What to eat in Can Tho

Cai Rang floating market, about six kilometres from the city centre, is reached by boat from Ninh Kieu wharf. It is a wholesale fruit market first, and the food on the water is breakfast for traders: VNAT suggests pulling alongside a noodle seller for bún chả cá or eating a cold pineapple while you watch, and Vietnam News mentioned coffee boats in 2018. Al Jazeera counted about 200 boats in 2025 and reported that trade ends by 8 a.m. Dân trí reported in January 2026 that the market operates in the morning only.

Reader complaints over Tết 2026, published by Tuoi Tre News, mentioned price gouging and poor toilets at the landing. Ask prices before buying, and read our markets and street food page before you go.

The merger brought two strong food areas into the city. Soc Trang — now a ward of Can Tho — is the home of bún nước lèo, a Khmer-rooted noodle soup on a fermented-fish broth, and of bánh pía from Vung Thom, whose craft became national heritage in 2020. Hau Giang brings cháo lòng Cái Tắc, an offal porridge off National Highway 61; cá thác lác fish cakes and peppered small fish from Phung Hiep; cá lóc nướng trui, snakehead grilled over rice straw; and khóm Cầu Đúc, the Vi Thanh pineapple with a geographical indication since 2020.

The Khmer calendar matters too: the Oóc Om Bóc festival at the full moon of the 10th lunar month, usually November, was held in Phu Loi and Soc Trang wards in 2025.

Two city events are worth timing a visit around. The southern folk-cake festival, Lễ hội Bánh dân gian Nam Bộ, held its 13th edition from 26 April to 1 May 2026 on the square of Binh Thuy ward, with more than 300 booths and cake-making sessions. Can Tho Food Week 2026, themed "Ẩm thực Tây Đô – Tinh hoa miền sông nước", ran from 28 August to 2 September 2026 at Song Hau Park in Cai Khe ward. Sources differ on its size: VietnamPlus reported more than 200 booths, Báo Đầu tư about 100. Dates for 2027 were not published when we checked.

If your interest is fermented fish, Khmer palm sugar or flood-season dishes at their source, Chau Doc puts you closer; if it is hủ tiếu and coconut, My Tho and Ben Tre do. Can Tho is a city: its food is broad but the specialities of Soc Trang and Hau Giang are still best eaten in those towns.

Cai Rang is also smaller than it was, and a single morning can disappoint. If the floating market is the point of your trip, allow two mornings, and avoid Tết week, when the 2026 reader complaints about prices at the landing were made.