Private Full-Day Mekong Delta Tour by Speedboat

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel and transfer you by private car to your speedboat at the Ho Chi Minh City pier. The boat departs in the morning, slipping away from downtown Saigon via narrow canals, then enters the verdant green tributaries of the Mekong Delta. A light breakfast will be served on board.

After a 30-minute ride, make a brief stop at the ornate Tuong Van Pagoda while your guide explains the importance of Buddhism to many people of the Delta. Then continue on to a bustling riverside market full of local curiosities, tropical fruits, and all manner of fish and shellfish. Great photo opportunities will be available during this visit.

Following another hour en route, you'll reach the idyllic watery expanses of the delta itself, known as the Delta of Nine Dragons for the nine tributaries that splinter from the main Mekong River. Turning off the delta into winding canals of the Thu Thua area, you're shaded by a canopy of foliage as you drift along lazily.

Depending on the route, you may visit a traditional riverside house with huge Burmese pythons as pets, or a quaint Mekong village and surrounding rice paddies. You will then head to a traditional farmhouse where you’ll sample coconuts and Mekong whiskey or you visit a local merchant and try a range of Mekong produce, whiskey, and wine. Walk along the banks of the river to a traditional rural Vietnamese house where three generations live. Explore a charming village where you can try fresh coconuts from the tree. This variation provides fascinating insight into the life of the Mekong Delta region, and your flexible guide may combine parts from both routes.

Around midday it's time for a traditional Mekong Delta lunch at a local pagoda prepared by a private chef. After lunch, you will visit an orphanage run by Buddhist monks. Following a 1-hour visit to a Cao Dai temple, you'll return to the speedboat and depart for Ho Chi Minh City for drop-off at your hotel by car.