Excursion
Cycling Saigon - Ha Tien - Phu Quoc islands 4D/3N
Vietnam Cycling Tours provides special guided bike trips starting in Ho Chi Minh, and you will explore the verdant Mekong Delta rice paddies, bike to Cai Be, cross An Binh island to Vinh Long, see the bustling floating market and cycle to Chau Doc border town. Explore Tra Su forest by boat and visit the Ba Chuc Killing field before staying in Ha Tien. There are plenty of entertainments, excursion tours around the island, fishing, snorkelling and daily tours to historical sites. After a couple of days biking through the lushly green Mekong Delta and ends it at Ha Tien and travels by air-conditioned fast boat to Phu Quoc.
Ha Tien is a tiny coastal town in the southwest of Vietnam, situated in the Mekong Delta, just 8 km from the Cambodia border gate of Xa Xia border. The small town has a ferry dock and provides luxury ferry boats to the island of Phu Quoc. Most tourists travel through Mekong Delta by bicycle and bus to Cambodia at Xa Xia international border gate and speed boat to Phu Quoc island. Many have time to break some days on Phu Quoc, return to Ha Tien, and continue to Cambodia. Biking from Ho Chi Minh to Phu Quoc island
We depart at 8:00 am from your hotel, enjoy air-conditioned vehicles driving through hectic Saigon to the suburban Binh Chanh district before moving on the freeway to Cay Lay, Tien Giang. With two hours biking on narrow lanes in the shade of fruit trees, pedal alongside hamlets, cross water channels, and visit one of the ancient houses in Cai Be township.
After lunch, we continue cycling onwards to experience local living on An Binh Island. The island is always busy with water transport; sampan boats carry fruits to the markets, wooden cargo boats moving on Dong Phu as the shortcut canal, and publish ferries, taking locals to/back the island. We will reach Vinh Long town by ferry and get on a support vehicle to Can Tho.
Today's ride will divide into two parts; 25 km in the morning through Phong Dien's countryside after the boat trip to the floating market. The afternoon will be 25 km in rural villages in Chau Doc.
After an early breakfast at the hotel, we enjoy a boat trip to the famous Cai Rang floating market. Then we will get on the bike and try to experience daily lives and peaceful countryside along a lovely small canal and taste some milk apple fruits in Phong Dien.
After tasty lunch, a 2-hour vehicle transfer takes us to Chau Phu District, a rural area near Chau Doc. It's the perfect time to continue the afternoon ride around 2:30 pm when the weather is cooler. Ride on tracks along canals of irrigation systems, enjoy the Sam mountain's views, see farmers harvest rice crops before we get to the hotel in town by our vehicle transfer.
After a hearty breakfast, a quick transfer takes you to a rural hamlet near Sam Mountain, and then you cycle to Tra Su Forest, also a bird sanctuary. The routes take you through palm trees, Khmer villages, and colorful Buddhist pagodas, then across the rice paddies and lotus fields, making the ride more delightful. Enjoy the motorboat ride through Tra Su Forest and learn about the wildlife in the wetlands variety of birds, including storks, egrets, cormorants, peafowl, and water cocks. We will have sampan rowed through an area with various birds' homes. The motorboats can scare birds because of their noisy engines. We will see many baby birds in the nests if we are there in the bird's breeding season. Continue cycling on gentle, hilly country back roads to Ba Chuc village, and your guide will tell you what happened in the town in 1978. After lunch, you will have a short visit to the memorial of locals before 1. a transfer to the rural market by the Cambodia border, where the afternoon's ride on paths along the border to Ha Tien.
Ha Tien is a Provincial city in Kien Giang province, Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Its area is 10,049 ha, and the population as of 2019 is 81,576. The town borders Cambodia to the west. It is a lovely place to be in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region. After your breakfast at the hotel, a well-arranged transfer by Vietnam Backroads takes you to the boat station of Supdong. Boarding at 9:30 is for a speed boat about 1 hour and 15 minutes to Bai Vong dock.
Daily boat to Phu Quoc schedule has 3. One is in the morning at 8:00 & 9:30, and the afternoon boat leaves at 1:30. You can select which one suits you best. End of service! Vietnam Backroads team, with its emptied van, will be back in Saigon.
