Saigon, the delta and Phu Quoc, 5 delta nights

Day 1

Saigon to Cai Be

Pick-up at your Saigon hotel at about 09:00. Cai Be is about 108 km away, two to two and a half hours on the expressway. On the way, if you want a stop, Vinh Trang pagoda in My Tho was completed in 1850 and is close to the road.

Mekong Lodge sits on the Tien River at Dong Hoa Hiep. The afternoon is for the lodge itself: its site lists cycling on the paths around it and boat trips on the waterways. Dinner at the lodge.

Day 2

Cai Be waterways, then Can Tho

A morning boat through the small canals around Cai Be, stopping at family workshops making coconut candy, popped rice and rice wine, and at a bee farm. The old Cai Be floating market still exists, but it has faded a long way; we do not build the morning around it.

After lunch, about 71 km to Can Tho, an hour and a half to two hours, crossing the Tien River. Check in and spend the rest of the day at the resort.

Day 3

Cai Rang at dawn, the resort by day

Cai Rang in its first hour

Boat at about 05:30 for Cai Rang floating market, fullest between about 06:00 and 07:30. It is smaller than it used to be and has more visitor boats, but the first hour is still a working market.

Back by about 09:30. The rest of the day is free at the resort, with an optional late-afternoon walk on the Ninh Kieu riverfront.

Day 4

Can Tho to Chau Doc

About 120 km along the Hau River through Long Xuyen, two and a half to three hours, leaving at about 09:00.

In the afternoon, a private boat to the floating fish farms and the Cham village at Chau Giang across the river, or, if you stay at the hill lodge, the pool and the sunset over the rice fields.

Day 5

Tra Su forest and Sam Mountain

Tra Su at opening time

Early to Tra Su, about thirty to forty minutes, to be there at the 06:30 opening. Motorboat and rowed sampan through the melaleuca forest, which is fullest from September to November.

Afternoon at the foot of Sam Mountain, at the temple of Ba Chua Xu and Tay An pagoda, then up to the summit by road or cable car before dinner.

Day 6

To Phu Quoc

By fast boat: leave Chau Doc at about 08:00 for Ha Tien, about 93 km, two to two and a half hours. Fast boats run from Ha Tien to Bai Vong port on Phu Quoc in about 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30. You need your passport to board. A July 2025 guide listed fares from roughly 200,000 to 540,000 VND a person depending on operator, route and class; we confirm the current fare and departure time.

By air: drive about three hours to Can Tho airport for Vietnam Airlines' flight to Phu Quoc, about an hour. In the schedule we checked it ran six days a week, departing in the late afternoon, with no Sunday flight. Your Phu Quoc transfer and hotel follow, quoted at your choice.