Mekong Delta
South of Saigon, the Mekong River fans out into a green maze of channels, paddy fields, and orchard islands before emptying into the South China Sea. Most travellers come for one or two days from the city: an early-morning boat to the Cai Rang floating market at Can Tho, where wholesalers hoist sample pineapples and watermelons on long bamboo poles; a slow sampan ride through narrow water-coconut tunnels; and, further west, the flooded cajuput forests of Tra Su, where a punted boat glides over a vivid green carpet of duckweed beneath nesting herons and storks. Stay overnight in a homestay if you can — the delta is best at dawn.
