Some tourist sites worth to visit in Ben Tre

Ben Tre has many rivers and canals. It also has the largest coconut area in Viet Nam. Its fruit areas distribute all over the land, but concentrate mostly in Cho Lach and Chau Thanh. Ben Tre has favourable conditions to develop green tourism, or eco-tourism, because it retains somewhat untrodden nature and clean ecology, green strips of coconut and fruit gardens. This is quite suitable for outdoor camping and expedition tours. Moreover, Ben Tre also has a lot of historic and cultural relics and other sites worth to visit. There are various tours (one day or two days one night) available for visitors to chose. Followings are some of the main sites to visit in Ben Tre.

1. Phung (Phoenix) Islet is the homeland of Dao Dua Nguyen Thanh Nam (Coconut Meditator). There are lots of curious architectural features here and some relics of the Dao Dua activities. The 28-ha Islet emerges in the middle of the Tien River. It is an administrative unit of Tan Thach Commune, Chau Thanh District, Ben Tre province.
2. Quy (Turtle) Islet is a 6-ha stretch of land floating next to the Phung Islet. There are lots of good fruits and aquatic products. At sites in this islet, visitors may not only experience the good taste of fresh fruit and the fantastic feeling of being wrapped up by the surrounding rivers, but they also can enjoy the speciality of the “don ca tai tu” (Vietnamese country music) which is deeply characteristic of the Southern delta region. This is quite interesting.
3. Oc (Snail) Islet is another attractive visiting site located in Hung Phong Commune, Giong Trom District. Here visitors can enjoy the breezy landscape in this part of the Mekong river basin. They may especially enjoy culinary dishes that is very characteristic of Ben Tre, as well as explore the life and daily activities of local people in particular.
4. The Vam Ho Bird Colony in Ba Tri District is a huge collective shelter for many kinds of bird, crane, wild duck, ... to gather. Visiting Vam Ho at the right time of “change shift” of birds to go out for preys, visitors may find it an extremely fantastic natural sight to see.
5. In the fruit gardens of Cai Mon (Cho Lach District) and Tien Long, Tan Phu Communes (Chau Thanh District), visitors may enjoy the good taste of fresh fruits hand-picked from the low branches while experiencing the curiousness of exploring the gardens. The fruits are sold by kilogram or by “belly”, a way of popular food selling in the Mekong Delta region, in which you may eat some kind of fruit or foodstuff to your fill but you just have to pay one price for each time you eat. Recently, as the form of eco-tourist excursions in fruit gardens is booming, drawing more and more visitors, fruit garden owners in Cho Lach and Tan Phu (Chau Thanh District) add specialty food services to their catering program. Some of Ben Tre’s specialty dishes such as home-grown chiken rice gruel, with the chicken raised and let walking freely in the home garden so that it retains natural quality of meat; mussel rice gruel, rice pancake with mussel ingredient in Phu Da Islet (Cho Lach District). Visitors must not omit these stuffs on their tour to Ben Tre.
6. The tomb and memorial complex of Nguyen Dinh Chieu – a patriotic poet whose story poem “Luc Van Tien” is a great masterpiece in Viet Nam’s literary history. The tomb and memorial complex is located in An Duc Commune, Ba Tri District. Ben Tre’s traditional cultural festival on July 1 every year is held at this site as a way to commemorate the great patriotic poet.
7. Another tomb and memorial complex is of Phan Thanh Gian – the first doctorate holder in the Indochine under the French invasion. He killed himself after the Southern provinces under his command fell into the hands of French colonists. The tomb and memorial of Phan Thanh Gian is now located in his hometown of Bao Thanh, Ba Tri District.
8. The tomb and temple of Vo Truong Toan – the South Viet Nam great teacher in the 18^th century. Many of his pupils were later famous scholars and teachers in South Viet Nam. His tomb and temple is also in An Duc Commune, Ba Tri District.
9. Truong Vinh Ky, one of the world’s most famous scholars in the 19^th century. He was called “the one only great scholar in the Indochina” by the well-known French historian Jean Bouchot. His relics and memorial house are in Cai Mon (Vinh Thanh Commune), Cho Lach District.
10. The temple and memorial complex of Nguyen Thi Dinh – Ben Tre’s great female general – is located in Luong Hoa Commune, Giong Trom Ditrict, about 20 kilometres South-East of Ben Tre Township. This is seen as one of the great places to teach the province’s revolutionary tradition for younger generations.

To book tours and expeditions to visit the above sites, you may contact the below addresses and phone numbers:

** Ham Luong Tourist Booking Office

Address:  200 Nguyen Van Tu, Ward 5, Ben Tre Township

Telephone:  (+84) 75.818595

Fax:  (+84) 75.822463

** Tourist Booking Office

Address:  65 Dong Khoi Boulevard, Ben Tre Township

Telephone:  (+84) 75.829618

** Trade Union Tourist Company

Address:  36 Hai Ba Trung Street, Ben Tre Township

Telephone:  (+84) 75.825082

Fax:  (+84) 75.813017

** Ben Tre Tourist Joint-Stock Company

Address:  16 Hai Ba Trung, Ben Tre Township

Telephone:  (+84) 75.822392

Fax:  (+84) 75.822440

Translated by An Chau