Cai Rang Floating Market - 6 kilometres from Can Tho in Mekong river; Phong Dien Floating Market 20 kilometres southwest of Can Tho, the best floating market in the Mekong Delta; Phung Hiep Market close by Can Tho (Soc Trang direction). Bustling floating markets on the Hau River at Con Khuong, Con Son and further afield, Con Tan Loc in the more prosperous Thot Not District.
Cai Rang is the largest floating market in the Mekong and the traders are more motorised, but the markets at Phung Hiep and Phong Dien are more relaxed and less crowded.
Floating Market in Can Tho City is one of the three biggest in the Mekong Delta. The shops and stalls at these markets are boats of different sizes.
Cai Rang Floating Market is open all day but it is busiest from sunrise to about 9am. The main items sold there are farm products and specialties of Cai Rang Town, Chau Thanh District and neighboring areas. Every boat has a long upright pole at its bow on which samples of the goods for sale are hung.
During the early morning market hours, larger sized boats anchor and create lanes that smaller boats weave in and out of. The waterway becomes a maze of hundreds of boats packed with mango, bananas, papaya, pineapple, and even smuggled goods like cigarettes.Sellers do not have to cry out about their goods because their goods can be seen in a distance and their cries would not be heard in the vastness of the river and the noise of boat engines. Small boats that sell beer, soft drinks and wine go among the other boats to serve market-goers and visitors. Sellers tie their goods to a tall pole so that buyers can see from a distance what they are selling.
Each boat is loaded with plenty of seasonal goods. Activities at the market are also an occasion for tourists to study the cultural aspects of southerners.
To visit Cai Rang Floating Market, visitors can join a tour of the Mekong Delta. On the way to Can Tho, visitors can stop to visit My Tho and take a boat trip to visit orchards, bee farms and coconut candy establishments in Ben Tre.
Can tho Map - Floating market
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