One of the most enjoyable things to do in Mekong Delta is visiting the floating markets there and Cai Rang Floating market is one destination you should not miss. It is held on Can Tho River which is around 6km from city center and near Cai Rang Bridge, Cai Rang district. There are two options to reach this destination from city center. The first way takes 15-minutes driving toward Cai Rang pier then rent a boat along the Can Tho River; another one takes a 30-minutes boat from Ninh Kieu Pier.
The Cai Rang floating market, one of the largest and the most famous floating markets of the Southwest area, specializes in wholesale fruits and agricultural products. It usually opens from 4:30AM – 5:00 AM before dawn and lasts until around 10:00AM when the sun rises. You should get up early to experience the whole atmosphere of the market and get an idea how water commerce operates in the Mekong Delta. Among hundreds of boat gathering in the market, you can easily recognize what goods each boat sells basing on a special and interesting notice sign. The boat owners will hang sample of goods on the top of a long bamboo (called Cay Beo).
For example, if you want to buy pineapple, you just need to catch which boat has pineapple on the pole in front of boat. Apart from fresh fruits, you can also buy garden tools or crafts or enjoy a Vietnamese breakfast dishes such as rice noodle “Pho” or “Hu Tieu”. It is an unforgettable memory when manage to use chopstick and Pho bowl while paddling along the river. Do not look for a bowl of noodle hanging on Cay Beo since they cannot do that, take advantage of your noise to identify where delicious smell is from.