Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta: Vietnam’s Agricultural Engine

The Mekong Delta occupies the southern tip of Vietnam, a flat alluvial plain criss-crossed by the nine distributary channels the Vietnamese call the Nine Dragons. The river carries silt from the Tibetan plateau across China, Laos, Cambodia, and 200km of Vietnamese lowland before reaching the South China Sea. The delta produces about half of Vietnam’s rice and the majority of its fruit and fish; it’s an agricultural system at continental scale, visible from the air as a green grid of paddies and waterways.

Most tourism in the delta is concentrated within day-trip range of Ho Chi Minh City — My Tho and Ben Tre, both about 70-90km south — but the further you go, the more the landscape opens and the fewer other visitors you’ll encounter.

The Floating Markets

The floating markets are the most photographed feature of delta tourism. Cai Rang market near Can Tho is the most significant: wholesale produce sellers arrive by boat before dawn, and retail buyers circle by in smaller craft to purchase wholesale. By 08:00 the main business is largely done. The goods advertised are hung on a pole from the boat’s prow — a technique called cây bẹo — so buyers can identify the stock from a distance. Getting to the market in time requires staying in Can Tho or leaving very early by hired boat.

Phong Dien, smaller and about 20km from Can Tho, runs later in the morning and is retail rather than wholesale. It’s quieter, more accessible by bicycle, and less photographed.

Can Tho

Can Tho is the largest city in the delta with around 1.2 million people in the greater area, and the most practical base for exploring the western delta. The riverfront has a night market and several restaurants serving bún mắm (fermented fish noodle soup), hủ tiếu Nam Vang (noodle soup of Cambodian origin), and fresh fish and prawn dishes. The regional cooking is distinct from Saigon cuisine — stronger fish flavours, more fresh herbs, more use of coconut.

Boat hire from the main pier in Can Tho costs around VND 150,000-250,000 per hour depending on negotiation and boat size.

Ben Tre and Further South

Ben Tre province is the coconut-producing heartland. Processed coconut products — candy, oil, fibre goods — are made in cottage workshops visible along the river roads. Bicycle tours through the network of narrow roads and canal bridges are the standard activity here; the flat terrain makes cycling straightforward.

Tra Vinh province, further east, has a significant Khmer population and several Khmer Buddhist pagodas with different architecture from the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition. Soc Trang, on the southernmost delta, has the Khmer Mahatup monastery (Ba Om Pond) and the Kh’leang Pagoda, both worth visiting if you’re in that part of the delta.

Getting There

Ho Chi Minh City is the entry point for the delta. Buses to My Tho take about 90 minutes; to Can Tho about 3 hours. Several operators run hydrofoil services on the river between Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, taking about 2.5 hours. Flights connect Can Tho to Hanoi and Da Nang.