Note: If you have booked the hotels/resorts on your own, arranged! Please get in touch with them to have you picked up at Bai Vong dock. Another option is to get a taxi to the hotel on your way. It does not include the trip.
Dear Van,
I am back at my office desk now - sadly my holiday in Vietnam is over. I enjoyed it very much, though - and also enjoyed the bike trip through the Mekong Delta very much. Hung was a very good replacement for you - at least I can say we had lots of fun with him and he really showed us around the back roads. Everything was perfectly arranged, we were felt well, the hotels were all right - we loved the trip. Best wishes from Germany. 05 Dec 2011
Ho Chi Minh city to Ha Tien to Phu Quoc Island
We took a private tour taking us from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc island. The first day took us from HCMC to Can Tho with +/- 45km of biking between Cai Lay and Vinh Long, along small roads through countryside villages and including two ferries. Basic lunch in a homestay. Luxurious but soulless overnight at Muong Thanh hotel. The second day started with a visit of Can Tho Cai Rong Floating Market by boat, followed by +/- 30 km of biking along small channels and rice fields to Thoi Lai (+/- 10°05'16.0"N 105°35'23.4"E). Basic lunch in a homestay. We continued by car to Chau Doc, visiting Bang Lang Stork Farm along the way. Very luxurious overnight at Victoria Nui Sam Lodge, on a hill overlooking the rice fields. Following day started with a boat tour past the Chau Doc fish farms and to the Cham muslim village (Đa Phước, 10°43'28.9"N 105°07'28.1"E). Then biking past lots of rice fields to the Tra Su nature reserve which we visited by boat. Lunch in a basic restaurant. Then by car to the Ba Chuc memorial, passing through Khmer-villages. Finally, further by car to Ha Tien with overnight at the River Hotel. The following morning, Vietnam Backroads agency arranged our taxi to the port as well as the hydrofoil tickets to Phu Quoc.
Reasons for giving four stars :
- The excellent way in which Kieu Lam from the agency communicated with us before the tour ; she was helpful, patient and flexible with our requests and planned this tour according to what we thought was important to see along the way.
- Our excellent guide Cong. He took us along very nice paths, was always concerned about our safety and gave his explanations in good English. He never pushed us into buying things in souvenir stalls etc. (he rather bought some small stuff for us :-))
- Our excellent driver Loc who was always helpful with loading and unloading bikes, luggage,... driving in a really safe way (compared to most other Vietnamese drivers) and remaining remarkably calm even when chased by big honking buses driven by madmen.
- The good quality of the hotels and dinners.
- The beautiful landscapes and friendly people of Mekongdelta. Upon passing through small villages, everyone would shout "hello" at us, sometimes children would even run along for a bit.
- The good quality of the bikes (helmet provided)
So why not giving five stars ?
- Price of this tour was really very high compared to the usual cost of travel in Vietnam.
- Lunch locations/settings were rather basic.
Unless you are on a tight budget, I can 200% recommend this agency. 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 Nov 2018
The great way to taste rural Vietnam
Karen - Very interesting. A good mix of biking and visiting interesting places. Cong was evry flexible when my daughter got sick and changed our plans. Love trying new food, fruits, and the tours like floating market + stork pall. I would be good to know the day plan a bit more. like how for to ride, what will lunch be, how long in the bus. But everything else eas wonderful.
Grant Dempsey - Great way to see feel and taste rural Vietnam. Having a guide to explain various points of interest, communicate with locals and another food make the trip enjoyable and stress free. The various stop at tourist attracations are a great value and very informative. 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2019
Mekong Delta 4 days
George - All very well done. Dat was great. Although the English of the questionare could be improved. We will repeatedly late and still eotred for and not met at all with a negative attitude.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Finnian - Our Tour guide Mr Dat was a fantastic guide, who know his English, history and knowledge every well. Very nice man and he was and very generous and hospitable. Love Vietnam and cycling is the best way to see it. 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 Feb 2019
Cycling Mekong Delta 3N/4D Ho Chi Min to Phu Quoc
This was a great trip. We had a private booking for us - Mum and Dad and our kids 20yr and 16 yrs. We cycled 3 days. Day 1 was a slow start due a mix up with hotel pick up (my fault) so we did about 30 easy km. We drove out of HCM for about 2 hours before beginning. The cycling was mostly on concrete paths beside rivers and canals with small houses backing onto it. Although outside the main city it did not feel rural as we were beside houses the whole way - but it was interesting.Lots of stops on day 1 for drinks, to sample fruits and sugar cane drinks etc. We were delivered to a better than anticipated 5 star hotel on day 1. Our guide not only cycled with us but also collected us for dinner. We were keen to eat local so he sourced the restaurants and order for us - which really added to the experience.
