Introduction

Vietnam Backroads Bike Tours always offer impressive itineraries with new destinations and hand-picked up routes. Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta is a non-tourist city, and tourists seldom visit rustic rural areas. Soc Trang is the most populated by Khmer people, whose ancestors lived there when it was part of the Khmer Empire during the 12th and 13th centuries. This is a different part of Viet Nam – the people, the food, the pace, the architecture, the temples, ‘the vibe’ are all far remote hamlets from what happens up in the big community. The Clay and Bat pagodas are well-known landmarks in Soc Trang province, as locals and overseas travellers visit most. Cycling to Soc Trang to discover the home of Khmer, to know more about the history and culture with our guide tour, we’ll start pedalling along the beautiful country backroads in the homeland of coconuts, Ben Tre province. Making our way south to Tra Vinh involves several river crossings, and this is where you’ll start to see a change in the architecture, the food and the crops. Colourful Khmer temples and stunning landscapes alternately compete for your attention. 


You will experience the local goings-on at a market or from a quiet distance and start to understand the history and culture of this strongly Buddhist area with help from our fantastic and well-informed guides. We’ll drop into a few small rural Khmer markets along the way to Can Tho and the magical Flower Village of SaDec, and Xeo Quyt Forest before returning to Ho Chi Minh City.

Destination
Duration
Tour code
VCT: MBT-4D - SGN - 2
Travel style
Tour meets
Tour ends
Accommodation
3 - 4 star hotels
Single supplement
90.00$
Number Of cycling days
4 days
Ages to ride
8 years old
Average distance per day
45km
MTB Bike hire
$40
Total cycling distance
205km
E-Bike hire
$140.00
Small group
02
Large Group
14
Price in US$
USD $625.00 625.00
Price in VND
What's included
Private A/C vehicle takes up all cyclists, luggage
Truck to carry all bikes
Helmets
All entrance fees, ferry tickets in countryside
B= 3 Breakfasts, L= 4 Lunches, D= 3 Dinners
3 nights, double room/ twin room
Daily cold water, snack, fresh fruit, facial tissues
Pick up/ drop off at hotels
English speaking guide throughout the tour
What's not included
Personal travel insurance
Other personal expenses
Drinks are not included with any meal

Depart from the hotel at 8:00 am, relax and watch the bustling Ho Chi Minh as you move throughout the city. Your guide will inform you about the rules of the roads and how your daily ride is going!


Arrives in Tan An outskirts around 9:00 am, and we ride along scenic paths, enjoy picturesque hamlets, pass primary schools, and stop at the home of locals making hats and fruit bags from grasses. We ride towards My Tho, passing the vast vegetable farmlands with an irrigation system. We will stop for lunch in My Tho city. Take a rest on the vehicle for 30 minutes and transfer to Ham Luong Bridge to explore the home of coconut trees. The countryside of Mo Cay is the most beautiful rural District for travelling by bicycle. The routes are smooth concrete paths, crisscross through the villages with lush green water palms, and cross small rivers by ferry and small suspension bridges, just for bicycle mopeds only.


The ride in the afternoon is more on shady paths, on narrow country lanes, along villages hide the water palms, lush waterways. Take a small ferry boat crossing the rivers, stop at some families running small businesses. There will be plenty of time for you to pause along the country roads, experience local life. We will hop on support vehicles at Co Chien River for a 30 minute transfer luxury homestay - Coco Riverside Lodge.

Coco Riverside Lodge
Lunch/ Dinner
25 - 50 km
Flat - rural paths
support vehicles
cold water, snacks, fruits

Most daily life activities of locals take place early in the morning. It's the best time you can experience and see locals in surrounding areas; kids start going to schools, the elderly take farm products to markets by mopeds, and sampan boats move up and down the rivers. Then go back to the homestay for breakfast. Check out and have a short transfer to Tra Vinh outskirts for the beautiful day ride.


