Dong Thap Travel Guide

Dong Thap is a province with a highly developed agriculture industry, located in the Mekong Delta Region and far 162km away from Ho Chi Minh City. The most popular sceneries that you might encounter in Dong Thap are borderless rice fields and the peaceful boats floating on the channel and especially is friendly, open-minded, hard-working and nice Dong Thap‘s people.

Dong Thap’s weather and the best time to visit

Dong Thap has a typical tropical climate with 2 distinctive seasons: The rain season is from May to November and the dry season is from December to April. The best time for travelling to Dong Thap Province is from August to September.

How to get to Dong Thap

Dong Thap Province is far from Ho Chi Minh City more than 160Km, so the best and cheapest way to travel is taking buses or coaches and it takes about 2.5- 3 hours by bus.

Top indeed attractions in Dong Thap

Tan Quy Dong or Sa Dec Flower Garden

Tan Quy Dong Flower Garden is one of the major attractions of Dong Thap Province, located in Tan Quy Dong District. This flower village is fairly famous with beautiful flowers and precious plants in the Southern Vietnam that are hundreds year old.

Going here whenever in a year, you are also deep in the world of colorful flowers. Tree and beautiful flowers around the world also gather to make Sa Dec picture more beautiful. Be a traditional flower village with more than a hundred years, it is also a place to attract guests because of a large rose garden with around 50 species as Grada rose, purple lotuses, light pink Cleopatra, white rose Marseille and pink Elizabeth.

If you buy flowers, you should go to nearby gardens or a rose garden cause of its beautiful and cheap. You can go to visit Huynh Thuy Le ancient house on Nguyen Hue Street or Kim Hue pagoda, Minh Huong is nearby.

Tram Chim National Park

Tram Chim National Park is a miniature of the Dong Thap Muoi region, featuring a broad and diverse range of animals and plants in the Southern Vietnam. It contains about 200 types of birds which makeup ¼ the bird population in Vietnam. Some of these birds have been put in the Red Book for a long time. The most typical and most well-known one is the Red-crown Crane, one of the last 15 crane pieces in the world.

The reserved Nguyen Sinh Sac Historical Site

Situated right in Cao Lanh city, Nguyen Sinh Sac historical sites regarded one of the most important cultural and architectural complexes in Dong Thap province ranked by the National Cultural and Information Department in 1992.

The site was built to commemorate, not Ho Chi Minh president, but his revered father, Nguyen Sinh Sac. The site includes two parts: the tomb and the hall of Nguyen Sinh Sac. Besides, the site also comprises other interesting features such as a stilt house, a pond, etc. The first thing visitors in Vietnam travel will see when stepping inside the site is the tomb of Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac, which has a hand-shape roof decorated with nine carved dragons – the symbol of Cuu Long (Mekong River delta region).

Every lunar year, on 27 th of 10th month, people gather here to celebrate the death anniversary of the revered man – Nguyen Sinh Sac. Today, this anniversary has become a formal event, yet its festive spirit still remains.

Gao Giong Eco- tourism area

Gao Giong is located in Hamlet 6, Gao Giong Commune, Cao Lanh District in Dong Thap Province, and 20km from the centre of the city of Cao Lanh. With a beautiful and charming landscape, the tourism area is considered the miniature of Dong Thap Muoi in the western region in South Vietnam. Visiting the area, tourists will have a chance to learn about the daily life of people in the watery area and enjoy delicious dishes, such as grilled snakehead, sour soup of Dien Dien flowers and steamed snails with a special taste.

Go Thap Monument

Locating in Hamlet 4, Tan Kieu Commune, Thap Muoi District. Go Thap has never been completely under water even on the highest flood seasons. The monument is about 500 meters long, with the highest point of 5m above sea level. From My Hoa Road inwards, Go Thap monument includes 5 landmarks including Go Thap Muoi, Thap Co Tu (Thap Ancient Pagoda), Doc Binh Kieu Temple, Go Minh Su and Ba Chua Xu Temple.

Dong Thap Specialty

Nem Lai Vung: is one of the distinctive dishes in Dong Thap that you should try. It is made from a meat roll with a sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste. Nem in Lai Vung sour but sweet, tangy but drunk.
Chuột xào sả ớt - fried field mouse with lemongrass and chili): if you visit Dong Thap, you cannot ignore this specialty of local people. When you enjoy it, you will really be conquered by the taste of this food.
Coconut sausage fried eel: has a special taste of Plain of Reeds with coconut milk, onions, and peanuts. Eel meats are finely chopped and mixed with lean meat, black fungus, white peppers and other spices. Then they are stuffed into intact eel skins. It's worth eating this dish in Dong Thap.
Two special drinks in Dong Thap that you do not find out anywhere in other places are lotus wine and lotus milk. Tourists who can try and buy these drink in a market in Dong Thap or some shop where offer Dong Thao specialties.

Dong Thap Culture

The province is rich about the cultural resource. The local performance as traditional folk music called “đờn ca tài tử” with more than 200 clubs including 2000 professional and unprofessional local singers. This proves that Dong Thap Province has its value special about local culture, and people.

Further reading: Mekong Delta Region Travel Guide , Vietnam Travel Guide and information about Vietnam visa guide and tips