For seven action-packed days of exploring Vietnam's Mekong Delta by bicycle with Vietnam Backroads, you'll discover non-touristy sites and many exciting places where Westerners are rarely be seen. Ride as far as the coast of the Mekong Delta and also the mountains along the Cambodian border. Meet friendly people, experience the ways locals earning a living, enjoy beautiful landscapes, explore traditional villages, jungle and ride on good quality bikes of Saigon Bike Shop To learn different cultures from many ethnic groups; Khmer, Cham Muslim, Chinese and Vietnamese. Meandering the Mekong Delta
Vietnam Backroads Team will pick you up at hotel lobby, then commence your trip with 1. hour of travel on the road to Mekong Delta. On arriving at a rural village, just a few km from Tan An city, pick the bike for the morning ride. We cycle into family farms, enjoy the most beautiful scenic countryside, ride on varied terrains, concrete, and dirt paths through lush vegetation, and discover the authentic local life along the hamlets. Visit some families and see villagers make handbags, hats and other things. All are made of local materials.
Break for lunch at the locally owned restaurants in My Tho city. Then relax on support vehicle transfer 1 hour to the rural Dist of Ben Tre for the afternoon ride. The rural Districts offer peaceful landscapes, amazing smooth paths, and dirt paths through water palm and vibrant villages. You will wander through hamlets, across the water channels by small ferry boats, and ride on several narrow bridges without rails, meet locals on shady pathways, and have the last ferry crossing Co Chien River to Tra Vinh.
Following a leisurely breakfast, we bike from the homestay, cycle on the open-air paths- ride paddies, race along small rivers to Cang Long. Then continue bicycling on tiny roads to small Tan An market where we follow small country paths along canals Tieu Can.
Benifit the real countryside and life of Kkmer people crossing charming villages. Your guide will lead you to ride, enjoy scenic landscapes, and learn about the cultural features of the Khmer Empire. Four ethnic groups live in Vietnam's Mekong Delta; Khmer, Chinese, Cham and Vietnamese. Most Khmer reside in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang provinces, and they are one of the godliest Buhhdist believers. Their homes are not far from colourful temples, and they live in tiny houses, but the temples are massive with colourful, detailed patterns, unique architectural styles. The routes are smooth concrete paths through beautiful hamlets, green rice paddy fields, and country farms. Khmer monks often walk through for food from their community, but they never ask for anything from villagers. Khmer history and culture from the monks and locals.
Afterwards, we ride past thatched houses on the way to Cau Quan via Tieu Can. We will get on the support vehicles then, cross the Mekong River on ferry, then transfer to Bac Lieu city.
After breakfast, take some photos, and admire the most elegant colonial building in the town, the wealthiest landlord house in Mekong Delta before 1975. He ordered more than 90% of building materials from France with a well-known French architect. Built-in 1919. Tran Trinh Huy was the son of a family of 4 daughters and 3 sons, and he spent money like the water. Two men fell in love with a beautiful girl, and both tried to appeal to her with money, gold, and luxury Citroen cars. It was difficult for the girl to make her decision. Eventually, two men agreed to take a gamble to burn their money notes to cook congee. Each cooked one pan filled up rice, water on the same size pans. The beautiful girl was the referee and the witness from the beginning to the end.
Check out the hotel for a 20-minute vehicle transfer out of the town. Explore verdant agricultural lands and remove Chinese, Vietnamese hamlets where purely agricultural lands are huge paddies and small hamlets with fewer people. The locals still use Vietnamese water buffalos, cows for works, but not many Japanese buffaloes in small villages. It's simple to understand that Japanese buffaloes are more expensive. It's funny that there is not any market along the villages, but we can enjoy a snack, fresh fruits, drinks from grocery shops. Do remember! Foreigners are rarely seen here in the hamlets. Take a chance to explore the undeveloped rural hamlets with plenty of small wooden bridges, enjoy watching tiny thatched houses, cross man-made canals, and rustic farms to Nga Nam township. Nga Nam (five different waterways meet at one point) is famous for its floating market because it's natural with small sampan boats. This market opens every day and the whole day as well. Of course, it's more crowded in the morning, but still busy at noontime. You will have a sampan boat paddled through it slowly past waterfront villages—lunch en route.
