Things to do at Cai Rang Floating Market

Cai Rang is the Mekong Delta's main floating market, on a wide stretch of river at Can Tho, roughly 170 km and about three to three and a half hours by road from Ho Chi Minh City.

Traders anchor sampans loaded with pineapples, watermelons, cabbages and other produce, each boat hanging a sample from a tall pole so buyers can spot the cargo from a distance without shouting over the water. Trading is heaviest in the early morning, before the heat and the day-trip crowds build, and thins out as the sun climbs.

It is a working wholesale market, not a staged show: some mornings are busier than others, and a quiet visit is a real possibility, not a failure of planning.