How far is Ben Tre from Ho Chi Minh City?

86 km and 1.5 hours by car on the Ho Chi Minh City–Trung Lương expressway, about two hours, about 85 km and about 2 hours, or 85–90 km and 1.5–2 hours. No passenger train.

How far is Cồn Phụng, and what is the gate?

12 km by road and 25 km by river from the city center, and also about 10 km. No tariff is listed. The town orchard pier is a different landing.

Which province is this, and how big is it?

Clause 20 of Nghị quyết 202/2025/QH15 joins Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, and Vĩnh Long into the new Vĩnh Long province, 6,296.20 km² and 4,257,581 people, beside Đồng Tháp, Cần Thơ, and the sea. The old province is still given as 2,379.7 km² and 1,299,328 people, with Tiền Giang to the north, Trà Vinh to the south, Vĩnh Long to the west, and the sea to the east, and, on 4 November 2021, as 2,394.82 km² and about 1.3 million people. Article 2 tells the Government to fix the boundary. The clause does not name a capital.

When are the festivals?

The coconut festival is held every two years around 30 April. The editions named are 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and a fifth then planned for November 2019. Those lists do not match. The culture day at the poet’s memorial is 1 July, with a program from 30 June to 2 July. Đồng Khởi gatherings use 17 January. Nghinh Ông is the 15th and 16th of the sixth lunar month, and the fruit fair is Tết Đoan Ngọ on the 5th of the fifth lunar month. The solar days move.

Vinh Long

Ben Tre

A Mekong Delta town in coconut country on the Tien River, about two hours from Ho Chi Minh City. Take a boat into the palm-lined creeks, visit the islets of Con Phung and Con Quy, and try coconut candy and fresh coconut. A day and a night suits anyone who wants the quieter side of the delta.

●●●●○ Worth a night when the coconut bank of the Tiền is the trip

Mild year-round Dining and F&B The Tiền islets Xứ dừa Nguyễn Đình Chiểu

Photo: BacLuong · CC BY-SA 4.0

TimeA day and a night

Get there86 km and 1.5 hours, about two hours, about 85 km and about 2 hours, or 85–90 km and 1.5–2 hours from Ho Chi Minh City. No passenger train. Coach, taxi, motorbike, bicycle, and boat fares: Check on arrival. Minutes from Tân Sơn Nhất, from the Mỹ Tho pier, and on to the relic: Check on arrival. Cồn Phụng is 12 km by road and 25 km by river, or about 10 km.

Best monthsMild year-round

You sit low in a sampan in a nipa creek on the south bank of the Tiền, coconut palms over the water and the town behind you. Bảo is one of three strips, with Minh and An Hóa, cut by the Tiền, Hàm Luông, Ba Lai, and Cổ Chiên. Stay the night if that coconut bank is the trip. Sleep in Mỹ Tho if you wanted the north-bank embankment. The boat has to be the morning on a same-day return.

Cồn Phụng is the orchard gate on this bank, not cù lao Thới Sơn. It sits in xã Tân Thạch, huyện Châu Thành, 12 km by road and 25 km by river from the city center, and also about 10 km, at ấp 10 (Ấp Tân Vinh), xã Phú Túc, tỉnh Vĩnh Long. Clause 59 of Nghị quyết 1687/NQ-UBTVQH15 merges thị trấn Châu Thành and the communes Tân Thạch, Tường Đa, and Phú Túc into xã Phú Túc. Ask for either name. The clause does not say the islet moved. The four nicknames are Long, Lân, Quy, and Phụng. Cù lao Long is on this side, by a short ferry past the Ben Tre Market and the Ben Tre River. Lân is not assigned a bank. Quy is a longan orchard. The Friday town cart is not the way onto the islet.

The morning starts on đường 30 Tháng 4, then walks to Bảo tàng Bến Tre at 146 Hùng Vương, given as phường An Hội and as Phường 3. Phường 4 and Phường 5 merged into An Hội from 1 December 2024, and clause 116 of Nghị quyết 1687 forms a new phường An Hội without naming Hùng Vương, so the number stays 146 Hùng Vương. After dinner the walk is Hồ Trúc Giang, công viên Bến Tre, công viên Trần Văn Ơn, and công viên Đồng Khởi, then chợ đêm Bến Tre and khu phố chợ Phú Khương. Công viên Đồng Khởi in town is not the Đồng Khởi relic at Định Thủy.

