What is a one-day river tour to Cu Chi?

Experience a sightseeing tour by Saigon River, with a modern canoe, serving breakfast on the river, Vietnamese coffee and fresh fruit throughout the journey, bringing many emotions.

The Saigon River Star's one-day cruise is designed as a "story-telling river" journey, taking visitors from Bach Dang Wharf (HCMC) to Cu Chi, Binh Duong (old) with many carefully crafted highlights.

One day in mid-November, the weather in Ho Chi Minh City is cool, suitable for tourists to experience the Saigon river tour.

PHOTO: LE NAM

7:45: Tourists gather at Bach Dang wharf, receive cold towels, have a light breakfast including sandwiches, pate sausage, fresh fruit (banana, longan), Vietnamese coffee, sugarcane juice and mineral water, cold towels. Fruit and drinks are served continuously throughout the trip.

8:00 AM: The canoe leaves the dock and begins its journey down the river to Cu Chi. Passengers must wear life jackets during the nearly 45-minute journey, but the new, clean life jackets make the journey much more pleasant.

This tour includes breakfast of pate bread, milk coffee; fresh fruit, cold towels, and cool water served throughout the journey.

PHOTO: LE NAM

9:30: Canoe arrives at Cu Chi wharf. Tourists visit the tunnels, experience the tunnels, B52 bomb craters and the exhibition area recreating the old battlefield. During the peak season of international visitors, the sports shooting area is crowded with European and Asian tourists, with prices ranging from 60,000 to 75,000 VND/round (sold in groups of 10). Gunfire echoes throughout the area, creating a lively atmosphere.

Some typical experiences such as trying to crawl into small tunnels and cover them with leaves for camouflage also attract many tourists, especially Westerners. This is a "trend" on social networks, so many groups line up to film the experience.

Foreign tourists flock to visit Cu Chi tunnels

PHOTO: LE NA

11am: After leaving Cu Chi, the canoe continues downstream towards Binh Duong (old). This is a time to relax, enjoy the river view and cool breeze.

11:30 - 12:00: The group visits Binh Duong eco-tourism area, where visitors have lunch in an open space. Dishes are prepared in a rustic style, with regional characteristics such as shrimp salad, chicken soup with perilla leaves, braised fish, fried dumplings...

Lunch with many delicious local specialties

PHOTO: LE NAM

13:30: After lunch, the group continues to visit traditional craft villages of Binh Duong, where handicrafts that have existed for decades are still preserved.

The first stop is the Sau Deo wooden clog workshop - one of the remaining clog-making establishments in the craft village. Inside the workshop, workers are busy sawing large wooden trunks, shaping them into small, pretty clog blanks before polishing and finishing the products. The clog models are displayed with eye-catching designs, priced from only 120,000 - 150,000 VND/pair, suitable for buying as gifts.

Each pair of clogs costs 120,000 - 150,000 VND. Vietnamese customers say the price is reasonable, easy to buy, and there are many designs to choose from.

PHOTO: LE NAM

The group continued to visit the family of Mrs. Duong Thi Nguyet Thu, over 80 years old, a traditional piggy bank artisan with decades of experience. It is currently the peak season for piggy bank production for Tet, so workers are busy painting, drawing and completing orders. The selling price is quite reasonable: small pigs are only 15,000 VND, while large coin-shaped pigs range from 80,000 to 100,000 VND, attracting many tourists to buy them as souvenirs.

Visit the clay pig making village in Lai Thieu

PHOTO: LE NAM

15:00: Canoe leaves Binh Duong to return to Ho Chi Minh City. The journey ends at Bach Dang Wharf in the afternoon.

Leisurely schedule, many highlights

Ms. Nguyen Xuan Bich Chi, Sales Director of Saigon River Star, said that the tour currently focuses on serving the European market, a group of customers who are particularly interested in history and culture and tend to spend a lot. Currently, the unit owns 3 canoes, from 2026 will put into operation 5-7 more canoes, 36-seat boats to meet the large demand from European customers.

The unit continues to increase the number of ships and canoes to serve the needs of domestic and foreign tourists.

PHOTO: LE NAM

Assessing the potential of this product line to attract customers, Mr. Luu Van Thai, Sales Director of Asiana Link Travel, said that the Cu Chi - Binh Duong canoe tour costs 2.2 - 2.5 million VND, the quality "is worthy of the quality of the boat, new and clean life jackets, full service and tour guides who can speak the language". This is also the reason why the tour is very popular with high-class and foreign guests.

The last tour ends at 2:30 p.m., guests are given gifts from local craft villages, leaving many beautiful memories.

PHOTO: Contributor

Currently, in addition to Saigon River Star, there are 3 other units exploiting this river tourism product. According to Ms. Chi, the big difference of the unit is that instead of ending the tour right after Cu Chi on the Saigon River, the company continues to take customers to Binh Duong, stopping at small cultural sites to create "softness" for the journey.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/mot-ngay-di-tour-duong-song-toi-cu-chi-co-gi-185251124092213616.htm