1. Cu Chi Tunnels day trip
What are the Cu Chi Tunnels
The Cu Chi Tunnels are a vast underground network dug by Viet Cong fighters during the war, used to live, hide, move supplies, and launch attacks right under the noses of US forces. Today a section is preserved as a memorial site, and it has become the single most popular day trip from Ho Chi Minh City. It is a genuinely powerful place, and if the history interests you it is well worth the trip. We keep the background short here, since there is a lot more detail in our full guide to the Cu Chi Tunnels.
What to expect
This is a half-day trip rather than a full one. The tunnels sit about 1.5 hours northwest of the city, so most visits run either a morning or an afternoon, not a whole day. A typical visit starts with a short documentary, then a guided walk through the site, where you can crawl through sections of tunnel that have been widened for tourists, see the brutal booby traps, and try the optional firing range. Be honest with your expectations: it is an interesting and moving site, but it is also busy and commercial, and it fills with tour groups from mid-morning, so going early helps.
The two entrances: Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc
There are two tunnel sites, and which you visit changes the experience. Ben Dinh is closer to the city and more set up for tourists, with reconstructed tunnels, which also makes it the busier of the two. Ben Duoc is a little farther out, quieter, and preserves more of the original system, so it feels more authentic and sees fewer crowds. Most standard tours go to Ben Dinh; if you want the calmer, more genuine version, aim for Ben Duoc.
How to visit from Ho Chi Minh City
There are four main ways to do this day trip, and they suit different budgets and priorities.
A budget group tour is the cheapest option, joining a large bus of other travelers. It does the job, but it is the most crowded and rushed, with less time at the site and stops at a lacquerware workshop along the way.
A small-group limousine tour costs more but is far more comfortable, with fewer people and a quicker, smoother trip in a plush van.
Tip: Do the tunnels in comfort with Local Vietnam
Skip the packed tourist buses and visit on our small-group Cu Chi Tunnels day tour, with a private guide and a relaxed pace. We get you there comfortably and leave you time to take it in properly.
A speedboat tour is the most scenic way to go, heading up the Saigon River instead of sitting in road traffic, which also helps you beat the crowds.
Tip: Reach Cu Chi by river with Local Vietnam
Our Cu Chi Tunnels speedboat and cycling tour swaps the highway for the river and adds a countryside cycle. It is the most memorable way to make the trip, and far quieter than the bus route.
A private car with driver is the most flexible choice. It is ideal if you want to reach the quieter Ben Duoc entrance, arrive before the tour buses, or set your own pace, and it works out reasonable when shared between a few people.
2. Mekong Delta day trip
What to expect
The Mekong Delta is the vast maze of rivers, canals, rice paddies, and orchards southwest of the city, where life revolves around the water. It is one of the most popular day trips from Ho Chi Minh City, but here is the honest part: most day tours run a fixed circuit of curated stops, a coconut-candy workshop, a honey-bee farm, a sampan row through the palms, some fruit and traditional music. It is pleasant, and children usually love it, but you share it with a lot of other tourists and the whole thing can feel staged rather than a window into real delta life. Treat a day trip as a taster of the Mekong, not the authentic, local version of it.
Picking the right destination
Where your tour goes matters more than almost anything else, because it decides how touristy or genuine the day feels.
My Tho is the closest part of the delta, about 1.5 hours away, which is exactly why it is the most visited and the most commercial. It is the default for cheap tours and the most crowded and curated option.
Ben Tre sits a little farther, around 2 hours out, and is the better pick for most people. Its narrow palm-shaded canals are quieter and feel more authentic, with more of the slow, rural atmosphere people picture when they imagine the Mekong.
One honest thing to know: the famous Cai Rang floating market near Can Tho is too far for a day trip. It only works with a dawn start, which means staying overnight, so no genuine floating market is included in any Mekong day trip from Ho Chi Minh City, whatever the tour photos suggest.
Day trip vs multi-day trip
If you just want a taste of the delta and a break from the city, a day trip does the job, and going to Ben Tre keeps it feeling reasonably real. But if you want the genuine Mekong, the floating markets, homestays, backroads by bike, and mornings on the water before the crowds, a two or three-day trip is a completely different, and far better, experience. So be realistic about which one you actually want before you book, since the day trip and the multi-day trip deliver very different versions of the delta.
Tip: See the quieter side of the delta with Local Vietnam
Our Mekong Delta day tour to Ben Tre skips the busiest My Tho circuit for Ben Tre’s slower canals and palm-shaded backroads. It is the most authentic way to experience the Mekong when you only have a day to spare.
