Can Gio: A green oasis in Ho Chi Minh City

As life gradually returns to the "new normal" state, Can Gio is the first destination in Ho Chi Minh City to pilot the reopening of tourism. By taking a speed boat along Saigon River, visitors will enter Can Gio, which is dubbed as the "green oasis" of Ho Chi Minh City.

A visit to Can Gio offers tourists with interesting travel experiences. (Photo: VNA)
A visit to Can Gio offers tourists with interesting travel experiences. (Photo: VNA)

Located 50km from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, Can Gio is the city’s only coastal district with a coastline of more than 23km and a river network stretching across 22,000 hectares, which creates favourable conditions to develop waterway transport. Therefore, many tourists opt for river tours to explore Can Gio during their trips.

What makes Can Gio more interesting for tourists is their mangroves, which boast a high biodiversity with assorted species of fauna and flora.

In 2000, UNESCO designated Can Gio as the first Mangrove Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam. It is also one of the most extensive rehabilitated mangrove forests in the world.

A visit to Can Gio offers tourists with interesting experiences of agriculture and aquaculture as most of locals in the district earn their living by salt farming, shrimp and oyster aquaculture and fish catching.

Visitors can also take a trip to Hang Duong Market, the most bustling market in the region, to sample fresh seafood specialities while enjoying the beautiful melodies of ‘Don Ca Tai Tu’, a genre of amateur folk music from southern Vietnam, by local performers.