We will have an hour and a half vehicle transfer to Ben Nhut to enjoy an hour and half pleasant ride to Minh Luong to avoid the heat. Explore the river full of water hyacinth, small fishing village, and finally have transferred to Rach Gia city
Today's highlights are the historic Ba Chuc killing village and Tra Su forest. After breakfast at the hotel, we travel on the road, a 30-minute transfer west of Rach Gia to a tiny town for today's ride to Chau Doc. In the morning, we ride to Ba Chuc, the fertility of Mekong land offers the vast farmlands and agricultural canals system. Under the shade of cajeput trees, we take it easy and ride along the dams, past some families making oils from cajeput, melaleuca's leaves. It's one of the traditional medications and has been used for years. We will see locals farming on the endless verdant farmlands and sampans moving along canals.
Stop at the Ba Chuc village, visit it's memorial that worship more than 3 thousand people. The village is closed to the Cambodia border, and Pol Pot attached it in 1978. Then we break for lunch in a small town. We wander through Khmer hamlets with palm trees in their surroundings. There are some smaller towns along, and most people here live essentially on farming. Views the mountain spectacle and undulate on back roads to Tra Su forest. The forest is about 800,000-hectare forest is home to an astounding number of wading birds. The rainy season is the best time for breeding. We will have the sampan boat paddled and the motorized boat long, narrow channels when plenty of storks, herons, birds, and bats are returning home to sleep. Afterwards, we cycle through the parks, passing the lotus fields, and the colourful pagoda, and we end up on today's ride in Sam mountain.
Take a rest, and transfer up to Sam Mountain Loge Resort. Relax your legs by the pool, admire the sunset, and looking over the Cambodia border.
Enjoy an hour motorized boat to catfish farms and floating villages. Then we bike on a small road along Bassac River, past Muslim villages, the local market and verdant vegetation, pedal along Bassac River. Muslim Cham Ethnic is the second largest group after Viet Kinh people living in small Chau Doc town. Women still weave traditional clothing at home, and the particular is the sarong. There are plenty of chances for us to learn about different cultures. Take a small ferry to cross Bassac River to wetlands- Dong Thap province.
We stop at the local market by the river, have fresh snack fruits, and find something interesting; next, we cycle through stilted house villages, colourful Buddhist temples and mingle with children on pushbikes on rural roads. Lunch in Cho Moi town. During the French colonial period, the French travelled from Saigon to Siem Reap by steamboats, and the French discovered the Angkor Wat. Followed by the Angkor Wat, the French structured the Monastery and churches in later years. The complex of Roman Catholic structures on the island is astonishing. The most striking is Cu Lao Gieng Church, built by a French priest named Gazignol between 1879 and 1889 with construction materials brought in from France.
In the afternoon, we take a leisurely ride through the Gieng island, views the Monastery, and its surroundings from the bridge, look over fish farms on the river, pass many fruit orchards to the ferry. Share space with locals on a ferry crossing to the lush green rural Dist, and we continue biking through mango orchards and on small concrete paths to Cao Lanh City.
The drowsy former capital of Dong Thap province, Sadec, is a comparatively peaceful city of tree-lined streets and fading colonial villas. Cao Lanh is a new town after 1975, and there were many Viet Cong" camps and bases during the Vietnam war. So far, the yearly flooded season from late September to early November almost destroyed them while Sadec is an old town built by the French, and it became known to tourists since the movie "The Lover" had published. Marguerite Duras's love story is about when she fell in love with a local man before 1932. You can see the difference between new and old.
