Southern Vietnam Family Tour – 5 Days

Day 1: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) (D)
Arriving in Saigon, the family will meet Viet Vision Travel’s tour guide at the outside of security gate at the airport, who is easy to find out by the welcome board with family’s name in it. Greetings and transferring to the center city for our checking in the hotel and take a short rest before we enjoy welcome dinner at the fine local restaurant in town. Overnight in Saigon.

Ho Chi Minh city

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City tour (B, L)
Today, we spend a whole day to explore the busiest city of Vietnam with all the highlights that could not be missed such as the Reunification Palace, headquarter of Ex-President of past Southern Vietnam during American war; the War Remnant Museum, where all witnesses, photos, and information from the war are collected and exhibited; the Old Post Office and Cathedral nearby where are now still in use and become the most attractive places for tourists for memorable photo shootings. We also have a visit to the Cho Lon, China town and Binh Tay market where old Chinese moved here and now becomes Vietnamese citizens; the famous Giac Lam Pagoda and Ben Thanh market. End of the day, we will enjoy Vietnamese traditional Water Puppet performance in the Golden Theater and overnight in Ho Chi Minh city.

People committee building in Ho Chi Minh city

Day 3: Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple (B, L)
This morning, we travel to border province between Vietnam and Cambodia of Tay Ninh, home of Cao Dai sect. This is a very famous temple in the South of Vietnam with its unique religious combining Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and even Catholicism. There are four ceremonies in a day but we will see the most important ceremony at midday. In the temple, the family is always welcome and we can take many wonderful photos. We also can contact with worshippers if we want to ask for more information. One more special rule here is men sit on the right while women sit on the left during the ceremony.

Leaving the Cai Dai temple after the ceremony, we have our lunch at a local restaurant then head to history Cu Chi Tunnels. Cu Chi tunnel is located in Cu Chi district where is about 70km far from Ho Chi Minh city center. It takes us approximately 1,5-hour driving from Cao Dai temple. Cu Chi tunnel is an underground system where the local people as well as old southern soldiers built and used it for living and hiding away from US army during the war. They are “villages, houses, hospitals, kindergartens, schools …” under the ground. The enemy could not find out them easily because they created many facilities that made their below life safe and comfortable. The family will see the video first for the overview of this historical place then craw in some parts reconstructed safely for tourists. We also enjoy some special food like cassava, sweet potato, tea… the main food of the old people here. Before family farewell Cu Chi Tunnel, we can stop at the shooting range where built specially for tourists who want to experience to shoot the real bullets. Only $1/real bullet with the guide of local soldiers we can try or just take a short visit over it. Back to Saigon and overnight.

During the noon rite in Cao Dai temple

Day 4: Mekong Delta (Cai Be floating market) (B, L)
Cai Be colorful floating market is our family’s last destination of the trip. It’s one of the biggest and busiest floating markets in the Mekong Delta. The tourist boat will take family among the cruises so we can see local people selling and buying their products. Because of being the wholesale market, Cai Be floating market is a place that big cruises bring many kinds of local fruits, vegetables, food and so on in Mekong Delta region to sell for local buyers from the smaller boats. These buyers will boat to remote villages to sell them to each family or company….The family will be recommended to leave the hotel early in the morning to visit the market at the busiest time.
After the market, we will take sampan deeper into the villages to visit many workshops, bonsai gardens on foot or by local bike. We have lunch with a local family and enjoy local traditional music performance showed by local artists. Back to Saigon in the afternoon, we relax in the rest of the day. Overnight in Saigon.

A boat carry full of rice-hush in the Mekong Delta

Day 5: Departure (B)
Today we will be free for last minute shopping or depend on our flight time, we will meet tour guide and driver at appointed time before then transfer to the airport for our departure flight. Trip ends.