Tra Vinh and Soc Trang have pleasant country cycling routes. There is a big population of Khmer people living here as their homeland. Today, you could explore not only daily lives of them but also learning ancient history and culture. We start our cycling adventure after 10 minutes transfer from hotel. All are smooth concrete paths through rural villages allows you to discover, to experience life styles and daily activities of not only Khmer but also Chinese. We will spend a morning on biking from Tra Vinh to Cau Quan via small town of Tieu Can. We travel across rice paddies, along canals and villages of Khmer, passing a hand of colorful temples, tiny thatch houses before we continue biking to Cau Quan Dist. Stopping at local restaurant in rural area for lunch.


After first ferry crossing Mekong River to Dung Island where you explore the way of earning a living of locals on this Island. Ride past betel garden, sugar cane plantation, vegetable farm lands and fresh fish farms before a ferry taking to Long Phu town. Our private vehicle is standby here near this town. We get on our vehicle for half an hour driving to City of Soc Trang.

Thuan Phat hotel ***
Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner
25 - 55 km
Flat - rural paths
support vehicles
cold water, snacks, fruits

Before today's ride begins, we visit Bat pagoda, the worship 400 years old pagoda that is the home to many bats. The pagoda was destroyed by fire, and many historical relics were burndown, and it had restored then. The temple attracted hundreds of bats living on the giant trees in its compound for many years. Following the temple, we explore remote hamlets of Khmer and Vietnamese, stop for photos at Khmer ancient temples and enjoy peaceful landscapes along the ways. Ride across the rice paddy fields, see farmers look after free-range raised ducks on harvested paddy fields. Most of them are sold after 3 months old, and some will be meat for the families, and the rest are for sales.


Soc Trang is not the lowlands, and there is no flooded season at all in the year rounds. Locals grow rice all year round with 3 crops, and these crops do not coincide. This is your chance to look over gorgeous rice paddies as some are green and some yellow—lunch en route. The routes are mixed of terrains, concrete, dirt tracks, and asphalt country back roads. Mostly along agricultural canals through lush farmlands and charming hamlets of Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese. Today's ride finishes at a rural village in Nga Bay. Get on a support vehicle to relax your legs to Can Tho city in the afternoon.

TTC Premium Can Tho
Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner
25 - 65 km
Flat - rural paths
support vehicles
cold water, snacks, fruits

After leisurely breakfast, take a 40-minute boat trip from Ninh Kieu Pier to Cai Rang. Enjoy lively scenery on waterways to Cai Rang, see numerous small boats moving in different directions to find a good dealer. Your boat gets through the market slowly, and you can watch it get close up. Every bigger boat has a long upright pole at its bow on which samples of the goods for sale hung on the bamboo sticks with bananas, pineapple, sweet potatoes, watermelons, etc. The sampans are small and long, equipped with a long tail engine to quickly navigate the market and on shallow canals and rivers from home.


Then we disembark from the boat for the last half-day explore Phong Dien's countryside. The area has a network of small rivers that crisscross the lush fruit orchards and villages.  Lunch en route before a 3.5 hours transfers back to Ho Chi Minh City. End of Services!

Breakfast/ Lunch
25 km+
Flat - rural paths
support vehicles
cold water, snacks, fruits

Dates

Duration
Note
Duration
-
Note
Booked: 02

Dear Vietnam Backroads, Thank you for the trip - it was a real highlight of our stay in Vietnam. I posted review on Tripadvisor. We really enjoyed the trip immensly. I was thinking of what to do during 4 days around Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in Saigon and then found the vietnambackroads.com website. The Mekong delta tour - Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Soc Trang - Can Tho, 4 days, 3 nights. Van offered us to run that trip despite Tet holidays, when everyone takes time off with family. So Van himself was our guide (we were just with another English guy) on that most unforgettable experience. Van's knowledge of the area, his ability to select lovely by-roads, and tracks, tell stories about the places we visit and local customs, and care he took of us as customer was really a key success factor. This is THE way to see Delta - you pass different landscapes (coconut region of Ben Tre, Tra Vinh rice fields, Khmer villages near Soc Trang, channels near Can Tho) and beautiful places where white guests are still a novelty. Delta people are very friendly and helpful, fruits fresh and very tasty and whole experience is almost surreal. Mekong Delta in the spring is immensely beautiful and interesting. Trip is organized extremely professionally, with back up vehicle that takes all you stuff and also takes you on boring (i.e. very busy roads) stretches, bikes new and durable, everything ready when we arrive. We stayed in hotels - and all except Soc Trang were located very well and good quality. Van arranged food (everything except for beer is included in price) - and his choice of restaurants was very interesting, though I would probably prefer more street food. It was my first that close experience with Vietnam - and for me close to trip of my lifetime. Not cheap (we paid premium because of Tet holidays), but worth every 2014

