Saigon Day Trips Guide 2026: What to Know
Ho Chi Minh City is the best base in southern Vietnam for one thing above all else: leaving it for a day. Four genuinely different trips sit within a few hours of District 1, and each delivers something the city itself cannot. Crawl through the actual Cu Chi Tunnels, watch Tay Ninh’s Cao Dai worshippers file into their noon ceremony in full color, drift a sampan through Mekong Delta canals, or catch a hydrofoil to Vung Tau’s beach. Pick two of these, pick all four, here’s exactly what each one costs and how much of your trip it eats.
Day trips from Ho Chi Minh City, ranked by how much they deliver
| Day trip | Distance and travel time | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cu Chi Tunnels | 50-70km, 1.5-2 hours | 110,000-125,000 VND entry (~$4-5) | Crawling real war tunnels |
| Tay Ninh Cao Dai Temple | ~90km, 2-2.5 hours | Free entry | The noon ceremony |
| Mekong Delta, My Tho and Ben Tre | 70-90km, 1.5-2 hours | Tour ~$25-70pp shared | The honest single-day Mekong trip |
| Mekong Delta, Can Tho and Cai Rang | 3-3.5 hours each way | Tour plus one night | The real floating market, overnight only |
| Vung Tau | 90-100km, 1.5-2 hours by hydrofoil | ~$10-15 (250,000-375,000 VND) one-way | A beach reset, not a bucket-list beach |
Cu Chi and Cao Dai are the pair to book first. Book the combined Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple tour on GetYourGuide and you get Vietnam’s most-crawled tunnel network in the morning and its strangest religious ceremony by lunchtime, one long day, back in District 1 for dinner. My Tho and Ben Tre earn their spot as the trip to actually book if the Mekong is the goal and you only have one day. Can Tho’s Cai Rang floating market is the bigger spectacle on paper, but only if you stay the night, a same-day round trip gets there once the real trading has already thinned out. Vung Tau is worth a Saturday for sand and seafood; skip it if “a great beach” is the actual ask, Da Nang and Phu Quoc do that better.
The Cu Chi Tunnels: crawling through Vietnam’s war beneath your feet
Cu Chi District sits 50-70km northwest of District 1, 1.5-2 hours by road depending on which of the two sites you pick. Ben Dinh is closer, about 50km, and busier, tour buses stack up in its car park most mornings. Ben Duoc is roughly 30 minutes further and rewards that extra time with a more original-scale site, a real memorial, and noticeably fewer buses. Take Ben Duoc if you have any flexibility. Entry runs 110,000-125,000 VND (~$4-5) at either site, covering an introductory film and a stretch of tunnel. Here’s the honest gotcha: the tunnels you actually crawl through have been deliberately enlarged from their wartime 80cm x 80cm dimensions so bigger modern visitors don’t get stuck halfway. You are not squeezing through the original tunnel, whatever a tour guide implies. A shooting range with real wartime-era rifles, pay per bullet, sits on site as a separate paid add-on. Book the Ben Duoc tunnel tour on GetYourGuide for the quieter site. The Cu Chi Tunnels visitor guide has current hours if you’re driving yourself instead.
Can you visit Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai Temple in one day?
Yes, and it’s the standard move. Combined tours leave HCMC early, crawl Cu Chi’s tunnels mid-morning, then drive on to Tay Ninh in time for the Cao Dai Great Temple’s noon ceremony. The full loop eats 8-10 hours door to door, a genuinely long day, but it beats splitting the two into separate half-days out of the city.
Tay Ninh’s Cao Dai Great Temple: a noon ceremony unlike anything else in Vietnam
Cao Dai is a home-grown Vietnamese religion, founded in 1926, that blends Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Christian imagery under one symbol: the Divine Eye watching from the altar. The Holy See’s main temple, about 90km and 2-2.5 hours from HCMC, holds ceremonies four times a day, 6am, noon, 6pm and midnight, and the noon service is the one every day-tripper actually sees. Arrive by 11:15-11:30am to get a viewing spot in the upstairs gallery; entry itself is free. What you get for the wait: clergy robed in yellow, blue and red processing beneath that single painted eye, incense smoke thick in the air, chanting filling the whole hall at once. It is unlike any other temple visit in the country, and it’s over in about 45 minutes.
Mekong Delta day trips: My Tho and Ben Tre versus Can Tho’s Cai Rang market
My Tho and Ben Tre, 70-90km and 1.5-2 hours from HCMC, are the nearest Mekong gateway towns and make a genuinely relaxed single day: sampan rides through coconut-palm canals, coconut-candy and honey-tea workshops, a stop at Unicorn Island. Book the My Tho and Ben Tre day trip on Viator for the full route. Can Tho and its Cai Rang floating market sit much further out, 3-3.5 hours each way, and Cai Rang’s genuine wholesale boat trade runs roughly 5am-8:30am, largely wound down by mid-morning. A same-day round trip from HCMC arrives after the best of it has faded. Tours run roughly $25-70pp shared, more for private groups. Read more on Vietnam Tourism’s Mekong Delta day-tripping page before picking a route.
Is a one-day Mekong Delta trip from Ho Chi Minh City worth it?
Yes, if you pick My Tho and Ben Tre: 70-90km and a genuinely comfortable single day of sampan rides, coconut-candy workshops and canal villages. Skip a same-day Can Tho round trip though. Cai Rang’s floating market runs its real trade 5am-8:30am, and a coach arriving after a three-hour drive gets there once the boats have mostly gone home.
Vung Tau: Saigon’s weekend beach escape by hydrofoil
Vung Tau sits 90-100km from HCMC on its own peninsula, fastest by the Greenlines hydrofoil down the Saigon River, 1.5-2 hours, roughly $10-15 (250,000-375,000 VND) one-way from Bach Dang wharf. Bus or car takes 2-3.5 hours depending on traffic. Book Friday and Saturday sailings ahead, they fill up. Here’s the honest read: it’s Saigon’s own weekend valve, not a bucket-list beach in its own right, the sand and water are decent, not spectacular next to Da Nang, Nha Trang or Phu Quoc. Go for the seafood and the change of pace, not because you were promised paradise.
Where to stay for these day trips
District 1 stays the right base for every trip above, every tour desk and organized pickup expects you there, and it’s a short Grab to wherever your day starts. Compare District 1 rates on Agoda before you land. Doing Can Tho properly, with the overnight, is the one exception, covered in the 6-day and 7-day itineraries below.
Which Ho Chi Minh City day trip should you book first?
Cu Chi and Cao Dai combined, booked as one full day rather than split into two. It’s the most-booked trip out of the city for a real reason: actual war tunnels in the morning, a strange and genuinely colorful religious ceremony by lunchtime, and you’re back in District 1 in time for dinner.
One thing to sort before any of this: Vietnam is not visa-free for US, Canadian or Australian passports. Apply for the e-visa at the official portal before you fly, not on arrival. Ready to slot these trips into a full plan? Work through the 2-day up to 7-day versions below, or start with the Ho Chi Minh City guide , the places guide , and Vietnam Tourism’s own Ho Chi Minh City overview if you haven’t covered the city itself yet.