3. Cao Dai Holy See in Tay Ninh day trip
What it is
The Cao Dai Holy See is the spectacular spiritual heart of Cao Daism, a religion founded in Vietnam in the 1920s that blends Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and more into one faith. The main temple is unlike anything else in the country: a riot of colour, with dragon-wrapped pillars, a bright blue sky-and-stars ceiling, and the religion’s all-seeing divine eye everywhere you look. It sits in Tay Ninh, northwest of the city toward the Cambodian border.
What to expect
The highlight is the midday prayer ceremony, when hundreds of followers in white, and priests in red, blue, and yellow robes, fill the temple in a genuinely mesmerising ritual. It is worth timing your visit around it, as the temple is far less atmospheric when empty. The catch is the distance: Tay Ninh is roughly 2.5 to 3 hours from the city each way, so on its own this is a lot of driving for a fairly short stop, which is why few people visit it as a standalone day trip.
Combining with Cu Chi Tunnels or Black Virgin Mountain
Because of that distance, the Cao Dai temple is almost always combined with something else in the same direction. The classic pairing is with the Cu Chi Tunnels: the tunnels in the morning, then on to Tay Ninh for the noon ceremony, which makes for a long but well-used full day. The other option is to pair it with nearby Black Virgin Mountain, covered next, since both sit in Tay Ninh. Either way, treat this as part of a bigger day out rather than a trip on its own. There is plenty more to fill a day in the area around Tay Ninh too.
4. Black Virgin Mountain day trip
What it is
Black Virgin Mountain, or Ba Den, rises straight out of the flat Tay Ninh plains and is the highest peak in southern Vietnam. It is a sacred site wrapped in local legend, dotted with temples and shrines on its slopes, and topped by a large complex of statues, including a giant Buddha, at the summit. On a clear day the views stretch for miles across the surrounding countryside.
What to expect
Getting up is easy: a modern cable car whisks you to the top in minutes, though you can also hike if you want the challenge and the pilgrimage experience. Be honest with your expectations, though. The mountain has been heavily developed in recent years, and the summit feels more like a polished tourist complex than a wild peak, with landscaped plazas and crowds. It gets especially busy on weekends and during festivals and Tet, when pilgrims arrive in huge numbers. It sits about 2.5 to 3 hours from the city, the same direction as the Cao Dai temple.
Combining with Cao Dai
Because both are in Tay Ninh and share the long drive out, Black Virgin Mountain and the Cao Dai Holy See are the natural pair. A common day plan is the noon ceremony at the temple followed by the mountain, or the other way round, which turns two places that are a stretch on their own into one full, worthwhile Tay Ninh day trip. If temples and views are your thing, doing both together is the way to make the distance pay off.
5. Can Gio day trip
What it is
Can Gio is a huge mangrove forest on the coast south of the city, protected as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. It is a completely different world from central Saigon: waterways, tidal forest, and wildlife, including the famous long-tailed macaques of Monkey Island, a crocodile area, and the old Rung Sac guerrilla base hidden in the mangroves during the war. It is the greenest, wildest escape close to the city.
What to expect
This is a nature-and-boat day rather than a sightseeing one, reached by crossing a river on a ferry, which is part of the fun. You explore the mangroves by small boat, visit Monkey Island, and can see the wartime base. One honest warning: the macaques are bold and cheeky, and will grab bags, phones, sunglasses, and food if you give them the chance, so keep everything zipped away. It is also a niche trip that rewards nature lovers more than first-time visitors ticking off the big sights, so it suits travellers with a bit more time in the city.
How to visit
Can Gio is awkward to reach on public transport, so the easiest options are a private car with a driver or an organised tour, both of which handle the ferry crossing and the boat trip for you. Give it a full day, as the distance and the ferry mean it is not something to rush.
6. Vung Tau day trip
What is Vung Tau and what to see
Vung Tau is the closest proper beach city to Saigon, a breezy seaside town on a peninsula that locals have escaped to for weekends for generations. Since the 2025 reforms it is officially part of an enlarged Ho Chi Minh City, but everyone still calls it Vung Tau, and the trip out is exactly as it always was. Here is what to see once you arrive:
- Beaches: Back Beach (Bai Sau) is the long, main stretch and the best for swimming, while Front Beach is more for strolling than sunbathing.
- Nghinh Phong Cape: the scenic headland at the southern tip, with sea views and a breezy lookout.
- The Jesus Christ statue: a giant hilltop figure you can climb inside for one of the best panoramas in town, if you are up for the steps.
- Vung Tau lighthouse: a short hill trip that gives you the best overview of the peninsula and the bays on either side.
