# Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City > The Mekong Delta is the river-and-canal country southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. A day trip goes to My Tho and Ben Tre: about two hours each way and 3–4 hours on the islands. Group tours start at roughly $25 (unofficial) and run daily. The Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho needs an overnight stay. Web page: https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/mekong-delta - City: [Ho Chi Minh City](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city), Vietnam - YesGo score: 29/100 (Yes, if nearby) - Time on site: 4 h - Entry: Day tour from $25 - Opening hours: Daily, no closing days. Day tours: hotel pick-up around 7:30–8:00, back by evening, 8–11 hours in all (unofficial). Cai Rang floating market: early morning, best 5:00–7:00 - With kids: Fine with kids - Day tour (My Tho, Ben Tre): Unofficial: from about $25 per person in a group; private with a guide from about $250 per car - Overnight tour via Can Tho: 2 days with Cai Rang floating market at sunrise; price depends on hotel and group size - Drive to My Tho: ≈ 70 km, about 2 hours each way - Drive to Can Tho: ≈ 170 km, 3.5–4 hours - Bus: From Mien Tay Bus Station: to My Tho about 100,000–150,000 VND, to Can Tho about 150,000–200,000 VND (unofficial) - Boat at My Tho: From the My Tho tourist pier: about 150,000–450,000 VND per person, private boat about 1,000,000 VND (unofficial) - Payment: Book online by card; carry VND cash in small notes for the islands - Season: Dry December–April, rainy May–November - Coordinates: 10.33240, 106.32070 - Facts checked: 05.11.2026 ## Key facts - **≈ 70 km** — from Ho Chi Minh City to My Tho, the nearest edge of the delta; about two hours by road (source: English Wikipedia ‘Mỹ Tho (city)’; VnExpress; localvietnam.com) - **≈ 170 km** — to Can Tho, the delta’s main city; 3.5–4 hours by road (source: English Wikipedia ‘Cần Thơ’; localvietnam.com) - **5:00–7:00** — best time at Cai Rang floating market; trading has mostly wound down by 9:00 (source: English and Vietnamese Wikipedia; vietnamtourism.com) - **‘Nine Dragons’** — the meaning of Cửu Long, the delta’s Vietnamese name (source: English and Russian Wikipedia) - **≈ 40,500 km²** — area of the delta in southwestern Vietnam (source: English Wikipedia; Russian Wikipedia (40,576.6 km²)) - **1,200 ha** — size of Thoi Son Island opposite My Tho, the main stop on day tours (source: VnExpress; English Wikipedia ‘Thoi Son Island’ (12 km²)) - **4 islets** — Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle and Phoenix on the river at My Tho; Thoi Son, the ‘Unicorn’, is the largest (source: VnExpress; English Wikipedia ‘Thoi Son Island’) - **2016** — Cai Rang floating market recognised as national intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam (source: English and Vietnamese Wikipedia) - **‘Bẹo’ poles** — Cai Rang boats hang their goods from a tall pole instead of a sign (source: English and Vietnamese Wikipedia) - **May–November** — rainy season; December–April is dry and best for boats and markets (source: Vietnam National Authority of Tourism; English Wikipedia ‘Cần Thơ’) > **The floating market isn’t on a day trip** The floating market in most Mekong photos is **Cai Rang** in Can Tho. It trades from before dawn, is at its best around 5:00–7:00, and Can Tho is 3.5–4 hours from Ho Chi Minh City. A one-day tour can’t get there in time. If the market is the point, book an overnight trip. Cai Be’s floating market, still on some itineraries, has unofficially shrunk to very little real trade. ## Is a Mekong Delta day trip worth it? Yes, if this is your first time in Vietnam and you want a green, slow contrast to Ho Chi Minh City — but go in with the right expectations. A day tour is roughly 4 hours on the road and 3–4 hours on the water and in the orchards, and the stops are set up for visitors: every one will offer you coconut candy, honey or coconut oil. What you do get is genuinely pleasant: a boat across the wide river, a narrow canal under water-coconut palms in a hand-rowed sampan, fruit straight from the orchard and a short set of southern folk music. Children usually love it. It’s less worth it if you’ve already done village-and-boat days elsewhere in Southeast Asia, or if you only have two days in the city. And if ‘real river life’ is what you’re after, that is in Can Tho and deeper in the delta — which means staying the night. ## Which Mekong Delta tour: My Tho, Cai Be or Can Tho? **My