Getting to know Sa Dec and Vinh Long
Every year in the lunar twelfth month, the fields around Sa Dec turn into the delta’s biggest flower nursery: rows of marigold, chrysanthemum and rose, grown for the Tet flower markets that will ship them out across the country. Sa Dec has been the Mekong Delta’s largest hub for ornamental flowers and bonsai for generations, and the weeks before Tet are when that industry is easiest to see in full swing rather than as rows of young seedlings.
The Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House in the centre of Sa Dec mixes French colonial and Chinese architectural styles from the close of the nineteenth century, and owes much of its fame outside Vietnam to Marguerite Duras, whose novel The Lover (L’Amant) draws on a real relationship between the merchant’s son who owned the house and a young Frenchwoman. The house is open to visitors and still furnished much as it would have been.
The provincial map here has shifted too. Since the 1 July 2025 merger, Sa Dec sits inside a larger Dong Thap province whose administrative capital is My Tho, not Cao Lanh as some older references still say. Vinh Long, on the opposite bank of the Mekong, has absorbed both Ben Tre and Tra Vinh into a single new Vinh Long province, which means the thousand-year-old Khmer temple Chua Ang in Tra Vinh now sits, administratively, in the same province as Vinh Long town itself.
Things to see and do
Sa Dec flower village
The Mekong Delta’s largest ornamental flower and bonsai hub, at its most spectacular in the lunar twelfth month before Tet, when fields of blooms are cut and shipped nationwide.
Huynh Thuy Le Ancient House
A late-nineteenth-century merchant’s house blending French and Chinese styles, and the real setting behind Marguerite Duras’s novel The Lover.
An Binh Islands
A cluster of river islands between the Tien and Co Chien rivers, reached by a short ferry from central Vinh Long, with orchard walks and narrow-canal sampan rides.
Orchard homestays on An Binh
Family-run homestays set among fruit orchards let you stay the night on the islands rather than just passing through on a day tour.
Vinh Long’s old brick kilns
Rows of beehive-shaped brick and pottery kilns along the Co Chien river, many now closed but still visible from the water, a leftover of what was once a major local industry.
Vinh Long market
A riverside market in the town centre, worth an hour on foot before or after a trip out to the islands.
Sa Dec is also one of the more common stops built into multi-day Mekong river cruises running between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, so if you are taking one of those, there is a good chance you will pass through it without needing to add it to your own itinerary.
Good to know
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Distance from Ho Chi Minh City | About 140 km to Vinh Long, roughly 3 hours by road |
| New province (since 1 July 2025) | Sa Dec: Dong Thap province, administrative capital My Tho. Vinh Long: an enlarged province now including former Ben Tre and Tra Vinh. |
| Best time for the flower village | The lunar twelfth month, typically mid-January to early February |
| Getting around the islands | Ferry crossing, then on foot, by bicycle or by sampan |
| Currency | Vietnamese Dong (VND) |
Trips that include Sa Dec and Vinh Long
Any of these can be timed around the flower village’s pre-Tet peak, or adjusted to add an extra night on the islands. Tell us your travel dates and how many people are travelling, and we will send back a day-by-day plan with hotel options.