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Is Can Tho worth visiting?
Can Tho is worth it for one morning and the evening either side of it. It’s the largest and wealthiest city in the Mekong Delta, a trading town where farmers from across the region have long brought their crops by boat. The streets are clean and well kept, there’s a pleasant park on the river, and the old villas and shophouses along the waterfront now hold some of the best restaurants in the delta.
The reason to come is the floating market, which sets the whole schedule. Boats arrive at dawn with fruit and vegetables from the surrounding provinces, so you sleep in town, leave in the dark and are back for breakfast. After that the city is easy: a riverside walk, a pagoda, a museum, a market, and a long dinner.
Since July 2025 Can Tho has been a larger city on paper: it merged with the old Soc Trang and Hau Giang provinces, so ports and districts you may have seen listed under those names, including Tran De, are now Can Tho addresses. The city itself is unchanged.
How long from Saigon to Can Tho by car?
A private car takes 2½-3½ hours to Can Tho, about 170 km, mostly on expressway: out of the city, down the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway and on across the My Thuan bridges, a route that has cut the old four-to-five-hour bus journey. The My Thuan to Can Tho section was free to use at the last check, and our prices include tolls either way.
The unpredictable part is the start. Saigon’s airport is inside the city, so the first stretch crosses town to the expressways heading south-west. A midnight arrival runs smoothly; a Friday at 5 pm does not. For an early floating-market morning, we’d suggest arriving the evening before rather than driving down at 3 am.
The driver meets you at arrivals with your name on a sign, loads the bags and drops you at your hotel’s door. A toilet and coffee stop is part of the trip, and stops are fine: it’s your car.
Saigon to Can Tho: car, bus or something else?
The bus is the cheapest way and the car is the easiest. Which one you want depends on your party and your luggage.
Buses and limousine vans leave all day from Mien Tay bus station in Binh Tan district, take 3½-5 hours, and cost a few dollars a seat. They suit a solo traveller with a backpack. They don’t suit the airport: you land, find a way to the station, wait for a departure, and arrive at a station in Can Tho that you then have to leave.
Booking an electric car by app is also possible, and a shared seat is cheaper than anything else door to door. The trade is that you don’t know the car or the driver until it arrives, and on a three-hour ride that matters. With a booked private car you know the vehicle before you travel, the price is fixed in advance, the driver tracks your flight and waits up to 90 minutes after landing, and you have a calm driver in a non-smoking cabin with working seatbelts and no overpowering air freshener. For two or more people the price per head comes close to the alternatives.
There’s no direct flight from Saigon, so the drive is the way.
Which car for Can Tho
Choose by luggage as much as by people. A sedan or VinFast suits two people with normal bags. A family of four or five, especially a tall one, will want a 7-seater such as an Innova or Xpander, which is also the right choice for big cases or a pram. Child seats are available on request: add them when you book and put the children’s ages in the notes. Groups can book a limousine van or 16-seater.
Meeting your driver at Tan Son Nhat
- Book in the box at the top of the page. You get an email confirming your booking, and the driver’s name, photo and number plate the evening before.
- Give us your flight number. We track the flight, so a delay doesn’t cost you, and the driver waits up to 90 minutes after landing.
- Walk out of arrivals and look for your name on a sign. Our Saigon airport transfers page shows where drivers wait.
- Pay the driver at your hotel in Can Tho in dong or by VietQR transfer. Tolls and parking are in the price.
Immigration queues at Tan Son Nhat can run past an hour when several long-haul flights land together; you can add fast-track immigration when you book, and a SIM or eSIM can be waiting in the car.
Things to do in Can Tho
Can Tho is a small city, and the main sights are all close to the river.
Cai Rang floating market
Cai Rang is the best known floating market in the delta and a recognised piece of national heritage. It’s about 6 km from the Ninh Kieu waterfront, and you reach it by boat. Boats start gathering at 4:30-5 am and it’s busiest between about 5:30 and 6:30; by 8 am most of the big boats have gone. Wholesale traders sell pineapples, mangoes, watermelons and other produce from the decks of big boats, and smaller boats weave between them selling noodles and coffee, so you can eat breakfast on the water.
There’s no entry fee: you pay for the boat. Hiring one for 4-15 people has been quoted at about 600,000-1,200,000₫ (2026). The women who approach you along the riverfront will offer trips; a boat arranged through your hotel the night before is easier. Some mornings are busier than others, because the traders vary day to day.
Ninh Kieu waterfront
The waterfront is where Can Tho spends its evenings: a small park on the river, boats at the jetty, and restaurants in old villas and shopfronts. It’s the best place to pass an hour after the long drive.
Ong Pagoda and the Chinese heritage
A beautiful pagoda in the old town was built by the Chinese merchants who have long lived in Can Tho. Incense coils hang from the ceiling and burn for days.
Can Tho Museum
The city’s museum is a quick, free-to-enter look at the delta’s history, ethnic groups and river life. Our short guide to the Can Tho Museum covers the hours.
Eating in Can Tho
Eat on the water or in the old villas. The delta’s food is fish, river prawns, rice-field rat, fruit and sweet soups, and Can Tho does all of them well. Hotel restaurants charge more; the street stalls around the waterfront and the night market are fine and much cheaper.
Where to stay in Can Tho
Stay near the Ninh Kieu waterfront if you want to walk to dinner and the boat jetty. There are international hotels on the river, mid-range hotels one street back, and small guesthouses. If you’re driving on to Chau Doc or the Con Dao ferry, a hotel on the road side of the city saves time in the morning.
When to go to Can Tho
Can Tho can be visited all year. The dry season, December to April, is the most comfortable and the best for boats; from May to November expect afternoon showers, and higher water in the autumn. Weekends and the Tet holiday (early February in 2027) are busy, and prices jump.
Onward from Can Tho
Can Tho is the hub for the rest of the delta. Chau Doc, near the Cambodian border, is about 120 km and 2½-3 hours away. My Tho, Ben Tre and Vinh Long and Cai Be sit on the way from Saigon, so you can stop at one of them on the drive down. For Con Dao you take the early ferry from Tran De, which is now in Can Tho city, and a night in town makes that start far easier. Phu Quoc is reached from the ports of Rach Gia and Ha Tien.
To book any of these legs, change the From and To in the booking box.