Tho and Ben Tre in a day** is the classic. A bus or minivan collects you from a District 1 hotel around 7:30–8:00, you reach the My Tho pier at about 10:00, then cross to Thoi Son Island, ride the canals, eat lunch and head back, arriving in the city by early evening. It’s the closest corner of the delta, about 70 km away. **Cai Be and Vinh Long** offer the same mix of orchards, workshops and boats but quieter, about half an hour further. Cai Be’s floating market still appears on itineraries, but unofficial guides say there’s little real trading left — treat it as a river cruise. **Two days via Can Tho** is the version we’d choose. Day one is My Tho or Ben Tre, the night is in Can Tho, and day two starts with a sunrise boat to Cai Rang and the canals around it. Same total driving, much more delta. There are also combined ‘delta plus [Cu Chi Tunnels](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/cu-chi-tunnels)’ days. They’re long, and leave only a couple of hours in the delta — only worth it if you really are that short on time. ## How much does a Mekong Delta tour cost? Shared day tours with transfer, boats and lunch start at **about $25 per person** on operator sites; small-group and all-inclusive versions run $60–150, and a private tour with a guide and car starts around $250 for up to 10 people. Overnight Can Tho trips cost more because of the hotel. All of this is unofficial — compare what’s included (lunch, sampan, drinks, hotel) rather than the headline price. There’s no separate island entry ticket on Thoi Son: on a tour it’s covered, and independently you pay for the boat. Bring Vietnamese dong in small notes for tips, candy, honey, fruit and drinks. Foreign Visa and Mastercard work for booking online and at bigger hotels, but the islands are a cash world. Grab, if you use it to reach the bus station, takes cash or a linked foreign card. ## What to see in the Mekong Delta - **Thoi Son Island** (Cồn Thới Sơn, also called Cồn Lân or Unicorn Island) — about 1,200 ha of orchards and canals opposite My Tho, the main stop on nearly every day tour. - **The water-palm canal** — 10–15 minutes in a hand-rowed sampan along a narrow creek, paddled by local villagers. The most photogenic part of the day. - **Ben Tre’s coconut workshops** — coconut candy cooked and cut by hand, with tastings; puffed rice and rice paper are often made next door. - **Orchards and a bee farm** — a plate of seasonal fruit and honey tea with kumquat. Fruit is most plentiful in summer and early autumn. - **Đờn ca tài tử** — a short set of southern Vietnamese folk music in the orchard, usually during the fruit tasting. - **Vinh Trang Pagoda** (Chùa Vĩnh Tràng) in My Tho — a large Buddhist temple with gardens, on many itineraries on the way to the pier. Cover shoulders and knees. - **Cai Rang floating market** — wholesale boats piled with fruit and vegetables, goods hanging from tall poles. Overnight trips only, at sunrise. ## Cai Rang floating market and a night in Can Tho **Cai Rang** is the biggest and best-known floating market in the delta, 6–7 km from central Can Tho, and was recognised as national intangible cultural heritage in 2016. Boats gather from the small hours, the busiest stretch is 5:00–7:00, and by 9:00 it’s mostly over. Boats leave from **Ninh Kieu Wharf** (Bến Ninh Kiều) in the city centre — around 100,000–140,000 VND per person on a shared boat according to Wikipedia — and take about 30 minutes to reach the market. Set off at 5:00–5:30 for sunrise. Sellers don’t use signs: the ‘bẹo’ pole with a pineapple, pumpkin or sweet potato hanging from it tells you what each boat sells. Staying in Can Tho is the unhurried way to see the delta: the riverfront in the evening, the market at dawn, canals and orchards in the afternoon. Back to Ho Chi Minh City it’s 3.5–4 hours by bus or transfer. ## How to get to the Mekong Delta by bus 1. **From Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office to Mien Tay Bus Station** (Bến xe Miền Tây, 395 Kinh Dương Vương) — Grab or taxi, about 10 km in a straight line, 30–45 minutes depending on traffic. The metro doesn’t go there. 2. **Bus to My Tho** — about two hours, unofficially 100,000–150,000 VND. Buy at the station, in the Vexere app or from operators such as FUTA (Phương Trang). 3. **In My Tho, head to the tourist pier** (bến tàu du lịch Mỹ Tho) by Grab or motorbike taxi. Boats to Thoi Son Island with stops cost roughly 150,000–450,000 VND per person; a private boat about 1,000,000 VND (unofficial). 