Private Mekong days from Saigon
Tours
Four private trips, one party each
Every trip here is private and starts from Ho Chi Minh City or from your ship. They differ in how you travel, how far you get and how long you are away. The table shows all four side by side; the notes below it help you choose.
Compare
The four trips side by side
| Trip | Nights | Main transport | Furthest point | Door to door | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private speedboat day | 0 | Speedboat both ways | Upper-delta canals, Thu Thua area | About 8–9 h | On request |
| Private car day, Ben Tre or Cai Be | 0 | Car or van | Ben Tre or Cai Be | About 9.5–10.5 h | On request |
| Can Tho in one night | 1 | Car, then private boats | Can Tho and Cai Rang market | Day 1 morning to day 2 early afternoon | On request |
| Mekong port day | 0 | Car from Phu My, or speedboat from a city berth | Thoi Son islet or upper-delta canals | Fitted inside your ship's hours | On request |
All four include a private English-speaking guide, a private sampan on the small canals, a private lunch, drinking water and fruit on the boat, and the entrance fees on the plan. None of them includes a shopping stop.
How to choose in two questions
1. How much of the day can you give?
If you have a whole day and want to spend as little of it as possible in traffic, the speedboat day is the obvious choice. You are on the water within a quarter of an hour of leaving the hotel and in the delta canals about eighty minutes later. The trade is reach: the canals you arrive in are at the upper edge of the delta, in the former Long An area, not on the wide Mekong branches you see in photographs of Ben Tre.
If you want the big river, the coconut country of Ben Tre or the orchards and old houses around Cai Be, take the car day. It spends about four hours of the day on the road, in a private vehicle with air conditioning, and gives you the delta most people picture.
2. Can you spend one night away?
If yes, Can Tho is the trip to consider. It is three to three and a half hours from Saigon by road, which is too far for a comfortable day trip, but with one night you see the Cai Rang floating market at dawn from your own boat, before the tour boats arrive in numbers. You are back in Saigon by early afternoon on day two, or at the airport for a flight.
If you are arriving by cruise ship, the choice is made for you by the berth and the hours in port. The shore day planner walks through that decision.
What every trip has in common
Written timings
Each quote gives the hour you leave the lobby, each transfer time and the hour you are back, with the margin for traffic or tide written in.
Nothing shared
The boat, vehicle, sampan, lunch table and guide are for your party. We do not combine bookings to fill a boat.
A luggage plan
Speedboats are for day bags. When a suitcase travels with you, it goes by car, and the quote says so.
Weather and tide
If wind or rain makes the river unsafe for a small boat, we tell you the day before and switch to the car version, or move the date.
What we do not sell
Some trips you may be looking for are not on this site, by choice. We do not sell overnight river cruises, multi-night stays in the delta's lodges and resorts, or shared coach tours with a fixed daily departure. We also do not sell specialist days built around a chef, a craft workshop or a photographer. If one of those is what you want, a private day with us is the wrong product, and the form is still a good place to ask which of our trips comes closest.
Prices and booking
Each trip page lists its price rows as "On request", because a private charter is priced for your party, your date and your hours. The pricing page shows how a quote is built and compares it with published shared-tour and bus prices, so you can see where the difference goes. The how to book page explains the steps, what we need from you, and what happens if the weather turns.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Can we combine the speedboat with the car day?
Yes. The speedboat day has a boat-out, car-back version: the boat takes you to the upper-delta canals in the morning and a private car takes you on to the Tien River at Thoi Son and back to Saigon. It is a long day of about ten hours.
Are any of these trips shared with other travellers?
No. Every trip on this site is for one party. If you want a shared tour at a lower price, a join-in tour is the better choice.
Which trip suits older travellers?
Usually the car day, because getting into and out of a speedboat at a pontoon takes some balance. The car day still has a sampan, but the guide chooses a jetty with easy steps.
Can we start from a hotel outside central Saigon?
Yes. Tell us the hotel when you send the form. A hotel far from the river pier adds road time to the speedboat day, and we show it in the plan.
Related
Read next
Example journey
Private speedboat day
Speedboat from central Saigon to the upper-delta canals, private sampan and lunch, back by late afternoon.
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Example journey
Private car day
Private car to the big river at Ben Tre or Cai Be, with private sampan, lunch and guide.
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Example journey
Can Tho in one night
Private car to Can Tho, one riverside night, Cai Rang market at dawn by private boat, back by early afternoon.
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Example journey
Mekong port day
A private delta day for cruise passengers, planned from the berth and the all-aboard time.
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Tours · Pricing
Pricing
What a private Mekong quote is made of, what moves it, and published prices to compare.
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Tours · Booking
How to book
The steps from the form to a confirmed private day, with weather and change rules.
View this journeyStart planning
Tell us the day you have in mind
A date, how many are travelling and where you start, a hotel, an airport or a ship, are enough to begin. We reply by email with questions or a written plan with door-to-door times.