№ 01The direct flight most people miss

Ask almost anyone how to get from Hoi An to Can Tho and they will tell you to fly to Ho Chi Minh City and take a bus. That was the right answer for years and it is not any more: Da Nang flies direct to Can Tho in 1 hour 35 minutes, about fifteen times a week, and it turns a full travel day into a morning.

The route is quiet enough that booking sites often bury it under connections through Saigon, so you have to look for it. Search Da Nang to Can Tho as a nonstop rather than accepting the first itinerary offered and the difference is roughly four hours saved in each direction.

Door to door that is four to four and a half hours, which puts the Mekong Delta closer to Hoi An than Sapa, Ha Giang or Ha Long — and closer than most people assume the far south can be.

№ 02Every way to get there, priced

Fares on the direct route are steadier than on the holiday routes — Can Tho is a business and university city, not a resort — so a seat booked two weeks ahead is usually close to a seat booked two months ahead, outside Tet.

№ 03Flying direct from Da Nang

Vietjet flies the route once or twice a day and Vietnam Airlines adds a daily service, for about fifteen departures a week. It is 719 km, an hour and thirty-five minutes, and it lands at Can Tho International Airport, roughly 10 km northwest of the city centre.

As with every route out of Hoi An, the front end is the part to arrange: 30 km and about 45 minutes to Da Nang airport, with domestic check-in closing 40 minutes before departure. Book the car through your hotel rather than looking for a taxi before dawn.

№ 04Via Saigon, and the new expressway

If the direct flight is full or badly timed, the fallback is Ho Chi Minh City. The road from Saigon to Can Tho used to be a grim four to five hours; the Trung Luong–My Thuan and My Thuan–Can Tho expressways have cut it to roughly three hours for 170 km.

Most limousine operators will pick up at Tan Son Nhat, which matters: it means you never have to cross Saigon. If your flight lands at the domestic terminal you can be in Can Tho three hours later without seeing the city at all.

№ 05Cai Rang floating market: go early, know what it is now

Cai Rang is the reason most visitors come, and it deserves an honest description. It is a wholesale market where boats sell produce to other boats, about 6 km downriver from Ninh Kieu wharf, and it runs from roughly 05:00 to 08:00 with the best hour before sunrise burns off.

Boats leave Ninh Kieu wharf from about 05:00. Hiring a small private boat for two to three hours costs roughly 400.000–700.000₫ for the boat, not per person, so a couple pays little more than two seats on a shared trip and gets to choose the route. Ask for the smaller channels and the Phong Dien market, 17 km further on, which is quieter and more genuinely local.

№ 06Can Tho just absorbed two provinces

Here is the change nothing in English has caught up with. On 1 July 2025 Vietnam cut its provinces from 63 to 34, and Can Tho merged with Hau Giang and Soc Trang. The combined city keeps the name Can Tho, with its administrative centre in Ninh Kieu, and is now made up of about 103 wards and communes.

The consequence is more interesting than the paperwork. Old Can Tho was landlocked, a river city in the middle of the delta. The new Can Tho reaches the sea, because Soc Trang brought its coastline, the Tran De estuary and Cu Lao Dung island with it — the coast our Soc Trang rental guide covers. A day trip to the coast is now a trip inside the same city, not a trip to another province.

Practically: an address, a hotel listing or a bus ticket saying “Can Tho” may now mean somewhere 60 km from the centre, and one saying “Hau Giang” or “Soc Trang” is out of date rather than wrong. Read the ward and the town, not the province. The same reorganisation put Phu Quoc into An Giang as a special zone.

№ 07What else is worth the trip

Can Tho is not a sightseeing city in the way Hoi An is, and that is the appeal — it is a working delta capital where the interest is in the ordinary. A short list of what is actually worth your time:

The delta’s real attraction is the orchards and the small canals between all of that, which is why a bicycle or a scooter earns its keep here more than a tour bus does.

№ 08Getting around, and riding in the delta

Can Tho is flat, compact in the centre and spread out everywhere else. Scooters rent for roughly 120.000–200.000₫ a day and the riding is easy: no hills, no passes, and traffic that thins out five minutes past the ring road.

What the delta does have is bridges, ferries and narrow canal-side lanes. Ride slowly on the small roads — they are often a metre and a half of concrete with water on both sides and no barrier, and a wrong line at speed means a canal. The other hazard is the afternoon rain from May to October, which turns those lanes slick in minutes.

№ 09When to go, and how long to stay

The delta has two seasons and both are usable. December to April is dry, sunny and the easiest for riding; May to November brings the southwest monsoon, with heavy but short afternoon storms rather than all-day rain.

Two nights is the right length: arrive, see the city and a village in the afternoon, take the market at dawn on day two, and fly out on day three. Three or four nights if you want to push out to Chau Doc, Ha Tien or the Tran De coast, or to carry on to Phu Quoc by ferry rather than doubling back through Saigon.

№ 10FAQ

How do I get from Hoi An to Can Tho?

Fly direct from Da Nang, 30 km from Hoi An. The flight takes 1 hour 35 minutes and runs about fifteen times a week on Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines. Door to door the whole trip is four to four and a half hours, against eight or nine if you route through Ho Chi Minh City.

Is there a direct flight from Da Nang to Can Tho?

Yes. Vietjet flies it once or twice a day and Vietnam Airlines adds a daily service, roughly fifteen departures a week. It is 719 km and takes 1 hour 35 minutes, landing about 10 km from the centre of Can Tho.

Can I get to Can Tho by train?

No. Vietnam’s railway ends in Ho Chi Minh City and there is no line anywhere in the Mekong Delta. The nearest you can get by train is Saigon, then 170 km by road on the expressway, about three hours.

What time does Cai Rang floating market start?

Boats leave Ninh Kieu wharf from about 05:00 and the market runs until roughly 08:00, with the best hour around sunrise. It is a wholesale market about 6 km downriver, and it has shrunk considerably as road freight has replaced river freight, so go for the dawn light rather than expecting a crowd.

How much does the trip from Hoi An to Can Tho cost?

Budget roughly 900.000 to 1.800.000₫ each way for the direct flight, plus about 400.000₫ for the car to Da Nang airport. Going by sleeper bus to Saigon and then on to Can Tho costs 800.000 to 1.200.000₫ but takes 26 to 30 hours.

Is Hau Giang or Soc Trang still a province?

No. Since 1 July 2025 both have been merged into Can Tho, and the combined city keeps the name Can Tho with its centre in Ninh Kieu. The practical effect is that Can Tho now has a coastline, at Tran De and Cu Lao Dung, which the old city did not.

How long should I stay in Can Tho?

Two nights is the natural length: an afternoon in the city and the villages, the floating market at dawn the next day, and out on day three. Add a night or two if you want to reach Chau Doc, Ha Tien, the Tran De coast, or carry on to Phu Quoc by ferry.

Flight distances, frequencies and times follow airline listings current at the time of writing; fares move with the season and with how far ahead you book. Road distances and times were measured from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho on the Trung Luong–My Thuan and My Thuan–Can Tho expressways. Boat fares and market hours follow local operator practice and vary by season. The merger of Hau Giang and Soc Trang into Can Tho follows the 2025 provincial reorganisation effective 1 July 2025.

Anh Khoa rents motorbikes, e-bikes and bicycles in Hoi An; we do not sell flights, bus or boat tickets, we do not run tours or a private car service, and we do not rent bikes for trips outside the central provinces.