4. **To Can Tho** — FUTA and other buses from Mien Tay, 3.5–4 hours, unofficially 150,000–200,000 VND. Check the drop-off: FUTA uses its own terminal, not Can Tho’s main bus station. 5. **To Cai Rang** — about 30 minutes by boat from Ninh Kieu Wharf; leave at 5:00–5:30. 6. **Car with driver** from Ho Chi Minh City — unofficially about 1,000,000 VND one way to My Tho, transport only. Honestly, for a single day My Tho is easier on a tour: on your own, the pier is where it’s easy to overpay. ## Best time to visit the Mekong Delta Any month works — tours leave every day. According to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, **December to April** is the dry season and the best time for boats and floating markets: clear skies and more predictable roads. **May to November** is the rainy season, often short afternoon downpours with dry mornings. Fruit is most plentiful in summer and early autumn: the tourism authority says May–August, VnExpress says July–October. Whatever the month, bring a hat and sunscreen (there’s no shade on the water) and mosquito repellent. Over Tết, the Lunar New Year, Cai Rang is closed or very quiet for the first days. ## Day tour, overnight via Can Tho or on your own | | Day tour | 2 days via Can Tho | Independent by bus | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Where | My Tho, Thoi Son, Ben Tre | My Tho or Ben Tre + Can Tho | My Tho or Can Tho | | Drive each way | ≈ 2 h | ≈ 2 h + 2 h on to Can Tho | 2 h to My Tho, 3.5–4 h to Can Tho | | Floating market | No | Cai Rang at sunrise | Cai Rang if you sleep in Can Tho | | Price | From about $25 shared | More, with hotel | Bus 100,000–200,000 VND + boats | | Best for | Short stays, first visit | Seeing the market | Confident independent travellers | Distances are from Wikipedia; times, tour and bus prices are unofficial figures from operators and bus companies. ## Before you go - [ ] I know whether lunch, the sampan and drinks are included - [ ] I know the pick-up time and place - [ ] VND cash in small notes - [ ] Hat, sunscreen and mosquito repellent - [ ] Light rain jacket from May to November - [ ] Shoulders and knees covered for the pagoda - [ ] For Cai Rang: alarm at 4:30 and the boat booked the night before ## Waterside places in and around Ho Chi Minh City Waterside places in and around Ho Chi Minh City rated by YesGo. - [Mekong Delta](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/mekong-delta) — YesGo score 29/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 4 h · Day tour from $25 ## Delta by day, downtown by night The whole day in the Mekong Delta, then, if you still have energy, dinner by Ben Thanh Market and a stroll to the Opera House. Add it to your route and YesGo will set the timings. 1. [Mekong Delta](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/mekong-delta) — YesGo score 29/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 4 h · Day tour from $25 2. [Ben Thanh Market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/ben-thanh-market) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free entry 3. [Saigon Opera House](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/saigon-opera-house) — YesGo score 44/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free outside; inside with a show ticket > **Get into the first sampan** The rowing boats go down the palm canal one after another, and the first ones glide through quietly with no other boats in the shot. Stay close to your guide when the group reaches the canal. You’re often handed a conical hat in the boat — it beats any cap for photos. ## Not to be confused with The Mekong runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This page covers only the Vietnamese delta and trips there from Ho Chi Minh City. Multi-day river cruises to Phnom Penh in Cambodia are a separate journey with their own visas and routes. ## Tips - If you have three days or more in the city, do two days via Can Tho — the sunrise at Cai Rang makes the drive worth it. - Compare tours by what’s included — lunch, sampan, number of stops, group size — not just the price. - No need to buy coconut candy or honey at the first workshop: every stop sells them. - Bring water and a snack for the bus; two hours without a break is normal. - Keep your phone and cash in a waterproof pouch on the boats — you will get splashed. - After the tour, wander over to [Ben Thanh Market](https://yesgo.io/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city/ben-thanh-market) for dinner — many tours drop off downtown. - Going on