Experience the best of Ben Tre

Ben Tre stands among the branches of the Mekong, in a province of palm groves where coconut is the main crop. Workshops make coconut candy, oil, shell crafts and fibre goods, and the candy is stirred in great pans, cut and wrapped by hand.

Narrow canals thread through orchards of durian, rambutan, longan and mango, and small boats and sampans carry people between the islands and villages. The Mekong splits into wide brown channels here before it reaches the sea, and the delta towns of My Tho and Vinh Long lie across the river channels, and Ho Chi Minh City is a drive away by road.

Coconut turns up everywhere on the table: rice cooked in coconut milk, pork braised in coconut water, coconut ice cream in its shell and fresh coconut juice. Elephant-ear fish, fried and served upright, are a delta speciality, and the rains from May turn the fields and canals green.