What to do in Mekong Delta: Bên tre? -Vietnam 2022

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Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is a vast network of rivers spanning Cambodia and Vietnam, making it one of the largest rivers in the world. In this region of Vietnam, you'll find swamps, islands and floating markets!

This area is also said to be particularly fertile and is rumoured to produce more than half of the rice in the country.

You can book tours to Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City easily due to the closeness in distance of these two places.

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Mekong Delta Travel Vlog

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Ho Chi Minh City to Mekong Delta

The tour began with a pick up from our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in a private air-conditioned vehicle. We arrived at a small port where we boarded a boat that cruised along the Mekong Delta River.

I enjoyed the boat ride at first but after about 20 mins I think I had seen enough trees and murky water. I did appreciate the coconut though!

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Ben Tre

I visited a small province called Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta. This place was literally fully of coconut tree. They were everywhere. I firstly did a cycling tour of the area on a bike that had definitely seen better days. I really liked the scenery here, it gave me strong jungle vibes.

We stopped for a break and I asked the guide whether I could sit in the hammock thinking, we had arrived at the restaurant.

The guide said yes and I obviously didn't detect his sarcasm. Turns out I was actually sat in someones front garden.

The family took it well considering I was trespassing with my shoes off and feet up (unintentionally). I was absolutely mortified when I realise and ran back to my bike. The lovely family however started giving me and the tour group a big bag of lychees. Such generosity for my incompetence. I wouldn't have appreciated that if the shoe was on the other foot. I did apologise profusely.

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Boat Ride

I absolutely loved the small row boat tour! The coconut trees towered above and provided shade from the warmth of the sun.

I would describe this experience as relaxing but you also had to stay alert or you could quite easily get whacked in the head by a low hanging tree trunks or a stray stick of bamboo.

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The coconut farm

This was an interesting stop on the tour. Not necessarily something I would do again but intriguing nonetheless.

At the coconut farm in Bên Tre you'll see how the workers use absolutely every part of a coconut to produce various products.

Bricks can actually be made from the shells and you can actually watch the process. It's funny after my visit here I noticed these bricks (due to the pattern) all over the country.

I also had a type of snake rice wine. I think there was a dead cobra inside (could be lying, could be any snake). I'd describe the taste as quite potent, wouldn't buy a bottle of the stuff.

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Yay or Nay

Cruising on a wooden vessel through the Mekong Delta is a nice relaxing experience. I thoroughly enjoyed dodging bamboo sticks and freeing our stuck boat every so often. I'd say this area is worth visiting if you take a trip to the floating markets. It was a chilled day out but not one of my highlights.