Southern Vietnam: Saigon, the Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Saigon

   Tan Son Nhat International Airport to District 1, then an evening walk

   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
   Détail du jour 1

   Your trip starts at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN), where we meet you and drive you about 8 km to your hotel in District 1, the old centre of Ho Chi Minh City. Most people who live here still call it Saigon. Rest after the flight: the afternoon heat is the time to sleep, not to sightsee. In the early evening, as the city cools, you meet your guide and the group for a short walk along the Nguyen Hue walking street to the old City Hall, built by the French as the Hôtel de Ville in the early 1900s and now the seat of the city's People's Committee, seen from outside, and on to the Opera House. Your guide shows you how to cross a road full of scooters calmly, the most useful skill for the next three days. Then a welcome dinner together of southern dishes, which are sweeter and richer in fresh herbs than those of the north. If your flight lands late, we meet at breakfast instead.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)
   • Evening walk on Nguyen Hue past the old City Hall and the Opera House
   • Welcome dinner with your guide

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest before the welcome walk

   

2. Jour 2 : The Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Remnants Museum

   Ho Chi Minh City to the Cu Chi Tunnels at Ben Duoc and back, then the War Remnants Museum

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave at 7 am to reach the Cu Chi Tunnels at Ben Duoc, about 70 km north-west of the city, early in the morning, before the midday heat and the busiest hour; the early start buys that cooler hour and a free afternoon. The tunnels were dug by hand under the farmland from the late 1940s, during the war against the French, and extended in the war with the Americans into a network of well over 100 km, with kitchens, meeting rooms, field hospitals and air vents hidden in termite mounds. Your guide stays with you the whole way, explaining how people lived underground for weeks at a time. You can climb down into a short section widened for visitors, or stay above ground and see the entrances, traps and shelters. Back in the city for lunch together, then a free afternoon. At about 4 pm we visit the War Remnants Museum, and your guide stays in the galleries with you. Its photographs of the war, and of the effects of Agent Orange, are hard viewing, and you can step out at any time. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Cu Chi Tunnels at Ben Duoc in the early morning, with entry and a local site guide
   • Lunch in Ho Chi Minh City
   • War Remnants Museum with your guide, with entry

   Option plus facile : Stay above ground at Cu Chi and see the entrances and shelters, or skip the museum and rest at the hotel.

   Option plus active : Crawl a second, narrower tunnel section with the site guide, where it is open.

   Temps libre : Early afternoon and evening free

   Activité : The tunnel section is low, warm and a few minutes long; it is not for anyone uneasy in tight spaces.

   

3. Jour 3 : Old Saigon and a street food evening

   The Independence Palace, the Central Post Office and Ben Thanh Market, then District 4 and Cholon after dark

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
   Détail du jour 3

   A morning on foot and by van through the old centre, starting at the Independence Palace as it opens. This was the home and office of the president of South Vietnam, and on 30 April 1975 a tank broke through its gates and the war ended; the 1960s reception rooms, the command bunker in the basement and the helipad on the roof are kept as they were. We walk on to the Central Post Office, built under the French at the end of the 19th century and still working under its vaulted iron roof, and the red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral beside it, whose long restoration is now largely complete. Late morning, Ben Thanh Market: your guide shows you the food stalls, and lunch is yours to choose there. The afternoon is free for a swim, a rest or a coffee. In the evening we go out by van and on foot to District 4 and the old Chinese quarter of Cholon for a street food dinner of grilled seafood, broken rice and sweet soups, at the hour the stalls are busiest.

   Compris

   • Independence Palace at opening time, with entry
   • Central Post Office and Notre-Dame Cathedral
   • Ben Thanh Market with your guide
   • Street food evening in District 4 and Cholon

   Activités en option

   • A O Show at the Saigon Opera House. From about VND 800,000; on evenings when it plays, instead of part of the street food evening.

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own at Ben Thanh Market, afternoon free

   Activité : Notre-Dame Cathedral's restoration is largely complete, with some conservation work reported into 2027; whether we go inside depends on access on the day.

   

4. Jour 4 : Into the Mekong Delta

   Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh Long and An Binh island, then Can Tho

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Can Tho
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Saigon at about 8 am and drive south on the expressway into the Mekong Delta, crossing the Tien River, the northern branch of the Mekong, at My Thuan. At Vinh Long a short boat takes us across the Co Chien to An Binh, an island of orchards, small farms and canals. A local rows you along a narrow canal in a sampan, the quietest hour of the day, then we cycle the shaded lanes with your guide at an easy pace, past fruit gardens, village shrines and houses on stilts over the water. Lunch is in a family's garden, with Mekong dishes such as elephant ear fish rolled at the table with herbs and rice paper. In the afternoon we drive on to Can Tho, the largest city of the delta, crossing the Hau River, which the French called the Bassac, on the long Can Tho Bridge. Check in at our riverside homestay, a family-run place with private rooms and bathrooms, and rest. Dinner tonight is cooked by our hosts.