Common questions

How far is Ben Tre from Ho Chi Minh City?: 86 km and 1.5 hours by car on the Ho Chi Minh City–Trung Lương expressway, about two hours, about 85 km and about 2 hours, or 85–90 km and 1.5–2 hours. No passenger train.
How far is Cồn Phụng, and what is the gate?: 12 km by road and 25 km by river from the city center, and also about 10 km. No tariff is listed. The town orchard pier is a different landing.
Which province is this, and how big is it?: Clause 20 of Nghị quyết 202/2025/QH15 joins Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, and Vĩnh Long into the new Vĩnh Long province, 6,296.20 km² and 4,257,581 people, beside Đồng Tháp, Cần Thơ, and the sea. The old province is still given as 2,379.7 km² and 1,299,328 people, with Tiền Giang to the north, Trà Vinh to the south, Vĩnh Long to the west, and the sea to the east, and, on 4 November 2021, as 2,394.82 km² and about 1.3 million people. Article 2 tells the Government to fix the boundary. The clause does not name a capital.
When are the festivals?: The coconut festival is held every two years around 30 April. The editions named are 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and a fifth then planned for November 2019. Those lists do not match. The culture day at the poet’s memorial is 1 July, with a program from 30 June to 2 July. Đồng Khởi gatherings use 17 January. Nghinh Ông is the 15th and 16th of the sixth lunar month, and the fruit fair is Tết Đoan Ngọ on the 5th of the fifth lunar month. The solar days move.

Top attractions in Ben Tre

Cồn Phụng Cồn Phụng

Orchard islet on the Tiền: walk the nine-dragon court and the candy kiln for a river day.

5.0 ★★★★★ Editor

A river day · Check on arrival

Cồn Quy Cồn Quy

Longan orchard on the Tiền: walk the trees, drink honey tea, and bail a ditch for fish on the same boat day.

3.0 ★★★☆☆ Editor

A stop on the river day · Check on arrival

Nguyễn Đình Chiểu tomb and memorial Lăng và đền thờ Nguyễn Đình Chiểu

Poet's tomb at Ba Tri: walk the memorial garden on a morning, on 1 July or any day, for the national relic.

4.0 ★★★★☆ Editor

A morning · Check on arrival

The town boat Bến tàu du lịch thành phố Bến Tre

Morning boat from the town pier: ride into the nipa creeks for the kiln, a sampan, and lunch.

4.0 ★★★★☆ Editor

A morning · Check on arrival

Hồ Trúc Giang Hồ Trúc Giang

Town lake: walk the parks after dinner for the water, then continue to the night market.

4.0 ★★★★☆ Editor

An evening walk · Check on arrival

Ben Tre Market Chợ Bến Tre

Day market hall: walk the stalls on the way to the river, a short stop before the ferry to the islet.

3.0 ★★★☆☆ Editor

A short stop · Check on arrival

Ben Tre Museum Bảo tàng Bến Tre

French-front museum on Hùng Vương: walk the coconut rooms in a morning for the wood instruments.

3.0 ★★★☆☆ Editor

A morning stop · Check on arrival

Side trips from Ben Tre

My Tho

A Mekong Delta river town on the Tien River, about 70 km from Ho Chi Minh City.

Ben Tre by interest

Dining and F&B

The Tiền and the islets

Xứ dừa

Nguyễn Đình Chiểu

A family on the water

Đồng Khởi

Shopping

Getting there and around

No airport sits in the Ben Tre wards. The road from Ho Chi Minh City is the approach, and Tân Sơn Nhất is the airport at that end. There is no passenger train. Tourist boats start once you are already on the river. Local buses connect the delta provinces with Bến xe Miền Tây, and Thảo Châu is one company to Ben Tre. Quốc lộ 60 and Quốc lộ 57 continue toward the old Vĩnh Long and Trà Vinh.

From Mỹ Tho, Quốc lộ 60 crosses the Tiền on Cầu Rạch Miễu and on Cầu Rạch Miễu 2. Cầu Rạch Miễu 2 was ready to open from 19 August 2025, after a check on 12 August: more than 17.6 km in all, main bridge more than 1,971 m, investment more than 6,810 billion VND, from ngã tư Đồng Tâm in Đồng Tháp to Quốc lộ 60 in Vĩnh Long. The length is also about 17.6 km, the end near Km16+660, about 0.71 km from the north abutment of Cầu Hàm Luông, old TP. Bến Tre, now phường Bến Tre, and the start now xã Hưng Long, Đồng Tháp. The opening was about 11:30 on 19 August 2025, and the older bridge about 4 km downstream stayed open that day. The temporary ferry stopped on 20 August 2025. The two “about 10 km” lines describe that ferry, not the drive from Mỹ Tho.

In town the walk is Hồ Trúc Giang and the three parks, then the night market and khu phố chợ Phú Khương. The near-city orchard boats leave bến tàu du lịch thành phố Bến Tre. Cồn Phụng is a different landing: 12 km by road and 25 km by river, or about 10 km. On Fridays and Saturdays a free seven-seat cart picks up at Sense City at 17:30 and 19:30 and at 708 Nguyễn Văn Tư at 19:00 and 21:00. Cycling is the way through the groves, and most hotels lend bicycles. Use a taxi meter, and bargain a xe ôm. The tourism office at 108/1 đường 30/4 is an office, not a station. Phường 4 on that line is a pre-December 2024 name.

The Đồng Khởi relic is a second morning, not the boat. Cross Cầu Hàm Luông on Quốc lộ 57, more than 10 km to thị trấn Mỏ Cày Nam, then left about 4 km. The city distance is also about 15 km. Do not add those into one distance. Cầu Hàm Luông is the river south of town. It is not Cầu Rạch Miễu.