Ben Tre and Vinh Long, the orchard delta

East of the Hau River, the delta is a patchwork of islands split by the branches of the Mekong. Around Ben Tre the land is coconut country: palms along every canal, family workshops that cook coconut candy from coconut milk, malt and sugar, and narrow waterways lined with water-coconut fronds that you travel by sampan. Opposite Vinh Long, An Binh islet covers more than 60 km² between the Tien and Co Chien rivers with orchards, canals and old pagodas, among them Tien Chau, which dates from around the 1740s.

It is also the most visited part of the delta, because it is the closest to Ho Chi Minh City. The islets off My Tho, such as Thoi Son, now in Dong Thap province, are geared to day visitors: horse carts, honey farms, folk music sung for boatloads of guests. The Cai Be floating market, upstream of Vinh Long, still exists but has weakened; a 2026 guide reported only a few trading boats early in the morning. Our routes use the quieter canals and stay overnight, which is when this country is at its most ordinary and its most pleasant.

Vinh Long town has one sight of its own worth an hour: Van Thanh Mieu, a Confucian temple built from 1864 to 1866 on the Long Ho river, one of three such temples raised in the South in the 19th century.

Two things change the picture. The weeks before the Lunar New Year fill the flower villages, such as Cai Mon near Cho Lach, about 40 ha of nurseries, with buyers and colour. And in the dry season the sea pushes salt water up the rivers: a national bulletin of 10 March 2026 forecast the peak for March and April, with water of 4 grams of salt per litre reaching 30 to 35 km up the Ham Luong and 35 to 40 km up the Co Chien. It does not stop a visit, but it is why gardeners here watch the calendar.

These are older figures from travel publishers and will have moved; use them to judge a price, not to budget to the dong. On our routes the canal boats, the islet boat and lunch are included.

The four-day Ben Tre to Chau Doc route and the five-day route to Phnom Penh spend their first morning in Ben Tre and their first night in Vinh Long. The two-day Can Tho route and the three-day route stop at An Binh islet on the way to Can Tho without staying.

• You have already done a day trip to My Tho or Ben Tre from the city; the canals will feel familiar
• Your time is short and the market at Cai Rang or Chau Doc matters more to you
• You want a lively town in the evening; Vinh Long is quiet after dark
• You want to stay with a family on the islet — that is a homestay trip, which we do not run