Ben Tre travel guide: coconut canals, cycling, Con Phung and homestays

Sleep in the delta, not just pass through it

Many Mekong day trips from Ho Chi Minh City start with a boat from My Tho across the Tien River to Thoi Son, an island that is now in Dong Thap province; some add a landing on Con Phung on the Ben Tre side, and the Con Phung tourist area itself sells a day combining the two. That gives you coconut candy and a rowing boat in a nipa-palm creek, but very little of Ben Tre itself. Staying a night is what turns Ben Tre into something more than the coach tour.

Ben Tre town sits on the Ben Tre River, a short way from the Ham Luong bridge. It has the area's ordinary hotels and guesthouses and the bus connections; VnExpress's guide suggests a late coffee on a hotel rooftop overlooking the river street. It is the practical base if you are arriving by bus or want to move on the next day.

The alternative is a homestay in the orchards. VnExpress reports that their number has grown in recent years: you eat, stay and talk with the hosts, and try the local dishes of the river country. The Con Phung tourist area also runs its own Coco Island homestay on the islet. Before booking any homestay, check exactly where it is, how you reach it with luggage, and whether bicycles and meals are included.

Con Phung, the Coconut Monk's island

Con Phung (Phoenix Islet) is an island in the Tien River that is now part of Phu Tuc commune. It is also known as the islet of the Coconut Monk (Dao Dua), Nguyen Thanh Nam, who, according to the tourist area's own history page, ate only fruit and drank coconut water during his years of practice. In 1963 he moved his community to the eastern tip of the islet near the old Rach Mieu ferry and built the Nam Quoc Phat pagoda there, with a dragon court, a model Apollo spacecraft, an S-shaped map of Vietnam and a peace bell tower. In 1971 he even tried to stand for president of South Vietnam. What survives of it is the islet's most unusual sight.

The rest of the islet is a classic delta tourist stop: coconut-candy workshops, coconut handicrafts, a coconut museum, honey tea in an orchard, *don ca tai tu* folk music, a crocodile pen and bottle-feeding carp. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the website that describes itself as the official Con Phung tourist area listed a gate ticket of 50,000 dong for adults and 30,000 dong for children, including the return boat, with opening hours given as 7:00 (or 7:30 in its FAQ) to 18:00. Boats pick up at the old Rach Mieu ferry landing in Tan Thach.

The same site warns that many intermediaries sell trips to Con Phung and advises calling the operator's hotline when you reach the landing so you board the right boat. If you arrive independently, settle what is included before you step on any boat; if you are on a tour, check how long it actually spends on Con Phung rather than on Thoi Son.

Bikes, boats and orchards

Ben Tre's best moments are slow. VnExpress notes that more than 200,000 households in the province grow coconuts, about two thirds of all households, and suggests simply cycling a few kilometres through the coconut gardens and stopping to talk to people along the way. VNAT notes that local people earn a living hiring out bicycles to visitors. Ride in the early morning or late afternoon, when the heat is lower.

On the water, the classic ride is a small rowing boat (*xuong ba la*) through creeks lined with nipa palms. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism has also profiled a local start-up offering a boat trip along the rivers of Ben Tre town between rows of coconut palms, with coconut tasting, torch-making at dusk and fireflies on the way back, plus mangrove trips on the coast. Products like these change; ask what a tour actually includes before booking.

For fruit, VnExpress points to the orchards of Cai Mon in Cho Lach and Tien Long and Tan Phu in the former Chau Thanh district, where an entry ticket lets you eat what you pick in the garden but fruit to take away is paid for separately. Cho Lach is also one of the delta's two great flower and seedling villages: VNAT reports that farmers start the Tet flower season along Highway 57 from mid-October, and the district planned its first flower festival for January 2025.

The coconut economy: Thom River and the craft villages

To see coconuts as a trade rather than a souvenir, head south to the Thom River, a canal of about 15 km dug in 1905 between the Ham Luong and Co Chien rivers in the Mo Cay area. VnExpress describes a coconut market strung along the river, where boats piled with coconuts, husk, fibre and coir unload beside workshops that run around the clock. Trading follows orders and deliveries rather than a fixed morning hour. You can reach it by road along Highway 60 to Mo Cay and then a tour boat, or by boat from the pier in Ben Tre town via the Ham Luong.

The province's craft villages make a good second half-day. Son Doc in Hung Nhuong is known for *banh phong*, puffed sticky-rice crackers, and My Long for coconut rice paper grilled over charcoal; the bamboo weaving village of Phuoc Tuy in Ba Tri is about 40 km east of Ben Tre town. If you have a car and a full day, Ba Tri also has the Vam Ho bird sanctuary and the tomb of the poet Nguyen Dinh Chieu, and the Dong Khoi relic site in Mo Cay remembers the Dong Khoi uprising of the 1960s.

The coast at Binh Dai is quiet and undeveloped, according to VnExpress, but it lies on a river mouth: come for seafood and the scenery of the estuary rather than for a beach holiday.

Getting there, and the new province names

From Ho Chi Minh City, VnExpress gives the bus journey from Mien Tay bus station as about two hours. By road, the route crosses the Tien River from the My Tho side. The Rach Mieu 2 bridge, about 4 km upstream of the original Rach Mieu bridge, opened on 19 August 2025 and ends on Highway 60 near the Ham Luong bridge; VnExpress reported that it cut queues on the old bridge by about half, and the temporary Rach Mieu car ferry closed the day after it opened.

In June 2025 the National Assembly merged Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long into a single Vinh Long province, and from 1 July 2025 the district level was abolished. Official addresses now use the new commune and ward names: Con Phung, for example, is listed under Phu Tuc commune, Vinh Long. Older guides and tour descriptions still use the former districts (Chau Thanh, Cho Lach, Mo Cay, Ba Tri), so check the exact address of anything you book.

A workable two-day plan

This is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Confirm boat times and opening days locally.

• Day 1 — Arrive and get on the water: morning bus or car from Ho Chi Minh City; stop at Con Phung, whose boats leave from the old Rach Mieu ferry landing on the Tien River, then a late lunch and a rowing boat through the nipa-palm creeks in the afternoon. Sleep in town or at an orchard homestay.
• Day 2 — Bikes and coconuts: cycle the coconut lanes at first light, then choose between the Cai Mon orchards and Cho Lach nurseries or the Thom River coconut market and a craft village. Leave after lunch for Saigon, or continue to Vinh Long, Tra Vinh or Can Tho.
• Day 3 (optional): a car day to Ba Tri for Vam Ho, Nguyen Dinh Chieu's tomb and the Phuoc Tuy weaving village.