   Compris

   • Transport from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho with your guide
   • Boat across the Co Chien to An Binh island
   • Sampan ride on the small canals
   • Bicycle ride through the orchards and villages
   • Lunch in a family garden
   • Dinner at the homestay

   Option plus facile : Ride in the vehicle or walk a shorter loop instead of cycling.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the homestay

   Activité : The bicycle ride is about 5 to 8 km on flat lanes, with stops.

   

5. Jour 5 : Cai Rang floating market at dawn

   Can Tho by boat to Cai Rang and back through the small canals

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Can Tho
   Détail du jour 5

   The early start is the point of the day. We board a small boat on the Can Tho waterfront at about 5:30 am, while it is still cool, and reach the Cai Rang floating market as trading begins. Wholesale boats hang a sample of what they sell from a tall pole, a pineapple, a pumpkin or a bunch of onions, and smaller boats come alongside to buy. The market is smaller than it once was, as roads take over from the river, but at first light it is still busy and noisy. Breakfast is a bowl of noodle soup bought from a boat. On the way back we take the narrow canals and stop at a family kitchen where rice noodles are made by hand, to watch and taste, not to shop. Back at the homestay by about 10 am to rest, then lunch together and a free afternoon in the hammock or by the river. Late in the day, cycle the canal paths with your guide. For dinner our hosts make banh xeo, crisp rice pancakes, with you.

   Compris

   • Boat to the Cai Rang floating market at dawn
   • The small canals and a rice noodle kitchen
   • Lunch in Can Tho
   • Late afternoon bicycle ride on the canal paths (optional)
   • Cooking dinner with our hosts

   Option plus facile : Skip the bicycle ride and rest at the homestay; the boat morning is seated throughout.

   Option plus active : A longer late afternoon ride with your guide to the smaller Phong Dien market area and back.

   Temps libre : Late morning and early afternoon free

   Activité : If the market is quiet on the day, the boat continues to the smaller Phong Dien floating market.

6. Jour 6 : Across to Phu Quoc

   Can Tho to Rach Gia, then the fast ferry to Phu Quoc

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Phu Quoc
   Détail du jour 6

   A travel day, planned so no part of it is long. We leave Can Tho at about 8 am and drive west across the rice country of the lower delta to Rach Gia on the Gulf of Thailand, about 2.5 hours. Lunch together near the port, then the early afternoon fast ferry to Phu Quoc, which takes about 2.5 hours to the island's east coast. The ferry is air-conditioned with assigned seats, and in the dry season the sea is usually calm. From the port we drive about 45 minutes across the island to our hotel on the west coast, the side that faces the sunset. Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island, about 50 km from north to south, with a national park covering much of its forested north. There is just time to swim before the sun goes down over the sea. The farewell dinner tonight is seafood by the water, the last evening of the trip together.

   Compris

   • Transport from Can Tho to Rach Gia with your guide
   • Lunch in Rach Gia
   • Fast ferry from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc
   • Transfer to your hotel on the west coast
   • Farewell dinner

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free for a swim before sunset

   Activité : If strong wind cancels the ferry, we drive back towards Ho Chi Minh City or Can Tho and fly to Phu Quoc instead; your guide arranges it on the day.

   

7. Jour 7 : A free morning, then fly from Phu Quoc

   The west coast beach, then Phu Quoc International Airport

   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   The last morning is yours, with no early start. Breakfast at the hotel, then swim, walk the beach or sit in the shade with a last iced coffee. If you want one more outing, your guide can take you into Duong Dong, the island's main town, to see a fish sauce house, where the anchovy sauce Phu Quoc is known for ferments for months in tall wooden vats, and the small fishing harbour at the river mouth. We drive you to Phu Quoc International Airport (PQC), about 15 to 20 minutes from the west coast hotels, at the time that suits your flight. Most guests fly home through Ho Chi Minh City, about an hour in the air, so book a flight from Phu Quoc after about noon, or tell us your times and we plan the transfer around them. If you would like more beach time, we can add nights on the island at the end of the trip.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Phu Quoc International Airport (PQC)

   Temps libre : Morning free

   

Faune et météo : December to April is the dry season in the south: sunny, humid days of about 30 to 35 degrees C, with April the hottest month and December and January a little fresher in the mornings. On Phu Quoc this is the calm season on the west coast, with clear sunsets. From May to November afternoon storms are common, the Phu Quoc ferry can be rough or cancelled in strong wind, and the delta floods from about September to November.

• Ho Chi Minh City3 nuits
• Can Tho2 nuits
• Phu Quoc1 nuit