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Before dawn, wooden boats piled with pineapples, watermelons and pumpkins gather on the river at Cai Rang, each one hanging a sample of its produce from a tall pole so buyers can see what is for sale. Can Tho, the largest city of the Mekong Delta, is built around water like this: it sits on the Hau River, the southern branch of the Mekong, laced with canals, orchards and floating markets.
The city grew into the delta's main trading port in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its riverfront still shows that past in the restored Can Tho Ancient Market, the Chinese Ong Pagoda and the grand Binh Thuy Ancient House. Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese communities each left their temples, and the Ninh Kieu waterfront is where everyone comes to stroll in the evening.
Most visitors stay two days: one morning on the floating markets and canals, another for the museums, pagodas and the long cable-stayed Can Tho Bridge. Further out, orchards, a stork sanctuary and a large Zen monastery reward a day on a rented motorbike or with a local driver.
The largest floating market in the delta lies a few kilometres from central Can Tho, where traders buy fruit and vegetables boat to boat. Each vessel hangs samples from a tall pole to show its cargo. Trading peaks just after sunrise, so book a boat from Ninh Kieu the evening before.
Smaller and more local than Cai Rang, this market on a tributary southwest of the city is where orchard families paddle out with their harvests at first light. Tours often add narrow green canals and a fruit garden. It has shrunk as roads improved, so come at dawn to see it at its liveliest.
This colonial-era market hall on Hai Ba Trung Street was restored in its original riverside style, with arched openings and a tiled roof facing the Hau River. Stalls now sell local snacks, dried fruit, crafts and souvenirs. It is a short walk from Ninh Kieu, so pair it with an evening stroll.
Can Tho's landmark waterfront is a landscaped park with a statue of Ho Chi Minh facing the boats on the Hau River. In the evening families fill the promenade, dinner cruises leave from the wharf and a pedestrian bridge glows in changing colours. Most floating-market boat trips start here.
Built by the Cantonese community in the late nineteenth century, this riverfront temple honours the deified general Guan Yu. Giant coils of incense hang from the ceiling, and carved beams, ceramic figures and lacquered altars show fine craftsmanship. It stands on Hai Ba Trung Street by Ninh Kieu.
This Theravada temple of the Khmer community was built in the 1940s on Hoa Binh Boulevard. Its tiered roofs, naga serpents and golden spires follow classic Khmer design, and the upstairs hall holds a large seated Buddha. Monks live here, so cover shoulders and knees and remove shoes in the halls.
Opened in the 2010s in Phong Dien district, this monastery of the Truc Lam Zen school is one of the largest Buddhist complexes in the Mekong Delta. Red-roofed halls, a bell tower, lotus ponds and neat gardens follow traditional Vietnamese design. Walk the grounds quietly and pair it with Phong Dien.
Founded in the 1890s in Binh Thuy district, this pagoda pairs a yellow colonial-style façade with a traditional gate, tiled roofs and a shady garden of old trees and potted plants. It is remembered as a meeting place for patriots of the early anti-colonial movement, and it makes a quiet stop.
Opened in 2010, this cable-stayed bridge carries the main highway over the Hau River and replaced the slow car ferry that once held up every trip into the delta. Its 550-metre main span was among the longest in Southeast Asia at the time. A boat trip on the river gives the best view of its towers.
Built in the late nineteenth century by the wealthy Duong family, this mansion pairs a French façade with a Vietnamese interior of carved wood, mother-of-pearl inlay and family altars. A bonsai garden surrounds it, and it appeared in the film The Lover. Descendants still care for it.
The city museum on Hoa Binh Boulevard introduces the peoples and history of the Mekong Delta, with sections on Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese communities, traditional houses, crafts, farm tools and twentieth-century wars. Labels are partly in English, and an hour gives a solid overview of the delta.
Run by the army command of the southwestern region, this museum on Hoa Binh Boulevard covers the wars against France and the United States in the Mekong Delta. Galleries hold photographs, documents and weapons, while aircraft and armoured vehicles fill the courtyard. The view is official but vivid.
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