Vietnam » Southern Vietnam » Ho Chi Minh City | 🏛 Day Trips From Ho Chi Minh · Ho Chi Minh River Cruise · My Tho Tours

Mekong Delta: My Tho & Ben Tre Private Day Trip with Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.95 (416 reviews) 95% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/17

Duration8h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Boat rides, orchard lunch, coconut candy and folk music in the Mekong Delta

You’ll float down winding canals in the Mekong Delta, snack on coconut candy in Ben Tre, listen to local folk music over tropical fruit, and share lunch under orchard trees. With hotel pickup included and a local guide leading every step, you’ll get glimpses of real riverside life that stick with you long after you’re back in Ho Chi Minh City.

Step-by-step itinerary

Depart Ho Chi Minh City hotel at 8:00 AM
Drive 1.5 hours to My Tho, passing rice fields
Visit Vinh Trang Pagoda
Take motorized boat on Tien River to Qui islet
See fishing port and boat-building workshops
Visit Dragon, Phoenix, and Unicorn Islets
Walk in village and visit fruit garden
Taste tropical fruit and hear folk music
Visit bee house and see pythons
Enjoy lunch in orchard garden
Boat cruise through Bao Dinh canal to Ben Tre
See Garden – Pond – Cage agricultural model
Visit coconut candy-making shop
Rowing boat trip on small canal
Ride electric car around island
Return to bus and head back to Ho Chi Minh City

The Experience

I’d been curious about the Mekong Delta for ages — something about all those winding rivers and green fields just felt different from anywhere else in Vietnam. When our guide, Hien, picked us up right at our Ho Chi Minh City hotel (early but not painfully so), I was already wide awake. The drive out to My Tho went quick — rice paddies zipped by, and Hien kept pointing out things I’d never have noticed, like how people dry rice right on the roadside. At Vinh Tràng Pagoda we wandered past giant Buddha statues and smelled incense mixing with frangipani. There was this old lady selling tiny lotus cakes outside; I bought one and it crumbled everywhere — worth it.

Getting on the motorboat felt like stepping into another world. The air changed — warmer, a little sweet from the river plants. We passed fishing boats painted wild colors and kids waving from the banks. On Tortoise Islet, locals played this music I can’t really describe (Hien called it “đờn ca tài tử”) while we tried dragonfruit straight off the tree. The honey tea at the bee farm was sticky-sweet; I probably spilled half of mine because I was distracted by a python someone casually held out for photos (nope). Lunch came under tangled orchard trees — fish so fresh you could taste river water in it, which sounds weird but honestly worked.

Ben Tre had its own feel — quieter somehow. The coconut candy workshop smelled like burnt sugar and wood smoke. I tried stirring a batch (badly), and Li laughed when I tried to say “kẹo dừa” in Vietnamese — probably butchered it. Later we drifted down a narrow canal in a little rowing boat; water coconut palms arched overhead so close they brushed my hat. It was humid and peaceful except for cicadas going nuts somewhere above us. After that there was an electric car ride through sleepy lanes before heading back to the city. I still think about that light on the river late afternoon — sort of gold and soft, you know?

What’s included

Your day includes air-conditioned transfers with hotel pickup and drop-off from central districts in Ho Chi Minh City, all boat trips across both My Tho and Ben Tre riversides, entry to Vinh Tràng Pagoda and workshops along the way, an English-speaking local guide throughout your journey, plus a traditional lunch served right inside an orchard before heading back in the late afternoon.

Good to know

Easy physical level

Operated by Indochina Heritage Travel