Why come here
Ho Chi Minh City does not ask to be liked. It is loud, hot, commercial and enormously energetic, and the war-history sites in the middle of it are as uncomfortable as they should be. Give it two days and a good guide and it becomes the most interesting city in the country.
The delta below it is the opposite: flat, slow and green, a maze of channels where houses face the water and the market floats. Most people visit on a day trip to My Tho and see almost nothing. Two nights, going as far as Can Tho or Chau Doc, is a different place entirely.
What to do
- The War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace and the old post office
- The Cu Chi tunnel network, and what it explains about how the war was fought
- Ben Thanh and Binh Tay markets, and a scooter street-food tour after dark
- Cholon, the Chinese quarter, and its temples hidden behind shopfronts
- Cai Rang floating market at dawn, while the wholesalers are still trading
- Cycling between orchards, rice fields and canals on the delta islands
- A homestay night with a delta family
- Tra Su cajuput forest and the Cham villages near Chau Doc
When to go
December to April is dry and the most comfortable. May to November is the wet season, with heavy but short afternoon rain; the delta looks its best in the flood months of September to November, when the water is high and the birdlife arrives at Tra Su.
Our trips that go here
Plan a trip here
Tell us your dates and we will build Saigon & the Mekong Delta into a route that works with the rest of your trip.