GROUP TOUR | Southern Vietnam 5D4N package | Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta & Cu Chi Tunnels

Estimated Time: 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM (evening, flexible based on arrival)

Accommodation: 4-Star HCMC Hotels: Amanaki Saigon Boutique / Liberty Saigon / Fusion Suites / Happy Life Grand Hotel or comparable quality — Room with Window

Meals: Breakfast (hotel included) · Dinner — Street Food Night Tour

Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City — the city that never sleeps, never slows, and never fails to astonish. Upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, your guide and private driver will greet you at the arrivals hall and transfer you to your hotel to check in and freshen up.

The real welcome begins at 6:00 PM: a 3.5-hour walking street food tour through the city’s most authentic local eateries — the best possible introduction to Saigon’s soul.

Highlights

• Saigon Street Food Night Tour (3.5 hours): Your guide leads you through the lively back-streets and beloved food corners of the city, eating like a local from the very first night. Expect Bánh Mì Sài Gòn — crusty baguettes stuffed with pâté and pickled vegetables — Bún Thịt Nướng (cold vermicelli with charcoal-grilled pork), Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang (Cambodian-style noodle soup), fresh Sinh Tố (Vietnamese fruit smoothies), and the legendary Cà Phê Sữa Đá — iced milk coffee at a plastic-stool street-side café.
• Bến Thành Market Area at Night: The streets surrounding Saigon’s most iconic market transform after dark into an open-air festival of food, energy, and colour. The perfect backdrop for a first evening in the South.

Estimated Time: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Accommodation: 4-Star HCMC Hotels (as above)

Meals: Breakfast (hotel included)

This morning peels back the layers of Saigon’s extraordinary history — from the French colonial city to the Vietnam War capital to the vibrant metropolis of today — all within a compact, expertly guided half-day tour.

Highlights

• Bến Thành Market by Cyclo: Begin with one of Saigon’s most memorable experiences — a cyclo (three-wheeled pedicab) ride through the streets surrounding Bến Thành Market. This slow, open-air journey through the city’s commercial heartland is both a practical introduction to the layout of central Saigon and an experience that feels entirely, irreplaceably Vietnamese.
• War Remnants Museum: One of the most powerful museums in Southeast Asia. Its extensive collection of photographs, artefacts, and documentation of the Vietnam War — and its aftermath — is both heartbreaking and essential. Regardless of perspective, this museum leaves no visitor unchanged. Allow at least 90 minutes.
• Reunification Palace (Independence Palace): Walk the grand halls, war rooms, and rooftop helicopter pad of the former South Vietnamese Presidential Palace — the building whose gates were famously breached by North Vietnamese tanks on the morning of April 30, 1975, marking the end of the Vietnam War. The building has been preserved exactly as it was on that day, creating an atmosphere of suspended history that is profoundly compelling.
• Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon & Central Post Office: Admire the twin-spired red-brick cathedral — completed by French colonialists in 1880 — standing at the heart of the city’s colonial district. Directly opposite, the elegant Central Post Office, designed in the style of a grand European railway terminus, is still fully operational and worth stepping inside for the ornate interior alone.

Estimated Time: 7:30 AM – 6:30 PM

Accommodation: 4-Star HCMC Hotels (as above)

Meals: Breakfast (hotel included) · Lunch — Mekong Local Food (included)

Leave the city behind and journey southwest to the Mekong Delta — the great river basin that feeds all of Vietnam, where island communities have lived by the rhythm of the tides for generations. The journey takes approximately two hours by private vehicle through the flat, lush lowlands of the Mekong basin.

Highlights

• Vinh Trang Pagoda: Begin in My Tho at this magnificent 19th-century Buddhist temple complex — one of the largest and most ornate pagodas in Southern Vietnam. Its eclectic architecture blends Vietnamese, Chinese, and French colonial influences in a harmonious, distinctly Southern style. Three large Buddha statues — standing, reclining, and seated — preside over the complex’s gardens.
• Mekong Four Islands Boat Tour: Board a traditional wooden sampan and cruise the Tien River — a major artery of the Mekong — past floating fish farms and communities living entirely on the water. Explore four distinct islands, each with its own character and specialty:
• Unicorn Island (Cù Lao Thới Sơn): Walk through orchards heavy with tropical fruit — longan, jackfruit, star apple, and pomelo. Sample fresh fruit with honey and salt, watch traditional beekeeping demonstrations, and listen to live Đờn Ca Tài Tử — the UNESCO-recognised folk music of Southern Vietnam — performed by local musicians in a riverside garden.
• Coconut Candy Workshop: Watch artisans in copper-vat workshops transform freshly pressed coconut milk into the South’s most beloved confection — pulled, cut, and wrapped by hand in a process unchanged for generations. Sample as many varieties as you like.
• Countryside Cycling (Optional): For those who wish, a gentle bicycle ride through the island’s network of narrow paths, rice paddies, and village lanes offers an intimate encounter with Mekong Delta rural life that no boat ride can replicate.
• Rowing Sampan Through Narrow Canals: Transfer to a smaller rowing boat for a quiet journey through the backwater canals — low-hanging palm fronds brushing the water, birdsong overhead, the city entirely forgotten.
• Traditional Mekong Lunch: A generous spread of Southern Vietnamese specialties served riverside: Cá Tai Tượng (elephant-ear fish deep-fried whole for self-assembly in rice paper), Lẩu Chua Cá (hot and sour fish soup), stir-fried water spinach, and steamed rice.

