Cai Rang Floating Market – A must-see place in Mekong Delta

The Cai Rang Floating Market, a national intangible cultural heritage site, is on the 185-kilometre Hau River, a tributary of the Mekong River.



The market, which happens every day, except the Lunar New Year or Tet and the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, is a top tourism destination in Can Tho city, where local and foreign tourists go to learn about the colourful life on the river.

The UK’s Rough Guide has just elected the Cai Rang Floating Market as one of ten most impressive markets in the world.

The market, which has thrived for over a century, has been a centre for commerce in the city and its neighbouring provinces, such as An Giang, Vinh Long, DongThap, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang.

They traditionally sell all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and recently added coffee, breakfast dishes and even lottery tickets. During days ahead of Tet festival, the market is more beautiful with a variety of flower colours such as yellow apricot, daisies and chrysanthemum.

On boats, products are hung on bamboo poles so tourists and locals can easily know which products each boat is selling.

At 5am to 6am, the market is filled with 350 to 400 boats carrying tourists, local people and vendors in a rush.

In 2016, the market welcomed 50,000 local and foreign tourists.

Can Tho City’s authorities have approved a project to preserve and develop the market.

Under the preservation project with total capital of 63 billion VND (2.8 million USD), marking buoys will be installed to limit boats for anchoring.

Wharfs, public toilets and 5,000-metre warehouses for storing products to serve tourists will also be built for the market.

Garbage discharged by residents living on boats near the markets or sellers will be paid more attention to in order to ensure hygiene.

The project will be carried out by the city Economics and Society Institute.

According to the Can Tho City’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, more than 931,000 local and foreign tourists came to the city in the first half of this year, an increase of 22 percent compared to the same period of last year.

This increasing number of tourists raised the total tourism revenue in Can Tho City to nearly 1 trillion VND (44 million USD).

Most tourists to Can Tho City chose tours that include the Cai Rang Floating Market.

Cai Rang Floating Market Tourism Day on Saturday was also launched to advertise tourism.

On that day, 20 models of boats with fruits and other farm produce were displayed. A photo exhibition highlighted the market’s beauty. A boat race and the southern cultural heritage traditional music Don Ca Tai Tu was also performed.

VNA