Things to do in Soc Trang
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Soc Trang
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry and coolest, the best all round months, with firm islet paths and the calmest Con Dao crossings.
The rains end and Ooc Om Boc crowns the season, with ripening rice and the ghe ngo races in November.
Dry but heating up fast, with Chol Chnam Thmay in mid April bringing the pagodas to their most alive.
The wet season, with daily downpours, muddy islets and the least reliable ferry crossings, worst from June to September.
What's on
- Ooc Om Boc Festival and Ghe Ngo Boat Race 14th and 15th days of the 10th lunar month, usually November
Moon worship with green rice flake offerings, floating lanterns, and longboat races on the Maspero River.
- Chol Chnam Thmay Mid April, around 14 to 16 April
Khmer New Year, three days of pagoda ceremonies, sand stupas, water blessings, music and dance.
- Sen Dolta End of the 8th to start of the 9th lunar month, usually late September or October
The Khmer ancestor festival, a quieter devotional season of offerings at the pagodas before the boat races.
- Song Nuoc Miet Vuon Fruit Festival 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually late May or June
The orchard festival on My Phuoc Islet at fruit season peak, with cooking contests and folk music.
Best things to do in Soc Trang
Som Rong Pagoda
A modern Khmer showpiece with a giant outdoor reclining Buddha, at its best in late afternoon light.
Chùa Dơi
A 16th century Khmer pagoda whose old trees hold a colony of huge fruit bats that stream out at dusk.
Bửu Sơn Tự
The Clay Pagoda, where one family modelled around two thousand statues, towers and giant candles by hand.
Sro Loun Pagoda (Chen Kieu Pagoda)
The Bowl Pagoda, a whole temple surfaced in thousands of ceramic bowls and plates, 12 km south of the city.
Chùa Khleang
The city's oldest Khmer heart, a Cambodian style wat in shaded grounds opposite the Khmer Museum.
Khmer Museum
A small 1938 assembly house museum of Khmer costumes, instruments and festival culture that makes the pagodas legible.
Chùa Quan Âm Linh Ứng (Phật Học 2)
The province's largest pagoda campus, with monumental statuary, folktale sculptures, ponds and hammocks under the trees.
Chùa Phật học
The original Phat Hoc Pagoda, a tree filled city centre temple that works as a calm 30 minute reset.
Where to stay in Soc Trang
City Centre, Ward 2 and Ward 3
first visit, all-round base
Walkable to the market, Phat Hoc Pagoda and the Phu Loi noodle streets, with every hotel desk geared to onward travel.
Ton Duc Thang pagoda corridor, Wards 5 and 6
quiet second night, festival time
A greener residential street holding Som Rong, Khleang and the Khmer Museum, a short ride from the centre.
Tran De town
the earliest Con Dao ferry only
Simple stays near the docks remove the 35 km pre dawn transfer, but the port town has minimal evening life.
Think twice about
- National Highway 1A motel strip south of the city
Truck noise, no pavements and nothing walkable, with a taxi negotiation for every meal.
- Nga Nam town as a floating market base
The Nga Nam floating market has been closed since the pandemic, so base there only for the Tan Long stork garden at dusk.
Best restaurants in Soc Trang
Nha Hang Hai San Bien Dong Soc Trang
The city's splurge table, a live tank seafood house where you choose the catch and it is cooked to order.
Nha Hang Hai San Hung Mai 3
The group seafood alternative on the Le Duan strip, big, local and built for ordering ten dishes to share.
Que Toi Restaurant
The reliable hotel table, Delta dishes at fair prices on the night when reliability is the point.
Bún Nước Lèo Quế Nhi
The first name for bun nuoc leo, Soc Trang's signature fermented fish noodle soup, served in a clean leaf roofed house.
Bún nước lèo Cây Nhãn
The connoisseur's second bowl, a bun nuoc leo house serving for over 40 years with a milder, sweeter broth.
