Cu Chi Tunnels & Mekong Delta: Day Tour with Sampan & Lunch

4.92

(149 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I remember is ducking down into the Cu Chi Tunnels, knees brushing rough earth, my shirt sticking to my back. Our guide, Minh, tapped the wall and told us stories about families living here for years—he said some people even got married underground. It smelled like clay and old leaves. I tried to imagine cooking rice in that darkness. Minh laughed when I asked if he’d ever crawled through as a kid (“No way!”), but he showed us how they built air vents disguised as termite mounds. That detail stuck with me.

After that we drove out of Ho Chi Minh City—rice paddies flashing by, kids waving from bikes—and ended up at My Tho for the Mekong part of the day trip. The air was thick and sweet near the river. We climbed onto a wooden boat (paint peeling, bright blue) and drifted past little houses on stilts. At one stop, an older woman handed me honey tea with slices of kumquat floating on top; it was sticky and floral, not what I expected but really good. There was music too—someone plucking a dan tranh while we tasted mango and jackfruit right off the plate.

I didn’t expect to laugh so much trying to paddle a sampan along those narrow green channels (my arms are still sore). The coconut candy workshop smelled like caramelized sugar—I probably ate too many samples. Lunch at Tiny Garden Family farm was loud and warm: crispy elephant ear fish, pancake rolls you wrap yourself, grilled prawns that left my fingers salty. Everyone talked over each other in half-English, half-Vietnamese. It felt like being let in on something private.

By late afternoon we were back in the van—quiet now except for someone snoring behind me—and I kept thinking about those tunnels under our feet earlier. The whole day felt like two sides of Vietnam: tense history below ground, then slow river life above it. I still think about that view from the boat as dusk crept in… kind of hard to explain unless you’ve been there.