Ben Tre

The picturesque little province of Ben Tre, just south of My Tho, sees little of the tourist traffic of its northern neighbour. Its sleepy waterfront, lined with ageing villas, and active market nearby makes for a pleasant stroll, and there’s good exploring into Ben Tre’s rustic settlement across the bridge south of the centre. The town has a tiny lake (Truc Giang), ringed with a few cafés. Ben Tre is also a good place to arrange boat trips around the area – particularly those wanting to escape the tour buses.

Ben Tre is famous for keo dua (coconut candy). Many local women work in small factories making these sweets, spending their days boiling cauldrons of sticky mixture, before rolling it out and cutting sections off into squares and wrapping them into paper for sale.