Ben Tre City Vietnam
702
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Emerald Waterways (702 Cruises)
Emerald Harmony
350 Cruises
Emerald Liberte
350 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
On one of the Mekong branches watering the province. Ben Tre is a river cruise call: passengers leave the ship for small local craft, because the whole day plays out at water level, in the canals.
Because the province lives from the tree. A smell of warm caramel drifts over the creeks: under the fronds, families cook coconut milk in big blackened cauldrons. Coconut candy workshops line the banks.
The high point of the call: seated in a rowed sampan, a conical hat lent for the occasion on your head, you move up shaded canals where only the oar disturbs the silence. The rowers, often women from the nearby village, know every bend of this green labyrinth, closed to larger boats.
By a process unchanged for generations: husking the nuts, grating the white flesh, pressing the milk, then slow cooking in a cauldron over a wood fire until a supple golden paste forms, which is stretched, cut and wrapped by hand. The workshops open their doors with no ticket office and no staging.
Honey tea sharpened with kumquat, served at the apiaries set among the orchards, and seasonal fruit from pomelo to dragon fruit, often with traditional music. The durian and ginger candy variants readily find their way into luggage.
Boats loaded with coconuts down to the waterline, fishermen lifting their woven traps and children waving broadly from bamboo jetties. Water palm screens line canals so narrow that the branches meet above the boats.
Light clothing that still covers you from the sun, and shoes that don't mind damp: you step in and out of several boats, and the wooden jetties can be slippery. Insect repellent is useful late in the day.
The Vietnamese dong and Vietnamese. The workshops and farms rarely take cards: bring cash in small denominations for purchases on the spot. Cruise guides handle translation.
Yes, and children take to it: the sampan, the conical hats, the tastings and the sweet-making workshops pace the day. Transfers between boats do call for care with very young children.
December to April, the Mekong Delta dry season: less rain, more bearable heat and steady water levels for navigating the creeks. From June to November, monsoon downpours sometimes shorten the sampan outings.
