steers and is its own event.

Entrance tickets and an English-speaking guide are included.

Your place is held with the operator before your booking is final. The price covers hotel pickup and return by bicycle within the Hoi An area, entrance tickets, the guide, and the basket boat on option 2.

Around four and a half hours. Minimum one day's notice.