Sim and Honey Farm Morning: the island away from the sea

Sim is the rose myrtle, a shrub that grows wild on the hills of Phu Quoc and flowers pink to purple in summer. Its small dark berries ripen from about May to August, and for generations islanders picked them to eat. From the late 1990s they began to be fermented into sim wine, now sold all over the island as a souvenir. We aim for one of the oldest producers, whose owner began making sim wine in 1997.

At the garden you walk among the sim bushes, see how the berries are picked and steeped, and taste the wine side by side with the non-alcoholic syrup, which children and drivers can have. In the ripe months you can pick berries straight from the bush. Out of season the bushes are green, and the tasting and the process are the visit.

The second stop is a small bee farm in Cua Can, in the north-west of the island, that sells honey from its own hives and honey infused with local herbs and fruit, and takes visitors round. You see the hives - from a sensible distance, with the keeper explaining what the bees are doing - and then taste three or four honeys side by side. The farm says it takes only mature honey and adds no sugar, and puts part of its profit towards bee conservation.

Honey from different flowers tastes surprisingly different when you try them one after another, and the tasting is the part people talk about afterwards. Buying is never part of the deal; if you do want a jar, you pay the farm's own price.

• Private - the default. Your own car and guide, from two to twelve people, with time to linger at either farm.
• Joined group. Shared with other guests. Runs once three guests have booked, maximum twelve. If your date has not reached three guests two days before, you choose private at the private rate, another date or a full refund.

• Anyone allergic to bee stings or to honey - even at a distance, the farm has bees.
• People expecting a full meal: these are tastings, and you are back for lunch.
• Anyone who does not drink alcohol and does not want to be around a wine tasting - the syrup is there, but wine is the centre of the first stop.
• Visitors who want to see the sim bushes in fruit outside May to August.