Day 2: it became clear that Cong our guide would really taylor the mix of cycling - sight seeing- pace to whatever we wanted. On day 2 we decided to cycle 50km in the morning and finish up by lunch as the forecast was for a hot afternoon. We started the morning with sightseeing at the floating markets - really good and a visit to local textile weavers. Cycled through lots of countryside and beautiful surprises like arriving at a school just on pick up time to watch the throng of motorbike pick ups for the school children and a hundred "hellos" form the kids who rarely have westerners in that area. A really special treat was a watermelon stop at Cong's grandparents home for a break. Day 3 my daughter was sick and again the flexibility of our guide was great. He re- arranged the day to have us taken to the Crane wetlands while the boys cycled there to meet us. We still enjoyed the boat ride through the wetlands and then opted for the van transfer to the final hotel.
Similar to the review below there were many outstanding factors
- great organisation and communication pre trip
- flexible schedule and pace and length of cycling to suit.
- nice bikes
- good support vehicles.
- good or very decent hotels
- local food with a local guide to order and help us enjoy it.
- great arrangements for sightseeing -our boats were aways waiting for us, everything was paid for and great commentary as we went.
What could be better
The daily plan was sometimes a little hard to elicit from Cong. This might be a language barrier. It would have been good to have a rough idea like "we are starting here, taking a break here, stopping to see this and then aiming for lunch at 1pm....." Even when we asked information was a little vague - but perhaps that's because things are flexible.
The cycling was good. It was just right for us and I would label this as a sight seeing experience on bikes - not hard core cycling. But that was just what we wanted. It provided a unique way to get a glimpse beyond the standard tourist areas and we liked that. However it was not very rural. I had thought it would be more out in the countryside - but really we were mostly on canal paths with rural housing beside us and orcahrds fields behind the houses. That was OK 0 but different to what I had expected. However the attractions to sightsee were more that I expected - so I guess that balances. Sight seeing included the floating markets, textile weavers, fish farms, temples, rice factory, coconut candy, Crane wetlands and Memorials.
There was more time in the Van than we expected as each day we drove out of the city to start and into the city to finish.
The price. Similar to the comment below - it was a little pricey for Vietnam - but in the end I have to say I was happy to pay the price as it was a very good tour in a country where a lot of tourism is still emerging. So in this aspect it was very high level of service which is not easy to get outside resorts etc in Vietnam.
I would definitely recommend the tour if you are looking for something like this. I also note that Vietnam Backroads also have some great full-on cycle tours if that is what you are after too. This one worked for us. We finished the tour and took a ferry to Phu Quoc for more of a resort break to finish off our holiday. A great mix. 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2019
Hope this helps.
The organisation was excellent!
Dear Kieu
Just a short note to say a huge thank you to Vietnam Backroads and to Phuc in particular for a fantastic few days cycling. The organisation was excellent and Phuc’s (and the driver’s) expertise, friendliness and knowledge made the whole trip run smoothly and great fun.
Please pass on our thanks to Phuc. I will ask him (via Whatsapp) but also you if it would be possible to send us a map showing broadly where we went.
Best regards and many thanks. 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 November 2019
Cycling in the Mekong Delta - Extremely well organised
4 of us booked Vietnam Backroads to do some cycling starting from HCMC and finishing up at Phu Quoc over a 4 day period. A mix of cycling and van with enough time to take in some local cultural visits. Our Guide was extremely knowledgeable, and good fun. Having the van with a driver within reach of us also made it very easy. Arrangements were well managed and the whole trip was a great experience. 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 November 2019