Estimated Time: 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM

Accommodation: 4-Star HCMC Hotels (as above)

Meals: Breakfast (hotel included) · Dinner — Saigon River Deluxe Cruise (included)

Today balances the weight of Vietnam’s wartime history in the morning with one of Saigon’s most romantic and celebrated evening experiences — a fitting finale to four days in the South.

Highlights

Morning: Cu Chi Tunnels

Travel northwest of Ho Chi Minh City to the Cu Chi Tunnels — the most extraordinary testament to human endurance in the entire Vietnam War. Beneath this unremarkable-looking stretch of jungle, Viet Cong guerrillas hand-dug an estimated 250 kilometres of tunnels that sheltered soldiers, civilians, field hospitals, and entire command centres from American bombing campaigns for years.

• Lang Viet Lacquer Workshop: Begin with a visit to a traditional lacquerware workshop — a living example of a Vietnamese artisan craft with over a thousand years of history. Watch skilled craftspeople apply layer upon layer of natural lacquer to intricate wooden forms, and browse a stunning array of finished pieces.
• Rice Paper Workshop: Observe the traditional production of Vietnamese rice paper — hand-pressed, sun-dried, and cut — one of the most fundamental ingredients of Southern Vietnamese cuisine, made here exactly as it has been for generations.
• Underground Tunnel Exploration: Enter the tunnels themselves — crawl through the narrow, low original passages (expanded slightly for modern visitors, but still genuinely claustrophobic) for a visceral, unforgettable sense of the conditions endured by those who lived below ground for years at a time.
• Guerrilla Food Tasting: Surface to a welcome spread of traditional wartime food — sweet potato, tapioca, and special herbal tea — the same simple provisions that sustained tunnel communities through years of conflict. Simple, poignant, and surprisingly delicious.
• Booby Trap Demonstrations: Examine the ingenious and sobering array of concealed traps and camouflage techniques that made the Cu Chi district so formidable to infiltrate.

Evening: Dinner on the Saigon River Deluxe Cruise

(Availability subject to confirmation — minimum 2 passengers)

At 6:30–7:00 PM, your driver returns to collect you from the hotel for transfer to the departure pier. Board your deluxe Saigon River cruise vessel for a 90-minute dinner journey along the river that built this city.

As Saigon’s skyline glitters on either bank, enjoy a beautifully prepared dinner of Vietnamese and international cuisine served on board, accompanied by live traditional music. The river at night — the Bitexco Tower’s lights, the distant bridges, the small fishing boats threading through the darkness — offers a perspective on Ho Chi Minh City that the streets never can.

Estimated Time: Based on flight schedule

Accommodation: None

Meals: Breakfast (hotel included)

Your final morning in Vietnam belongs entirely to you — the ideal conclusion to five days in the South.

Highlights

• Hotel Leisure & Last Saigon Wander: Sleep in, enjoy the hotel facilities, or take a final stroll through the streets of District 1. The Đồng Khởi shopping street and the area around Bến Thành Market are excellent for last-minute lacquerware, Vietnamese coffee, silk, and local specialties to bring home.
• Farewell Vietnamese Coffee: Before departure, find a street-side plastic stool, order one final cà phê sữa đá, and watch Saigon’s morning unfold around you. There is no better send-off.
• Private Airport Transfer: Your dedicated English-speaking guide and driver will meet you in the hotel lobby at the scheduled time for a smooth, direct transfer to Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN).
  • ✈ International Flights: Depart hotel at least 3 hours before takeoff
  • ✈ Domestic Flights: Depart hotel at least 2 hours before takeoff
  • 📍 For late check-outs or extensions, please contact Lotus Charm customer service in advance

Until we meet again — hẹn gặp lại Sài Gòn!

❓ FAQ

Q1: Is this tour suitable for first-time visitors to Vietnam?

A1: Absolutely. The CS501 itinerary is designed as the definitive introduction to Southern Vietnam — covering the city’s history, cuisine, and culture alongside the Mekong Delta and Cu Chi Tunnels, the two essential day-trips from Ho Chi Minh City. Full guide support throughout ensures a smooth, enriching experience for first-timers.

Q2: Do I need to move hotels during the tour?

A2: No. Ho Chi Minh City serves as your base for all five days — no packing and unpacking, no complicated logistics. Everything departs from and returns to your hotel each day.

Q3: What is the group size for this tour?

A3: Groups are kept small (typically 8–16 people) to ensure flexibility, quality, and a personal experience at every stop.

Q4: Is the Saigon River Dinner Cruise guaranteed on Day 4?

A4: The cruise operates subject to availability and requires a minimum of 2 passengers. We strongly recommend confirming this at the time of booking to secure your preferred date and seating.

Q5: Are the Cu Chi Tunnels suitable for claustrophobic travelers?

A5: The tunnel crawl sections are optional — guests who prefer not to enter the tunnels can observe from above ground and still experience the full historical tour, workshops, and demonstrations. Please let your guide know in advance.

Q6: Can this tour be run as a private tour?

A6: Yes. Lotus Charm can operate the entire CS501 itinerary as a fully private tour for couples, families, or groups of any size, with complete flexibility over timing, pace, and add-ons. Contact us for a tailored quote.