Can Tho

Can Tho is famous for its floating markets, Buddhist pagodas, delicious food, fresh fruits and the beauty of the Mekong delta. Taking a bike tour, cycling on back roads is the best way to explore Can Tho for the real life experience.

Can Tho City is located in the center of the Mekong Delta. It is contiguous to 5 provinces: An Giang on the north, Dong Thap on the north-east, Hau Giang on the south, Kien Giang on the west, and Vinh Long on the east. Can Tho has a complex of rivers and canals such as Hau, and Can Tho rivers, Thot Not, O Mon canals. Among them, the Hau River is considered a benefactor of this region, since yearly floods deposit large quantities of alluvia to the rice fields.

Similar to other Vietnamese cities in the Delta, the central area of Can Tho really comes alive after the sun goes down. During the day don't expect to see much interesting, after dark the area becomes a gathering point for locals and tourists and a great place to just hang out and shop the numerous authentic Vietnamese stores or eat at the restaurants, some of them offering really excellent value for the money.

Can Tho Weather

The climate is tropical and monsoonal with two seasons: rainy, from May to November; and dry, from December to April. Average annual humidity is 83%, rainfall 1,635 mm and temperature 27 °C.

Can Tho things to see

Can Tho is over its 200 years as the main town, once known as Tay Do and now one city of Viet Nam. All of economic, culture activities closely relate to river and canals which like the 'street'. Can Tho has simple, poetic beauty with well-off villages under shade of coconut trees. It is wonderful to take a boat trip along the riverbanks on fine weather days. On the east bank of Hau River is Ninh Kieu Wharf, which is well known for its beautiful location. Other interesting places are Bang Lang Stork Sanctuary, Can Tho and My Khanh Tourist gardens and Can Tho Market.

Cai Rang Floating Market

Cai Rang Floating Market specializes in agricultural products of Mekong River Delta. The market stretches half kilometre from Cai Rang Bridge downstream Can Tho River. From early morning to 8-9am everyday, hundreds boats gather here to sell agricultural products.

Most of the boats are loaded with a lot of agricultural products and specialties of Mekong River Delta such as vegetables, coconut, banana, watermelon, grapefruit, dragon fruit and so on. Small boats which sell drinks and food for breakfast go among the others to serve market-goers and visitors. Other products such as clothes, candy, medicine... are available here, not different from what are sold in mainland markets.

Ninh Kieu Wharf

Ninh Kieu was used to be a wharf at the head of Can Tho Market. In 1876, French Colonial occupied Can Tho, the wharf was built with bricks and stones along the river shore and became a busy trading port of the South. The wharf was named Quai de Commerce by French and Hang Duong by local people. In 1957, Chief of Can Tho – Do Van Chuoc had the esplanade and green tree park formed in Hang Duong Wharf. Then, Do Van Chuoc submitted to Ngo Dinh Diem (President of the Republic of Viet Nam) to name the park and esplanade as Ninh Kieu according to the historic site of Ninh Kieu (now Chuc Son Town, Chuong My District, Ha Noi) – the place marked the victory of King Le Thai To and Lam Son Insurgent Army against Ming invaders.

Countryside Gardens

In recent years, a series of gardens have appeared on every land and water route in Can Tho City. The gardens of My Khanh, San Duong, Ba Lang and Tan Binh extend along the arched highway, as well as on the waterways of Hong Dien and Phung Hiep Rivers. Other gardens in Long My, Vi Thanh, O Mon and Thot Not are also developing. These gardens are a rich collection of local fruit trees, flowers and diverse species of birds, fishes...

Binh Thuy Communal House

Binh Thuy communal house was built in 1844. The architecture of Binh Thuy Communal House is different from the communal houses in the North. The front and the back buildings are square, and each side has six rows of columns. All the bases of the columns are very wide, which make the buildings more stable. The roofs of the two front buildings were built overlapping each other.

Ong Pagoda

Ong Pagoda was built from 1894 to 1896 in an area of 532m², in Han character 国  (Quoc) with a space in the middle. Ong Pagoda is roofed with double tiles. The edges of the roof are covered with lines of dark green glazed pipe-shaped tiles, and on the top of the roof there are a number of multi-colour porcelain figures, such as two dragons flanking the moon, carp changing into dragons, and phoenixes. On either end of the rooftop, there are statues of people holding the sun and the moon.

Getting in & out

As a regional hub, it is easy to get to Can Tho from cities in the Mekong Delta. There are bus operators from all big cities and minibuses from smaller ones. If you arrive from Cambodia, you will probably stop in Chau Doc and catch a bus to Can Tho here. There is also one bus line directly from Phnom Penh once a day. It is difficult, not to say impossible, to get in by car from Cambodia as a tourist. You should also check, if you want to enter Vietnam by bicycle or motorbike. A new airport services Can Tho. Currently flight destinations are limited, but as the city grows more destinations are planned.

From Can Tho you can easily reach other cities of the Mekong Delta such as Soc Trang, Chau Doc, Rach Gia, Vinh Long and Ca Mau. There are two ways to get to Phnom Penh from Can Tho. There is a bus operator leaving at the petrol station close to the bus station (Can Tho Ben Xe) early in the morning. Alternatively you can take a local bus from Can Tho to Chau Doc stay there overnight and take a bus to Phnom Penh from there.

Can Tho Map