9 nights · Phu My Port-Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam · River cruise · Departs Saigon (Vietnam) · Visiting My Tho, Cai Be, Sa Dec, Tan Chau, Phnom Penh, Oudong, Kampong Tralach, Angkor Ban, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap · Aboard AmaWaterways on the AmaDara
Image courtesy of AmaWaterways ©
This river cruise sails the Mekong and Tonle Sap, departing Saigon.
| Cruise line | AmaWaterways |
|---|---|
| Ship | AmaDara |
| Duration | 9 nights |
| Port calls | 11 |
| Departures | 13 sailings |
| Year built | 2015 |
| Guests | 124 |
| Cabins | 62 |
| Crew | 50 |
| Length | 92 m |
| Beam | 14 m |
| Cruising speed | 9.0 kn |
Ho Chi Minh City rewards curious travellers with a vivid collision of old Saigon and modern Vietnam. French-colonial landmarks, busy markets and motorbike-filled streets make the centre a study in contrasts. The War Remnants Museum offers a sobering account of the conflict, while local cafés invite a slower pause. For a deeper look at Vietnam’s wartime history, the Cu Chi tunnels make a memorable excursion beyond the city.
Mỹ Tho offers the Mekong Delta at an inviting, human scale. Along the broad Tiền River, this working city opens onto orchards, canals and villages shaped by water. Take a small boat beneath coconut palms or sample tropical fruit. At Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda, Vietnamese, Chinese and European influences meet in striking form. For a taste of southern Vietnam beyond the city, Mỹ Tho makes a rewarding first encounter.
Cái Bè sits beside the Tiền River, where ferries, cargo boats and sampans share the waterway. Take a small boat through narrow canals to see fruit orchards and villages shaped by life on the Mekong. The town’s landmark Catholic church offers a striking pause on shore. At dawn, the once-famous floating market is quieter than its reputation suggests, but river trade remains part of daily life.
Sa Dec rewards travelers who look beyond the Mekong Delta’s better-known stops. This working river town in Dong Thap Province is famed for its flower village. Nurseries line canals and supply markets across southern Vietnam. At the Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House, carved wood and French-era details evoke Marguerite Duras’s *The Lover*. Follow the riverfront to Sa Dec Market, where produce, flowers and fish reveal the delta’s daily trade.
Tân Châu lies on the Tiền River in An Giang Province, near Vietnam’s border with Cambodia. This upper-delta town is known for Lãnh Mỹ A, its lustrous black silk. Weavers traditionally dye the cloth with fruit from the mặc nưa tree. Here, river traffic, markets and modest streets offer a direct view of life in the delta. Come ashore to see silk-making and the daily trade that still follows the water.
Phnom Penh rewards a day spent looking beyond its riverfront. Cambodia’s capital pairs the Royal Palace’s gilded roofs and the Silver Pagoda’s silver-tiled floor with the broad Mekong. At Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields, the Khmer Rouge years become painfully tangible. Leave time for the Central Market, where art deco architecture shelters stalls selling silver, silk, and local produce.
Oudong, also written Udong, lies in Kandal Province, not Kampong Thom. For more than two centuries, it served as Cambodia’s royal capital, until the court moved to Phnom Penh in 1866. Hilltop stupas and royal memorials mark the former capital, with wide views across rice fields and the Tonle Sap plain. Visit for a quieter, historically rich counterpoint to Phnom Penh’s busy streets.
Kampong Tralach reveals a quieter Cambodia, where river life and rice fields shape the day. Travel by ox cart through the countryside to Wat Kampong Tralach Leu, a historic pagoda with painted walls. Nearby, Kampong Chhnang is known for its pottery and communities on the Tonle Sap. Come ashore for a close look at rural life, far from the capital’s bustle.
Phnom Penh rewards a day spent looking beyond its riverfront. Cambodia’s capital pairs the Royal Palace’s gilded roofs and the Silver Pagoda’s silver-tiled floor with the broad Mekong. At Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields, the Khmer Rouge years become painfully tangible. Leave time for the Central Market, where art deco architecture shelters stalls selling silver, silk, and local produce.
Angkor Ban is one of the Mekong’s rare villages where traditional wooden homes still shape daily life. Raised on stilts, many houses date back generations, their weathered boards offering a glimpse of rural Cambodia beyond the cities. Visit the Buddhist monastery and meet residents whose routines follow the river and rice fields. Here, the Mekong is not a backdrop; it is the village’s working road and enduring source of connection.
Kampong Cham brings you close to Mekong life, French-era streets and a gentler pace than Cambodia’s major cities. Cross to Koh Paen, an island of orchards and villages linked to town by a bridge. At Wat Nokor, an 11th-century sandstone temple encloses a later Buddhist shrine. Beyond town, rubber plantations and the twin hills of Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei offer a different view of Cambodia.
Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor, where Cambodia’s Khmer kings left one of Asia’s great archaeological landscapes. At Angkor Wat, galleries of carved stone surround a temple begun in the early 12th century. Beyond it, the vast Angkor Archaeological Park holds the jungle-embraced towers of Bayon and Ta Prohm. Allow time for Siem Reap itself: a lively Cambodian city with markets, cafés, and access to Tonlé Sap’s floating communities.
Published August 15, 2026
Last updated October 3, 2026
Author: J. Richard
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