Getting out of Saigon is likely to get you closer to the real travel experience of Vietnam. You get to see the countryside but more importantly you get to meet people who are not necessarily in the hospitality business.
Don’t get me wrong about Saigon! It’s a great city of 8 ½ million inhabitants with lots to see and experience but it’s not Vietnam.
In this video I stay in a homestay with a Vietnamese family in the Mekong Delta. Ben Tre is a small town of 150,000 people. It’s famed for two things: the Vietnam War was believed to have started here and they grow a lot of coconuts.
The bus from Saigon took only 3 hours and they passed quickly in a comfortable bus looking at the countryside. I think you would enjoy the trip.