Summary:

• Duration: 4 days 3 nights
• Start time: 7:30 on the first day (customizable)
• End time: 15:30 on the third day (customizable)
• Departs: Saigon - Ends: Saigon

Highlights:

• Phong Dien & Cai Rang floating markets
• Cao Dai Temple
• Local market
• Bike/scooter ride crossing paddy fields
• Boat trip & sampan cruise on Mekong River
• Sampan cruise to floating fish farms
• Bonsai garden and orchards
• Authentic Vietnamese food
• Local people and their hospitality
• And more…

Overview:

Let’s join Water Buffalo Tours travel to an untouched region of the Mekong Delta where you will definitely get an insight into the locals’ daily routines and activities.

You will enjoy a stunning short bike ride through remote villages stretching along paddy fields and fantastic boat ride through the narrow channels amongst the Delta’s incredible scenery.

We ensure you will be amazed by lots of the locals’ activities on the rivers, orchards, at the local market and floating markets. The locals’ strong sense of ancestral worship can be felt and seen everywhere. Their hospitality and simple but healthy food will surely make your trip even more enjoyable.

Itinerary:

DAY 1: Can Duoc – Go Cong – My Tho – Ben Tre (L/D)

Pickup: 7:30 - at your hotel in Saigon Downtown

• Enjoy a pleasant drive on the secondary road 50 (not the Highway 1!) to Go Cong County (60km) where we will visit its local market – a stunning rural market on its informal setting and friendly market goers
• Drive to Tan Hoa (7km), you will enjoy a stunning and easy bike ride (10km) through some remote villages dotted with coconut palm trees stretching along the paddy fields (alternatively you can choose to enjoy the ride from the back-seat of a scooter driven by our driver)
• Savor lunch at a beach-front seafood restaurant at Tan Thanh beach (muddy beach, not for swimming)
• Drive to My Tho pier (45km) where we will enjoy a fantastic cruise crossing the mighty Upper Mekong River, then get transferred to a smaller sampan to wind through some green, lush, picturesque and Amazon-like creek of Tan Thach.
• Drive to Ben Tre Province and check in a local family home.
• Dinner will be served with homely-made and delicious dishes

Lodging: farm stay- Xóm Dừa Nước, double room, basic conditions but nice and clean https://maps.app.goo.gl/gqoZhAsFvsY5aX988

DAY 2: Bike ride – Boat Trip – Cho Lach – Cai Mon – Can Tho (B/L)

• After breakfast, enjoy another easy and beautiful bike ride (over 1 hour) on quiet village-paths lined with thousands of coconut palm trees
• Embark a traditional wooden boat for a 2-hour stunning ride on Ben Tre River with breaks en route to see how locals earn their living by weaving mats, making bricks and tiles, semi-producing coconuts products and by-products.
• Check out your hotel before enjoying lunch with local dishes
• Hop back on your car and drive through Cho Lach and Cai Mon villages (57km) which have been well known for their bonsai and flower gardens, and fruit-trees nurseries.
• Have a short ride on Dinh Khao ferry to cross another branch of Mekong River to Vinh Long. Drive down to Can Tho (30km) via the Highway 1
• Check in your hotel before being free for your dinner

Lodging: Nam Bo boutique, deluxe or similar one.

*Five-star accommodation is available (Sheraton Can Tho or Azerai Can Tho). Please contact us for more information and cost.

**We don't have a homestay option. You can choose to exclude the hotel booking and arrange your own accommodation in Can Tho (within 10km of the city centre).

DAY 3: Phong Dien & Cai Rang Floating Markets – Chau Doc (B/L)

• 5:30: roll out of your bed, hop on your car and drive to Phong Dien district (15km)
• 6:00: hop on an arrow-boat and cruise to the unique and stunning floating markets of Phong Dien and Cai Rang.
• Sit back on your boat and enjoy the morning coffee served by a local coffee boat. You will be surely driven back to the yester-centuries by the sounds of whole world of trading going on from boats to boats.
• Saying goodbye to Phong Dien floating market, our boat will speed up through green and beautiful channels of the Mekong River stretching along rural villages and arrive in Cai Rang floating market. This will complete a special picture of million floating traders, who have been happily living the floating life and earning their living on some 50,000km of waterways in the Mekong Delta
• Get back to your hotel for a late breakfast, have a short rest and check out of the hotel.
• 10:00: drive to Long Xuyen (50km) and witness a mysterious Noon Ceremony at a local Cao Dai temple (10 minutes)
• Enjoy lunch at local restaurant with authentic Mekong delta dishes.
• Drive to Chau Doc (55km) for checking in your room at Victoria Nui Sam resort and chill out by the sswimming pool with a fantastic view of the paddy fields. Depending on season and weather condition, you may be able to view a beautiful sunset from your resort.
• Dinner is independent - your guide can assist you with this.

