Southern VietnamMiền Nam

The Mekong ends in nine mouths — Cửu Long, 'nine dragons' — across a delta of rice fields, orchards and canals. Silt makes it one of Asia's great rice bowls; the rivers are its roads.

The delta is sinking and salting: upstream dams hold back sediment, groundwater pumping lowers the land, and seawater pushes further inland each dry season. Travellers see it in raised roads, new dikes and the decline of the floating markets as trucks replace boats.

Until the 17th century the delta was part of the Khmer world; Prey Nokor became Saigon. Vietnamese settlers moved south with the Nguyễn lords, and Chinese refugees from the Ming collapse founded Chợ Lớn and Mỹ Tho.

Khmer Krom communities remain around Sóc Trăng and Trà Vinh, with Theravada pagodas; Cham Muslims live near Châu Đốc. The south's food — sweeter, with more herbs and coconut — reflects that mix.

The French made Saigon the capital of Cochinchina in 1862 and built its boulevards; from 1955 to 1975 it was the capital of the Republic of Vietnam. On 30 April 1975 northern tanks entered the Independence Palace.

Since the 1986 reforms the city has become the country's commercial capital, and in 2025 it grew again by absorbing Bình Dương and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu. Its first metro line opened in December 2024.

The south was the main ground war theatre: the Củ Chi tunnels on Saigon's edge, the Mekong's riverine war, the prisons of Côn Đảo and Phú Quốc. Museums present the state's narrative; memorials and cemeteries are pilgrimage sites for Vietnamese visitors.

Phú Quốc in the Gulf of Thailand and Côn Đảo in the South China Sea are the south's islands: one a fast-growing resort island with a visa exemption for direct arrivals, the other a quiet national park with a prison past.

Two seasons rule: dry December–April, wet May–November with afternoon storms. Phú Quốc's calm west coast suits November–April; Côn Đảo is calmest in spring.