Ca Mau is the southernmost province of Vietnam, in the Mekong Delta region. The land at the end of the country has three sides adjacent to the sea: the East Sea in the East Sea, the West and South are the Gulf of Thailand, the North is Bac Lieu and Kien Giang. Coming to Ca Mau, visitors will hear the story of Uncle Ba Phi, Don Ca Tai Tu, river cruises, eat specialties of the forest, crabs…
What season is beautiful in Ca Mau?
The climate is quite pleasant all year round, but the best time to travel to Ca Mau is in the dry season, from December to April next year. The rainy season lasts from May to November. If you go around July – August of the lunar calendar, visitors will enjoy many specialties.
Move
Ca Mau is more than 300 km from Ho Chi Minh City. From the northern provinces, you can choose flights to Can Tho from Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Bamboo Airlines, the ticket price is from 1,500,000 VND to 2,000,000 VND. From Can Tho airport, visitors move to Ca Mau by sleeper bus. The price of a ticket is from 125,000 to 150,000 VND, the distance is about 150 km.
From Ho Chi Minh City, visitors can buy bus tickets or drive themselves . Buses usually depart in the evening and stop at the center of Ca Mau city after 7-8 hours. Some good quality bus operators such as Phuong Trang, Giap Diep, Mai Linh, or Tuan Hung… have a fare for the Ho Chi Minh City – Ca Mau route about 190,000 – 200,000 VND one way.
If you drive a car Ho Chi Minh City to Ca Mau, you go in the direction of National Highway 1A and Quan Lo – Phung Hiep. The journey takes about 7-8 hours depending on the time of rest. The road is quite beautiful, but there are many rivers and canals. The bridges over the canal are usually short, steep slopes, drivers should run slowly. Roads through towns and residential areas have many speed limit signs from 40 to 60 km/h.
The best means to explore Ca Mau city is a motorbike, the second is a car for a long distance. The third is ships, boats, and motorboats – very popular means of transport because Ca Mau has an interlaced system of rivers and canals.
On the journey to Dat Mui, which is more than 110 km from the city center, the most interesting experience is taking a high-speed train to see the river life. The journey took more than three hours as the train stopped at small stations along the way. Visitors to the endpoint is Dat Mui market and continue to take a motorbike taxi to Dat Mui tourist area about 4 km away, the price is about 50,000 VND per person.
In addition, there are many local car companies specializing in the route Ca Mau – Dat Mui such as Phuoc Nghia, Truong Giang, and Den Map… priced at about 120,000 – 140,000 VND one way.
Hotels, homestays
You should stay in the city center for convenient dining and entertainment. Ca Mau Hotel is not diverse on online booking platforms. You should contact us directly when booking. Prices range from 200,000 to 600,000 VND depending on the quality.
High-class accommodation in the city has a four-star Muong Thanh Luxury hotel with the price of about 1,400,000 VND per night; Anh Nguyet three-star hotel is about 900,000 VND a night.
If you want to rest in the middle of nature in Dat Mui, you have many options at eco-tourism areas, homestays such as Rung Duoc, Huong Dat Mui, Dan Ba Khia, Ba Su, Tu Nhuan, Nam Huong… Price from about 70,000 VND per person per night.
Where to play?
Cape Ca Mau is the place where GPS coordinates 0001 (kilometer 0) is located. This landmark bears the image of a ship full of wind, reaching out to sea. Cape Ca Mau is a place where you can observe the sun rising from the east sea in the morning and setting in the west sea in the afternoon.
Dat Mui, in Ngoc Hien district, is also the last point of Ho Chi Minh road. Km 2436 of Ho Chi Minh Road belongs to the Ca Mau Cape National Tourist Area. The road starts from Pac Bo – Cao Bang, passes through 28 provinces and cities and ends at the southernmost point of the country.
Forestry School 184 is located in the middle of Nam Can mangrove forest, in Cha La hamlet, Tam Giang commune, Nam Can district. There are 44 species of plants, with some rare species such as the white toad, white toad, tiger, … Here visitors can row a boat deep into the mangrove forest, watching monkeys playing in the trees.
Mui Ca Mau World Biosphere Reserve is a natural mangrove ecosystem recognized by UNESCO, including Ca Mau Cape National Park , U Minh Ha National Park and the West Sea coastal protection forest area.
Experiences that should not be missed are riding a boat through the forest in Ca Mau Cape National Park or participating in mangrove planting , observing flora and fauna or experiencing bee-eating with local people in the U Minh Ha forest. Listen to stories about Uncle Ba Phi.
Ngoc Hien Bird Sanctuary covers an area of 130 hectares in the Ngoc Hien district. It is home to rare bird species and a rich array of flora. Interspersed with the immense green of mangrove and melaleuca forests are red river branches heavy with alluvium.
Visitors can visit in the early morning to watch thousands of birds go foraging, or as they fly across the sky to find their way back to the nest in the sunset.
Other destinations to observe wild birds are the Tu Su bird garden (Thoi Binh district, about 30 km from the center), Bird sanctuary in the heart of Ca Mau city (Ly Van Lam, ward 1).
Hon Khoai Island is located in Ngoc Hien district, 14.6 km from the mainland. Ca Mau has no mountains but has a high island like the national historical and cultural relic, Hon Khoai with a peak of 318 m above sea level. This island is impressive by its vast rocky ranges, undulating hills and covered green forests.
Hon Da Bac is a famous beautiful and pristine island with colorful rocks, estimated to have been formed 180 million years ago. Hon Da Bac is a beautiful island cluster consisting of three large and small islands located close to each other: Hon Ong Ngo, Hon Da Le and Hon Da Bac. Which the highest island is 50 m above sea level.
