Vinh Long is a rich land blessed by nature with a mild climate all year round and a system of rivers heavy with alluvium. With lush fruit orchards and vast green coconut gardens, the province has attracted many tourists to experience eco-tourism and river gardens imbued with the love of the people here. Phung islet is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Vinh Long.
General information about Phung islet
Phung Islet (Vietnamese: cồn Phụng; cồn means islet, Phụng means Phoenix) is a floating land in the middle of the Tien River. It is one of the famous Four Holy Beasts of the land, the dragon (Long), the Qilin (Lân), the Turtle (Quy), and the Phoenix (Phụng) in the Mekong Delta River. With an area of more than 50 ha, there are many interesting activities and services that welcome thousands of tourists to discover and experience here.
Location: Tan Vinh Hamlet, Phu Tuc Commune, Vinh Long Province.
How to get here?
Phung islet tourist area is located in Vinh Long, about 80km from Ho Chi Minh. Usually, it takes about 2 hours to drive here. Currently, you can go to Western Bus Station to catch a bus to Ben Tre Ward, Vinh Long Province; ticket prices usually range from 100.000 VND/1 ticket. There are many bus companies to choose from. You can tell the driver to let you go to Phung islet first when you book a ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre Ward, and here are some of the bus companies: Futa, Thao Chau, Ben Tre Limousine, Tan Thanh Thuy…
In addition, you can travel to the Con Phung tourist area by motorbike. Just follow Ms. Google’s advice to National Highway 1A, go straight to Trung Luong roundabout, then take National Highway 60, go straight across Rach Mieu bridge, and you will see a sign for Phung islet.
Don’t forget the private car to Phung islet option, especially when you’re traveling with a group, as a private car or bus can pick you up, making sightseeing easy and offering stops along the way for you to relax.
For tourists from far away, you can book a flight to Saigon or Can Tho City, then continue to Phung islet by bus or car, as there is no airport in Ben Tre Ward.
The best time to visit Phung islet
With warm, sunny weather year-round, tourists can visit Phung islet at any time. Especially during the summer months (June, July, August), when the trees are green and lush, and the fruits are juicy, tourists visiting Phung islet will enjoy extremely delicious fruits such as mangosteen, durian, and rambutan.
Things to do on Phung islet
Phung islet tourist area offers many interesting experiences for visitors, from Western-style entertainment activities to dozens of attractive Ben Tre specialties. This is definitely an address not to be missed when visiting “coconut land”.
Visit the Coconut Religion Relic area
The Coconut Religion was founded in 1963 by Nguyen Thanh Nam, also known as Coconut Monk. The name “Cồn Phụng” (Phung Islet) was in use when he came here and built the Nam Quoc Phat pagoda. This place covers 1,500 square meters and currently preserves many of the local people’s cultural and religious values.
Some of the unique architectures such as: front yard with nine pillars, each of them carved a dragon skillfully; Hoa Binh tower where he sat and preached the Dharma; traditional room introducing the land and local people…
After 50 years of construction, the relic still retains its original beauty.
Visit the bee farm
On Phung islet today, a traditional profession still exists: beekeeping for honey. Coming here, you will not find it difficult to visit a family that keeps bees. The bees here mostly get honey from longan flowers.
The honey tastes delicious and fragrant. Also, there are many products made from honey, such as honey tea, pure bottled honey, honey candies, and honey-based beauty products… You can choose them as a gift for your loved ones. Don’t forget to experience the exciting work of collecting honey under the instructions of the farm owner.
Visit a coconut candy factory
Coming to Phung islet, visitors can also witness the entire process of making these extremely delicious and flavorful Southwestern coconut candies: preparing ingredients, cooking, cutting, and packaging. It is not difficult for you to ask a resident to practice some of the stages and enjoy samples here.
And surely everyone who comes to these coconut candy factories will bring themselves a few bags of sweet gifts from this land.
Experience horse carriage, cycling, or rowing a sampan
Thanks to the nature bestowed cool and fresh air, visitors should explore the islet by bicycle or horse carriage.
Passing the green coconut-shaded road, cool rows of roadside shrubs, and enjoying the peacefulness of the delta are amazing things. If you want to explore the small canals on Phung islet, a sampan is a great choice.
Local people will take you on their sampan, rowing by hand through small canals lined with water on both sides, coconut trees, and cork trees with romantic white flowers.
Visit Ben Tre Coconut Museum
Certainly, when mentioning old Ben Tre (now merged with Vinh Long Province), coconut trees are the first images that come to mind. Coconut is present in war, the economy, culture, and cuisine, shaping Ben Tre’s appearance. Therefore, a coconut museum was built at the Phung islet tourist area.
From lifeless coconut logs, artisans have created hundreds of sophisticated, eye-catching handicraft products with rich artistic value. Coming here, visitors will have to “take home” something as a gift for relatives to remember your trip to Vinh Long.
Enjoy Don Ca Tai Tu show
Have you ever experienced ‘Don ca tai tu‘ – a Vietnamese folk music? At Phung islet tourist area, visitors will experience this famous specialty in authentic Mekong thatched-roof houses.
While enjoying the music, you will also be served a variety of specialty fruit dishes, such as longan, rambutan, papaya, melon, and guava. Too interesting, isn’t it!
Participate in folk games
Experiencing the feeling of adventure, thrill, and heart-pounding excitement that requires courage is also something that visitors to Phung islet are especially impressed with, bringing joy and relaxing moments when participating in folk games such as cycling across a plank bridge, ziplining across a pond, cable-stayed bridge, and balancing bridge….
And especially, catching fish – an extremely interesting activity that many tourists love at Phung islet tourist area.
Imagine you’re a farmer in a local shirt, jumping into the pond to compete to catch snakehead fish; whoever catches more wins. I’m sure everyone will be covered in mud after playing, but it’s a lot of fun.
Enjoy the local specialty
Coming to Phung islet, visitors not only immerse themselves in the charming river landscape but also enjoy rustic dishes from the Mekong Delta made from fresh, locally available ingredients at a small restaurant designed in an open architectural style.
Most of the dishes are meticulously prepared using traditional methods, with fresh ingredients, ensuring freshness, deliciousness, and high nutritional value. Some of the specialties of the region include:
Phung islet fried sticky rice: fried sticky rice here is made from fragrant sticky rice, ground into a fine powder, then soaked in sugar and cooking oil. Continue adding grease to the pan, then use a tool to press the sticky rice until it puffs up nicely. Fried sticky rice is often great when eaten with chicken or spring rolls.
Deep-frying elephant-ear fish: Phung islet is also famous for giant fish. The giant fish will be fried until golden brown, rolled with rice paper, and dipped in dipping sauce.
Snakehead fish sour soup: another Western specialty dish for you to enjoy. Sour soup uses fresh snakehead fish cooked with a variety of vegetables and bean sprouts. The taste is sweet and sour, very stimulating.
Crispy Vietnamese pancakes: this dish is so famous in Vietnam! The crispy pancakes are usually large in size, moderately fried, and filled with meat, shrimp, bean sprouts, etc. When eaten rolled with green vegetables and dipped in fish sauce, it is super delicious.
If you want a true trip to explore Vinh Long and fully experience the beauty of this land, don’t forget to contact Vietdreamtravel to receive the most attentive service. We’re offering the best deal on daily tours and package tours to Vinh Long.
During our trip, you will not only visit Phung islet but also explore famous tourist attractions such as: Thoi Son islet, Vinh Trang Pagoda.
Source: collected by An
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