Delta to the Sea, 8 days

Day 1

Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Long’s Confucian temple, Can Tho

Pick-up at 07:30 for the drive of about 136 km to Vinh Long, two and a half to three hours. Văn Thánh Miếu stands on the Long Ho river: a Confucian temple built between November 1864 and September 1866 at the initiative of the scholars Phan Thanh Giản and Nguyễn Thông, one of three such temples built in the south in the nineteenth century.

Lunch in Vinh Long, then about 41 km to Can Tho, roughly an hour. Late afternoon at Ông pagoda on the Ninh Kieu riverfront, the Cantonese assembly hall built 1894–1896.

Day 2

Bình Thủy, then up the Hau River to Chau Doc

The Bình Thủy ancient house opens at 08:00 (hours published in 2023): the Dương family home of 1870, later a film set for L’Amant. Then about 120 km north-west to Chau Doc, two to two and a half hours, with lunch on arrival.

A boat on the Hau River in the late afternoon past the floating fish-farm houses that VNAT dates back about fifty years, and the confluence where the town faces Chau Giang.

Day 3

Sam Mountain and the Cham villages

Tây An pagoda in the early light

Sam Mountain at 06:30, before the pilgrims: Tây An pagoda (1847) with its mixed Vietnamese, Indian and Islamic façade; the tomb of Thoại Ngọc Hầu (1822); and the temple of Bà Chúa Xứ, whose festival UNESCO inscribed in 2024. VNAT counts around 200 religious sites on the mountain’s slopes.

In the afternoon, a boat of fifteen to twenty minutes to Chau Giang: the Mubarak mosque (1750, rebuilt 1965) and the stilt houses and weavers of Chau Phong, visited outside prayer times.

Day 4

Oc Eo – Ba Thê on the way to the sea

The longest day. About 66 km south to the Oc Eo – Ba Thê site, an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. Excavated from 1942 by Louis Malleret, it was a Funan port city occupied from roughly the first to the seventh century AD, and was ranked a special national relic in 2012. Morning on the slopes of Ba Thê and at the exhibition house.

After lunch, about 99 km west to Ha Tien, roughly two hours, with the limestone hills of the coast appearing as you near the sea. Evening by Đông Hồ lagoon.

Day 5

Ha Tien: the Mạc tombs, Phù Dung and the grotto

Morning at the Bình San tombs on the hill above town: Mạc Cửu’s tomb and 59 others, a national relic since 1989. Then Chùa Phù Dung, with its Quan Âm statue about four metres high, and Thạch Động, the cave shrine counted among Ha Tien’s ten classic sights.

A free afternoon, then sunset over Đông Hồ lagoon, about 1,300 hectares of water and mangrove at the edge of town. Dinner is free; Ha Tien’s market and waterfront have simple seafood places.

Day 6

Fast boat to Phu Quoc

A morning at Mũi Nai beach on the Gulf of Thailand if you want it, then the fast boat from the Ha Tien terminal to Bãi Vòng port on Phu Quoc — about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. Passengers need a passport to board. The guide says goodbye at the pier; a driver meets you on Phu Quoc.

Afternoon at your hotel. The heritage part of the journey ends here; the next two days are yours.

Day 7

Phu Quoc at rest

No programme. We can book a boat or a driver on request, but most travellers on this route use the day to do nothing after a week of early starts.

Day 8

Departure from Phu Quoc

Transfer to Phu Quoc airport for your flight. Phu Quoc airport is on the official list of gates where foreigners may enter and leave Vietnam on an e-visa.