SAIGON- MY THO-BEN TRE-CAN THO-CHAU DOC
Highlights:
- Enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way from HCMC to Mekong Delta.
- Stroll around one of the best-known temples in the region to learn more about Buddhism in Vietnam.
- Cruise along the Mekong river by motorized boat and ride sampan through the picturesque narrow canals.
- Walk around the island villages to enjoy tropical fruits, honey tea, folk music, coconut candy, and fried rice noodle.
- visit an Ancient Home, a wonderful look back into how the upper-class of the Mekong Delta lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- explore the forest, watch the birds, and other wildlife.
- Visit fish farm, and Cham community
DAY1: SAIGON- MY THO- BEN TRE-CAN THO (180KM)
After breakfast, depart from your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, heading 70Km to Mekong Delta. During 1.5-hour drive, we will have chance to see beautiful landscape along the road to My Tho, a peaceful town on the bank of Mekong River.
In My Tho, firstly pay a visit to Vinh Trang Pagoda, one of the ancient Mahayana Buddhism pagodas with a mix of Eastern and Western Architecture, and three big statues of the buddhas: sitting buddha, standing buddha and reclining buddha. You can walk around for pictures or enter he main temple for praying.
Afterward, go on to the boat station to take a leisurely boat ride on Mekong river around four beautiful islands known as Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix and Tortoise Islands to enjoy the view of fish farm, fishing boat and fruit plantations along riverbank.
Stop over at Unicorn island where we can visit coconut candy workshop to see how local people make coconut candy traditional way. Taste some flavors of candy. Then, move on to a bee farm where you can try honey tea, tropical fruits, listen to Southern Vietnamese folk music that performed by the inhabitants of the islands.
Next, row sampan along small canals to see water coconut trees, and ride horse cart to explore the real life of locals in the coconut kingdom.
Lunch at a local restaurant; then, proceed to Can Tho, the largest city of Mekong Delta. Check in hotel. Free at leisure. Overnight in Can Tho.
DAY2: CAN THO-FPLOATING MARKET-CHAU DOC 130km
Early rise in the morning for breakfast at hotel, then around 6: 30 head to Ninh Kieu Quay to imbark for Cai Rang floating market, one of the biggest floating markets in Mekong Delta. The boat will take you 30 menutes on a distributory of Bassac River from city center to floating market. And it will take you around for you to see the real trading activities happening on the river. Hundreds of boats full of coconut, banana, watermelon, pomelos, rambutan, longan, dragon fruit and many more from across Mekong delta and its neighboring area floating awaite for customers. It’s a kind of wholesale market.
After half an hour at floating market, we will travel to the nearby vermicelli workshop to observe how locals make the rice noodles, a special kind of food that’s very popular among people in Asia.
Back to Can Tho city center to visit Binh Thuy Ancient House, a French style house built in 1870, renowned for its unique architecture and captured in many films such as “The silt ways,” “The Bac Lieu mandarin’s son” and “The lover” of French director J. Annaud.
Proceed to Chau Doc. Lunch en route at a restaurant in crocodile farm. Then, go on to Tra Su Ecotourism to visit a wild bird sanctuary. Discover the diversity of the splendid canals deep in the forest as you can see storks, cranes and other tropical birds. Return to Chau Doc city to check in hotel. Free at leisure. Overnight in Chau Doc, close to Cambodia border.
DAY3: CHAU DOC-SAIGON 210km
After breakfast at the hotel, take motorized boat through floating village to visit fish farm to see how people in Mekong Delta raise fish on their floating houses. Next, visit Cham community to see their traditional weaving village. Cham or Champa is currently one of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. To gain deeper insights about Cham people, we will continue walking up to a Muslim Mosque, a holy place for Cham people to practise their religion and preserve their culture.
Finish the morning tour in Chau Doc. We’ll return to HCMC. Lunch enroute and we’ll arrive your hotel around 5 PM. It depends on traffic conditions.
(Or Option 2: Finish the morning tour in Chau Doc, You can catch a speedboat from this floating village to Phnom Penh Capital, the Kingdom of Cambodia.)
Say goodbye. End of services.