Four trips, one or two days

If you have one free day and want the most time on the water

Take the My Tho and Ben Tre day. It has the shortest drive of the three day trips, about 1.5 to 2 hours each way, and most of the day is spent in boats: a motorboat across the Tien River, a hand-rowed sampan through a canal on Thoi Son islet, and a short crossing to the Ben Tre side for the coconut workshops. It is also one of the most crowded routes, because almost every operator in the city runs it.

If you want a quieter river and do not mind a longer drive

Take the Cai Be day. It leaves earlier, around 07:00, drives further, about 2 to 2.5 hours each way, and spends the day among family workshops and orchards on the Tien River. The floating market is mostly gone; we say so on the page so you do not book it for the wrong reason.

If you want to see a floating market that still trades

Take Can Tho and Cai Rang over two days. Cai Rang is busiest from about 06:00 to 07:30, and no day trip from Ho Chi Minh City can reach it at that hour without leaving in the middle of the night. Sleeping in Can Tho solves that. The cost is a second day and about three hours each way on the road.

If you are a family or a small group and want to set the pace

Take the private Ben Tre day. It drives straight across the Rach Mieu bridges to the Ben Tre side instead of starting with the big boats at My Tho, and it runs to your clock: an early start to avoid the midday heat, a long lunch, a rest, and back in the city by mid-afternoon if you prefer.

Three of the four trips run both ways. On a join-in day you share the vehicle, the guide and the boats with other travellers who booked the same date, the plan is fixed, and collection is in the central wards. On a private day the vehicle, guide and boats are for your party, you choose the hours, and the car comes to your hotel. The private Ben Tre day is private only, because its point is the pace.

Each trip page has a short table showing what changes on that route. The join-in or private page puts all four side by side, with the published times behind the comparison.

This site is about day trips and one-night trips. We do not run routes of three days or more through the delta, we do not sell nights in family homes, and we do not price the same route at several hotel levels. If your plans need any of those, tell us in the form and we will say so plainly rather than stretch a day trip into something it is not.

Two pages answer most of the questions people send us. Join-in or private compares the two ways of going, route by route. Pick-up and timing covers where you are collected, how long the road takes, and what to carry in the heat. If you are deciding between months, when to go sets out the dry season, the wet season and the king tides.