Vinh Long
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Vinh Long is a delta province wrapped around the point where the Mekong splits. The reason to stop is the island five minutes across the water from its main street.
Why is the island the whole point?
An Binh is where the Mekong homestay was invented, and it is still the best version of it. The island is one of four in the river here, and the town it faces holds only about 140,000 people. The island sits between the Tien and the Co Chien, reached by a passenger ferry that takes about 10 minutes and runs from early morning until late evening. It is orchards, canals and lanes barely wide enough for two bicycles.
Nothing on it is a sight. You cycle between longan and rambutan trees, cross monkey bridges and stop at a brick kiln. Dinner is at the table of the family whose spare rooms you are sleeping in. The homestay guide covers what that arrangement is actually like.
What are the brick kilns along the river?
The kilns are the thing you will photograph without meaning to. Along the Co Chien and the canals behind it stand rows of tall beehive-shaped brick furnaces, built to fire the clay the river drops here. Some still work; many are abandoned and going green.
The kilns are the local industry the delta is least famous for and the most photogenic. Several can be walked into on An Binh and around Mang Thit. The craft villages guide explains why one district makes one thing across the whole country.
| What | Where | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Binh island | Ferry from the town | A night | Homestays, orchards, lanes |
| Brick kilns | Mang Thit, along the river | An hour | Working and abandoned |
| Cai Be | 30 km upstream | Half a day | A much-reduced floating market |
| Orchards | All over the island | Half a day | Best May to August |
| Vinh Long market | In the town | An hour | Riverfront, morning trade |
Is the Cai Be market worth the early start?
Cai Be, 30 km upstream and about an hour by boat, is not worth setting an alarm for, and it is fair to say so. Cai Be was a genuine wholesale floating market and has shrunk to a handful of boats. The tours that visit it now spend most of their time at a coconut-candy workshop on shore.
If a floating market is what you came to the delta for, go to Can Tho and the Cai Rang market, an hour further on. Boats there still trade in bulk at first light. Vinh Long is for the island, not for the market.
When is the fruit on the trees?
The fruit is on the trees from May to August, and that is when An Binh is at its best. Longan, rambutan and durian all come in over those months, the orchards sell straight from the tree, and the island smells of it.
December to April is the dry, comfortable half of the year and the easier one to travel in. The orchards are quiet then and the canals lower. The trade is the same one the whole delta offers, and the delta hub sets it out in full.
What is an evening on An Binh like?
An evening on the island runs to a fixed shape, and it is better than that makes it sound. The family cooks what the orchard and the canal produced — elephant-ear fish stood upright on a rack, rice paper to roll it in, a soup of whatever was picked that afternoon.
After dinner there is rice wine, usually, and a guitar sometimes. The generator or the mains goes quiet early, the canal noise does not, and the mosquitoes arrive on schedule at dusk. Bring repellent rather than relying on the net.
How long is the road down from Saigon?
Vinh Long is about 135 km from Ho Chi Minh City, roughly three hours by road over the My Thuan bridge, which opened in 2000 as the first cable-stayed crossing of the Mekong in Vietnam. Buses run through the day from the western bus station. There is no airport and no railway anywhere in the delta.
The province sits about 35 km and an hour short of Can Tho on the same road, and that is the fact deciding most itineraries. Vinh Long is the stop for a night on an island; Can Tho is the stop for the market. The three-day delta route takes both.
Where do you stay, and what does a night cost?
Stay on An Binh, in a homestay, and book directly. Rooms are simple: a fan, a mosquito net, sometimes a wall that stops short of the ceiling. Dinner and breakfast are usually included at a shared table.
Prices sit at the bottom of the bands in the accommodation guide, and the delta-specific comparison is in where to stay in the Mekong Delta. A bicycle is free or nearly so, and it is the only transport the island needs.
FAQ
Is Vinh Long worth visiting?
Vinh Long is worth a night for the island across the river rather than for the town itself. An Binh, five minutes over the water by ferry, is where the Mekong homestay started, and it is orchards, canals and brick kilns rather than a place with sights.
What is An Binh island?
An Binh is the island opposite Vinh Long town, between the Tien and Co Chien rivers, reached by a short passenger ferry. It holds fruit orchards, narrow concrete lanes, family homestays and the brick kilns that made this stretch of the delta look the way it does.
Does Vinh Long have a floating market?
Not one of its own worth the alarm clock. Cai Be, about 30 km upstream, is the market usually sold from here, and it is much reduced. Cai Rang at Can Tho is the one that still trades at scale, and reaching it means sleeping closer to it.
How do you get to Vinh Long?
By road from Ho Chi Minh City in about three hours, roughly 135 km down the expressway and over the My Thuan bridge. Buses run through the day from the western bus station, and Can Tho is an hour further on.
When is the best time to visit Vinh Long?
December to April is dry and easy. May to August is the fruit season, when the orchards on An Binh are the reason to be there at all, at the cost of heavy afternoon rain. Both work; the wet half is the better one for an orchard.
How long do you need in Vinh Long?
One night, and it should be on the island rather than in the town. An afternoon covers a bike ride between orchards and a kiln, dinner is with the family you are staying with, and the morning is the river before the heat.