Rivers, coconuts, and floating markets at dawn
Solo Friendly · Budget · Family
The Mekong Delta is Vietnam's rice bowl: a maze of rivers, canals and coconut groves stretching from Saigon to the southern tip of the country. Most visitors stop at My Tho and Can Tho for the floating markets, but the delta runs much further - Khmer pagodas in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang, flooded cajuput forest and palm-studded fields around Chau Doc, and the mangroves of Ca Mau Cape at the very end of the road. Go slow, and go early.
| Month | Avg temp (°C) | Rainfall (mm) | Rainy days (≥1 mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.4 | 10 | 2.0 |
| February | 26.1 | 4 | 0.8 |
| March | 27.3 | 15 | 1.8 |
| April | 28.5 | 42 | 5.6 |
| May | 28.0 | 223 | 16.4 |
| June | 27.3 | 310 | 19.9 |
| July | 26.9 | 336 | 21.5 |
| August | 26.8 | 338 | 21.6 |
| September | 26.8 | 451 | 22.1 |
| October | 26.9 | 301 | 21.8 |
| November | 26.9 | 137 | 13.6 |
| December | 25.7 | 42 | 6.5 |
Phoenix & Unicorn Islands (Cồn Phụng & Cồn Thới Sơn)
My Tho is the closest delta town to HCMC (about 70km). Boat through the canals to Ben Tre for coconut candy making and river life. A full day: leave around 8am, back by early evening. Touristy, but a fair first taste of the delta.
Arrive in the afternoon. Walk the Ninh Kieu riverside and night market. Book your boat for the next morning and get an early night.
Leave Ninh Kieu pier by boat before 5:30am - the market is busiest at first light and food boats sell out by around 7am. Back for breakfast, then a slower canal ride through the smaller waterways before heading home.
Phoenix & Unicorn Islands (Cồn Phụng & Cồn Thới Sơn)
Morning on the islands between My Tho and Ben Tre: coconut workshops, canal rowing boats, fruit gardens. Continue west to Can Tho in the afternoon and sleep near Ninh Kieu.
Floating market at first light, back by mid-morning. Can Tho to Chau Doc is about 3h by motorbike (allow 2.5-3.5h). Sleep in Chau Doc.
Trà Sư Cajuput ForestVĩnh Trung Fields
Tra Su is best early morning when the birds are active, and at its most dramatic in flood season (Sep-Nov). Vinh Trung's palm-lined fields are a short ride away in Tinh Bien. Chau Doc back to HCMC is about 5.5h by motorbike (allow 5-6h) - a long day after the forest, so many people add a night in Chau Doc or continue to Tri Ton instead.
HCMC to Tra Vinh is about 3.5h by motorbike (allow 3-4h). Late afternoon at Ba Om, the square Khmer lake ringed by old trees. In mid-November it hosts the Ok Om Bok lantern festival.
Kh'leang PagodaSom Rong PagodaBat PagodaChen Kieu Pagoda (Sa Lon Pagoda)
Tra Vinh to Soc Trang is about 2h (allow 1.5-2.5h). Kh'leang and Som Rong are both in town, Bat Pagoda and Chen Kieu a short ride out. A full temple day - dress modestly and go early to beat the heat. Sleep in Soc Trang.
Xiem Can PagodaFather Diep Shrine
Soc Trang to Bac Lieu is about 1.5h (allow 1-2h). Xiem Can sits near the coast; Tac Say is in Gia Rai, on the road to Ca Mau. Bac Lieu to Ca Mau is about 2.5h (allow 2-3h), so this is the longest riding day. Sleep in Ca Mau.
Ca Mau to Dat Mui is about 2h each way (allow 1.5-2.5h). Start early: mangrove walk, the landmark at the tip, back to Ca Mau by afternoon. Best in the Nov-Apr dry season. Sleep in Ca Mau.
Ca Mau to HCMC is about 7.5h by motorbike (allow 7-8h). Leave early and break the ride in Can Tho for lunch.
