Day Trips from Ho Chi Minh City: Cu Chi, the Mekong, Cao Dai at Tay Ninh, Vung Tau and Can Gio

The Viet Cong tunnel network 70 km north-west is the half-day trip everyone takes, and it deserves it: the trapdoors, traps and a crawl through a widened section of tunnel, at Ben Dinh (closer, busier) or Ben Duoc (the original, quieter, with a memorial temple). Morning tours are back by 13:00; the speedboat version up the Saigon River is the pleasant way to go. The Cu Chi guide covers both sites.

My Tho and Ben Tre, two hours south, are the day-trip delta: a boat on the main river, a sampan through the coconut creeks, coconut candy, honey tea, fruit and folk song, and a cycle through the orchards. It is gentle, green and a little staged, and it is the only way to see the delta in a day. The floating market at Cai Rang is not on it: that needs Can Tho, four hours away, and an overnight. The Mekong guide separates the two.

The Cao Dai holy see at Tay Ninh, 100 km north-west, is the cathedral of a religion founded in 1926 that blends Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Christianity and counts Victor Hugo among its saints. The noon mass, watched from the balcony, is a procession of white, blue, red and yellow robes under a ceiling of stars and dragons, and it is unlike anything else in Asia. It combines with Cu Chi on the way back for a full day; alone it is a long drive for an hour.

Vung Tau is Saigon's beach, 120 km south-east: a peninsula with a Christ statue, seafood on the front, and a Sunday crowd; two hours by car or hydrofoil, fine for a swim and lunch, not a destination. Can Gio, 60 km south, is the UNESCO mangrove biosphere that the war defoliated and Vietnam replanted, with a monkey island, crocodile ponds and a bat lagoon by boat; it is the quiet nature day and mostly free of tourists. Both are full days with the drive.

With one spare day: Cu Chi in the morning and the city or a cooking class in the afternoon. With two: add the Mekong. With three: Tay Ninh plus Cu Chi, or Can Gio. Skip Vung Tau unless you want a beach. Private cars for two to four run USD 80 to 150 a day plus entries; group tours USD 20 to 45 per person. In the wet season take morning departures; the best time to visit page has the seasons.