The climate of Vietnam varies according to the region; if there are 4 seasons in the North (spring, summer, fall, and winter), the South in general and the Mekong Delta in particular features a tropical wet and dry climate. That’s why the Mekong Delta just has 2 seasons; rainy season and dry season. Many travelers wonder when the best time to visit there is? And where to go? Is there anything special, compared to the other regions? Indeed, the Mekong Delta always brings them surprising presents which are not the same in each of the seasons. Those surprises are certainly valuable to enjoy. The following is advice as well as useful information which you will need before starting the trip.
The season of fruits in abundance
No wonder the Mekong Delta is where you can find dozens of lush fruit plantations because of its fertile soil. Labeled as the fruit kingdom or the provider of fruits throughout the country, the Mekong Delta is home to various fruits and they are harvested all year round. Nevertheless, summer is the best season to see the most fruits getting ripe, so this is a right time to explore fruit plantations and enjoy fruits in the wetland. The best time to take that tour is exactly from April to August.
An interesting activity when you go on that kind of trip in the Mekong Delta is to pick fruits and taste them while walking in the plantations. Additionally, take photos of fruits in abundance and the whole attractive plantations. It’s supposed to be a memorable experience you shouldn’t lose out in the Mekong Delta.
Here are the best tours to the best fruit plantations highly recommended:
- A sightseeing tour to Bến Tre fruit plantation.
- A sightseeing tour to Cần Thơ fruit plantation.
- A sightseeing tour to Tiền Giang fruit plantation.
- A sightseeing tour to Đồng Tháp fruit plantation.
What tropical fruits you will find out the most in summer are rambutans, durians, mangosteens, longan, and lichee. It’s no exaggeration to say that tropical fruits in abundance are considered as a specialty and a determining factor to the prosperity of the land. The harvest time is all year round, the locals are always busy cutting and transporting their crops to other places of the country and even all other world. It’s exciting that many transactions are made on boats in floating markets, which is known as a cultural feature of the Mekong Delta.
If you take a chance to witness the bustle and bustle of locals in the floating markets, you will learn a lot about the way they work as well as sell their fruits. The floating markets are probably strange to you at first and are not models at all. The locals established the markets not for tourism, but for their living. Hence, a visit there, you not only taste delicious fruits, but also know how they attract other merchants and customers.
That’s why it’s believed that the season of fruits in abundance is definitely the best time to uncover the beauty of the Mekong Delta. More than one thing to get after the trip is for sure. You are always curious about Vietnam as well as Asia, so exotic things in the culture or life of locals should be what you get to know. The trip to the Mekong Delta will never disappoint you at all.
The floating season in the Mekong Delta
The floating season in the Mekong Delta is from September to October. During this period of time, while it’s flooding and stormy in the North and the Middle, it’s the floating season in the South, when there are many magical changes of landscapes on the headwaters of the river Tiền and the river Hậu – An Giang Province, Đồng Tháp Province, and Long An Province. The normal routines of local people are also a bit different so that they can adapt themselves to the floating season.
The Mekong Delta is labeled as a rich wetland, so the floating season is a time of the year when water brings locals many benefits. When rivers and canals have risen, the locals start harvesting the most wonderful food from nature, such as fish, shrimps, crabs, voles, vegetables on water, and many other things. They take advantage of what nature gives to create irresistible special food anyone will never forget once trying. This is exactly the most fascinating feature of this region.
It’s strongly recommended that you should go on a trip to the Mekong Delta by that time because activities set in it are surprising and exhilarating, such as rowing a boat to take fish out of a net, picking sesbania sesban flowers, harvesting water caltrop plants, and catching voles. What could be more amazing than savoring what you catch and take afterwards? The mouth-watering food from those ingredients consists of sour and sweet soup with sesbania sesban flowers, roasted voles, and braised fish.
Here are the best places to experience in the floating season:
- Đồng Tháp Province
- An Giang Province
- Trà Sư Cajuput Forest
The end of the year in the Mekong Delta
One of the wonderful seasons you should visit the Mekong Delta is at the end of the year, from December to January (before Lunar New Year). For international travelers, the last months of the year are always the right time for Mekong Delta tours as they can observe unique cultural features and fantastic views of this region.
By that time, locals are preparing to celebrate Tết Holiday, so every corner of the Mekong Delta is illuminated by apricot blossoms – the symbol of spring, flower pots displayed along streets, Tết cakes, candies, and snacks and colored decorations. The atmosphere looks dynamic and busy, and people are in a rush to buy a lot of things for a new year. The most outstanding detail about the Mekong Delta at the end of the year is that pretty flowers from flower villages, e.g. Tân Quy Đông, Sa Đéc are full of boats ready to be transported throughout the country, creating an enchanting prospect you never resist.
Tết is well-known as the most special and important holiday of Vietnam and some Asian countries because this is a time of reunion. People have been apart for some time, and now they come back home, enjoy dinner, and talk about the past year together. They tend to decorate their houses, make bánh chưng – Tết special food, and visit markets even simply to view changes in their hometown. Being an international friend, you can put yourself in their happy atmosphere by walking in the markets, buying some flowers, savoring special food, and taking enchanting photos there.
The typical Mekong Delta tours at the end of the year:
- Sa Đéc Flower Village – Lai Vung Tangerine Farm Tour for 1 Day
- Đồng Tháp – Cần Thơ Tour: Sa Đéc Flower Village – Lai Vung Tangerine Farm – Cồn Sơn – Cái Răng Floating Market for 2 Days.
The time after Tết Holiday
From January to March is also the perfect time to discover the Mekong Delta. Tết Holiday is in the dry season when fish are stuck in ponds and can’t flow to fields. Locals often catch those stuck fish to make special food for Tết and food resources all year round. Therefore, after this holiday, you can come to the Mekong Delta and try being a farmer to experience a brilliant activity which is draining ponds and catching fish. That activity stems from the difficult life of pioneers of the Delta when it was still a desolate land.
The dry season is a right time for you to go deep into U Minh Thượng and U Minh Hạ Forest considered as the furthermost end of Vietnam (Kiên Giang Province, Cà Mau Province). The most exciting experience there is savoring wild forest honey. You also challenge yourself to become a local and collect honey from trees in the forest. It’s possible to state that the Mekong Delta is blessed with many priceless natural presents, and one of them is the sweet wild forest honey which you never find anywhere else.
Surely, being a farmer to catch from narrow canals and collect honey from the forest will leave you an unforgettable moment. You also have a good meal prepared from those ingredients with locals. Not only that, they will tell you pretty interesting stories about their ancestors who settled down and built a rich and charming land like the Mekong Delta as you see today. It probably contributes to your meaningful journey to uncover the charm of Vietnam.
You will never regret if you choose the Mekong Delta for your journey to discover Vietnam for certain because there is a wide selection of things to do, see and eat in there. And before initiating that trip, you need pay attention to the best time for a visit there and where to go. Once there is a list of the best seasons and places to experience in your hand, you can catch the most awesome moments, most miraculous views, taste most delicious food, and directly observe exhilarating features in the culture of locals.