Lodging: Victoria Nui Sam Lodge, 4-star boutique with stunning view, deluxe

*Five-star accommodation is available (Victoria Chau Doc Hotel). Please contact us for more information and cost.

DAY 4: Sampan cruise to floating fish farms – Dong Thap Muoi – Saigon (B/L)

• 8:00: embark a wooden sampan to wind through hundreds of massive floating fish-farms where hundreds of local families have been living in their floating home and breeding fish under the home’s foundation. You’ll see why this local province of An Giang could export more fresh-water fish than any other parts of Vietnam!
• Drive back to Saigon (220km or around 5 hours) via Dong Thap Muoi region with two interesting local ferry’s rides. This remains the most untouched and the most beautiful drive in the region and is one of Vietnam’s and the world’s largest rice-bowls!
• There will be some short breaks en routes for photos opportunity and snacks with tropical fruits
• Lunch will be served at a local restaurant with authentic Mekong Delta dishes

Drop-off: 15:30 – at your hotel in Saigon where our service ends

*Rates are in USD per person. Your payment will be converted into VND in accordance with Vietnam's Commercial Law.

**Please click here for Vietcombank's current exchange rates (updated daily)

***Online transaction/wiring/banking fees are NOT included in the tour prices.

Included:

• Hotel accommodations as sepcified, based on twin share room - single rooms are subject to extra charges
• Modern air-conditioned private vehicle
• Meals as specified: (B)= Breakfast; (L)= Lunch
• Private boat trips and sampan cruises in My Tho, Ben Tre, the floating markets and floating fish farms in Chau Doc.
• All entrance fees for specified stops
• Gearless bikes or scooters with drivers
• Fresh tropical fruits
• Professional English-speaking guide
• 2 bottles of mineral water per person per day

 Not included:

• Drinks, meals and any other incurred expenses, that are not mentioned above
• Personal travel insurance
• Tipping – tipping is optional. If you enjoyed our guide’s and driver’s service and decided to offer a tip, we would really appreciate your effort to hand over the tip to our guide and our driver separately so they both could appropriately express their thanks to you at the same time

Disclaimer:

• Due to tourism boom in recent years, there are many tourist boats at the floating markets. Also, the rapid growth of cellphones and social media has changed the way middlemen and dealers do their job - it is now much easier for them to purchase directly from the farm, which resulted in the shriveling size of the floating markets.
• For safety reasons, we do not provide small bikes for young children of 12 years and below. They will sit either on the back of your bike for the ride; or on the back seat of a scooter, in between the driver and one of the adults. The ride is safe on flat and quiet villages’ paths at the speed of no more than 25km/h
• Please take your passport(s) with you for the hotel check-in.
• There will be quite a bit of driving on this tour as we have to cover a vast region
• Please bring with you some type of insect repellants as you may need it for visiting Tra Su conservation. However, Mekong Delta is NOT a malaria area
• Some parts of Mekong Delta are not that green during the dry season which goes from January to late-May
• The weather can be very hot and humid from April to early-June
• Please bring along a good brimmed hat and sun-cream for the bike/scooter ride
• Proper sandals are required for the wet season (May to late-November) and shoes for the dry season as you have to get on and off the boat quite a few times
• We will visit a local Cao Dai Temple on this tour. Wearing shorts is ok, but not too short. Also, you are advised to get your shoulders covered while visiting the temple
• There will be no shopping stop on this tour!

Extra notes:

• To all future visitors to Vietnam: please keep in mind that tap water is ABSOLUTELY NOT safe to drink whether at homestays, hotels or 5-star resorts.
• We only run private and customizable tours. There isn't a group tour option nor do we team our guests up for a group.
• We offer free pickup and drop-off from District 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 and Phu Nhuan. Pickup/drop-off outside of this area and airport transfers are subject to extra charges.
• Some of the stops can be slightly changed, depends on actual time of travel
• While traveling with us, your luggage will be safe in the car with our driver. However, we are NOT responsible for your money, jewelries, cell phones, and any other valuable belongings

For more information on our services, please have a look at our FAQs page or contact us.

To know what our customers say about our service, please visit our TripAdvisor page!