Our Mekong Delta Vietnam vacations begin with....
.... time to recover and a night in Ho Chi Minh City. Your guide will be with you throughout your tour of the Mekong Delta, so your ‘Welcome' dinner will be an excellent opportunity to get to know each other and chat about your tour.
Guide/escort: transfer from the airport
Meals: one dinner
Five days driving deep into the Mekong Delta.
You'll be meeting the people and experiencing the unique culture, then turning north-west towards the border with Cambodia before returning to Ho Chi Minh City.
Your programme begins with urban sprawl and awful traffic, but the vista soon opens up as you pass My Tho on the edge of the Delta, very commercialised and as far as most tourists venture.
At Vinh Long, you'll start to feel the laid-back pace of life, and take to the water to cruise the mighty Mekong River and the myriad of tiny drainage channels that crisscross between the ‘nine dragons', the nine river outlets to the East Sea. It'll be a melee of floating markets, succulent tropical fruit orchards, cottage industries, trying the local confectionery and meeting the python and elephant fish in the bonsai garden.
After a night at Can Tho and another floating market – wholesale, this time, you'll head southeast to Soc Trang and an authentic experience of a remote Mekong town. Unfortunately, it means a long return drive (there's not many roads on the Delta), but the journey is interesting and Soc Trang has a lot to offer.
After another night in Can Tho, you'll follow the Bassac River north-west to Tam Nong. En-route, you'll drop in at a forest that helped to win the war, and some houses with plenty of feathered lodgers. Eventually, you'll arrive at the Tam Nong National Park and Wetland Reserve with a night in the guesthouse in prospect. It's hardly the Hilton, but it won't bother you because you'll probably be quite tired.
In any case, you'll need an early night - you'll be woken at an unearthly hour to join the dawn chorus of the park's inhabitants. After a morning investigating the Reserve, you'll continue alongside the Bassac to Chau Doc and a comfortable night.
Chau Doc is as far as you can get without being in Cambodia, but you can have a look over the fence from the top of Sam Mountains. There's also pagodas and a mosque to visit, floating fish farms, and an optional afternoon excursion to a grim memorial to the Kh'mer Rouge.
The drive back to Ho Chi Minh City is lengthy, but you should arrive at your hotel with time for sightseeing and shopping if you have the energy and inclination.
Meals: five breakfasts, five lunches and two dinners
Guide: fully escorted
Back to the normal world!
You'll have a free morning until your car arrives to take you to Tan Son Nhat airport for your departure or transfer flight.
Meals: one breakfast
Prices (person in US dollars):
The prices below are based on the hotels on the Vietnam Sonata 'Accommodation' page. If you would prefer a different hotel, or hotels, choose your preference on the relevant 'Hotels' page, tell us, and we'll send you a modified price within 24 hrs at the latest.
| Number in group |
2 |
3-4 |
5-8 |
9-12 |
*Supplement for single hotel room occupancy* |
| Mid-range |
795 |
652 |
500 |
447 |
146 |
| Superior |
1,020 |
876 |
725 |
671 |
371 |
At the time of quotation, Haivenu reserves the right to adjust prices to take account of unusual movements in currency markets, hotel and transport costs as a result of inflationary price pressures in oil and other commodity markets.
These prices are valid until October 31, 2009. Please note that bank transfer fees are not included.
*‘Single room occupancy’ refers to the accommodation element of the programme only, and applies to someone who is travelling with others but requires an additional room for him or herself. Single traveller prices are available on request.
Our prices include:
- Breakfast and accommodation in twin or double room. Pick-ups and transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle as specified in the itinerary above (Please note: pick-ups will be by a guide and driver or, where a guide is not necessary, a driver only. All unaccompanied drivers will be briefed in advance, and will carry a mobile phone to ensure smooth transfer arrangements) Boat cruises as specified in the programme. Travel in an appropriate private air-conditioned vehicle with an experienced safe driver. The services of experienced English-speaking guides as indicated in the itinerary (please note: guides will be on hand from pick-up until guests' return to their hotel or reaching their destination). Free days or part days will not include the services of a guide unless requested and included in the final itinerary. Where necessary, entry fees for all visits as mentioned in the programme. Lunches and dinners (as specified in the itinerary) in the best local restaurants, or picnics where no suitable restaurant is available.
- VAT and other taxes
Our prices do not include:
- International flight tickets and airport tax Visas Dinners except as specified above Drinks, gratuities and personal expenses Camera fees
- Insurance
