Mekong Delta Discovery

Your private guide and driver will welcome you warmly in the arrival hall of Ho Chi Minh City Airport as you arrive. On your way to hotel, you’ll get your first encounter of this vibrant city, especially when you see streets packed with various kinds of motorbikes dashing out from everywhere. You’ll say it holds true that people in the city are "living on motorcycle wheels".

Vietnamese cuisine is definitely not to be missed. In the next few days, you’ll visit Vietnam’s main southern cities abundant with coconuts and aquatic products, ingredients for making coconut chicken and coconut cake, as well as seafood dishes and fish paste. In the evening, you’ll be treated to authentic southern Vietnamese cuisine at a delightful restaurant and get acquainted with our guide. It’s likely you will taste coconut chicken, cooked with the coconut meat whose fragrance is absorbed into chicken, and try some refreshing Vietnamese sweet bean jelly soup.

➤ Choose a Right SIM or eSIM Card for Your Tour
As this is a 6-day trip, you can choose the telecom operator’s Viettel's 7GB package for 7 days, which costs ₫30,000 (around $1.2). If you need a vast amount of data, we recommend Vinaphone's 7-day unlimited data plan which charges ₫200,000 (nearly $8). You can purchase the card in telecom booths at the airport entrance or exit, kiosks, or at 7-Eleven.

Meal: Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

Today we’ll get right to the most popular sightseeing spots of Ho Chi Minh City. Our first stop will be the China Town, a local market boasting old Chinese temples with beautiful architecture. Then we’ll visit the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, or FITO Museum, an important protector of medical cultural heritage with nearly 3,000 related relics. Influenced by the Chinese counterpart, a unique theoretical system and practice method have formed for the Vietnamese traditional medicine. Our knowledgeable guide will accompany you to admire the herbal specimens, pharmaceutical utensils and medical books dating to the Stone Age. There’s a chance for you to experience pulse diagnosis and grind medicinal herbs. Then continue to Ben Thanh Market to browse over a superb collection of goods, such as clothing, Vietnamese coffee, fresh fruits and spices.

After lunch, we’ll visit the War Remnants Museum, which introduces in detail the entire evolution of Vietnam War through pictures and where you’ll see the soul-stirring prison execution site. Then head to the Reunification Palace, which witnessed the times of national upheavals after World War II. We’ll finish our afternoon off with visits to the neo-Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office.

The evening program will include dinner and a night cruise tour on Saigon River, a witness to Ho Chi Minh City’s developing from an ancient trading port to a modern metropolis. On the cruise, enjoy the nighttime charm of the river and brightly-lit landmarks like Bitexco Financial Tower and Pham Ngu Lao Street echoing each other.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

We’ll start today by attending a cooking class to get hands-on experience on Vietnam’s culinary culture. In the morning, you’ll first be accompanied to an organic farm to select fresh vegetables and ingredients and then be taken to the kitchen to learn how to cook Vietnamese dishes from a master chef. The class lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes. It is absolutely a fun-filled experience. Try to make the most famous spring rolls, which are made by wrapping shrimp or crab meat and chopped vegetables in rice papers. The rice paper is so thin that you can see red meat and colorful vegetables through it.

After class, you’ll be escorted to visit the astonishing Cu Chi Tunnels, a maze of underground tunnels dug during the Vietnam War. You can crawl through parts of the tunnels to reenact surviving the warring days.

➤ Kind Notices on Cu Chi Tunnels:
1. You may need to squat or even crawl through narrow and sometimes uneven passageways. Therefore long pants and sports shoes are recommended to wear.
2. Some parts of the tunnels are dark; although your guide is equipped with flashlight, you can still use your own phone’s flashlight to illuminate covert corners that intrigue you.
3. The tunnels are humid inside and you may encounter some small bugs, so if you feel repelled by this you are suggested to bring insect repellent.
4. As the internal structure of the tunnels is complex and the entrance and exit are hidden, please follow your guide closely to avoid getting lost.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

An exciting day awaits you! After breakfast, we’ll take a 2-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre and start our Mekong River Cruise. We’ll board a cruise ship to sail along Ham Luong River, one of the tributaries of the Mekong River, to appreciate stunning natural sceneries in harmony with local culture. Along the way, you’ll see islets and sand dunes on the river, as well as lush water coconut trees lining the banks - they’re nature’s gift to Ben Tre. We’ll go ashore to visit a local workshop that make traditional coconut candies, rice paper, swelled candy rice and various rice wines. People here not only live off the river, but also on the river. Their unique houses - stilt houses along the bank and floating houses on the river - give a distinctive flavor to the delta. We’ll stop at a village and visit a farmer's home to peek at what life is like for people living here. Furthermore, enjoy the idyllic scenery by "Xe Loi" rickshaw or bicycle.