Trà Sư Cajuput ForestVĩnh Trung Fields
Base yourself in Chau Doc. Tra Su at opening for the birds, then the palm-dotted fields of Vinh Trung. Tra Su peaks in flood season (Sep-Nov).
Chau Doc to Tri Ton is about 1h (allow 30min-1.5h). Climb to Ta Pa temple for the view, then the fields below - green Jul-Nov, golden at harvest.
HCMC to Tra Vinh is about 3.5h by motorbike (allow 3-4h). Late afternoon at Ba Om, the square Khmer lake ringed by old trees. In mid-November it hosts the Ok Om Bok lantern festival.
Kh'leang PagodaSom Rong PagodaBat PagodaChen Kieu Pagoda (Sa Lon Pagoda)
Tra Vinh to Soc Trang is about 2h (allow 1.5-2.5h). Kh'leang and Som Rong are both in town, Bat Pagoda and Chen Kieu a short ride out. A full temple day - dress modestly and go early to beat the heat. Sleep in Soc Trang. With an extra day you can add Bac Lieu, about 1h30 further by motorbike, but you'll ride back the same way to reach the port.
Tran De port is about 30km from Soc Trang city, 45min-1h by motorbike; Superdong also runs a shuttle from its Soc Trang office around 6-6:30am (about 60,000 VND). Ferries to Ben Dam port on Con Dao take about 2-2.5 hours and usually leave in the early morning, but times shift with the tide - check and book on the operators' sites (online.superdong.com.vn, online.phuquocexpress.com). Superdong sails year-round and is the only one that takes motorbikes; Con Dao Express is bigger and smoother but pauses in rough months. Ben Dam is over 10km from Con Son town, so arrange transport ahead. This trip is one-way: continue with the Con Dao page, then fly back to Ho Chi Minh City. Best in Mar-Apr, when the Mekong is dry and the sea is calming down; Nov-Jan sailings are often cancelled, so keep a spare day.
Ba Om Lake in Trà Vinh is a sacred Khmer reservoir tied to a famous folk legend about a nighttime pond-digging contest between men and women, surrounded by hundreds of centuries-old sao and dầu trees and anchored by the Âng Pagoda - one of the oldest Khmer temples in Vietnam.
Bạc Liêu Wind Farm, about 20 km from central Bạc Liêu, lines the coast with rows of giant white turbines standing in the sea, linked by long concrete walkways - a striking photo spot best visited at sunrise or sunset, for 30,000 VND.
Bat Pagoda (Chùa Dơi) in Sóc Trăng is a Khmer Buddhist temple over 400 years old where thousands of large fruit bats roost in the ancient trees year-round - an extraordinary and unexpected combination of active religious site and wildlife spectacle, best seen with time for both the architecture and the dusk bat departure.
Búng Bình Thiên, the largest natural freshwater lake in the Mekong Delta, is a peaceful border-district lake in An Giang known for its year-round clear water, a striking two-toned confluence at C3 bridge, surrounding Cham Muslim villages, and a flood-season lotus bloom - a quiet cultural and nature stop for travellers who don't need a dramatic 'wow' view to feel it was worth the trip.
Cái Răng Floating Market is the largest wholesale floating market in the Mekong Delta - recognised as national intangible cultural heritage in 2016 and listed by Rough Guides among the world's 10 most impressive markets. Hundreds of wooden boats gather at dawn to trade fruit and produce on the Cần Thơ River, 6km south of the city centre.
Chen Kieu Pagoda (Wat Sro Loun, or Sà Lôn) is a Khmer Theravada pagoda on National Highway 1A, about 12 km from Sóc Trăng city, famous for walls, columns and stupas covered in mosaics of donated bowls and plates, with relics linked to the Bạc Liêu Playboy.
