Flexi Tour — Departs Any Day

Vietnam — Saigon, Củ Chi & the Mekong Delta

One hotel, four nights, and a city that never quite sits still. Two mornings out of town — underground at Củ Chi and through the coconut canals of the delta — wrapped around three days of Saigon at your own pace: the palace and the war museum, Chợ Lớn at first light, and a table at each of the city’s two starred kitchens if you want one.
From US$195 per person, twin share — four nights in District 1 with breakfast, and two guided days with hotel pick-up. Budget separately for flights, airport transfers, meals and museum entries. Compare the three hotel tiers
Travel DatesAny day you choose · year-round

Duration5 Days / 4 Nights
DestinationsSaigon · Củ Chi · Mekong Delta
Arrival
Fly into Tân Sơn Nhất (SGN). Saigon is the best-connected airport in Vietnam — a short hop from anywhere in Southeast Asia, and direct or one-stop from Australia. Tell us where you are flying from and we will price the flights with the tour.
Confirmation
Tell us your dates and a hotel tier → we confirm the hotel and both day tours within 24 hours → a deposit holds them → vouchers by email before you fly. Departs any day, subject to the note below. Before we confirm we check your dates against anything the itinerary is built round — museums, markets and monuments keep weekly closing days, and we would rather move a day than spend one at a locked gate.

The trip at a glance

Saigon — District 1

Day 1
01
Saigon
Pin this route

Arrive Saigon AT LEISURE

  • Into Tân Sơn Nhất, 30–40 minutes from the centre. Transfers are not included — a Grab to District 1 is about US$8–12 and takes five minutes to order.
  • How much of this you get depends on when you land. What follows is a full day and an arrival day rarely is one — in before noon and you will do all of it; in late, take the walk and the river and keep the two museums for the morning of day 2.
  • Start at Independence Palace — the 1960s presidential palace, frozen at the morning the war ended, with the command bunker still intact downstairs.
  • Then the War Remnants Museum, ten minutes’ walk away. Do this one before lunch. It is the most important hour you will spend in Saigon and not an easy one.
  • The Central Post Office and Notre-Dame Cathedral face each other across one square; Book Street runs down the side of it in the shade.
  • Walk through Bến Thành Market for the sight of it, then take Nguyễn Huệ down to the river at dusk and finish upstairs in the Café Apartment.
  • Overnight in Saigon.

Add to this day — approximate gate prices

  • Independence Palace40,000₫About US$1.55 at the gate. Add the full ticket for the museum wing.
  • War Remnants Museum40,000₫About US$1.55. Open 7.30am–6pm daily.
  • Notre-Dame & the Central Post OfficeFree to enterThe post office is a working one and you can walk in. The cathedral cannot be entered — it has been under restoration for years and the reopening date keeps moving, so this is a look from the square.
  • Golden Dragon water puppet theatreabout US$13Book aheadAn hour, in District 1, and better than it sounds.
  • Landmark 81 SkyViewabout US$16The tallest building in Vietnam. Go at dusk, not midday.
  • Fast-track arrival at Tân Sơn Nhấtabout US$27Book aheadImmigration can run long on an evening bank of flights.

We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.

Củ Chi

Day 2 · the first guided day
02
Củ Chi
Pin this route

The Củ Chi Tunnels GUIDED

  • A guided half day to Củ Chi, leaving District 1 in the morning with hotel pick-up included.
  • We use Bến Dược, not Bến Đình. Same tunnel network, a fraction of the crowd — it is forty minutes further out, which is exactly why the coaches skip it.
  • The trap displays, the workshops, a tapioca snack the way the tunnels ate it, and a crawl through a widened section. Sit that last part out if tight spaces are not for you — nobody minds, and the rest of the site is above ground.
  • Back in the city by early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours: a pool, a foot massage for about US$10, or nothing at all.
  • In the evening, the thing we recommend above everything else here — a street-food tour by motorbike, riding pillion through District 4 and beyond to five or six stops, usually ending on Vĩnh Khánh Street. From about US$29 a head. Tell us and we will book it with your tour; the good operators sell out.
  • Overnight in Saigon.

In your price today — with your guide

  • Cu Chi Tunnels half-day, small group

Chợ Lớn & District 3

Day 3
03
Chợ Lớn
Pin this route

Chợ Lớn and District 3 AT LEISURE

  • Go early. Thiên Hậu Temple in the first hour after opening is the best light and the fewest people you will get all trip.
  • Bình Tây Market and the wholesale streets around it — a working market, not a tourist one — then Hải Thượng Lãn Ông, the herbal medicine street. You smell it before you turn the corner.
  • Lunch in Chợ Lớn — hủ tiếu, or roast duck noodles from any shop with a queue.
  • Across to District 3 in the afternoon: the Jade Emperor Pagoda, which is the one temple here we would not let you miss, and Tân Định Church two streets over for the photograph.
  • A rooftop for sunset, and then — if you want the meal of the trip — CoCo Dining, five minutes away on Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa. One Michelin star, twelve courses of Vietnamese cooking put through modern technique, and dinner only. Book it when you book the tour.
  • Overnight in Saigon.

Add to this day — approximate gate prices

  • Thiên Hậu TempleFree to enterA donation for incense if you light some.
  • Bình Tây MarketFree to enterWholesale, and busiest before nine.
  • Jade Emperor PagodaFree to enterThe best temple in the city, and it costs nothing.
  • Street-food tour by motorbikefrom about US$29Book aheadFour hours, five or six stops, riding pillion. The best-value evening in Saigon.
  • CoCo Dining — the tasting menuAsk usBook aheadOne Michelin star, District 3, dinner only. We will get the price and the table.

We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.

