Hidden deep within the salt-scented waters of Cần Giờ – a district already known as Saigon’s island escape – lies a lesser-known gem: Thiềng Liềng Island. Surrounded by mangrove forests, tidal rivers, and endless silence, this island is what locals call “an island within an island.”
No roads. No noise. No rush. Just a handful of households, lush green trees, and the scent of the sea. It’s not for everyone — but if you’re craving raw beauty, slow living, and something real, this might be the soul-refreshing detour you didn’t know you needed.
Where Time Slows Down
Thiềng Liềng isn’t reachable by car. You hop on a ferry to Cần Giờ, then a boat again to this tiny island tucked inside another — and suddenly, you’re in a completely different rhythm.
Fishermen mend nets under nipa palms, women boil seawater in age-old clay pots to harvest salt, and barefoot children splash along the river banks. This is Vietnam at its most untouched, unpolished, and unfiltered.
The Salt of the Land — Literally
Thiềng Liềng is famed for one thing: traditional salt making. Here, salt isn’t just a product — it’s a way of life.
Every morning, the salt fields glitter under the sun, like mirrors laid flat against the earth. Local families spend days raking, drying, and collecting salt by hand — a practice that hasn’t changed for generations. Travelers are welcome to join, get their hands salty, and discover how hard-earned the simplest things in life can be.
Nature’s Tranquility, Untouched
With no cars, no shops, and barely any signal, Thiềng Liềng offers something that’s increasingly rare: silence. The kind of silence where you hear your own thoughts. Where the rustle of mangrove leaves and the distant sound of paddles in water become music.
Bird watching, biking around narrow paths, watching the sun rise over the salt fields — these are the simple joys that make this island feel like another world.
Eat Like a Local
On our private journeys to Thiềng Liềng, we don’t just take you to see — we invite you to taste. Whether it’s sipping cold siro juice under the shade of a nipa palm, watching a local elder prepare sương sâm from scratch, or sharing a salty-sweet seafood meal with a fishing family — you’ll experience the soul of this island through its most honest ingredients.
Experience Thiềng Liềng with Vietnam Private Tours
Thiềng Liềng isn’t on most tourist maps — and that’s exactly why we at Vietnam Private Tours want to take you there.
Join us on a full-day journey from Saigon to Cần Giờ, where the adventure begins long before you reach the island. Ride boats through quiet waterways, visit traditional salt farms shimmering under the sun, and enjoy a home-cooked seafood lunch with locals — all while discovering how life flows differently on an island so close, yet so far from the chaos of the city.
But we don’t just take you to see — we invite you to taste. Sip chilled siro juice made from fruit grown right on the island, under the shade of nipa palms. Watch as a local elder prepares sương sâm — fresh green jelly — the traditional way, by hand. And share a salty-sweet seafood meal with a fishing family who call this peaceful place home.
Because with Vietnam Private Tours, the most unforgettable journeys don’t just pass through new places — they awaken all five senses.