Southern Vietnam with Mekong Delta – 6 days

Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City and arrival (D)

Arrive at Tan Son Nhat airport, where you will be met by your local guide and driver. Transfer to your hotel. Take an orientation tour in the afternoon (if time permits). Enjoy a welcome dinner. Stay overnight at your hotel of choice in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh city tour (B; L)

Breakfast at your hotel. Begin your city tour with a visit to the Independence Palace, the former residence of the President of South Vietnam until the end of the war in April 1975. It has been ranked as a special national monument by the Vietnamese government.

Besides, you will admire the Notre Dame Cathedral and the City Post Office, both of which are unique architectural works in the ancient Gothic style and typical projects that contribute to HCMC’s appearance. Lunch at the local restaurant.

In the afternoon, you will visit Thien Hau Temple: one of the temples and shrines with the longest history among the Chinese people in Ho Chi Minh City. Besides admiring the value of architectural and sculptural art, this is also a place of gathering and mutual support for Vietnamese people of Chinese origin (Guangdong).

After seeing the Emperor Jade Pagoda, a place of worship for the Jade Emperor, built by a Chinese person during the period 1892-1900, in the Chinese architectural style. And then the War Remnants Museum is a place to collect, store, preserve, and display documents, images, and artifacts related to evidence of the Vietnam Wars since the twentieth century. End the city tour with a visit to Ben Thanh Market, where you will have free time to shop and experience the local market’s bustling life.

Dinner on the guest‘s account. Stay overnight at your hotel of choice in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 3: Ho Chi Minh city – Cao Dai Temple – Cu Chi tunnels (B; L)

Enjoy your breakfast at the hotel, you will drive west towards Tay Ninh to visit the Tay Ninh Holy See, where the most outstanding architecture in Asia was built between 1933 and 1955. This is the headquarters of the most distinctive religious tradition in Vietnam. Cao Dai is a religion that combines many sects of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. On arrival, attend the fantastic midday temple service, when followers fill the temple in colorful robes and pray. The temple is decorated in many colors and features unique structures, all of which are mixed with mystery.

Lunch at the local restaurant. On the way back, stop to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground network structure that includes hospitals, accommodation, kitchens, storage rooms, working rooms, meeting rooms, etc. and were used as a military base during the American war. 

Review of Cu Chi Tunnels

When visiting the Cu Chi tunnels, you will learn how Vietnamese guerrillas built, lived, and fought in the tunnels. You can witness with your own eyes primitive homemade weapons, bamboo traps…; experience crawling through tunnels. In addition, you also have the opportunity to shoot guns at the shooting range in the tunnels.

After that, coming back to Ho Chi Minh, dinner on the guest‘s account, and overnight in this city.

Day 4: Ho Chi Minh City – My Tho – Ben Tre – Can Tho (B;L)

Breakfast at your hotel, then start the Mekong Tour to My Tho (about 80km from Ho Chi Minh City). Upon arriving in My Tho, tourists will visit Vinh Trang Pagoda, famous for its ancient and unique architectural and artistic relics dating back to the 19th century. The pagoda is imbued with Eastern architecture and mixed with Western trends, creating a valuable work of culture and design. Furthermore, visitors will be overwhelmed by the image of meticulously carved Buddha statues, crafted by skilled craftsmen.

Leaving Vinh Trang Pagoda, you go up boat trip to visit the floating fish rafts on the Mekong Delta River by motor boat, and admire the beauty of Rach Mieu bridge. After 20 minutes, the boat docked at the Thoi Son Islet. From here, you will walk around the village streets, visit and learn about the lives of local people, and go to orchards to enjoy seasonal fruits. While sipping fruit, you can enjoy the smooth, deep sounds from folk music – “don ca tai tu”.

Walking through the garden, you come to the small ferry wharf. From here, a woman wearing a Ba Ba shirt rowed a dinghy on the canal to take you to the beekeeping village to collect honey.

Rowing a sampan in Thoi Son islet

There, visitors will enjoy honey tea and meet and chat with genuine Southern people. Return to the big boat, go down the Tien River, and the boat will take you to Vinh Long province to visit. Vinh Long’s specialty coconut candy factory. Continuing the journey, you will board a drawn carriage to visit the village streets to see the fruit gardens and the simple life of the local people.

Coming to Con Phung, visitors will have the opportunity to sit on a sampan to admire the river scenery and enjoy sweet coconuts; visit a crocodile farm before heading for your lunch in local restaurant…

After lunch, you can ride a bicycle along the village road to immerse yourself in the lives of local people, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the “coconut kingdom”. Then proceed to Can Tho. Stay overnight at your hotel of choice in Can Tho city.

Day 5: Cai Rang Floating Market – Ho Chi Minh City

In the morning, you will have breakfast at the hotel, then board the boat to visit Cai Rang floating market – the largest and busiest floating market in the Mekong Delta.

Here you will see the busy trading scene on the river with all kinds of goods – this is also a unique feature of the river region. After that, you will visit the fruit garden and the making facility. Get on the boat to return to the pier and have lunch at Can Tho restaurant, return to Ho Chi Minh City, and stay overnight here.

Day 6: Ho Chi Minh City – Departure

Breakfast is served at the hotel. Free time until your transfer to the airport for departure. End of Southern Vietnam with Mekong Delta tour.

CUSTOMIZED TOUR

Tour Price Includes

• A/c van/mini bus transfer & sightseeing as per program
• English-speaking guide on a day tour
• Entrance fees.
• Half board package meals as indicated (B=breakfast, L = lunch, D = dinner)
• Accommodation based on twin/double sharing

Tour Price Excludes:

• International flight & Domestic flight tickets
• Travel insurance
• Drinks & other meals not mentioned in the program
• Personal expenses
• Vietnamese visa stamp fee