The Mekong Delta

Day 4 · the second guided day
04
Mekong Delta
Pin this route

Into the delta GUIDED

  • Picked up from your hotel at around 8am for a full guided day into the Mekong Delta, with lunch included.
  • Down to Mỹ Tho and out onto the river, past the four islands, then into the narrow canals by rowed sampan under the water coconut.
  • Across to Bến Tre — coconut country, and the quieter half of the day. Orchards, honey tea, a workshop or two, and lunch cooked in somebody’s house.
  • This is a long day and worth it. The delta is two hours away and looks nothing like Saigon: no motorbikes, no towers, and water where the roads should be.
  • Back in the city around six. Keep the evening easy — phở on a plastic stool is the correct answer.
  • Overnight in Saigon.

In your price today — with your guide

  • Mekong Delta small-group full day

Saigon — the river

Day 5
05
Saigon
Pin this route

The last day AT LEISURE

  • Sleep in. Bánh cuốn or bún bò Huế for breakfast, and a cà phê sữa đá standing up at a pavement stall.
  • The Fine Arts Museum if you want one more — a 1930s villa with a cage lift, usually almost empty. Or an hour in a spa instead, which is about US$25–40 and no worse an idea.
  • Shopping: Saigon Square for clothing and bags at a third of the asking price if you haggle, or the design shops around Đồng Khởi for something you would actually give someone.
  • Down to Bạch Đằng Wharf for the last hour of light — the ferry across to Thủ Thiêm costs almost nothing and gives you the whole skyline.
  • Then across the river to Thảo Điền for the farewell dinner: CieL Dining, one Michelin star, fifteen seats at a counter in a villa, French technique and Vietnamese flavour on one tasting menu. Book weeks ahead or not at all. It only works on a late flight — one sitting, about three hours at the counter, and Thảo Điền is the far side of the river from the airport. Away before midnight? Have this dinner on day 4 and keep the last evening for the wharf.
  • Your own way back to Tân Sơn Nhất — allow an hour in the evening, more on a Friday.

Add to this day — approximate gate prices

  • Fine Arts Museum30,000₫About US$1.15. Open 8am–5pm daily; a phone camera is free, a proper one is not.
  • Thủ Thiêm ferrya few thousand ₫The cheapest skyline view in the city, and it runs until late.
  • One-hour Saigon River cruisefrom about US$12.50From Bạch Đằng pier. Sunset sailings go first.
  • CieL Dining — the tasting menufrom about US$120Book aheadOne Michelin star, fifteen seats, Thảo Điền. Plus service and drinks.

We can book any of these with your tour. Tell us which you want when you confirm and the tickets travel with your documents.

Restaurants worth trying

Breakfast is in the price, and so is lunch on the day in the delta. Every other meal is yours to choose, so here is where we would eat. We do not arrange any of these and you would pay for them yourself. They are simply places we rate, near where the trip goes. Tick any you like and they appear on the map.

    Suggested, not included. Opening hours and prices are theirs, not ours — and a place that is busy at eight will be busy whether or not you booked through us.

    Hotels & price

    Four nights in one hotel in District 1, twin share, with breakfast — no packing and moving, because everything on this trip either starts at your door or is a walk from it. Both guided days include District 1 hotel pick-up, which is the practical reason we keep you in the centre rather than somewhere cheaper and further out. Every property we use is independently rated 8.0 or better by recent guests.

    Comfort · 3★

    3-star hotel for the whole stay

    from US$195 per person · single supplement +US$100

    You will know exactly where you are staying before you pay a balance. We name the property in your confirmation, in writing, as soon as the room is held — and if it is ever unavailable for your dates we substitute at the same tier or better, never below it.

    All prices are per person, twin share, in US dollars — the figure on each tab is what you pay us. The tiers differ by hotel only; the touring is identical on all three. These are website estimates — your written quote is confirmed against live availability for your actual dates.

    Hotel tierPer person, twin shareSingle supplement
    Comfort — 3★, twin sharefrom US$195+US$100
    Deluxe — 4★, twin sharefrom US$275+US$160
    Luxury — 5★, twin sharefrom US$415+US$265
    Seasonal pricing. These rates are taken from September, which is deep in the wet season and the cheapest Saigon gets — hot, humid, and an afternoon downpour most days that clears inside an hour. December to March is the dry season and the dear one; rooms in District 1 can run half as much again over Christmas and New Year. Tết, the lunar new year, closes most of the city for the best part of a week and is the one time we would talk you out of coming. Reunification Day, 30 April, closes Independence Palace and fills the centre.
    Included
    4 nights in Saigon with breakfast, in District 1 · the Củ Chi Tunnels half-day small-group tour to Bến Dược, with guide and District 1 hotel pick-up · the Mekong Delta full-day small-group tour, with guide, boat, lunch and hotel pick-up
    Not included
    International flights · airport transfers — Tân Sơn Nhất is 30–40 minutes out and a Grab runs about US$8–12 · meals other than breakfast and the delta lunch · museum and palace entries, about US$1.50 each · travel insurance · tips · anything from the optional lists inside each free day
    How the flexi tour works. Choose any departure date and a hotel tier → we confirm availability and the exact price within 24 hours → pay a deposit to hold it → your final documents and vouchers arrive by email a week before you fly. There is no group to join and no fixed departure day.

    Start your booking

    Tell us who you are and when you want to go. We’ll reply within 24 hours with the price and what’s available. A deposit holds it, and comes back in full if we can’t get your dates.

    Prices are per person, twin share. One person to a room costs the single supplement shown above. Under 2s normally travel free — tell us in the box below.

    How should we reply?

    •
    Rate
    Rated
    Nearby
    Room
    Click to open the listing →