Jakub Bielikow…

Hi, It was fantastic experience for my 2 boys and myself. Dat we could not rate more highly. He was very engaging and very informative on the Vietnam history. That we were traveling through. The fruit stop we all enjoyed. We would highly recommend Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. The bikes we could not fault nor the hotels. However, I would strongly state that our fantastic experience came about through our excellent guide Dat. This attention to hygiene was brilliant. We wish Dat and your company all the very best for a successful future. Don, Ben, same Robinson 21 - 22- -23 - 24 Dec, 2014

Don Robinson f…

This was our first time in Vietnam and we had a great time - fantastic way to see the countryside. We definitely preferred local restaurants and back road sites (esp the coconut + processing plants). Our guide really made it special for the children in the group age 12. The amount of rice was satisfactory. Great routes, Loc was excellent with our 12 year old daughter - He organized kite flying and a boat trip. We chose to do the trip like this to avoid anything too touristy. Eating local food and fruits is the most enjoyable part! Not really worried about temples and museums but the coconut factory was very interesting. 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Mar, 2016

Christine Mari…

Hi Vietnam Backroads, Dạt is an excellent bike guide. He is very informative helpful but not pushy at all. He clearly loves the Mekong and loves sharing it with people. He made sure we had a lots of different experiences- The different areas the route went through, the different food styles/restaurant styles and the different fruit that taught us to eat. We really like the route selection- road types as well as the culture types and culture types that we bikes through. We like not seeing foreigners while riding.26 - 27 - 28 - 29 Dec, 2015

Diana Archange…

Hi Thuy, I hope you are well. Yes, we had an absolutely great time and there is no better way to see Vietnam on a bike with Vietnam Backroads. We decided to go with Vietnam Backroads because their tours are focusing on a lot of back roads and small villages. Dat, the guide, took us to all the back roads from Tan An - Tra Vinh - SocTrang - CanTho and finished at TT CaiBe for our 4 days 3 night tour. The friendliness, knowledge of Dat, and more importantly the routes designed by Mr Van, made the whole riding an incredible and memorable experience. We were able to stop anywhere and anytime we like for photos or just a quick rest. Dat also bought some local fresh fruits for us to try, we love the fresh mango and the fresh whole coconut drinks! We rode pass a Rambutan farm and the friendly farmers gave us some FRESH rambutan to try. One of the restaurants we stopped for lunch in a small town, they were serving broken rice with charcoaled pork rips. The pork rips were charcoaled on side and they were so tasty that we ordered more. We would definitely choose Vietnam Backroads for our next Vietnam trip. Dat told us about a tour in a highland or mountain, he said some day he will not see a single person on the road. I think it is called Vietnam or HCM Trial (maybe check with Dat). Can you please send us the information about this tour? We would like to find out more hence to plan for the next trip. Look forward to seeing you next time. Thank you so much. 26 Feb to 01 Mar, 2017

Nicklas and Sc…

Wow! I have visited Vietnam before but this was by far the best trip ever. We spent 4 days Cycling the Backroads (trails in meandering through jungle) with our spectacular guide Dat. Dat was a wealth of knowledge and a really fun young man. He took us places that we would never have considered venturing to on our own. The food was fabulous, the hotels were excellent and we are very happy people. Vietnam Backroads is a well organised business. The bikes are very well maintained and Dat knows how to fix anything. Do it!!! You will have the trip of a lifetime. 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 May, 2017

