Ho Chi Minh City Day Trips on a Budget: 4 Picks
Four Real Day Trips From Ho Chi Minh City, Priced
Base yourself in District 1 and four genuine day trips sit within reach: the Cu Chi Tunnels from 90,000 VND entry, the Mekong Delta’s canals at My Tho and Ben Tre, the beach at Vung Tau, and the Cao Dai Great Temple at Tay Ninh with its noon ceremony. None require a tour to reach cheaply, though a group tour usually beats the DIY bus on time, not always on price. This guide prices both routes for each trip so you can pick.
| Day trip | Travel time from HCMC | DIY cost | Tour cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cu Chi Tunnels | 1.5-2h (Ben Dinh closer, Ben Duoc farther) | 90,000-125,000 VND entry, plus bus fare | roughly US$15-40pp shared |
| Tay Ninh (Cao Dai Temple) | 2-2.5h | Free entry, DIY bus both ways | usually bundled with Cu Chi, +US$5-15 |
| Mekong Delta (My Tho/Ben Tre) | 1.5-2h | Bus and boat DIY is cheaper but fiddly to arrange | roughly US$25-70+pp shared |
| Vung Tau (beach) | 2h hydrofoil / 2-3.5h road | 260,000-375,000 VND hydrofoil one-way | rarely tour-packaged, book the ferry direct |
Is the Cu Chi Tunnels tour worth it, or should I take the bus myself?
The DIY route (public bus 13 to Cu Chi town, then a xe om or local bus onward) saves money but eats most of a day with two transfers and no English signage at the change. A shared group tour runs roughly US$15-40 per person, includes the return transfer, and gets you inside within about 90 minutes of pickup. Unless you have a full free day and enjoy public buses, the tour is the better use of a single trip.
Book a Cu Chi Tunnels half-day tour with morning or afternoon departures, or a combined Cu Chi and Cao Dai Temple day that covers both sites for a similar per-person price.
Ben Dinh or Ben Duoc, which Cu Chi site should I actually pick?
Ben Duoc, if a tour or driver offers the choice. It sits roughly 30 minutes further from the city than Ben Dinh but keeps more original-scale tunnels, a proper memorial site, and noticeably fewer tour buses. Ben Dinh’s tunnels are enlarged further still for Western-sized visitors and sit closer to a shooting-range soundtrack than a war memorial. Either way, the crawl space has already been widened well past the original wartime 0.8m squeeze.
Mekong Delta: My Tho and Ben Tre Beat Rushing to Can Tho
My Tho and Ben Tre sit 1.5-2 hours from HCMC, close enough for a genuine single-day trip: a sampan ride through coconut-palm canals, a coconut-candy workshop, and orchard fruit tasting, usually with a stop at Vinh Trang Pagoda. Can Tho and its Cai Rang floating market sit 3-3.5 hours out each way; the market’s real wholesale trade runs roughly 5-8:30am and has largely wound down by the time a same-day coach arrives from HCMC. If Cai Rang is the priority, budget an overnight in Can Tho rather than a rushed round trip, see the 6-day and 7-day plans below for how that overnight fits.
Book a My Tho and Ben Tre day trip ; shared tours run roughly US$25-70+ per person, private tours for two from around US$67-112+.
Tay Ninh: the Cao Dai Noon Ceremony, Paired With Cu Chi
The Cao Dai Great Temple at Tay Ninh, seat of a home-grown Vietnamese religion blending Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Christianity, holds ceremonies four times a day: 6am, noon, 6pm and midnight. The noon service is the one worth building a day around, arrive by 11:15-11:30am for a seat in the upstairs visitor gallery. Entry to the temple itself is free, but the round trip with the ceremony eats 8-10 hours door to door, which is why almost every operator bundles it with a Cu Chi Tunnels morning rather than selling it alone.
Can I visit the Cao Dai Temple without a tour?
Yes, by DIY bus or a hired driver, though the timing is tight. You need to leave HCMC by roughly 8-8:30am to reach Tay Ninh, see the temple grounds, and be seated before the noon ceremony starts. The combined Cu Chi and Cao Dai tour linked above handles that timing for you and usually adds the Ba Den (Black Virgin) Mountain cable car on the way back.
Vung Tau: a Beach Day, Not a Bucket-List Beach
Vung Tau sits on its own peninsula roughly 90-100km from the city; the Greenlines DP hydrofoil from the Bach Dang terminal in District 1 is the fastest way there, about 2 hours, running 260,000-375,000 VND one-way depending on how far ahead you book, the earlier discount tier saves a real amount over walking up same-day. Bus or car takes 2-3.5 hours depending on traffic. Be honest about why you are going: the sand and water are serviceable, not spectacular next to Da Nang, Nha Trang or Phu Quoc. Go for cheap fresh seafood and a beach afternoon out of the city, not for Vietnam’s best beach.
Check the Greenlines DP schedule and fares directly before you go, weekday departures run fewer times than weekends.
Where to Stay Between Day Trips
District 1 stays the right base even when every day trip leaves the city, since most organized tours and DIY buses start from a District 1 pickup point or nearby station. Check District 1 hotel rates on Agoda , which typically carries deeper Southeast Asia inventory than Western booking sites for the same mid-range hotels.
How Many Day Trips Fit Without Burning Out
Two day trips fit comfortably inside a 3-day HCMC visit; four fit across a week if you add the Can Tho overnight rather than squeezing it into a single rushed day. Our 2-day plan pairs Cu Chi with Tay Ninh in one long day; the 3-day plan adds the Mekong Delta; the 5-day plan adds Vung Tau and a slower day back in the city. For the city itself between day trips, our Ho Chi Minh City guide and ranked list of city sights cover District 1 on the same daily budget. More background on visiting the country sits on vietnam.travel .
Keep a spare 100,000-200,000 VND in small notes for each day trip, tour buses rarely break a large bill and DIY bus conductors even less so.