your own? Buy the return bus ticket in advance: evening buses back to the city fill up at weekends. ## Questions ### How far is the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City? My Tho, the nearest edge, is about 70 km — roughly two hours by road. Can Tho, the delta’s main city, is about 170 km and 3.5–4 hours away. ### How much is a Mekong Delta day trip? Shared day tours start at about $25 per person; small-group and all-inclusive tours are $60–150, and private tours with a guide from about $250 per car. These are unofficial prices. ### Can I see a floating market on a day trip? Not the real one. Cai Rang in Can Tho is best at 5:00–7:00 and is 3.5–4 hours from the city, so you need to stay overnight in Can Tho. ### Can I visit the Mekong Delta without a tour? Yes. Take a bus from Mien Tay Bus Station to My Tho (about two hours) or Can Tho (3.5–4 hours), then a boat from the My Tho tourist pier or Ninh Kieu Wharf. ### Is one day enough for the Mekong Delta? For a taste — orchards, canals, a sampan ride — yes. For the floating market and a less touristy feel, plan two days with a night in Can Tho. ### My Tho or Can Tho: which is better? My Tho if you have one day. Can Tho if you can stay the night: it has Cai Rang floating market and more everyday river life. ### What’s included in a typical day tour? Usually hotel pick-up, a boat to Thoi Son Island, a sampan ride through the palm canals, an orchard, a coconut-candy workshop, honey tea, folk music and lunch. Check the list before you book. ### When is the best time to visit the Mekong Delta? December to April, the dry season, is best for boats and markets. May to November brings rain, often short afternoon showers, but tours run every day. ### Is the Mekong Delta good with kids? Usually, yes: boats, fruit and workshops keep children busy. The long drive is the hard part, so bring water, snacks and something for the bus. ### Can I pay by card in the Mekong Delta? Book your tour online by card, but take VND cash in small notes for the islands — tips, candy, fruit and drinks are cash only. ## How we checked The Mekong Delta is a region, not a ticketed site, so there are no official prices or hours: tour prices and times are unofficial figures from operators (Tripster lists group tours from $20–25 and private tours from $250 per car) and bus companies. Distances to My Tho (70 km) and Can Tho (170 km) are from English Wikipedia, travel times cross-checked with localvietnam.com and VnExpress. The delta’s area varies by source — 40,500 km² in the English Wikipedia text, 43,000 in its infobox, 40,576.6 in Russian Wikipedia — so we say about 40,500. Thoi Son’s size matches: 1,200 ha in VnExpress, 12 km² in Wikipedia. Cai Rang’s distance from central Can Tho is 6 km per vietnamtourism.com and 7 km per Wikipedia, so we give 6–7 km; the sources also disagree on which river it sits on, so we don’t name one. On Cai Be, mekongsmile.com describes a lively market while vietnamtourism.com says it has nearly disappeared; we word it cautiously and mark it unofficial. Fruit season is May–August per vietnam.travel and July–October per VnExpress; we show both. The 2016 heritage recognition of Cai Rang comes from English and Vietnamese Wikipedia — we did not open the ministry decision itself. The Cai Rang boat fare (100,000–140,000 VND) is from English Wikipedia only. The distance from the cathedral to Mien Tay Bus Station is our own straight-line calculation. The English core was built from English search results and related questions. ## Sources - English Wikipedia: ‘Mekong Delta’, ‘Mỹ Tho (city)’, ‘Thoi Son Island’, ‘Cần Thơ’, ‘Cái Răng Floating Market’; Wikidata Q1052867 - Russian Wikipedia: ‘Дельта Меконга’ — area, name - Vietnamese Wikipedia: ‘Chợ nổi Cái Răng’ — heritage recognition, trading hours, ‘bẹo’ poles - VnExpress: ‘Cẩm nang du lịch cồn Thới Sơn’ — Thoi Son Island, buses from Mien Tay, boats from the My Tho pier - Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (vietnam.travel): ‘Mekong Delta’ — seasons, Can Tho - vietnamtourism.com: floating markets guide — Cai Rang and Cai Be today - localvietnam.com: ‘From Ho Chi Minh City to Mekong Delta’ — travel times, buses, private cars - National Assembly Resolution 202/2025/QH15 (via luatvietnam.vn and vietnamnet.vn) — new provincial boundaries - Tripster and tour operator sites: tour prices and itineraries; bus booking sites: buses to Can Tho --- This is the Markdown version of a YesGo page for AI assistants. Quote the web page link above, not this file.