Tra Vinh travel guide: Ba Om pond, Khmer pagodas and where to stay

Why Tra Vinh, and how long to stay

Tra Vinh lies between the Tien and Hau branches of the Mekong, south of Ben Tre and north of Soc Trang. Vietnam's tourism authority describes it as one of the delta's prettier provinces — a maze of quiet, tree-lined streets, old houses and rice paddies — and the trees are no exaggeration: city figures reported by VnExpress counted 14,463 shade trees along 87 roads, around 800 of them more than a century old.

What sets Tra Vinh apart from Can Tho or Ben Tre is the Khmer presence. Reports put the number of Khmer pagodas in the province at about 140 to 143, many of them still schools where children and novice monks learn to read and write Khmer during the summer. You come here to walk pagoda grounds, watch monks on their morning alms round and eat Khmer-influenced noodles, not for floating markets or river cruises.

One night is enough for Ba Om, Ang Pagoda, the museum and Hang Pagoda. Two nights let you add the outlying pagodas of Tra Cu, Con Chim islet or the coast at Ba Dong without rushing. Since the June 2025 reorganisation of Vietnam's provinces, the former Tra Vinh province has been part of an enlarged Vinh Long Province, together with Ben Tre, so you may see Vinh Long in addresses and on booking sites.

Ba Om pond, Ang Pagoda and the Khmer museum

Ao Ba Om is a near-square pond, about 500 m long and 300 m wide, dug by hand on a sand ridge centuries ago to store rainwater. Its banks are rolling sandy mounds under tall dipterocarp trees whose roots rise a metre or two out of the ground in strange, knotted shapes; the provincial People's Committee counts about 500 of these old trees around the pond. Legend says the pond was dug in a night-long contest between men and women, won by the women under a Khmer woman named Om, who earned the right to choose a husband. The pond dried out in the severe drought of 2016 and was dredged and reinforced afterwards.

Ba Om is a local park as much as a monument. Vietnam's tourism authority suggests doing what residents do: sit in a plastic chair under the trees with an iced coffee from one of the stalls and watch the lotus and dragonflies. It is also where the Khmer community gathers for its main festivals, including Chol Chnam Thmay, Sene Dolta and Ok Om Bok.

Across National Road 53 stands Ang Pagoda (Angkorajaborey), considered the oldest and one of the most beautiful Khmer pagodas in Tra Vinh. It is said to date from the tenth century and was rebuilt in 1842; its gates, roofs and pillars are decorated with bird-headed figures, celestial dancers, guardian giants and naga serpents, set in a grove of old trees. Opposite it, the Museum of Khmer Ethnic Culture displays everyday objects of Khmer Krom life. Allow two to three hours for all three. Opening hours and admission for the pagoda and the museum were not available from an official source when we checked on 2026-10-03, so go in the morning and dress for a temple: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off where others take them off.

Hang Pagoda: wood carvings and storks at dusk

Kompong Chrây Pagoda, better known as Hang Pagoda (the 'cave pagoda'), lies just south of town on National Road 54 — Vietnam's tourism authority puts it 6 km from the city. Its name comes from the entrance: three arched gates built like caves side by side, with walls so thick that walking through feels like passing through rock. The pagoda is more than 300 years old and stands in about two hectares of old trees.

Two things make it worth timing your visit. The resident monks carve wood, turning tree roots into large sculptures that stand around the grounds and indoors, some of them reaching the ceiling. And the treetops are home to thousands of storks and other birds: arrive in the late afternoon and wait until dusk, when flocks return to roost.

Keep your distance from the nesting trees, do not use a drone, and remember that this is a working monastery where young monks study.

Around town: Ong Met Pagoda, the market and the river

In the centre, Ong Met Pagoda (Kompong Ksan) beside the Tra Vinh canal is one of the province's best-known Khmer temples. VnExpress reports that it dates back to 642 CE, moved to its present site in 711 CE and was made a national relic in 2009. It is also an important centre of Khmer-language teaching, with many generations of the province's monks trained here.

Vietnam's tourism authority recommends a walk through the wet market and along the Long Binh river, where fishermen pull in their nets, and picking up a slice of bánh tét Trà Cuôn on the way. In the evening, the cafés along Pham Ngu Lao Street and Deja Vu Huynh Kha Eco Park, where local families walk after dinner, are where Tra Vinh spends its free time.

The town is flat and shady, so a bicycle or a rented motorbike is the easiest way to link the centre with Ba Om and Hang Pagoda; taxis are available too. Large old trees stand in the middle of some roads — one at the junction of Hung Vuong and Le Loi streets has been kept on its own traffic island — so ride slowly.

A second day: Vam Ray, Co Pagoda, Con Chim and the coast

With another day, pick one direction rather than trying to do everything. These are long rides on rural roads; a car with driver or a full day on a motorbike is the realistic way to cover them.

• Vam Ray Pagoda, in Ham Tan commune, Tra Cu, about 35 km from the city: rebuilt in the 2000s on the site of an older pagoda destroyed in the war, it is gilded from roof to pillar and has a gilded reclining Buddha 54 m long.
• Co Pagoda (Phno Don or Giong Lon), in Dai An commune, Tra Cu: founded in 1677, it is known for the storks, egrets and bitterns that nest in the old trees of its six-hectare grounds, and it runs Khmer classes for local children in the summer.
• Con Chim islet, about 15 km from the city on the Co Chien River: a community-based tourism village reached by a short ferry from Ba Tram dock, where families serve home-cooked delta food and lend bicycles to ride around the islet. Salt water reaches the islet from March to September, when farmers switch from rice to shrimp and crab.
• Ba Dong beach, in Truong Long Hoa, Duyen Hai, about 55 km from the city: a seaside day with seafood and the wind turbines along the coast, with mangrove forest a few kilometres away.
• Cau Ke, on the Hau River west of the city: fruit orchards on Tan Quy islet, Sam Pua Pagoda and the early 20th-century Huynh Ky house, about 30 km from Tra Vinh.

Festivals and when to go

Tra Vinh is hot all year, at around 28 °C on average. The dry season from December to April is the easiest time for long rides to the outlying pagodas; from May to November afternoon rain is common, but the town and the main sights are close enough together to work around it.

The Khmer calendar is the best reason to time a visit. Ok Om Bok, the moon-worship festival on the full moon of the tenth lunar month, usually in November, brings families to Ba Om pond to float lanterns and dance; Tra Vinh's Ok Om Bok was recognised as national intangible heritage in 2014. Sene Dolta, the festival for ancestors, falls from the 29th day of the eighth lunar month to the first day of the ninth, and Kathina, the robe-offering ceremony, is held at pagodas during the ninth and tenth lunar months, with processions, drum dances and masked yeak dancers. The lunar dates move each year, so check them before you book.

Khmer New Year, Chol Chnam Thmay, is the biggest celebration of the year: three days of pagoda visits, offerings to monks, sand-mound building and the bathing of Buddha statues. If you plan to come for a festival, book your room early.

Getting there and moving on

From Ho Chi Minh City, buses leave from Mien Tay Bus Station and take about three hours to Tra Vinh, which is roughly 130 km away. Vietnam's tourism authority notes that local buses link most delta provinces with each other and with Mien Tay, and that bookable express buses are another option.

Tra Vinh works best as one stop on a delta loop rather than a dead end: come by car or bus from Ben Tre in the morning, as Vietnam's tourism authority's four-day delta itinerary does, and continue to Can Tho, about three hours away, or south to the Khmer pagodas of Soc Trang. Once in town, rent a bicycle or motorbike, or use taxis; agree on the waiting time if you hire a driver for the outlying pagodas.