Annotated links for Mekong Delta travel
Provinces · Vinh Long
Vinh Long: with Ben Tre and Tra Vinh
The new Vinh Long joins three former provinces: Vinh Long, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh. Its official websites are hard to reach from abroad, so this page also says which national and press sources fill the gaps for An Binh islet, Ben Tre and the Khmer sites of Tra Vinh.
- area of the new province
- 6,296.20 km²
- population in the 2025 resolution
- 4,257,581
- UNESCO lists don ca tai tu
- 2013
The new province in one paragraph
Resolution 202/2025/QH15 merged Vinh Long, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh into one province called Vinh Long, covering 6,296.20 km² with 4,257,581 people. It spans the land between the Tien and Hau rivers down to the coast. Travellers still meet the old names every day: Ben Tre town, Tra Vinh town, Cho Lach, Mo Cay and Cai Mon are all now inside Vinh Long.
Sources: Dai bieu Nhan dan — Resolution 202/2025/QH15, full text, 12 Jun 2025 · checked .
Official links for Vinh Long
| Link | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| vinhlong.gov.vn | Provincial government portal | Official · refused our checker (error 403) 12 Oct 2026 |
| vietnamtourism.gov.vn | National tourism authority; carries Vinh Long news when the province posts it | Official · loaded 12 Oct 2026 |
A 403 error usually means the server refuses certain visitors rather than that the site is down. Readers in Vietnam may open the portal without trouble. We did not find a separate tourism portal for the merged province that loaded on the check date; if you know of one, send it through the contact page.
Sources: Vinh Long provincial portal · checked .
Tra Vinh's Khmer heritage: Ao Ba Om
Ao Ba Om, a square pond ringed by old dipterocarp trees, lies about 7 km south-west of the former Tra Vinh town centre on National Highway 53, next to the Khmer Culture Museum and Ang pagoda. It is the main venue for the Ok Om Bok festival in the former Tra Vinh province and a ranked national relic. Sources give different years for the ranking, so we do not quote one.
We found no official page for the museum or the pagoda that loaded on the check date. The VnExpress article below, from 2014, is an older description of the site.
Sources: VnExpress — Ao Ba Om scenic site · checked .
Don ca tai tu: the music Vinh Long claims
The art of don ca tai tu, the amateur chamber music of southern Vietnam, was inscribed by UNESCO on 5 December 2013. It is practised in 21 provinces, and Bao Van Hoa calls Vinh Long its cradle. You may hear it on river trips or in garden homestays on the islets; the UNESCO page explains what the tradition is, and is the right link to share if you are writing about it.
Sources: UNESCO — Don ca tai tu music and song; Bao Van Hoa — ten years of UNESCO listing for Don ca tai tu, 5 Dec 2023 · checked .
An Binh islet and the coconut country of Ben Tre
An Binh, the large river islet facing the centre of Vinh Long town, is the classic overnight stop for garden homestays. Across the river, the former Ben Tre province is the coconut country of the delta, with water-coconut canals and fruit gardens around Cho Lach and Cai Mon. Which fruit is in season changes through the year; ask your host before you go.
None of these places had an official page that loaded for us on 12 October 2026. Companies that run trips to them are on the tour companies page; check what a trip actually includes, since "Ben Tre" on a day-tour page from Ho Chi Minh City often means a short stop near the My Tho bridges rather than the islets further south.
King tides and the rainy season
Riverside streets in Can Tho and Vinh Long flood at the highest tides in October and November. The 2025 bulletin from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment warned that the Can Tho gauge could approach its 2022 record and asked residents to limit travel at high tide. If you are staying on an islet in those months, ask your host how the path to the ferry behaves at high water.
Sources: Ministry of Agriculture and Environment — 2025 Mekong flood bulletin, 3 Oct 2025 · checked .
When these links will not help
Vinh Long is the merged province where official online information is thinnest. Until a working tourism portal appears, the most reliable sources are national: the VNAT news pages, UNESCO for don ca tai tu, and national newspapers for festival dates. For homestays on An Binh or in Ben Tre, the host's own listing is usually more current than anything official.
Do not rely on old Ben Tre or Tra Vinh portals that still appear in search results; anything posted before July 2025 describes a province that no longer exists.
Photos
Common questions
Questions readers send
Is Ben Tre still a province?
No. Since 1 July 2025 Ben Tre has been part of Vinh Long province, together with Tra Vinh. Ben Tre remains the name of the town.
Why can I not open the Vinh Long government website?
On 12 October 2026 the provincial portal refused connections from our checker with a 403 error. That usually means visitors from some networks are blocked, not that the site is offline.
Where is Ao Ba Om?
About 7 km south-west of the former Tra Vinh town centre on National Highway 53, next to the Khmer Culture Museum and Ang pagoda. It is now in Vinh Long province.
Related
Read next
Provinces · Can Tho city
Can Tho
Can Tho city with former Soc Trang and Hau Giang: tourism portal, Cai Rang, Khmer pagodas, Ok Om Bok.
Provinces · Dong Thap
Dong Thap
Dong Thap with former Tien Giang: tourism portal, Tram Chim, Sa Dec flowers, Vinh Trang pagoda, Thoi Son.
Directory · Festivals
Festivals and events
Lunar and fixed-date festivals across the delta, each linked to the notice or report that dated it.
Directory · Companies
Tour companies
Tour companies with live Mekong Delta trip pages, grouped by need and listed A–Z, plus licence checks.
Directory · Official
Official sources
National tourism and immigration bodies plus each new province's government and tourism portal, with check dates.
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