Following the hearty breakfast, we ride on a narrow lane from the town to the outskirts of the town. Start to explore villagers' morning activities, pass tiny markets, have a ferry crossing, explore a beautiful route through flowery villages, flower plantations, and lunch at the ancient house of Huynh Thuy Le. The afternoon leisurely ride as we cycle slowly and enjoy the scenic scenery. We pass a village making rice power and sweet potato plantation. Take a rest on the vehicle transfer to Can Tho city.
On the last morning of the tour, we’ll take a motorized boat to check out the lively floating market. Cai Rang is the real floating market full of wholesales and retail boats. You could see literally hundreds of big and small boats every morning to buy and sell just about anything you can imagine – freshly harvested fruit and vegetables, rice, and even noodle soup, broken rice, and coffee are also for sale aboard a tiny boat or another! Primarily, you can see many grocery boats and floating houses around you.
Disembark your boat for a short transfer to the other side of Hau Giang River to Binh Minh for a half-day ride. We cycle through the vast rice paddy fields, explore the Khmer villages, and stop visiting some colourful Khmer temples, and the small workshop produces hats, handbags, indoor sandals, and bins, all made from water hyacinths. We end up the ride in Tam Binh, lunch en-route before returning to Saigon by vehicle. Ends of services!
We immersed ourselves in the Mekong Delta
Meandering the Mekong Delta by bike 7D/6N We touched the living in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. It was a pleasure to take part on this trip. Unbelievable Trip! We saw so much more than we expected. We immersed ourselves in the Mekong Delta with its people, culture, foods and fruits. We did not know what to expect in the beginning and were amazed about the tour. Our bike guide and driver went above and beyond for us. Thank you for that. We really enjoyed ourselves! Its wonderful how much and how many different things we saw and experienced during this trip. 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 Nov, 2017
Meandering the Mekong Delta by bike 7D/6N
Dat is an excellent ambassador for the country of Vietnam and the Backdoads tour company. His knowledge of the plants and crops was great and he allowed us to stop and see, smell wherever possible. He expertly guided us through local cuisine and balanced the need of a picky vegetarian very well. I would say that some days the mileage did seem in the afternoon, about making up the distance so if might be worth offering same option will difference distance. On the cultural side Dat was very patent answering our questions and then looking for examples to show us when he saw them, this really makes us feel appreciated. 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 -13 Nov, 2017
Dat was an excellent guide
Dat was an excellent guide, giving interesting information about what we saw as we cycled. I think he was able to judge the fitness of our group and get thee daily distances about right. His choices of meal stops were good and he was keen to ensure we had enough to eat, taking into account the mixed preferences of our group( two meat eaters and two non meat eaters). The bikes were of good quality! 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 Nov, 2017
Meandering the Mekong Delta by bike with Vietnam Backroads
Meandering the Mekong Delta by bike 7D/6N Hi Mr Van, Just want to thank you, Hue, A. Trung, and Chu Hoang for a memorable biking experience. It was truly a special reason for me to tour the Mekong Delta. I have been posting my journey on Face Book so my friends & family could follow me on my journey. Please share this link with Mr Trung and driver, Mr Hoang. I will be in Saigon until Tuesday morning so feel free to call A Minh's cell phone if you wish to contact me while I'm still here. I hope to find myself back in Vietnam again soon so I can go on another biking adventure. Saigon - Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Soc Trang - Bac Lieu - Ca Mau - Rach Gia - Chau Doc - Saigon 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 -9 - 10 July 2012
'Van the Man' has provided us yet another superb bike tour!
