Mekong River Delta Travel Guide
Boats trading at the Cai Rang floating market, Can Tho. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
The Mekong Delta is Vietnam's rice bowl: a flat maze of rivers, canals and orchards where the Mekong splits into nine mouths before meeting the sea. Life here runs on water.
Can Tho, the delta's capital, is the base for the Cai Rang floating market, best visited at dawn when hundreds of boats trade pineapples, watermelons and coffee. Ben Tre is coconut country: sampan rides through palm-lined canals and coconut-candy workshops. Chau Doc, on the Cambodian border, mixes Cham villages, floating fish farms and the pilgrimage mountain of Sam.
Destinations in Mekong River Delta
Cai Rang floating marketThe great dawn market: boats trading fruit on the river at Can Tho.
Phu QuocVietnam's largest island: long beaches, night markets and fish sauce.
Tra Su cajuput forestA flooded melaleuca forest near Chau Doc, rowed through in sampans.
Ben Tre coconut canalsSampan rides through palm canals and coconut-candy workshops.
Chau DocBorder town of Cham villages, floating fish farms and Sam Mountain.
My ThoThe delta's gateway: orchard islands and the Vinh Trang Pagoda.
Vinh Long and the An Binh isletsOrchard homestays between the Tien and Hau rivers.
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Top Cities & towns in Mekong River Delta
Regional food
- Hu tieu My Tho (the delta's pork and seafood noodle soup)
- Banh xeo (the delta makes the biggest, crispiest crepes)
- Ca loc nuong trui (grilled snakehead fish, wrapped in rice paper)
- Tropical fruit: mangosteen, rambutan, durian from the orchards
Getting there
Can Tho is 170 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, about 3.5 hours by expressway bus. Can Tho International Airport (VCA) handles domestic flights. Phu Quoc has its own international airport (PQC). The delta is best explored by boat: book floating-market tours the night before.