6 days Ho Chi Minh — Can Tho — Can Gio — Cao Dai — Cu Chi
Huế, Vietnam
$340
Day 01: Arrival Ho Chi Minh (-/-/D)
You will land at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh city. You will be warmly welcomed by car driver at the airport and the transferred to your hotel for check-in in Ho Chi Minh city
Take the afternoon trip to visit Independence Palace, also known as Reunification Palace, was built on the sight of the former Norodom palace. The Independence palace is a widely known landmark of Ho Chi Minh City and was designed by the architect Ngo Viet Thu. It was the sight of the end of the Vietnam/American war in 1975, as a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through the gates. The tank is still located at the Independence Palaces’ property.
Continue to the nearby French colonial area, including a stop at the impressive Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, a famous cathedral located in Paris Square. Discover the magnificent neo-Romanesque architecture as you take in the tranquil atmosphere inside.
At the opposite is Central Post Office, one of the oldest buildings in Ho Chi Minh City, learn about this significant landmark — the busiest post office in Vietnam. Admire the neoclassical-style of the post office interior as your guide points out the painted maps of former Saigon, once the capital of South Vietnam.
Take a look at the embroidery workshop of XQ Vietnam Company before a visit to Ben Thanh Market, a lively market in District 1, where your guide can help you barter for goods.
After dinner, you’ll be dropped off at your hotel by private vehicle in the early evening.
Day 02: Ho Chi Minh – Cai Be – Vinh Long (B/L/D)
Pick up at your hotel & start to Mekong delta tour. Arrive in Cai Be, you’ll board a motorized boat that takes you to the floating market and spend time there for an interaction that you’ll see nowhere else in the world.
Next, then on foot to reach a coconut candy, a crispy rice cake and you might buy coconut candy and handcrafted items from coconut trees of Mekong Delta for souvenir.
When you feel its enough for the serenity, let’s get back to the large motor boat for something different in An Binh Island. It is well-known fresh fruits whole year. On the way, you have a chance to look the sightseeing 2 long sides river and find out the life of rural people in Mekong Delta..
After lunch, you are divided into many groups and get on small row boats. During this 20 minutes trip, your boat will zigzag thru a maze of shadow canals to enjoy the fresh air along the canal and beautiful water coconut tree scenery. Then you will ride bicycles and roaming through a village about 20 minutes to check out our natural landscape with quite and peace villages or you can relax on a hammock for a short rest in Mekong Delta.
The next stop is Vinh Long City from An Binh Island, you will land on a marketplace and walk around to see how and what the poor rural people of Vietnam sell in Vinh Long City. You are encouraged to interact with the vendors and see how friendly and respectful they are. You might also buy many interesting things for very little amount of money.
After check in Can Tho hotel for overnight stay, free time in the evening and explore Can Tho nightlife.
Day 03: Can Tho – Cai Rang – Ho Chi Minh (B/L/-)
After breakfast, you board a boat and travel for about 40 minutes to get to our first spectacular landscape - Cai Rang floating market. This is the largest of its type in the whole Mekong delta. During this visit, you will have a chance to board a merchant boat that sells pineapples which come from Can Tho City.
After that, you continue on our riverine route for 5-7 minutes and then on foot to reach a noodle and a rice paper factories. The next stop is a rice processing factory where youll learn the many steps that transform "rice with a brown cover" to the delicious and beautiful rice grain that you consume daily. The time now should be around 12 noon. Time for lunch! Let’s go back to Can Tho for that.
You end our sightseeing trip at downtown Can Tho. On the way back to Ho Chi Minh by bus, well have a stop at an interesting point to rest and also have photographs.
After check in your hotel for overnight stay, you are free time in the evening.
Day 04: Can Gio Biosphere Reserve & Monkey Island (B/L/-)
Tour guide pick you up at your hotel and head to Can Gio, also be known as “Monkey Island”.
On arrival, you visit mangrove forest to see over 1,000 monkeys, living there, you also can feed and take photos with many monkeys surrounding and climbing on your shoulder. Continue with a short walk to alligator farm, where local people conserve many huge alligators from the “American war” and you can try “alligator fishing”. Then take speed boats to “Sac” guerilla camp built in deep jungle. Today the camp has become a major tourist attraction giving the visitor a unique experience and a feel of what jungle life in the war must have been like.
You will then stop at local seafood market selling various kinds of fresh seafood regarding octopus, lobster, ray, etc and dried foods. There, enjoy a welcome drink before having Vietnamese style lunch at a beach resort, where we are at leisure for swimming and sight-seeing.
Before heading back to Saigon, you visit a nearby house of local people, then walking through their mango gardens and tasting fresh mangoes.
Finally, we transfer back to Ho Chi Minh city and free time in the evening
Day 05: Cao Dai temple – Cu Chi tunnel (B/L/-)
Driver and tour guide pick you up then start from Ho Chi Minh City to Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh - a province 95 kms South East of Ho Chi Minh City, close to Cambodia border. The Cao Dai Temple is like a Walt Disney of the East. Its exterior is decorated with multi-colored dragons of all shapes and sizes competing for space with a number of swastikas. Above the main entrance is the all-seeing holy eye, the symbol of the Cao Dai sect. The interior is just as engaging as statues of Jesus Christ, Buddha and the Hindu god, Brahma, stand side by side.
Cao Dai Temple is the eclectic mix of colours and the amazing use of architecture create a space of beauty, spirituality with a somewhat surreal flavour to western palates!
After have a lunch, you will leave Tay Ninh and travel to Cu Chi Tunnel. Once in Vietnam,
you must visit this spot. This is where guerilla warfare optimized and exemplified. You’ll learn the clever design of the tunnels and the strategic use of trap doors. Even with B-52 bombers dropping 30-ton loads of explosive, turning the jungle into a pockmarked moonscape, 30 thousand American troops failed to conquered the area! You’ll have a chance to crawl around a portion of the 121 km long, multiple-layered tunnel. You’ll learn how thousands of guerillas managed to stay underground many days at a time, also their great technique to conceal smoke from their cooking. There’re a lot more to enjoy, even a chance to fire real AK bullets…
You come back the Sai Gon hotel and free time in the evening.
Day 06: Ho Chi Minh & Departure (B/-/-)
After the breakfast, you are free to visit Ben Thanh market, buy souvenirs as gifts for relatives
Free for passengers to do whatever they want at their own expense till the time for transferring to Tan Son Nhat International Airport where your tour ends.
1. Price included:
Free for leader
Accommodation at indicated hotels based on double share with breakfast
All land transportation as program
Private boat in Can Tho
English speaking local guide
All sightseeing entrance fees as program
02 bottles of water and 02 tissues per day
Transaction fee by credit card
2. Price excluded:
International air tickets to/from Vietnam
International airport tax
Vietnamese visa authorization letter (if any)
All other personal expenses not mentioned in article 3
Tips for guides, car drivers...
