What to see and do OUT!!!! of Saigon

You can try to visit Vietnam House at 187 Nguyen Van Huong St., Thao Dien Ward, Dist.2. It is a place where foreign tourists can understand the culture of Vietnam through the culture of traditional craft villages.

MarkinNam wrote:

I have had about 6 weeks looking in and around Saigon and out west to Chau Doc and am looking for some out of the way experiences, any suggestion are welcome. Can Tho is also on the list

Phu Quoc! Go by boat from HCMC.

thanks to both of you, good ideas

How about Da Nang? The scenery there is beautiful and very clean. It also has interesting places for both relaxing and discovering. A trip to DN during weekend is sufficient enough. You can take a tour from a travel agency or go there on your own. If you choose the latter, i suggest to fly there first then hire a motorcycle (if you know how to ride) to travel around.

Take a trip by bus (or hire a limo if you want privacy) and drive up to Da Lat. The drive seems to take for ever to leave Saigon - but actually thats a false impression because the houses and shops follow the roads and canals in the Mekong Delta. So if you were to rise above the rooftops you would see rice fields surprisingly close by once you get about 10 kilometres out of Saigon.

You will pass through rubber plantations, tea plantations and coffee plantations en-route.Theres a place with what looks like volcanic rock scattered about (I keep meaning to ask my wife the name of it) at one point and some other interesting stones.

The journey up into the actual hills is a steep climb on a narrow road but doesnt take too long. It's a journey worth doing once (I had to do it 4 times, so its a bit mundane for me now).

The journey takes about 4 and a half hours.

If you go at lunchtime, take a bottle or two of wine for the journey, be be aware that there are only 2 stops for shaking the lettuce.

Matt, why would you be going through the Delta to get to Dalat?

thanks Ed stayed there at the Dream hill resort just next to the romance park, loved the women's craft center just down the road also was awed by the amount of things they grow in igloos, the Da tania falls are great but the monastery was really worth a look It is a real go ahead place hey. I won't forget Da lat as it's where I met the lonely sheep herder he he he

Yeah.  I was thinking of the route to Vung Tau. It's what come of trying to type whilst trying to make sense of the wife's ideas for a short break on the coast:
Her: How all  we get there?
Me: Take the bus.
Her: We can take the train.
Me: OK.
Her: But the station is far from here.
Me: OK
Her: And there is a broken bridge on the railway so we have to take get the train even further from here.
Me: OK.
Her: Can you check online for cost of hire car.
Me: OK
Her: see if you can get a car with driver.
Me: OK
Me: around 80 - 100 USD each way.
Her: WHAT?
Me: 80 - 100 USD each way.
Her: We should go by bus....
Me: OK

Still, the street config is largely the same..

Anyway, the bloke wants a trip out, so he could wander south for a bit too. 

The Central Highlands are nice this time of the year, even if you go via the Cửu Long,lol.