Ho Chi Minh – Mekong Delta – Con Dao Islands

On arrival at Tan Son Nhat Airport, Be warmly welcomed by your guide and diver, and they will accompany you to the hotel downtown- Saigon city center. Ho Chi Minh City is the South’s bustling and vibrating economic center. Formerly known as Saigon, today it is a city center by locals. Saigon was the “Pearl of the Far East” in the last centuries as it was an important trading center for Asian traders and Western merchants.

Spend a morning exploring Cu Chi Tunnels, and the afternoon is a walking guided tour in downtown of Saigon. Travelling to Cu Chi tunnels by speed boat gets more fun, and enjoyable and takes less time. This is a fascinating way to experience life on the waterway of the Saigon River and rustic villages in the morning and take a walking tour through the lively Saigon city centre in the afternoon. Begin the tour with a pickup at 7:00 am from the hotel to the pier, board on a luxury speed boat cruise towards Cu Chi. Enjoy fresh fruits and soft drinks and watch the local life along the river bank gradually quiet with natural landscapes on river banks. Get off the boat at Ben Dinh’s pier, and watch a documentary film about the tunnels in wartime. Then walk into the main tunnels and start to explore them all. It’s a complicated system of tunnels with more than 200 km underground connecting village to village. The tunnels have three levels and many secret entrances, fighting bunkers, air holes, and many traps almost everywhere. Your lunch is served at a riverside restaurant, return to speed boat, you back to Saigon by speed boat. In the afternoon, take a walking tour to the most significant landmarks built during the French colonial period. You will admire the Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral before walking down on Dong Khoi St. Stop at Opera House, Town Hall, next to Bitexco Financial Tower, the highest tower with 68 floors. This is a chance and a perfect time to observe the fantastic views of the largest city at 360 degrees, enjoy Vietnamese coffee, and return to the hotel.

Today you’ll travel on the road through bustling Ho Chi Minh to Cai Be, Mekong Delta. It takes two hours to drive through rice paddies and green farmlands with a break stop at a cafe and continue to the Mekong River’s waterfront. The mighty Mekong empties to the Eastern Sea through nine estuaries, with the two most giant branches are Tien River and Hau River. The river starts in Yanan, China crosses through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before reaching the sea, so Mekong Delta got fertile land for endless rice paddy fields. Get on board Cai Be Princess, cruise to villages, and experience locals produce handicrafts and snacks. Afterward, you return your boat and cross the Mekong River to Binh Hoa Phuoc; keep cruising on a small river through the Island and stop for a special lunch at the local home. The next stop is one of the unique ancient houses where you are listing to traditional music performed by locals. You will have a chance to talk with friendly locals, try some local fresh fruits, and taste some wine that is made from fruits. The highlight of today is the sampan rowed takes you on peaceful canals with thatch houses alongside. You return to the boat and cross the Mekong River to Vinh Long Town. Finally, relax on a 45-minute vehicle drive to Can Tho.

Today you will visit the Cai Rang floating market before boarding a luxury fast boat to Con Son. After breakfast, check out, and take a 45-minute motorboat ride to the bustling floating market. The boat ride passes small markets, authentic villages, and small ferry boats crossing the river. The boat will slowly get through the wholesale floating market, so you can see hundreds of big and small boats buy and sell just about anything. You can imagine that freshly harvested fruit and vegetables, rice, noodle soup, broken rice, and coffee are also for sale aboard a tiny boat or another! Primarily, you can see many grocery boats and floating houses around you. Afterward, the boat takes us to the dock to transfer to a luxury fast ship for 3.5 hours to the Con Dao Islands. You will have a packed lunch on board. Arrive at the Ben Dam at about 2:30 pm, meet your guide and driver, and be taken to the hotel/resort to check-in.

Con Son Island is the main Island with many historical sites where thousands of Vietnamese suffered from the French Colonial Indochina in the Vietnam War. Nowadays, Con Dao islands are beautiful tropical islands with many traveller attractions. After breakfast, start the day tour to visit Phu Hai Prison, Phu Tuong Prison, Tiger Cages, Con Dao Museum, and Ha Duong Cemetery. You will learn why the Con Dao islands were “Hell on the Earth”. 

Phu Hai Prison, built in 1862, was the first and the biggest prison in the Con Dao islands. Known as the place, the prisoners worked on the Rice Grinding Tunnels and tortured dark cells. Phu Son -Tiger Cage was solidly built with hidden gates amongst the other ordinary prisons and cells. The tiger cages were hard to know for the prison to walk past and tricky to recognize how to escape.  Hang Duong Cemetery was the burial ground of more than 20.000 Vietnamese soldiers over 113 years. Most people who travel to Con Son island to recite when visiting this place  Con Dao Museum is a new building and one of the most significant historical sites that displayed the islands’ history and events related to Con Dao islands from the French colonial period until today. The Island’s Lords Palace was used to be the home and the headquarter of Con Dao Islands. It’s also worth of visiting because of many pieces of evidence of documents, photos, and historical events from the French colonial period. After lunch, you return to the resort to enjoy the beach.

Stay on  beach

Stay on beach

After breakfast, spend time on the beach/ relax until the pick up for transfer to Con Son Airport, board on domestic flight to Tan Son Nhat Airport for next destination. Tour End!