Can Tho, Cai Rang Floating Market, Long Xuyen and Chau Doc
4 am: Depart from your hotel and take about a 3-hour drive to Can Tho city with your Vietnam tour guide.
7 am: Arrive at Ninh Kieu pier and start your boat trip on the Hau River to Cai Rang Floating Market, the biggest floating market, operating from sunrise to late morning and busiest from 8 to 10 am. The shops and stalls at the market are local boats of different sizes, and the main items sold are farm products and specialties of Cai Rang Town and neighbouring areas. Wholesale is the main form of trading in this market.
As your boat edges through the market, you will feel transported back to earlier centuries by the sounds of bargaining, rowing, and motoring, mixed with the calls from coffee boats, meat boats, grocery boats, and ice boats. Your breakfast today is local style, with a bowl of noodle soup.
Say goodbye to Cai Rang Floating Market and speed through the green and beautiful channels of the Mekong River, stretching alongside rural villages, until you arrive at a fruit orchard. Here, you can enjoy some tropical fruit and understand more about the real life of local people.
10 am: Take a boat cruise back to town, where a car will take you to visit Binh Thuy ancient house.
Drive to Long Xuyen (60 km), with breaks en route for a short visit to a local Cao Dai Temple.
Continue to Tra Su Conservation. Embark on an arrow boat to unveil the breathtaking scenery and wildlife habitats of this sensational and unique conservation area. It is a thousand-hectare mangrove forest surrounded by paddy fields. Enjoy a short stroll around the conservation on your own and climb up to the observation deck for a spectacular view of the area, where thousands of storks and birds nest.
Drive to Chau Doc and check in to a 3-star hotel.