'Van the Man' has provided us yet another superb bike tour for the second time for my group of 11 people this time. What can I say? I was so impressed with his service back in 2016 and I came back with a bigger group this time and Mr Van, once again excelled in all areas of accommodation, food, places visited (fruit plantations; flower gardens; brick factories; fish farm etc), those 'Giant' mountain bikes, continuous water supply, fresh fruit for morning and afternoon teas and last but not least were our excellent guides Mr Dat & Mr Loc. Mr Dat and Mr Loc were superb during our tour. Their attentiveness, professionalism; friendliness and knowledge of the area were second to none. We rode the back roads of Mekong Delta for 7 days where we saw and experience the real people and how they live in the Mekong Delta areas where it is still untouched by tourists. Children were always happy to see us pass their houses and their schools and always greeted us with 'hellos' and big smiles on their beautiful faces. It is highly recommended for those who would love to see the real Vietnam, its people, their way of lives, their culture and of course the fruit plantations in the delta. Go with 'Van the Man' the founder of Vietnam Backroads. It is owned and operated by a locally cycling company that provides a very unique experience to see the real Viet Nam. Once again, on behalf of my group, I would like to 'thank you' Mr Van for providing us with an unforgettable experience riding Meandering Mekong Delta with your Vietnam Backroads Company!!!!! Our thanks also go to Mr Loc and Mr Dat. 'Never say never again. 20 - 26 Feb, 2017
Mekong Delta Bike Tour
Recently returned home from 7/day Vietnam backroads bike tour (march 2017 ) of the Mekong river delta area .Did not know what to expect and was blown away by the biking experience , scenery , challengers , and plentiful food and fruit . Our tour guides Dat and Loc offered great company , knowledge of the area , experience , joviality and lots of care . It was great to get out of the city and bike through the backroads and view the rice paddies , vegetable and fruit plantations , the mighty Mekong River and in general how the Vietnamese people live and produce to survive .Our tour started in Ho Chi Mihn city , travelled southwards & visited cities Tra Vinh , Pach gia , Chau Doc , Cao Lanh , Vihn Long and finally back to Ho Chi Mihn city . Our tour group of eleven people thoroughly enjoyed this unique holiday . I fully recommend this tour and company for a great experience . Well done Mr Van and staff . 20 -26 Feb, 2017
Meandering the Mekong Delta by Vietnam Backroads
Hello Van,
Our ride is now over and we take with us many great memories and lots of photos! Your staff Phuc Le and Loc were a terrific team. Phuc is extremely knowledgeable and communicative. I did mention a few small things to you this afternoon, and others may come to us in the next few days, while we are still in Saigon. If one thing stands out as missing, it was that we didn't receive Vietnam Back roads jerseys. We would've been proud advertisement's for your business back in Melbourne where we ride weekly with different groups...was that an oversight or should we have ordered them with the tour?
I wish you continued success with your business and will definitely consider other rides in the future. 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 12 December 2019
Regards
David Collison
Mobile: +61-409400.......
Email: drcollison@.........
Seven day Mekong Delta bike ride
Just completed 7 day bike ride led by Phuc and van driver Loc. Mountain bikes were excellent as was the organisation of hotels, transport and meals.
The Mekong Delta is such a productive area on each day’s ride we saw something different as we meandered on our bikes through the villages on the backroads.
Phuc Le, our leader was a fountain of knowledge on not only the fruit and vegetables being grown in the delta but also on the history of Vietnam.
The guided bike trip exceeded all expectations and I would highly recommend it and Vietnam Backroads. 15 - 21 December 2020
Fantastic experience
I can highly recommend this company. Very professional from the moment we booked, always answering our questions promptly. We had a brilliant guide Tha who was such fun and very professional. We did a 7 day cycle tour around the Mekong delta which took us as far as the coast and also the Cambodian border. Each day was different from the last and took us through beautiful vegetation and scenery. I really feel we got a good insight in to the real Vietnam. The hotels we stayed in ranged from basic to luxury, depending on the area we were in. Plenty of opportunities to try the food and local snacks. Cycling ranges from 2 hours to 6 hours a day, depending on itinerary. A well organised trip. 06 - 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 - 11 - 12 January 2020