Kh'leang Pagoda in central Sóc Trăng is said to be the oldest Khmer pagoda in the province, founded around 1533 - a national architectural and artistic relic with an early 20th-century main hall, a 6.8 m Buddha cast in 1916, old Khmer scriptures, bronze Buddhas and tall sugar palms.
Mũi Cà Mau National Park is the southernmost point of Vietnam's mainland - a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of 42,000 hectares of mangrove forest at the tip of the Cà Mau Peninsula, where the East Sea meets the Gulf of Thailand. The only place in Vietnam to watch both sunrise and sunset from the same spot.
Phoenix Island (Cồn Phụng) and Unicorn Island (Cồn Thới Sơn) are two of the Mekong Delta's famous Tứ Linh islands near My Tho, known for coconut canals, sampan rides, fruit orchards, and the unusual Coconut Religion temple.
Sleng Chas (Old Sa Leng) is a Khmer Theravada pagoda in Trà Cú, Trà Vinh, said to be over 400 years old and recently restored in a striking silver-grey palette - turtle-shaped from above, ringed by white elephant fountains and finely carved Khmer details, free to visit.
Som Rong is a Khmer Theravada pagoda founded in 1785 in central Sóc Trăng, home to a 63 m white reclining Buddha on a 28 m platform, recognised as the largest in Vietnam - colourful Khmer architecture, a 25 m stupa and a glowing sunset view, free to visit.
The Father Diệp Shrine at Tắc Sậy in Bạc Liêu province is one of the largest Catholic pilgrimage sites in the Mekong Delta - the burial site of Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp, a Vietnamese priest killed in 1946, whose beatification Mass on 2 July 2026 was the first ever held on Vietnamese soil, and who is believed by pilgrims to intercede for healing and blessings.
Ta Pa Fields, at the base of Tà Pạ and Cô Tô mountains in Tri Tôn district, An Giang, are a patchwork of terraced rice paddies at different growth stages - a result of the local communal 'vần công' farming custom - considered one of the Mekong Delta's most distinctive rice landscapes, especially during the July-November harvest season.
Ta Pa Temple (Chùa Tà Pạ), also called Chùa Núi or Chưn Num, is a Khmer Theravada Buddhist temple on Tà Pạ hill in An Giang's Thất Sơn region, built on tall concrete pillars that make it appear to float above the ground. Reached by a 240-step staircase, it overlooks the Ta Pa rice fields and turquoise Ta Pa Lake below, and is worth visiting first in the cluster before the crowds and heat build up.
Thường Phước Border Gate in Đồng Tháp is one of the Mekong Delta's international river crossings into Cambodia - a working border post on the Mekong marked by Border Marker 240, where boats, traders, and travelers cross into Cambodia's Prey Veng province via the connecting Kaoh Roka border post.
Trà Sư Cajuput Forest is an 845-hectare flooded cajuput woodland in An Giang - navigated by rowboat through mirror-flat green waterways, with over 70 bird species, a 10km bamboo walkway through the forest, and an observation tower over the canopy. Best September to November.
Vĩnh Trung Fields, in Tịnh Biên district beneath the Thất Sơn mountains, is home to An Giang's most photographed thốt nốt (sugar palm) row, standing behind the Khmer pagoda Sà-Đách-Tót - best seen at dawn during flood season when the fields mirror the trees.
Xiêm Cán is a Khmer Theravada pagoda about 12 km from Bạc Liêu, founded in 1887 - golden, many-tiered roofs rising above the rice fields, a 36.3 m main hall said to be the tallest of any Khmer pagoda in the south, wall-to-ceiling murals of the Buddha's life and 115 statues.
From Mien Tay bus station. Can Tho is the main hub - frequent departures.
My Tho is about 70km from HCMC. Plan a full day - most boat trips run 8am to 5pm.
To Chau Doc (An Giang). Base for Tra Su, Vinh Trung and Tri Ton.
To Ca Mau. Ca Mau Cape (Dat Mui) is a further 2h south.
Explore the region
South Vietnam