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Is My Tho worth visiting?
My Tho is worth a day if you want to see the Mekong Delta without committing to an overnight. It sits on the Tien River, a branch of the Mekong, and it’s the first delta town you reach on the way south from Saigon. The town itself is a busy, ordinary provincial centre; what you come for is what surrounds it: wide brown river, islands covered in coconut and fruit trees, narrow canals under palms, and a pagoda that doesn’t look like any other in Vietnam.
Since July 2025 My Tho has formally been in Dong Thap province, after the old Tien Giang was merged into it. Old signs, guides and booking sites still say Tien Giang. It’s the same town.
How long from Saigon to My Tho by car?
A private car takes 1½-2 hours from central Saigon or Tan Son Nhat, about 70-75 km. The drive is mostly the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway, which carries traffic south from the edge of the city. Our prices include tolls.
As with every delta trip, the delay is leaving the city. Leave central Saigon at 7:30 on a weekday morning and the first hour is slow; leave at 5 am and you’re there in under 1½ hours.
My Tho day trip: car, bus or tour?
For one or two people on a budget, the bus is the cheapest way down, with seats from about 100,000₫ and vans a bit more. You then need transport on the other side: boats, rides to the pagoda, and the way back.
A group tour solves that by carrying you round a fixed circuit with a guide. It’s a good first visit, but you’ll share the boat and the stops with a coach party and won’t set the pace.
A booked private car sits between the two: you set the day. Ask for the wait-and-bring-me-back option, which means the driver stays with you through the morning at the pagoda and the islands and drives you home after lunch. The same car can continue to Ben Tre in the afternoon, or on to Vinh Long and Cai Be. You know the car and driver beforehand, the price is fixed, and we hold drivers to a calm, non-smoking standard with working seatbelts and no overpowering air freshener.
Meeting your driver
- 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.
- For an airport pickup, give us your flight number: the driver tracks it and waits up to 90 minutes after landing. For a hotel pickup, name the time.
- For a day trip, add the wait-and-bring-me-back extra and say how long you want in My Tho.
- Pay the driver in dong or by VietQR transfer. Tolls and parking are included.
Things to do in My Tho
Vinh Trang pagoda
Vinh Trang pagoda is the sight that most visitors come for. It’s a large pagoda complex with a garden, big Buddha statues and an architecture that mixes Vietnamese, Khmer, Chinese and European styles. It’s one of the few places where the delta’s mixture of cultures is visible in a single building. Dress modestly, and go in the morning before the tour coaches arrive.
Boats and islands on the Tien River
The other half of the day is on the water. Small boats cross to islands such as Thoi Son, where you can take a rowing boat down a narrow canal under the palms (about 50,000₫ a trip, a price quoted in 2026), try coconut candy and honey tea, and hear don ca tai tu, the southern folk music. It’s touristy, but it’s the delta in a short space and it’s fun.
Lunch
Eat in the orchard restaurants on the islands or in town. The local dish is hu tieu My Tho, a noodle soup of pork, prawn and herbs, and elephant-ear fish, fried whole and wrapped at the table in rice paper with herbs and vegetables, is the delta’s showpiece lunch.
When to go
My Tho works all year. The dry season, December to April, is most comfortable, and the rainy months are good for green scenery with a shower to plan around. Weekends and Tet (early February in 2027) are busiest; go midweek if you can.
Onward from My Tho
My Tho is the gateway to the delta. Ben Tre is across the river and about 90 km from Saigon; Vinh Long and Cai Be are further along the river with homestays; and Can Tho is the delta’s main city, 2½-3½ hours from Saigon. To book any of these legs, change the From and To in the booking box.