Cu Lao Thoi Son is a river island in the upper Mekong Delta (메콩 델타 / 湄公河三角洲 / メコンデルタ), sitting in the Tien River channel right across from My Tho city. It's one of the easiest day trips from Saigon, which is both its strength and its problem — the island gets a lot of bus-tour traffic, and the default experience can feel like a conveyor belt. But if you go at the right time or push past the obvious stops, Thoi Son is still a genuinely good introduction to delta life.
What It Is and Why People Go
Thoi Son is the largest of four islands collectively called "Tu Linh" (the Four Sacred Animals — Dragon, Phoenix, Turtle, Unicorn) in the Tien River near My Tho. The island is roughly 7 km long, connected to the mainland by no bridge, and home to around 6,000 people who live off fruit orchards, coconut candy production, fish farming, and — increasingly — tourism.
People visit for three reasons: to ride a sampan through narrow palm-lined canals, to eat tropical fruit straight off the tree, and to get a compressed taste of Mekong Delta village life without committing to a multi-day trip deeper south toward Can Tho or the floating markets. It's 70 km from Saigon (사이공 / 西贡 / サイゴン). You can be on the island by mid-morning and back in the city for dinner.
Best Time to Visit
The sweet spot is December through April — dry season, less humidity, and the orchards are heavy with fruit. Longan, rambutan, jackfruit, and mangosteen all peak between May and August if you prefer the wet season and don't mind afternoon rain.
Avoid weekends and Vietnamese public holidays, especially around Tet and the April 30 holiday. The island gets genuinely overcrowded. A Tuesday or Wednesday morning in January is a different planet from a Saturday in March.
How to Get There
From Saigon
Take a bus from Ben Thanh area or Mien Tay Bus Station to My Tho. Phuong Trang and Kumho Samco run frequent departures; tickets cost 60,000–90,000 VND one way, and the ride takes about 90 minutes depending on traffic past Long An.
From My Tho, head to Ben Pha Thoi Son (Thoi Son ferry pier) on 30 Thang 4 Street near the Tien Giang Tourist wharf. Public ferries cross every 15–20 minutes and cost around 5,000 VND per person. The crossing takes under 10 minutes.
Alternatively, tourist boats depart from My Tho's main pier (Bến Tàu Du Lịch Mỹ Tho) with guided packages ranging from 150,000 to 350,000 VND per person depending on inclusions. These typically bundle the boat, a fruit tasting, coconut candy workshop visit, and a canal sampan ride.
By Motorbike
Ride from Saigon on National Highway 1A or the newer Ho Chi Minh City (호치민시 / 胡志明市 / ホーチミン市)–Trung Luong Expressway (toll: 52,000 VND for motorbikes). Park at the pier in My Tho — there are guarded lots for 10,000–20,000 VND. You can rent a bicycle on the island for 30,000–50,000 VND if you want to explore independently.
Photo by Sami TÜRK on Pexels
What to Do
Ride a Sampan Through the Canal Network
This is the signature experience and it's worth doing despite the tourist-circuit reputation. Hand-rowed sampans navigate narrow waterways overhung with water coconut palms. The canals are genuinely beautiful in the morning light, and the rowers — usually local women — know these channels like hallways in their own house. Best before 10 a.m. when the group boats haven't arrived yet.
Walk the Orchard Trails
Most visitors only see the orchards attached to tour-group stops. If you take the public ferry and walk or cycle east along the island's spine road, you'll pass family-run fruit gardens that welcome visitors for 20,000–30,000 VND. You sit, they bring out whatever's ripe — sapodilla, star apple, custard apple, pomelo — and you eat until you're done. No schedule, no microphone guide.
Watch Coconut Candy Being Made
Thoi Son has been producing "keo dua" (coconut candy) for decades. Several family workshops on the island let you watch the full process: coconut milk reduced with sugar and malt in a big wok, pulled into sheets, cut into pieces, wrapped by hand. It's a real cottage industry, not a performance. Buy a bag directly — 30,000–50,000 VND — and it'll be fresher than anything in a My Tho shop.
Listen to Don Ca Tai Tu
Several orchard-garden stops on the island host live "don ca tai tu" performances — southern Vietnamese folk music played on traditional instruments. The quality varies, but when it's a genuine local ensemble rather than a tired tourist loop, it's one of the more memorable cultural encounters in the delta. Ask your boatman or homestay host who plays well.
Visit the Bee Farms
Honey production is another Thoi Son staple. Small apiaries dot the island, and visits usually include a cup of honey tea with kumquat and a chance to hold a frame of bees (they're gentle, and the keepers know what they're doing). Royal jelly and pollen are sold at source for roughly half what you'd pay in Saigon.
Where to Eat
My Tho is famous for "hu tieu" — specifically hu tieu My Tho, a pork-and-prawn rice noodle soup with a clear, sweet broth that's distinctly different from the Saigon or Phnom Penh versions. Eat it at Hu Tieu 44 on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street before or after your island visit. A bowl runs 40,000–55,000 VND.
On the island itself, several garden restaurants serve grilled elephant ear fish ("ca tai tuong") — a whole fish charcoal-grilled upright and eaten wrapped in rice paper with herbs and green banana. It's a delta classic. Expect to pay 200,000–350,000 VND for a fish that feeds two to three people.
Photo by HONG SON on Pexels
Where to Stay
Thoi Son has a handful of homestays if you want to sleep on the island. Basic fan rooms with mosquito nets go for 200,000–350,000 VND per night. Mekong Homestay and Thoi Son Eco Lodge are the most established. Neither is fancy — expect thin mattresses and outdoor bathrooms in some cases — but the quiet after the day-trippers leave is the whole point.
In My Tho proper, budget hotels along 30 Thang 4 Street and Trung Trac Street run 300,000–500,000 VND. Song Tien Hotel near the river has decent rooms with a view for around 600,000 VND.
Practical Tips
- Go early or stay late. The tour-group window is roughly 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Outside those hours, the island empties out and you get the version that's actually worth the trip.
- Bring cash. There are no ATMs on the island and almost nobody takes card.
- Wear shoes you can get wet. Boarding and disembarking sampans means stepping in river mud.
- Don't book a package tour from Saigon unless you want the conveyor belt. Taking the public bus to My Tho and the public ferry to the island costs under 100,000 VND total and gives you complete freedom.
- Mosquito repellent after 4 p.m. The canals breed them and the island has no shortage.
Common Mistakes
Paying for an all-inclusive Saigon tour that rushes you through in three hours with 40 other people — you see nothing real. Skipping the island's eastern half, which is quieter and more agricultural. Visiting on a weekend and blaming the island for being touristy. And eating lunch at the first garden restaurant a boat guide steers you toward without checking the price first — some charge double for tourists who don't ask.
Last updated · May 27, 2026 · independently researched, never sponsored.