Khai Long beach has a sandy beach winding like dragons along with the coast in Khai Long hamlet, Dat Mui commune, Ngoc Hien district. The sea is located in the mangrove ecosystem of the region, with unspoiled beauty.
Cai Tau strawberry garden is located in Nguyen Phich commune, U Minh district, about 30 km west of Ca Mau city center. This is the land of thousands of mulberry trees. Guests should sit in a dinghy, wriggle through the small canals to enjoy the peaceful scenery and enjoy the sweet and fragrant strawberries within reach.
Cai Tau strawberry has large fruit, thin skin, succulent, sweet and slightly sour taste. Ripe yellow fruit. When the first rain of the season begins to fall heavily, the strawberries are ripe, at this time, people open the garden door to welcome visitors.
Tan Hung communal house is a national historical-cultural relic built-in 1907. The communal house is located in Xom Lon hamlet, Ly Van Lam commune, 4 km from the center of Ca Mau city. This communal house is the place where the first flag of the Indochinese Communist Party was raised in Ca Mau in 1930. This is where the Republican Guard soldiers stayed to build fortifications, dig barricades, and suffered a long battle with the French colonialists. .
With a length of 42 km, starting from Kien Giang to Cai Tau and Ca Mau junction, the Trem river is strangely beautiful because the water changes with the seasons and time . In the rainy season, the river water is red, dotted with blue water hyacinth branches floating along the stream. In the dry season, the river water is milky white, with green coconut trees on both sides.
Thi Tuong lagoon is known as “the lake in the middle of the plain”. This is also the largest lagoon in the Mekong Delta with a length of 12 km, the widest place at 2 km, the deepest part 1.5 m. Lagoon Thi Tuong consists of three main lagoons: Upper Lagoon, Middle Lagoon and Lower Lagoon, which the Middle Lagoon is the largest.
Sitting on a motorboat surfing on the lagoon, visitors can enjoy the beautiful nature while observing the life of local fishermen, or experience fishing, fishing, catching fish there… Besides, enjoy fish, shellfish, shrimp, crab specialties… fresh and delicious.
Specialties
Ca Mau Crab is famous for being delicious. Connoisseurs often look to buy natural crabs because the meat is delicious and sweeter than farmed crabs. Crab at Ca Mau shrimp square is always fresh and affordable. The price of Ca Mau crab meat ranges from 150,000 to 300,000 VND per kg and brick crab from 300,000 500,000 VND per kg.
Many restaurants process crab into many different dishes, from simple such, as boiled, steamed, charcoal grilled to more sophisticated such as roasted tamarind, hot pot, crab cake soup…
Grilled clams are similar to clams but larger in size and often live in mudflats, estuaries, and mangroves. Mui Dat Mui is usually chewier and sweeter than in other regions. Vong can be cooked with sour soup, boiled, steamed, fried or grilled with onion fat.
Lentil snail , also known as Linh Hoa snail, is common in mangrove forests. There are many ways to cook, but fried snail with coconut is still the most famous.
The three aspects are considered the most characteristic and famous in this land. Ba Khiet makes a salad with sticky rice, boiled or roasted tamarind with salt, pepper and lemon. This dish has a characteristic, irresistible meat flavor.
Mudfish looks quite strange, living in swamps. The fish meat is firm, delicious and not fishy. Mussels are usually grilled with salt and pepper, deep-fried or cooked in sour soup, braised with soy sauce, cooked in batches.
Grilled snakehead fish is a dish with an ethereal, sweet taste of alluvial water and the salty taste of the sea of the homeland. Fish without marinating will still be fragrant and sweet. You can hold the whole grilled fish and eat it properly, or put it on banana leaves, roll rice paper with vegetables, star fruit, cucumber… and dip it with sweet and sour fish sauce.
Bee pupae salad is known as the most attractive in Ca Mau. Beeswax is often brought back by workers in the forest, then processed into dishes such as porridge, stir-fried bee pupae or best of all, it is used to squeeze salad.
Bee sauce is a specialty that not everyone dares to try. The people of Mui land often eat bee sauce with white rice. In some restaurants, people often use pork belly rolls with vegetables such as banana, cucumber, toad leaves, ginger, chili or Chinese smell, dipped with bee sauce.
Tubs grow wild at the edges of lagoons and lakes. Tubs are processed like vegetables into many different dishes, including seafood salad and pickled salt. The core of the tub is crispy, soft, and strangely sour as if lotus and bamboo shoots are blended.
Silkworm cake appears modestly in small street stalls instead of on restaurant menus. This dish is rustic but has a special charm.
The most crowded is the silkworm cake shop on Le Loi Street, Nguyen Huu Le Street, Ward 2 or the breakfast restaurant on Quang Trung Street, Luu Tan Tai Street in Ward 5, Ca Mau City… address” pointing to a restaurant specializing in selling spicy chicken curry silkworm cakes in a hidden alley, very pampering diners.
Other specialties include goby fish , oysters, fried hamsters with lemongrass and chili, squid eggs, porridge … are popular dishes of Ca Mau people. This dish is rich in nutrients, meaty and rich in flavor.
What to buy as a gift
Visitors can buy fresh and cheap seafood during the day such as sea crabs, Rach Goc three slits; or famous dried types such as: dried snakehead fish, fried croaker fish, dried fish chopper , dried mudskipper; or shrimp paste, copper fish sauce. The most special is pure honey from the U Minh Melaleuca forest. Tuna melons are also often bought by tourists as gifts when coming to the Ca Mau areas.