At noon, we’ll stop at a riverside restaurant for a delicious and filling lunch. The fried elephant ear fish you're about to taste is a specialty here. Dip it in sauce and bite into its crispy skin to discover tender meat inside, which will leave you a rich aftertaste. To get you away from the hustle and bustle of commercial attractions and explore more pristine narrow canals of Mekong River, we have prepared for you a sampan trip - a highlight of the cruise! Maybe try on the boatman's bamboo hat and enjoy the sunlight sparkling through water coconut leaves, trees whispering to calm wind and insects singing. You may also witness some peculiar tropical animals and plants. As the adventure finishes, transfer to the boat at the pier nearby to sail back to Ben Tre and then we’ll drive you to Can Tho, the largest city along Mekong Delta in Vietnam. You’ll have the rest of the day free to explore on your own.

➤ Free Time Recommended Activities upon Arrival in Can Tho
Can Tho is hot during the day, and it’s just cooler after evening. The French-style hotel surrounded by lush plants we carefully picked for you is just along the river bank, which boasts views regarded as the essence of the city. Take a stroll to enjoy them and towards Can Tho Night Market, where you can sample some barbecued seafood, and maybe try its specialty fish sauce hot pot.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Victoria Can Tho Resort - Deluxe Room (4 stars) or Victoria Can Tho Resort - Superior Room (4 stars)

We’ll leave for the famous Cai Rang Floating Market by motor boat early in the morning today. Upon arrival, you’ll see lots of peddlers riding boats from surrounding areas of Cai Rang Town to join in the market’s hustle and bustle. These hardworking Vietnamese along Mekong Delta have lived here for hundreds of years! The boats of all sizes function as shops selling agricultural products and specialties. Large ships mainly engage in wholesale and will leave when the goods are sold out; small boats are carrying local fruits, vegetables and even coffee and rice noodles cooked onsite, and they head back until the morning market calls an end. You can try some fresh fruits on boat to experience shopping on water if you want, or ask a boatman if you’re permitted to get inside his boat to get a closer look at their trading life. Since the perfection of land facilities, the floating market, once several kilometers long, now has reduced to only three or five hundred meters, but it’s still a lively place to look back on the past.

★ Privilege of Our Guests:
Cai Rang Floating Market may be the earliest opening market in Vietnam, with around 06:00 - 07:00 being the best time to visit. Unlike other travel agencies that need you to leave at 04:00 to catch the crowded shuttle boat, we have arranged for you a private motorboat to leave at 06:00.

Afterwards, we’ll continue the boat ride to visit reputable orchards and sample some fresh fruits. As our boat continues to move into the countryside, you’ll view locals going about their daily activities and their traditional palm-leafed houses - primitive as they are, they can be cost-effective and very reliable. These houses embody the wisdom of local residents in harnessing tropical palms for their own use. You can tell from the roofs and walls, which are indigenously designed with gaps allowing natural ventilation and lighting. And then we’ll return to Can Tho for lunch before driving back to Ho Chi Minh City.

➤ Free Time Recommended Activities upon Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City
If you’re still energetic, visit the Ho Thi Ky Flower Night Market, a time-honored market with many of the flowers being unique to the region. The market carries a large stock mainly from Vietnam's "flower city" Da Lat and the Mekong Delta, and flowers that can't be sold are sent to be made into Vietnamese perfume. Then walk to its namesake food street next door for your last chance to sample authentic Vietnamese seafood, grilled beef with cheese, and baked egg cups. Remember to prepare some small change in advance.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

Your pleasant 6 days tour from Saigon to Mekong Delta comes to an end today as we see you off at the airport.

➤ Free Morning Recommended Activities
If time permits, we suggest you take a stroll around Bin Tay Market, the largest wholesale market in southern Vietnam. Vietnamese coffee, cashew nuts, the traditional dress ao dai and Viet fabrics are all with high quality and reasonable prices. You can use your bargaining skills if you want a lower price. And if you're a culture and art lover, the mysterious Ho Chi Minh Museum of Fine Arts can't be missed.

With low costs, vibrant life and marvelous natural sceneries, Vietnam attracts people around the world, especially backpackers who even stay here for one or two months. Should you wish to continue your tour to explore the country’s northern and central cities, like the capital Hanoi, the historic imperial city Hue and the ancient town Hoi An, or some other Asian countries like Thailand and Cambodia, we have some extension tour options for you to select from. If you’re interested, feel free to contact us. Let's keep the wonderful experience going on!

Meal: Breakfast