SAN FRANCISCO – Access Trips, the leading adventure travel operator specializing in immersive learning vacations, has introduced a new 9-day Vietnam culinary tour for an experience that takes guests deep into Vietnamese society from Saigon to Hanoi. Guests return home with memories of unparalleled insider access to local culture, including private dinners in a colonial mansion and a street food tour while riding through Saigon on a vintage Vespa. A hallmark of the Access Trips experience is learning a new skill, and guests also will learn how to cook Vietnamese cuisine in interactive cooking classes taught by local high-profile Vietnamese chefs.

The average tourist goes to Saigon and sees a rapidly modernizing city with Western coffee chains and shiny new hotels. During this tour of Vietnam's most treasured destinations and traditions, Access Trips guests gain a deep understanding of the complex and rich Vietnamese experience that is evolving moment by moment. Each day offers opportunities to connect with an eclectic variety of locals who are the fabric of the Vietnamese culture from Saigon to Hue to Hanoi – including village families, urban hipsters, street food and market vendors, traditional and modern chefs, artists and descendants of the royal family. Highlights of the Vietnam Culinary Tour include:

• Cooking with the Stars: Cooking classes with two local Vietnamese celebrity chefs. Ms. Nguyen Dzoan Cam Van, who has published nearly 40 culinary books and hosted a popular national cooking show, teaches guests the finer points of traditional Vietnamese cuisine during an interactive cooking class at her quiet riverside home outside Saigon. Mr. Duc Tran, an “overseas Vietnamese” chef who has returned to his homeland and is one of the most innovative young chefs in the country, hosts a food market tour and leads an eclectic cooking class at his popular restaurant in Hoi An.
• Street Eats on a Vespa: An evening street-food tour of Saigon on the back of a vintage Vespa visits some of the best street food stalls in areas that most visitors never find on their own. Guests sample shrimp rolls, frog legs, 3-3-3 (Ba Ba Ba) beer and other local specialties. The evening ends with a relaxing visit to a coffee house with live music and a vibrant local social scene.
• Local Village Cuisines: As a renowned gastronomist guides the group through several villages in Hue, the ancient imperial capital, sample traditional staple foods unique to each village.
• Royal Treatment: A private dinner at a former royal home affords the opportunity to connect with the descendants who live there now, learning about their daily lives, history of their home and how they maintain their traditions in an increasingly modern world.
• Witness Traditional Artistry: Guests visit a village that specializes in one of Hanoi's traditional arts, water puppetry, spending time with an artisan family, learning how they keep this ancient tradition alive and enjoying a private show.

Pricing for the 9-day Vietnam Culinary Tour begins at $2,990 per person, double occupancy. Departure dates in 2015 includeJanuary 31, March 21-29; May 2, July 18 and November 7. Complete itinerary at: www.accesstrips.com/sports/vietnam-trips/. The standard price includes 8 nights in four & five-star hotels and resorts; 2 cooking classes with expert instructors; all breakfasts, 3 lunches and 4 dinners; guided sightseeing in Saigon, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi; sightseeing entrance fees; vintage Vespa scooter street food tour; hosted dinners in a royal home and a colonial mansion; all ground transportation on itinerary; group airport transfers in Saigon, Hoi An and Hanoi; domestic airfare from Saigon to Danang and Hue to Hanoi; expert bilingual guides. Standard price does not include: International airfare; mandatory insurance, optional activities and discretional gratuities.

About Access Trips: Access Trips is the leading adventure travel operator specializing in exotic learning vacations to 13 countries worldwide. The company offers a wide range of small-group outdoor sports and culinary-focused trips, expertly designed for guests to experience a new culture, learn new skills or fine-tune existing ones, and revel in the splendor of their destination. Based in Seattle and launched in 2001, the Access Trips portfolio of vacations includes cooking, surfing, mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing and multisport itineraries. Access Trips caters to a variety of skill levels from novice to expert in a relaxed, non-intimidating setting led by world-class instructors and multilingual guides. For more information about Access Trips, please visit www.accesstrips.com.