Banh Cong Dai Tam
The crackling ladle fried cup cake of pork, mung bean and whole shrimp, eaten hot on the Chen Kieu road.
Bánh Pía Lập Hưng
An established bakery for banh pia, the flaky durian and salted egg pastry that is Soc Trang's national souvenir.
Soc Trang Market food stalls
Market breakfast stalls for bun mam, snakehead porridge and hu tieu, where the busiest stall is the recommendation.
Outdoor things to do in Soc Trang
Tan Long Stork Garden
A family kept garden roost where thousands of storks and egrets pour back into the trees at sunset.
Cu Lao Dung
The island where the Hau River ends, with mangrove boat canals, a monkey forest and an estuary seafood lunch.
My Phuoc Islet
Soc Trang's orchard island, a hosted day of fruit gardens, river boats, home cooking and southern folk music.
Soc Trang Pagoda Loop
Cycling the flat pagoda loop and canal lanes is the independent way to link the city's essential temples.
Tran De Port
A working fishing port and river mouth with mangrove, mudflats and the province's best cheap seafood lunch.
Tran De to Con Dao Ferry
The shortest mainland crossing to Con Dao, about two to two and a half hours by fast ferry from Tran De.
Best hotels in Soc Trang
Que Toi Restaurant and Hotel
The city's flagship hotel, with big rooms, an indoor pool and a desk that can fix your onward travel.
Khách Sạn Thiên Ân
The travellers' favourite mid range hotel, central, with an outdoor pool, gardens and a relaxed restaurant.
Net Viet Hotel Vincom Soc Trang
The newest feeling rooms in the city, in the Vincom complex, central and quiet for a pre ferry night.
Mai Anh Garden
The cheap pick with a paper trail, a highly rated budget hotel in the walkable centre from about 11 dollars.
Is Soc Trang expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₫450,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₫900,000 a person |
| Splurge | ₫2,000,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Tan Long Stork Garden: a few days ahead
- Cu Lao Dung: a few days ahead
- My Phuoc Islet: a few days ahead
- Tran De to Con Dao Ferry: a few days ahead
- Que Toi Restaurant and Hotel: a few days ahead
- Book rooms weeks ahead for Ooc Om Boc festival week, when the city's small hotel stock fills completely.
- Book the Con Dao ferry days ahead in season and reconfirm the sailing time the day before, because tides move it.
- Arrange islet and Tan Long days a day ahead through your hotel, especially in the dry season and at weekends.
Is Soc Trang safe?
- Highway 1A carries fast trucks, so ride a rented motorbike conservatively, wear the helmet and avoid rural roads after dark.
- Use repellent at Tan Long, the islets and dusk riverbanks, because dengue is present in the Delta.
- Check life jackets yourself on small boats and keep children close near unfenced canals and ferry landings.
- Dress modestly in Khmer pagodas, never climb the statues, and ask before photographing worshippers.
Soc Trang travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Nga Nam floating market is closed and has been since the pandemic, so any tour selling it is selling a ghost.
- At seafood tanks, agree species, size and per kilo price and watch the weighing before anything is cooked.
- Mo O and Ho Be are silty estuary shores, not swimming beaches, whatever a seller promises.
- Buy banh pia dated at a bakery or the market, not stale and marked up at transport hubs.
Getting around Soc Trang: public transport and more
- Walk the centre and the Ton Duc Thang pagodas in the cool hours, and use Grab in the city while it lasts.
- For Chen Kieu, Tran De, Cu Lao Dung and Tan Long, hire a car with driver through your hotel or rent a motorbike at about 120,000 to 150,000 VND a day.
- Carry cash outside the centre, because ATMs are a city facility and the islets and Nga Nam run on small notes.
- Buses from Ho Chi Minh City take about five to six hours, and Can Tho and its airport are about an hour to ninety minutes north.
Who Soc Trang suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Soc Trang your trip
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