Can Tho: Promoting river culture and boosting river tourism

The 2025 Can Tho River Culture Festival with the theme "Can Tho - Colors of Rivers" will be held on a city scale, from December 27, 2025 to January 1, 2026.

The festival venue is concentrated in the Hau River Park area (Cai Khe ward), Ninh Kieu Wharf Park (Ninh Kieu ward) and neighboring areas.

The festival contributes to introducing and promoting the unique river culture of the Mekong Delta in general and Can Tho city in particular to local people and tourists at home and abroad.

The opening ceremony of the Can Tho River Culture Festival 2025 will take place at 6:30 p.m. on December 27, 2025, in which the "Colors of Rivers" Parade will start at 6:30 p.m., scheduled on the roads in the city center and on the Hau River.

The colorfully decorated boats paraded on the Hau River, showcasing the beauty of the river culture of the Western region. At the same time, artists performed traditional music on the boats, bringing an atmosphere rich in the cultural identity of the South.

Tourists enjoy breakfast on a boat at Cai Rang floating market. (Photo: Thanh Liem/VNA)

Street Performance Program with dance performances inspired by rivers, showing the combination of traditional and modern art, recreating the vitality and rise of people in the river area. Lion-lion-dragon teams perform vibrantly to modern folk music, creating a joyful and bustling festival atmosphere in the street area.

The opening art program will be broadcast live from 8:00 p.m. on December 27, at the Pedestrian Bridge area, Ben Ninh Kieu Park (Ninh Kieu ward).

The program depicts the city's unique river culture through stories about boats, activities, livelihoods associated with the river, festivals, folk beliefs and cuisine .

The program will also recreate the image of floating markets and floating market culture (Cai Rang, Nga Nam, Nga Bay), introduced as a unique symbol, contributing to promoting the image of Can Tho tourism .

The drone show and fireworks celebration will start at 9pm on December 27, right after the art program ends. The program will feature drone light art, combining modern and traditional music to recreate images depicting the culture and traditional values of Can Tho city, the city's heritage and architecture, the vision and direction of future city development.

Within the framework of the festival, there will be an art program for visitors every night from December 28 to December 30, 2025, at Hau River Park; photo exhibition "Rhythm of life on the river - The West past and present"; sailing and Sup boat racing.

In addition, there is also a space to display and introduce products, typical cuisine, OCOP products, promote local tourism products with a scale of about 150 booths, display publications, show video clips, promote tourism products of Can Tho city and other provinces and cities.

Can Tho City has more than 1,100km of river routes and a dense network of canals, creating favorable conditions for developing diverse river tours such as visiting floating markets, fruit gardens, traditional craft villages and experiencing the unique river culture.

With its central location in the river delta region, Can Tho Acting as an ideal connecting point for inter-provincial tours, creating a chain of attractive river tourism products.

After merging with Hau Giang and Soc Trang provinces, Can Tho city (new) will have many advantages in socio-economic development, in which the tourism industry is expected to have strong breakthroughs thanks to the connection of product ecosystems and unique cultural and natural resources of the three localities.

Cai Rang floating market is bustling in the days leading up to Tet At Ty 2025. (Photo: Thanh Liem/VNA)

Can Tho City is located in the center of the Mekong Delta, a tourist center with diverse types such as ecological, river tourism, and famous attractions such as Hung King Temple, Ninh Kieu Wharf, Cai Rang Floating Market, Binh Thuy Communal House and eco-tourism villages.

Meanwhile, Hau Giang is located in the inland Mekong Delta, the capital of vast fruit gardens and diverse nature. Notable destinations include Nga Bay floating market, Lung Ngoc Hoang conservation area, cajuput forest, and Vi Thuy betel village.

Soc Trang is a coastal province with a unique cultural identity of the Kinh-Khmer-Hoa community. The province has great potential for spiritual tourism with more than 200 places of worship, including 93 Khmer Theravada Buddhist temples. Ecotourism destinations such as Tran De mangrove forest, Cu Lao Dung, orchards along the Hau River, and a series of unique festivals such as Ooc Om Boc, Nghinh Ong, Thac Con, Phuoc Bien and traditional craft villages (pia cake, weaving...) contribute to creating a unique tourism identity of the locality.

The connection between the three localities will help build unique tourism product chains, from eco-tourism, community tourism, and cultural experience tourism.

Tours in the city will become more flexible, allowing visitors to explore Cai Rang floating market, experience Con Son ecology, visit Khmer pagodas, explore Lung Ngoc Hoang or traditional craft villages, creating a diverse and attractive itinerary./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/can-tho-quang-ba-van-hoa-song-nuoc-va-thuc-day-du-lich-duong-song-post1073320.vnp