Allison Robyn …

We're just back from Vietnam, part of our trip involving a 4 day tour of The Mekong Delta with Vietnam Backroads. My wife and I, along with our 14 & 11 year old sons had the most amazing 4 days touring the countryside of the Mekong Delta. From pick up at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City to drop off at the airport, nothing was too much trouble for the team. Loc the driver, was always just where you needed him with a cool drink and Huy, who's only been with the company a short time, but was extremely knowledgeable about Vietnam and its history made an excellent team along with Mr Van himself, who's the man responsible for all the great routes we rode. While it was great to see the countryside, the highlights for us were the interactions we had with the amazing Vietnamese and Khmer people, who were extremely welcoming and friendly, if a little bit bemused by our presence. My youngest son in particular attracted lots of female attention due to his 'long nose' and white skin. Thanks to Mr Van and his team we were able to communicate with the local people and visit areas well off the beaten tourist track, where English is spoken by hardly anyone. Huy was of great help at mealtimes helping us to sample the local cuisine without getting too far out of our depth. The payback for visiting areas where there are no tourists is that you shouldn't expect luxury hotels. This was a small price to pay and all the hotels we stayed at were clean and comfortable with hot showers, which was all we were looking for. The bikes were all in great working order and we never experienced any mechanical problems. If you want to experience some of the real sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Southern Vietnam we could think of no better way of doing it than with Mr Van and Vietnam Backroads. The four days we spent with Loc, Huy and Mr Van were truly memorable and were the highlight of our 2 weeks in Vietnam. We can't wait to return and see some more of this wonderful country. 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 April, 2017

Andrew McDermo…

We did a 4 day Mekong cycling trip with Dat, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Trip was well organised, nice hotels, good and plenty local food with lots of new experiences, good hard tail mountain bikes. Best of all though was Dat, who grew up in the area an thus knows it very well and willingly shared his knowledge. The cycling is certainly pleasant, and it’s hard to keep your eyes on the trail as there’s so much to see left and right. But having a perfect guide who can point out things that you’d otherwise miss, makes the trip special. Thanks again Dat for a wonderful 4 days! 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 June, 2013

Norman Feist f…

Hi Van, My apologies for our delay in response but we have been traveling all this time and have just returned home to Australia. This has given us time to reflect on our Mekong Delta Bike ride. It was absolutely fantastic from the quality of the cycling equipment, and the deluxe van and highly professional guide and driver. Dat, as our guide, was exceptional and made this tour a highly memorable, enjoyable and challenging trip. His knowledge of the area, his ability to personalize for our interests, the food and the different bike routes. Our driver, Mr Loc, was very professional, punctual and drove very safely through some very busy parts of the Mekong and Ho Chi Minh City. Please pass onto Dat our regards and gratitude – tell him that Jim will never forget the shave and haircut and that he now looks 10 years younger. We have already passed on your information to people in Australia so hopefully when they go to Vietnam they use your company. WE will definitely put something up on facebook and give a very high rating. 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 April, 2017

Kerry and Jim …

We're just back from Vietnam, part of our trip involving a 4 day tour of The Mekong Delta with Vietnam Backroads. My wife and I, along with our 14 & 11 year old sons had the most amazing 4 days touring the countryside of the Mekong Delta. From pick up at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City to drop off at the airport, nothing was too much trouble for the team. Loc the driver, was always just where you needed him with a cool drink and Huy, who's only been with the company a short time, but was extremely knowledgeable about Vietnam and its history made an excellent team along with Mr Van himself, who's the man responsible for all the great routes we rode. Vietnam Backroads is a well organised business. The bikes are very well maintained and Dat knows how to fix anything. Do it!!! You will have the trip of a lifetime. 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 May, 2017

Allison Robyn …

This was our first time in Vietnam and we had a great time - fantastic way to see the countryside. We definitely preferred local restaurants and back road sites (esp the coconut + processing plants). Our guide really made it special for the children in the group age 12. The amount of rice was satisfactory. Great routes, Loc was excellent with our 12 year old daughter - He organized kite flying and a boat trip. We chose to do the trip like this to avoid anything too touristy. Eating local food and fruits is the most enjoyable part! Not really worried about temples and museums but the coconut factory was very interesting. 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Mar, 2016

Christine Mari…

Mr Van, we are back at our hotel after a fabulous trip. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The tour was exactly what it said in the notes which suited us very well. Thank you for a well managed and very interesting tour and also for booking the train tickets. Malcolm and Shona Thomas. 01 - 04 February 2023

Mr. Mrs Thomas
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Cycling Saigon - Vung Liem- Soc Trang- Can Tho