Day 1: Ho Chi Minh Arrival (N/A)
Activities: Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City and take the transfer to your central hotel.
Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City, the starting point for your tour of the city and its surroundings.
The driver will collect you from the airport and take you straight to your hotel in the centre, where you can check in and continue the day with some free time.
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnels – Saigon City Tour (B, L)
Activities: Explore the wartime relic of the Cu Chi Tunnels in the jungle outside of Ho Chi Minh City, before returning here for a half-day look around the city’s famous sites.
We start this day of historical discovery after you finish breakfast at your hotel, when the driver will arrive to take you northwest of Ho Chi Minh City. We drive past images of rice farming and exotic jungle before arriving at the Cu Chi Tunnels, where we will spend the morning.
A video and brief history lesson will give some context to the incredible tunnels, which we will then climb into and have a look around. The guide will take us through the more history-soaked parts of the tunnels, where we can find rooms used during the war for treating the wounded, cooking for the troops or plotting the fall of Saigon. The communist Viet Cong who operated the tunnels had to be incredibly strong-willed down here, as during the war, the tunnels were infested with poisonous animals and many of the soldiers had to withstand horrendous illnesses.
We emerge onto the jungle floor and have a look for the entrance doors for the tunnels. Due to their phenomenal camouflage, this is much harder than it sounds; this was the best defence of the Cu Chi Tunnels from American and Viet Minh attacks.
Lunch will be served here before we begin our drive back to Ho Chi Minh City.
We arrive and begin our city tour. The Reunification Palace will be our first stop; this was a site of chaos and confusion on the 30th of April 1975, when Americans scrambled to escape the approaching North Vietnam Army and southern Vietnamese citizens tried everything they could to join them. We learn about the Fall of Saigon and more here, as well as at the War Remnants Museum just over the road.
After this, we head over to two sites built by the French colonists, who for some years used Saigon as the base of their operations in Indochina. We see the magnificent architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral and Saigon Central Post Office, both of which shine in vivid colours amidst the Vietnamese architecture around.
We end the tour to Cu Chi Tunnels and Ho Chi Minh City at your hotel, where you can enjoy the evening to yourself.
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta Boat Trip – Can Tho (B, L)
Activities: Take the drive to the Mekong Delta for a boat trip through the region and exploration of its attractive workshops.
We leave your hotel after breakfast to take the drive to the Mekong Delta. This is roughly a two-hour drive through some incredible scenery of Saigon’s southern tropics, along with large rice fields that stretch to the feet of mountains behind.
Once at Phong Nam Harbour, we board a boat and make our way onto the An Hoa River, gliding gently between the lush green banks of the wild Mekong Delta. We make stops along the way to see how some of the speciality crafts of the region are made by hand, including rice paper and fine ceramic.
We spend the rest of the morning cruising on the boat and visiting workshops on the shore. We meet villages as they work hard to make reed mats, coconut candy and charcoal out of the natural materials that flourish throughout the Mekong Delta.
On land, we choose between a tuk tuk and a bicycle to continue our explorations of the lush vegetation along the shady paths that cut between coconut trees.
Lunch will be served after this at a local restaurant as we take in the beauty of the greenery and the majestic Mekong River.
After this, board the boat once more to head into the rich green canals dotted throughout the delta. These magical tunnels of water slice through the thick jungle on either side, creating picture-perfect scenes of sunlight filtering through the swaying leaves of coconut trees and nipa palm.
We head back to the pier and take the transfer to Can Tho city after this, arriving at your hotel for you to check in.
Day 4: Can Tho – Cai Rang Floating Market – Ho Chi Minh City Departure (B, L)
Activities: Enjoy the sights and atmosphere of Cai Rang floating market before visiting a village and transferring to Ho Chi Minh City’s airport for your flight.
Breakfast at your hotel will start the day before the driver and guide arrive. They will take you the short distance to Cai Rang Floating Market, where we find a lively scene on the surface of the river.
In the early morning, Cai Rang’s vendors stack products high on their boats and row out onto the river. These will act as their stalls for the duration of the market, and we will board our own boat to visit them. We cruise around the highly unique market for a while, searching for interesting food, clothing or souvenirs, all colourfully presented in front of the smiling locals.
After some time here, we make our last stop of the tour, which is to a nearby village with a rice husking mill. We take some time to relax around here before the car picks us up and takes us directly to Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport.
You will catch your flight from here and your Saigon and Mekong Delta Packages - 4 Day will come to an end. Thank you so much and we wish you well for your future travels!
