Mekong Delta homestays, 2 to 4 days
Tours · Vinh Long
An Binh islet, 2 days, 1 night
One night in a family home on An Binh, the islet across the river from Vinh Long town where Delta homestays began. You arrive before lunch, spend the afternoon in the garden and the canals with your host, cook dinner together and leave after a slow breakfast.
At a glance
- Length
- 2 days, 1 night
- Party
- Private, your group only
- Starts
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Ends
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Effort
- Easy; short walks, a small boat
- Price
- On request
Who this trip is for
This is the trip for a first night in a Delta home. An Binh is a single commune covering more than sixty square kilometres between the Tien and Co Chien rivers, directly opposite Vinh Long town. Press coverage puts its homestays among the first in the Delta, more than thirty years ago, and counts more than twenty houses taking guests today, nine of them with ASEAN homestay awards across the 2017–2019, 2019–2021 and 2023 cycles.
That history matters for you in practical ways. The houses are used to foreign guests and to questions about food. The range of rooms is wide, from a fan room in the family house with a bathroom across the yard to rooms with air conditioning and their own shower, so we can usually match what you need. And if the night turns out not to suit you, the town is one short ferry crossing away.
Sources: Nhan Dan, 3 Jul 2023 — An Binh homestay awards; Tuoi Tre, 13 Nov 2023 — community tourism in the west; Nhan Dan, 17 Oct 2024 — tourism on the islets · checked .
Day by day
Day 1
Ho Chi Minh City to An Binh
Wading into the canal with your host to catch dinner
Your driver and guide collect you at 07:00. The road runs down the expressway to My Thuan and across the Tien River to Vinh Long, about 136 km; with city traffic, allow two and a half to three hours. The An Binh ferry landing is about 3 km from the centre of town. The crossing is short and costs a few thousand dong; the car stays on the town side and the family, or a local driver, meets you on the islet.
Lunch is at the house. In the afternoon you work with whoever is in the garden that day: picking fruit if it is the season, clearing weeds or watering the seedlings if it is not. Later the host takes you out in a small boat on the canal behind the house, and if the water is right you try catching fish in a canal the way the family does, wading in and working by hand. Dinner is cooked together: often a fish fried whole, a sour soup or a hotpot of fermented fish with water-lily stems, rice from the pot on the stove.
Day 2
Morning on the islet, back to the city
The day starts early whether you want it to or not: boat engines on the river, roosters, a radio in the next house. Breakfast is at the family table. Afterwards you walk or cycle the lanes with the guide to one of the old wooden houses that is open to visitors every day and hosts don ca tai tu, the southern chamber music; ask the guide whether musicians are playing that day.
You cross back to Vinh Long before noon, have lunch in town, and reach Ho Chi Minh City by around 16:00 to 17:00. On request we stop on the way at Van Thanh Mieu, the Confucian temple on the Long Ho river built between 1864 and 1866.
The An Binh homestay profile
Two cautions that the brochures leave out. First, the islet is losing ground: an August 2026 report in the agriculture ministry's newspaper, citing the provincial project board, puts riverbank erosion along the Co Chien side, from the ferry landing downstream, at three to five metres a year on average, with works proposed for 2026–2030. We avoid houses where the guest rooms sit on an exposed bank. Second, some of the bigger homestays are set up for coach groups. They are clean and well run, but an evening with forty other guests is not an evening with a family. We tell you how many other guests are booked the same night if the house will say.
Where a homestay or garden is named on this site, the name comes from published press coverage or a dated travel guide listed under that section, with the date we read it. Naming a house does not mean it is the one on your trip. Your quote names the house we have checked for your dates, the room you will sleep in and the bathroom you will use.
Sources: Tuoi Tre, 13 Nov 2023 — community tourism in the west; Mia.vn, 10 Oct 2023 — An Binh in fruit season; Mia.vn, 10 Oct 2023 — An Binh gardens; Nong nghiep va Moi truong, 7 Aug 2026 — An Binh erosion · checked .
Price
| Party | Room on the quote | Price per trip |
|---|---|---|
| 2 travellers | Private room, private bathroom | On request |
| 2 travellers | Private room, shared bathroom | On request |
| 3–4 travellers | Two rooms in the same house | On request |
| 5–8 travellers | Rooms in one house or two neighbouring houses | On request |
The room and the size of your party move the price most; the season much less. The pricing page sets out every line of a quote, and how to book covers the steps from form to confirmation.
What the price includes
- One night in the homestay room named on your quote
- Lunch and dinner on day 1, breakfast and lunch on day 2
- Private car and driver, Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh Long and back
- English-speaking guide for both days, staying on the islet overnight
- Ferry crossings, the canal boat and life jackets
- Garden, fishing and cooking time with the household
What it does not include
- Travel insurance
- Drinks other than water and tea
- Entrance to private gardens or the old house if they charge on the day
- Tips for the guide, driver and the family
- Anything you buy from the household
Gallery
Who this trip is NOT for
- Anyone who needs certainty of air conditioning and a private bathroom in a specific month without flexibility on dates — we can usually find both, not always
- Light sleepers who will not use earplugs; the river traffic and the roosters start before 05:00
- Travellers expecting a guided sightseeing day; most of the time is spent at one house and its neighbours
- Visitors in the weeks before Lunar New Year who want a quiet house — families are busy and some close
- People who want more than one night of this; the four-day trip gives you three
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Can we choose the homestay?
You can ask for one by name. We check whether it has the room you need on your dates and tell you honestly if we would choose another house, and why.
What happens if it rains all afternoon?
The cooking moves earlier and the boat trip shorter. Rain in the Delta usually comes in heavy bursts rather than all day, especially from May to November.
Is the ferry safe?
It is a short, busy crossing used by local traffic all day. Life jackets are required on cross-river passenger boats; on the smaller canal boats your guide makes sure everyone wears one.
Can we stay a second night?
Yes. A second night on An Binh adds a full day in the garden and a dawn on the river. We price it as a three-day version on the same quote.
Related
Read next
Destinations · Vinh Long
An Binh islet
An early homestay islet: room types, bathrooms, ferry, seasons and the erosion question.
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Destinations · Vinh Long
Vinh Long
Vinh Long town: the An Binh ferry, Van Thanh Mieu, tides, and when to sleep here instead.
View this journey
Tours · Pricing
Pricing
The lines of a quote, the levers that move it, and how the host family's share is shown.
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Tours · How to book
How to book
The booking steps, what we ask, and what you see before paying.
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Before you go
A homestay night
Hour by hour: rooms, shared bathrooms, nets, noise, roosters, dinner, dawn.
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Example journey
Two homestays, 4 days
Four days, two host families: An Binh, Con Son, then two nights in Phong Dien.
View this journeyStart planning
Tell us which family home you have in mind
A trip, a month and how many of you are travelling are enough to start. We reply by email with questions or a first suggestion that names the house, the room and the bathroom.