Things to do in Chau Doc
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Chau Doc
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, flood season fills Tra Su, floats the villages and brings sesbania flowers.
Dry season, blue skies and best hiking and cycling, but Tra Su dries out from February.
Worst stretch, heavy rain and humidity, with March to May the hottest months of the year.
What's on
- Ba Chua Xu Festival 23rd to 27th day of the fourth lunar month, usually May or June
Five days of pilgrimage rituals at Sam Mountain drawing huge crowds across the town.
- Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival During Sen Dolta, usually late September or October
Pairs of oxen race a muddy paddy track in the Seven Mountains during the Khmer ancestor festival.
- Sen Dolta 29th day of eighth lunar month to first day of ninth, usually September or October
Khmer ancestor festival with pagoda visits, offerings, song and dance across An Giang.
- Chol Chnam Thmay Mid April, usually 14 to 16 April
Khmer New Year in the Seven Mountains communities, with pagoda ceremonies and family feasting.
- Tet Late January or February, dates move by year
Sam Mountain temples at their busiest, hotels full and many small restaurants closed at first.
Best things to do in Chau Doc
Sam Mountain
A lone 284 metre mountain above flat rice fields, covered in pagodas and giving the best panorama toward Cambodia.
Ba Chua Xu Temple
The great pilgrimage temple at the foot of Sam Mountain, where devotion and offerings fill the halls daily.
Hang Pagoda
A cave pagoda climbed by more than 100 steps, with statue chambers, a garden and a view toward Cambodia.
Tay An Pagoda
A colourful eclectic pagoda at the foot of Sam Mountain, worth a stop on the loop rather than a separate trip.
Chau Doc Floating Village
Raft houses that double as fish farms, where you lift a floor hatch and watch catfish boil up to be fed.
Mubarak Mosque
The landmark mosque of the Cham villages across the river, best visited as part of a village walk.
Chau Doc Floating Market
A working wholesale market on open water at dawn, smaller and more local than Cai Rang in Can Tho.
Chau Doc Market
A gritty, tourist free market famous across the Delta for fermented fish, herbs, cakes and morning noodle stalls.
Where to stay in Chau Doc
Riverside Le Loi
all round base and luxury
River views, the boat wharf, the Phnom Penh speedboat and an easy walk to market and dinner.
Sam Mountain foothills
quiet, views and a second night
Sunrise over rice fields and temples at walking distance, about 6 km from town dinners.
Town centre
cheap, local and independent
Market breakfasts, rice shops and the lowest prices, with the waterfront a short walk away.
Think twice about
- Sam Mountain pilgrimage road strip
Gridlocked, deafening and overpriced during the Ba Chua Xu Festival and Tet, with some festival only hotels.
- Isolated highway properties outside town
Without your own vehicle you will negotiate a taxi for every meal and every sight.
Best restaurants in Chau Doc
Bassac Restaurant
The refined splurge in town, river deck dining at the Victoria with a signature bananas flambee dessert.
La Giang Restaurant & Bar
Mekong fish and Delta cooking on a terrace above the rice fields at Nui Sam Lodge, best at sunset.
Mekong Restaurant
A traveller standard since the 1990s in a colonial villa garden opposite the Victoria, known for basa fish.
Bay Bong
A busy local room built around lau mam, the pungent fermented fish hotpot that only makes sense shared.
Truong Van
A crowded cheap local restaurant serving fresh home style Vietnamese food cooked to order at local prices.
Chau Doc Market Food Stalls
Morning bun ca with sesbania flowers, bun rieu and palm sugar banh bo from stalls inside the central market.
Dong Song Restaurant
A simple Le Loi river fish eatery where diners sit out the back for cooler air and a view of the river.
Basa Restaurant
A popular local restaurant named for basa, the cage raised Mekong catfish served here in every southern style.
Outdoor things to do in Chau Doc
Tra Su Cajuput Forest
A flooded cajuput forest explored by motor sampan then silent rowboat, at its best in high water season.
Cam Mountain
The 710 metre roof of the Delta, reached by cable car to pagodas, a giant Buddha and huge plain views.
Cycling the flat Delta
Flat farm roads and canal paths between rice fields and palm trees, best ridden early toward Sam Mountain.
Sunrise on the Hau River and the Vinh Te Canal by boat
A dawn or sunset boat run toward the historic border canal, the quietest and most scenic hour on the river.
Speedboat Chau Doc to Phnom Penh
The long running speedboat up the Mekong to Phnom Penh, with border formalities handled on the way.
Sam Mountain on foot
Walk pagoda to pagoda from the base temples to the summit, the way pilgrims have always climbed this mountain.
Best hotels in Chau Doc
Victoria Chau Doc Hotel
The one true luxury hotel in town, a colonial style riverside property where the Hau and Chau Doc rivers meet.
Victoria Nui Sam Lodge
Stone bungalows on Sam Mountain with terraces and an infinity pool looking over endless rice fields.
Chau Pho Hotel
The solid central three star, a proper local hotel walkable to the market with a restaurant and buffet breakfast.
Dong Bao Hotel
A small clean budget hotel whose desk arranges boats, buses and fairly priced taxis at honest prices.
Is Chau Doc expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₫450,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₫950,000 a person |
| Splurge | ₫2,400,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Chau Doc Floating Village: a few days ahead
- Tra Su Cajuput Forest: a few days ahead
- Sunrise on the Hau River and the Vinh Te Canal by boat: a few days ahead
- Speedboat Chau Doc to Phnom Penh: a few days ahead
- Bassac Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Victoria Chau Doc Hotel: weeks ahead
- Victoria Nui Sam Lodge: weeks ahead
- Book both Victoria properties ahead in flood season and at festivals.
- Book Phnom Penh speedboats days ahead in season, and sort Cambodia visa, photo, dollars and e arrival form early.
- At Tet and the Ba Chua Xu Festival the whole town and Sam Mountain fill completely.
Is Chau Doc safe?
- Wear the helmet on a rented motorbike and avoid rural roads after dark.
- Use strong mosquito repellent at Tra Su, the floating villages and rice field terraces at dusk.
- Take the life jacket offered on small boats, especially with children.
- Front load activity before 10am in the fierce March to May heat.
Chau Doc travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Arriving at the floating market after 9am to watch it pack up.
- Paying for Tra Su as a flooded forest in the dry season without checking water levels.
- Changing money at the Cambodia border checkpoint at a miserable rate.
- Motorbike touts at Sam and Cam mountains presenting a bill at the top.
Getting around Chau Doc: public transport and more
- Walk the small flat town centre and riverside.
- Arrange taxis and cars through your hotel, and do not rely on Grab working in Chau Doc.
- Agree xe om, boat and motorbike prices in full before you set off.
- Have your hotel send a known taxi to the bus terminal at a normal price.
Who Chau Doc suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Chau Doc your trip
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