From first message to the first morning

A first message can be short. These details let us skip the questions and send a route straight away:

• The day you leave Ho Chi Minh City, and whether it can move. Holiday weeks can change hotel availability in Can Tho.
• Who is travelling: adults, children and their ages, and who shares a room.
• Where you go afterwards. Back to the city, on to Phnom Penh, or somewhere else from Chau Doc.
• Your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, if you know it, for the pick-up.
• Anything that would spoil the trip: steps, boats, early starts, food you do not eat.

If you have none of these yet, a month and a number of travellers is enough to begin.

Hotels in Can Tho and Chau Doc can fill around the Lunar New Year, on Vietnamese public holidays and during the Ba Chua Xu festival at Sam Mountain, which falls on the 23rd to 27th days of the fourth lunar month. For those dates we confirm hotels as soon as you accept the quotation.

The speedboat from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh is a scheduled public service. Booking a day or two ahead is advised, and the boat staff collect passports at the start of the trip. We book it when you confirm the five-day route, using the passport details you send.

• Vietnam. Most visitors need an e-visa, which is open to every nationality, allows stays of up to 90 days and is issued only through the Immigration Department's official portal. Some nationalities are exempt for shorter stays; check before you apply.
• Leaving Vietnam by river. Vinh Xuong, the river border on the Phnom Penh boat, is on the government's list of gates where e-visa holders may enter and leave.
• Cambodia. Cambodian embassies list a visa on arrival at Kaam Samnor, the river post. Bring a passport valid for six months, a passport photo and US dollars in cash. The Cambodian e-visa is not listed for this crossing.
• Vietnamese citizens can stay in Cambodia for up to 30 days without a visa on an ordinary passport valid for at least six months.

The crossing page covers the border in more detail.

Your guide and driver come to your hotel lobby in Ho Chi Minh City at the time on your itinerary, usually 07:00 or 07:30, so the car is out of the city before the heaviest traffic. Bring the passports of everyone travelling, because hotels in the delta ask for them at check-in, and on the five-day route the boat staff need them on day five. Pack light: on the islet and canal boats you step from a landing into a small boat, and a soft bag is easier to hand across than a large hard suitcase. Your main luggage stays in the car.

Bring sun protection, a light rain jacket from May to November, insect repellent for the evenings and some Vietnamese dong in small notes for drinks and anything you buy on the market boats.