Mekong Delta Private Tour: Floating Market & Tan Phong Island
Boat through a working floating market, then cook lunch in a village garden
A private full-day tour from Ho Chi Minh City to Cai Be on the Mekong Delta, with boat rides to the wholesale floating market on the Tien River, visits to family coconut and rice candy makers, and a stop on Tan Phong island where you cook and eat lunch in a local garden. An English-speaking guide leads the route, which includes cycling through orchards and paddling small canals.
Step-by-step itinerary
Full day Mekong Delta tour
- Depart Ho Chi Minh City to Cai Be
- Boat ride at Cai Be floating market
- Explore villages and visit family businesses
- Enjoy fresh fruit and traditional music
- Paddle through small canals on Tan Phong Island
- Lunch and cook Vietnamese specialties
- Cycle village paths and visit ancient house
- Boat ride back to Cai Be and return to Ho Chi Minh City
What’s included
- Private transportation from Ho Chi Minh City.
- English-speaking tour guide.
- boat rides on the Tien River and through canals.
- visits to coconut candy and rice popcorn family workshops.
- fresh fruit tasting.
- lunch cooked in a local garden on Tan Phong island.
- bicycle ride through village orchards.
- two bottles of water per person.
- traditional elephant eared fish.
Times
- Every day 06:30 07:00
Last departure this season: 31 Dec
Another time? ›Before you book
Operated by TNK Travel
Prices and times updated today
Traveler reviews
The experience
You leave Ho Chi Minh City at 7:30 AM by private vehicle and arrive in Cai Be to board a boat on the Tien River. The floating market here is no longer the crowded hub it once was, but it still shows how locals traded for generations before modern roads and farming methods changed the delta. From the water you see the orchards that line the banks: fruit gardens so dense the region earned the name "basket of the Mekong." A guide walks you through small villages where an ancient house stands as a marker of traditional Vietnamese architecture, and stops at family workshops where locals hand-make coconut candy and crispy rice popcorn. You taste fresh fruit while listening to Southern Vietnamese folk music, the kind woven into daily life here.
On Tan Phong island, you cook lunch yourself in a local garden, learning how to prepare Vietnamese dishes alongside the family who lives there. The meal happens in the heart of the orchard, not in a restaurant. After eating, you cycle through village paths on a bicycle, meeting islanders and learning how they spend their days. A visit to Ba Kiệt's ancient house rounds out the afternoon. Paddling through narrow canals by boat gives you a slower view of the upper delta. The kind of pace that lets the landscape settle.
The tour runs about 10 hours door to door. A boat carries you back to Cai Be in the late afternoon, where your driver meets you for the return to Ho Chi Minh City. The return time shifts with traffic, which the operator does not control.
Is this one for you?Book this tour if you want to move through the delta at a slow pace (by boat, bicycle and foot), and cook your own lunch in a working village rather than eat in a restaurant. The full day suits travelers with a flexible schedule and interest in how locals actually live and work.
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Top questions
What happens if it rains?
It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start.
What is the Cai Be floating market like now?
The wholesale floating market on the Tien River is no longer the busy trading hub it was years ago, but it still operates and shows how locals once bought and sold goods by boat before terrestrial roads and modern farming changed the delta's economy.
Do I cook the lunch myself, or does someone cook it for me?
You cook lunch yourself in the local garden on Tan Phong island, learning how to prepare Vietnamese specialties alongside the family. The meal is then served in the heart of the orchard where you cooked it.
What do I do on Tan Phong island besides eat?
On Tan Phong island you cycle through village paths on a bicycle, meet local islanders to learn about daily life in the delta, and visit Ba Kiệt's ancient house to see traditional architecture.
How much time do I spend on the water?
You take a boat ride to the floating market in Cai Be, paddle through small canals by hand, and boat back to Cai Be at the end of the day. The canal paddling is described as an exciting experience that lets you unwind and soak up the atmosphere of the upper delta.
Mekong Delta Private Tour: Floating Market & Tan Phong Island
10h · EN
from US$ 113.31 per person
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