One Week of Saigon Day Trips
A full week keeps the same Cu Chi, Tay Ninh, Mekong, Vung Tau, Can Tho and Ben Tre homestay days as the 6 day version, then trades the rushed drive home for one slow morning before heading back to HCMC. Only have six days? See the 6 day version . Want the city itself instead? See our Saigon offbeat week .
| Day | Day trip | Travel time from HCMC |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cu Chi Tunnels (Ben Duoc) and the Tay Ninh Cao Dai noon ceremony | Combined, 8-10h round trip |
| 2 | Mekong Delta: My Tho and Ben Tre | 1.5-2h each way |
| 3 | Vung Tau beach and the Christ of Vung Tau statue | 1.5-2h each way by hydrofoil |
| 4 | Travel to Can Tho, overnight | 3-3.5h each way |
| 5 | Cai Rang dawn floating market, then on to Ben Tre | Sampan at dawn; Can Tho-Ben Tre roughly 2h |
| 6 | Ben Tre coconut-lane homestay, overnight | Return to HCMC next morning, 1.5-2h |
| 7 | A slow Ben Tre morning, then back to HCMC | 1.5-2h back to District 1 |
Book these before you go
- Compare District 1 hotel rates for the first three and last nights
- Book a combined Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple tour rather than arranging both legs solo
- Compare Mekong Delta day-tour options for day 2, separate from the day 6 homestay
Day 1: Ben Duoc’s tunnels, then the Cao Dai noon ceremony
Morning: Ben Duoc, 70km and roughly 2 hours out, entry 110,000-125,000 VND (~US$4-5), the introductory film plus a stretch of tunnel crawl. Check current visitor details first. Afternoon: Tay Ninh, 90km and 2-2.5 hours from HCMC, the free noon Cao Dai ceremony from the upstairs gallery. Evening: return, an 8-10 hour day door to door.
Day 2: My Tho and Ben Tre, the honest single-day Mekong trip
My Tho and Ben Tre, 70-90km and roughly 1.5-2 hours from HCMC: a sampan through coconut-palm canals, a coconut-candy workshop, orchard fruit tasting, all in one unhurried day.
Day 3: Vung Tau’s beach, and the statue you climb from the inside
The Greenlines hydrofoil takes 1.5-2 hours each way, roughly 250,000-375,000 VND (~US$10-15) one-way. The Christ of Vung Tau statue, 32 metres tall, is reached by roughly 800 steps up Small Mountain plus 133 steps inside the statue to its arms.
Day 4: The road to Can Tho, ahead of the dawn market
Can Tho sits 3-3.5 hours from HCMC by road. Settle into a riverside hotel near Ninh Kieu Wharf, eat at the wharf’s night market, and set an early alarm for Cai Rang, whose real wholesale trade runs hardest 5-8:30am.
Day 5: Cai Rang at dawn, then onward to Ben Tre
A pre-sunrise sampan from Ninh Kieu Wharf catches the floating market at its actual peak, wooden boats stacked with produce and hung with samples advertising each boat’s cargo, rather than its thinned-out mid-morning version. Continue roughly 2 hours on to Ben Tre and check into a homestay for the night rather than driving straight back to HCMC.
Day 6: A Ben Tre coconut-lane homestay, the better Mekong finish
Ben Tre, just 14km past My Tho, is “the land of coconuts,” with more than 300 small candy workshops and quiet canal lanes a group bus never lingers in. A homestay trades the standard tour’s fixed return slot for a slow dinner and an unrushed evening in the coconut lanes. Ben Tre’s own tourism notes cover more of the province for a return visit.
Day 7: A slow Ben Tre morning, then home
Is a full week actually too much time for HCMC’s day trips? Not with this pace. Spend the morning on one more unhurried canal paddle or a final coconut-candy tasting before the 1.5-2 hour drive back to District 1, arriving with the afternoon free for last-minute shopping or a repeat visit to whichever stop from the week earned it, rather than crammed travel on the final day.
Head to Tan Son Nhat with real buffer time; District 1 to the airport runs 25 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic. Vietnam’s official tourism site has visa rules by nationality worth rechecking before a week-long trip like this one. Seven days is enough to turn every rushed version of these four day trips into the properly unhurried one.