Mekong Delta To Phu Quoc

Once you have landed in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport, you will meet our guide and driver, sporting an Incredible Asia Journeys sign and your name. We will transfer you to your hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City and you can check in (check-in is from 14:00) and relax for the remainder of the first day in Vietnam.

After your check-in is your free time, so you have the independence to spend it as you wish. Getting acquainted to the fast pace of life in Ho Chi Minh City is a good idea, so maybe you could opt for your first Vietnamese coffee at a streetside café, watching the hustle and bustle of Vietnam’s premier metropolis play out in front of you.

If you are still feeling active after your flight, you could use this time to explore some of the historical and architectural sites within the city. A visit to both the Independence Palace and War Remnants Museum will provide you with various accounts of the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975 at the gates of the Independence Palace when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through them. A visit to Notre Dame Cathedral and its neighbouring post office will give you a glimpse at some of the grand colonial architecture that graced the city during the rule of the French, as will Saigon City Hall, which crowns the top of Nguyen Hue walking street leading down to the Saigon River.

Take breakfast in your hotel, the tour guide will collect you at 08:00 to transfer you to My Tho, one of the larger cities in the stunning Mekong Delta. Once arrived, we will embark on the Mekong River via a wooden motorboat and you will have your first look at Vietnamese country life on the whimsically named Unicorn Island. Small villages interspersed with rice paddies and fruit orchards make up much of the island, and we will tour around some of its more picturesque aspects, such as the emblematic fishermen’s stilt houses that have been built to withstand flooding.

Next, we proceed to Turtle Island, where we will board a small rowboat to travel down the numerous green alleys of water, fringed by beautiful, tropical nipa palm. Our first stop here is to a local bee farm, where customers can sample honey to the sounds of Vietnamese folk music. We continue to a workshop that creates coconut candy from the plentiful coconut trees around the Mekong Delta, utilising its flesh and milk for treats and its hardy shell for tools and building materials. 

Lunch at a local restaurant on Turtle Island will precede a transfer to Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta.

You have the afternoon and evening in Can Tho. Following this, we pay one quick stop to Binh Thuy Ancient House, a beautiful, French-style chalet built by a wealthy Vietnamese family during French rule. 

Then you will have free time so take the opportunity to relax or stroll along the riverside promenade, watching the boating activity on the Mekong River from its banks. Can Tho also boasts a beautiful collection of pagodas and temples, so those interested in religion and oriental architecture can visit here, while history buffs can go to the Can Tho Museum for an interesting look into local history.

Rise early for breakfast this morning as we leave at a good time to catch the new day’s activity at Cai Rang Floating Market. This famous market takes place on a wide expanse of the Mekong River, where vendors sell goods to locals and tourists from the decks of their wooden boats. This is a great place to get a souvenir or even a steaming bowl of pho, all while floating serenely between verdant shores.

After you have browsed everything you want to, we will head to land and visit a noodle-making village, where the ancient techniques of making Vietnamese noodles will be explained and demonstrated. We will cross (or go around, if you prefer) one of the thin, bamboo ‘monkey bridges’, which require a steady foot and a little bit of bravery!

We continue onto Rach Gia after this, which is where we will take the speedboat to Phu Quoc Island. Our driver will collect you from the ferry terminal and transfer you to your hotel or resort, after which you can relax into the evening with a drink on the private white-sand beach.

Arise at a time that suits you this morning, and tuck into a leisurely breakfast as you plan what you will do for your free day.

Phu Quoc is most famous for its fabulous beaches, and this 575km2 island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand is blessed with them. Depending on your hotel, you will have access to a private beach, most likely Long Beach, a 20km stretch of golden sand encompassing the straight, western coast of the island. Tranquility is perfectly possible from some of the palm-shaded spots along Long Beach, but other beaches like Cua Can and Ganh Dau offer quieter experiences and the true feeling of an island retreat via more remote locations.

Entire days can be spent on the glorious beaches of Phu Quoc, and that is exactly the appeal of the island. Visiting any of the satellite islands to the south of Phu Quoc is a great chance to get away from the crowds and potentially enjoy an entire island to yourself. Ferries leave from the southern tip of An Thoi town and go to Thom Island, where you will be greeted by the sights of humble shacks and an untouched beach fringed by stretching palm trees.

Have breakfast at a time of your choosing as you soak up the glorious sunrays of Phu Quoc from your hotel.

Another day of lying on the beach is perfectly possible, but Phu Quoc has a range of other attractions for tourists’ entertainment. One of these is the Vinpearl Safari and Conservation Park, a wonderfully open park for 150 species of animals, all kept in good condition with vast hectares of greenery in which to roam. The park is comprised of an open zoo featuring monkeys, elephants, camels and bears as just some of their star attractions, as well as a wildlife park where visitors drive through an open terrain spotting free-roaming lions and giraffes from the safety of a protected vehicle.

More active guests might prefer a visit to Phu Quoc National Park, covering the northern reaches and comprising the largest island of the many included in the UNESCO-recognised Ken Giang Biosphere Reserve. The park encompasses 32,000 hectares and features trekking trails through forests and mangroves, with mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls adding intrigue along the routes. As you trek, keep a look out for hornbills nesting in the melaleuca trees, or monkeys who make dipterocamp forests their homes.

Take the final breakfast and soak up the last of the rays from the beach in the hours leading up to your departure. Our driver will deliver you in good time to Phu Quoc International Airport for your onward flight to an international destination or back to the Vietnamese mainland.

This will signal the end of services on the Mekong Delta to Phu Quoc – 6 Day Tour with Incredible Asia Journeys. It was our pleasure to have you and we sincerely hope to have that pleasure again soon!