- White Palace (Bach Dinh): a French colonial villa set in gardens, a quiet break from the beach.
- Hon Ba Island: a tiny islet with a shrine that you can walk out to across the seabed at low tide.
What to expect and how to get there
Be realistic about what Vung Tau is: a busy local beach city, not a tropical paradise. The sea is fine rather than stunning, and it gets crowded and lively at weekends when Saigon empties out onto its sand. But it is genuinely close and easy, which is the whole appeal, and midweek it is far calmer. By road it is about 2 to 2.5 hours each way. There is much more to fill a day in our full rundown of things to do in Vung Tau.
7. Chau Thoi Temple day trip
What it is and what to expect
Chau Thoi Temple is a centuries-old Buddhist temple perched on a small hill just outside the city, in what was Binh Duong. It is one of the oldest temples in the region, reached by a long staircase, with shrines, statues, and dragon carvings at the top and a view over the surrounding area. Be honest with yourself about scale: this is a minor, local site, not a headline attraction, and it will not fill a whole day on its own.
What it has going for it is how close it is. The temple sits well under an hour from the centre, which makes it an easy, quiet half-day for anyone who wants a peaceful hilltop temple without the long drives or the crowds that come with the bigger trips. It is best suited to repeat visitors, or travellers who simply want a calm morning out and a bit of local life close to the city.
Bonus: theme parks and water parks near Ho Chi Minh City
These are not day trips in the classic sense, but they are easy escapes from the city, and for families with kids they can be a better day out than a temple or a war site. Worth knowing about if you are travelling with children.
Dam Sen Park
Dam Sen is a large cultural park and separate water park inside the city, in District 11. It is dated but cheap, with gardens, rides, a water show, and slides, and it makes a fun, low-cost day for families, especially on a hot afternoon.
Suoi Tien
Out on the eastern edge of the city sits Suoi Tien, a surreal Buddhist-themed park of golden dragons, temples, a crocodile lake, and quirky rides. It is strange rather than slick, but that is the appeal, and it is now easy to reach on the metro, which runs to its doorstep.
Dai Nam Park
For the biggest day out, Dai Nam in Binh Duong is an enormous, over-the-top complex with a huge temple, a zoo, a water park, and a funfair all in one. It is about an hour from the centre and genuinely needs a full day if you want to see it all.
Practical tips for day trips from Ho Chi Minh City
Places often called day trips that really are not
A lot of lists include destinations that are simply too far to enjoy and return from in a single day. Do not be fooled by these:
- Mui Ne: a beach town famous for its sand dunes, but it is 4 to 5 hours each way, so a day trip means around 9 hours of driving to see a beach. It is an overnight destination, not a day trip.
- Dalat: a lovely cool-climate mountain town, but 6 to 7 hours away by road. It needs at least two or three days, and ideally a flight in.
- Cat Tien National Park: a superb jungle reserve, but 3.5 to 4 hours each way, and the wildlife and trekking only make sense with an overnight stay inside the park.
The reason is always the same: the driving eats the day. Anything much beyond 2.5 to 3 hours away is better as an overnight trip.
What about the Mekong Delta floating markets?
This one catches people out, so it is worth being clear. The floating market that used to sit near Cai Be, within day-trip reach, has all but disappeared, and there is little left worth calling a floating market there now. The real ones survive around Can Tho, above all Cai Rang, but they are both too far for a day trip from Ho Chi Minh City and at their best just after dawn. To catch one you would have to leave Saigon in the middle of the night, which is why a genuine floating market only works as part of an overnight Mekong trip, never a day trip.
Tour vs doing it independently
Whether to take a tour or go it alone depends on the trip. For the Cu Chi Tunnels it is easy either way: you can drive out by private car and hire a guide at the site, which gives you freedom but costs more, or take a cheaper tour that handles everything. The Mekong Delta is harder to do independently, because a good day means fitting in boat rides and workshops, and many of those small stops are not even on Google Maps, so they are tough to plan yourself. If you dislike big group tours, the answer is usually a private day tour rather than doing it alone, giving you the local knowledge without the crowded bus.
Book ahead and start early
The good small-group and private trips fill up, especially in high season, so book a day or two ahead rather than the night before. And whatever the trip, an early start is your best friend, it beats both the traffic out of the city and the tour-bus crowds at the site, which tend to build through the morning.
Combine trips in the same direction
If you want to see more in limited time, pair destinations that lie the same way out of the city. Cu Chi and the Cao Dai temple both sit to the northwest, as does Black Virgin Mountain, so they combine well into one long day. Trying to link places on opposite sides of the city never works, you just spend the day in the car.
