Can Tho

Wholesale boats anchor mid-river and pass fruit and vegetables from deck to deck. Each hangs a sample of its cargo from a tall pole, the cay beo, as its signboard. Trade peaks around sunrise, and boats start leaving after 8am.

The riverside promenade along the corner where the Can Tho River meets the Hau, and where most floating-market boats leave from. A footbridge built in 2016 reaches across to the islet, lit after sunset, with a night market at its foot.

Built by the Duong family in 1870, a French front around a Vietnamese timber hall and altars. The 1992 film The Lover was shot here. Descendants still live in the house, so only the open rooms can be seen.

A guild hall Cantonese settlers raised by the river late in the 19th century, dedicated to Guan Yu. Spirals of incense dangling overhead smoulder for weeks once lit, keeping the hall hazy. It faces the Ninh Kieu promenade across the road.

A Theravada temple the city's Khmer community built in 1946. The Cambodian-style hall, naga serpents at its roof tips, stands right on a main avenue, and monks live on the grounds. Shoes come off for the hall.

The delta's largest Zen monastery, timber halls and a bell tower around a pond in the Phong Dien countryside. Roughly 30 minutes southwest by car, it is often added to a Cai Rang morning. Shorts and sleeveless tops are refused at the entrance.

A small island midstream in the Hau, home to a few farming families running orchards and homestays. People come to watch snakehead leap out of the pond for food thrown to them. There is no bridge; boats cross from the Binh Thuy side.

Tens of thousands of storks and egrets nest in a patch of bamboo and scrub at Thoi Lai. They forage in the fields by day and all return at dusk, so time a visit for then. A viewing tower in the middle looks down on them.

A cable-stayed bridge over the Hau, opened in 2010. Until then every vehicle from Ho Chi Minh City crossed by ferry, and in 2007, mid-construction, an approach span collapsed and killed dozens of workers. Its two towers show from far along the bank.

Boats coming back from the floating market turn into narrow canals with rambutan, mango and durian orchards on both banks. Some orchards take an entry fee and let you pick and eat from the branch, and the fruit comes in from May to August.

A floating market on a smaller river upstream of Cai Rang, more rowing boats than wholesale barges, so trading happens up close. Fewer boats come each year; arrive around sunrise to catch it working. Wharf operators sell trips pairing it with Cai Rang.

A French-era market hall on the riverbank beside Ninh Kieu wharf, restored. It now holds souvenir, dried fruit and coffee stalls, and once lit up in the evening its glow spills over the water. It strings together easily with a wharf stroll.