Trip overview
Same bed for three nights, no flight to catch mid-trip: this route suits a short city break in its own right or one segment of a bigger loop that continues into Cambodia, Laos or Thailand. Two clear days out are on offer, wartime history paired with the old colonial streets on one, the delta on the other, and the last morning is kept free for packing before you fly.
For the delta day, the group heads southwest to My Tho, some 70 km away and under two hours by road even with average traffic. It draws more day visitors than anywhere else near the city, for good reason: canals, coconut groves and a village economy still running on daily trade all sit close enough that a boat ride and a walk fill an afternoon without an overnight stop being required. Short, heavy downpours turn up most afternoons from roughly June through September, though the schedule rarely changes because of them.
Trip highlights
- The Cu Chi Tunnels, the underground wartime network built and used during the resistance war
- Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum and the old French quarter on foot
- A full day near My Tho by large boat and hand-paddled sampan through coconut-lined canals
- A workshop where coconut candy is still cooked and cut by hand
- One hotel for the whole stay, with no domestic flight to plan around
Your day-by-day itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (about 30 minutes, 10 km from Tan Son Nhat)
Almost everyone who lives there still calls it Saigon rather than Ho Chi Minh City, and the place carries itself as Vietnam’s biggest, fastest and most business-minded city, with its own pockets of colonial architecture tucked among the newer towers. Landing-day afternoons are kept open on purpose, with an optional walk through the central districts for anyone not ready to sit still.
Day 2: Cu Chi Tunnels (about 1½ hours / 70 km to Ben Duoc, or 1 hour / 50 km to Ben Dinh, one way)
This day belongs to the Cu Chi Tunnels, dug and worked by Vietnamese resistance fighters through years of the fight for independence. A guide leads the group underground through the sections that are open, then through the surrounding exhibits that explain how the tunnels were built, hidden and defended, at whichever of the Ben Duoc or Ben Dinh entrances is scheduled that day.
Day 3: My Tho, delta canals by boat (about 1½ to 2 hours, 70 km one way)
Traffic allowing, the road southwest to My Tho takes something under two hours; the town has technically sat inside Dong Thap province since the 2025 merger of local boundaries, though almost every itinerary still calls it simply My Tho. A larger boat ferries the group to a river islet, where everyone shifts into narrow sampans, paddled rather than driven, gliding under coconut fronds past small stilt homes.
On the islet, a family workshop still hand-cooks coconut candy over an open flame, a bee farm pours honey tea for anyone who wants it, and a short set of don ca tai tu, the improvised chamber music native to the delta, plays under the trees. A powered boat carries everyone back toward My Tho for the drive north.
Day 4: Half-day Ho Chi Minh City tour, departure
Rooms are cleared by mid-morning, freeing up half a day on foot: Independence Palace, ticketed from 8:00 to 15:30 at 40,000 dong, or 65,000 dong for the combined pass with the exhibition wing, then the War Remnants Museum on Vo Van Tan Street, open 7:30 to 17:30, entry 40,000 dong. The route continues past the old Saigon Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral, still wrapped in long-term restoration work with no full reopening expected this decade, on to Dong Khoi Street, the Continental Hotel, the Opera House and City Hall, closing with the ride to Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
What’s included
- Hotels in the class you choose, twin or double occupancy, with breakfast each morning, or an equivalent property if the one named is full.
- All meals written into the day-by-day programme below.
- A private air-conditioned vehicle for every transfer and excursion in the programme.
- An English-speaking local guide at each stop on the route.
- Every boat trip, river crossing and cruise named in the itinerary.
- Entrance fees for the sites listed in the programme.
- Drinking water in the vehicle and on boat days.
- Government tax and service charge.
Not included
- International and domestic flights, and rail tickets.
- Visas, and any fee collected at a border post.
- Travel insurance.
- Meals and drinks that are not written into the programme.
- Personal spending such as laundry, phone calls, minibar, souvenirs and watersports.
- Early check-in, late check-out and room upgrades.
- Anything added on the day at your request outside the printed programme.
- Gratuities for your guide and driver.
- Costs arising from weather, flooding, road closures or other events beyond our control.
- Bank transfer charges.
Booking this trip
- Days
- 4 days / 3 nights
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