Binh Quoi Village: a slice of the Mekong Delta in the city
Binh Quoi Village sits on the Thanh Da peninsula, a loop of the Saigon River about eight kilometres from the centre, which is a twenty to thirty minute drive depending on traffic. It is run by Saigontourist, the state-owned tourism company, and it is essentially a large riverside garden complex: lawns, coconut palms, lotus ponds, thatched huts, a monkey bridge, bamboo waterwheels, and the river running along the edge of it. The whole thing is designed to recreate the feel of the old rural south, the Mekong Delta as it looked before the concrete arrived.
The important thing to understand before you go is what it is for. This is a place to eat, relax, walk, and take photos, not a place to see things. There is no historic monument here, no temple, no museum, nothing to tick off a list. The main event is a Southern-Vietnamese buffet that runs at weekends, and everything else is scenery around it. On a weekday it is quiet and largely empty; at the weekend it fills with Vietnamese families, wedding photographers and groups of friends. Foreign tourists are rare, and that is a large part of both its charm and its point.
What to see and do at Binh Quoi Village
1. The weekend Southern buffet
This is the reason the place exists, and the main reason to come.
At weekends, Binh Quoi 1 puts on a large buffet of Southern Vietnamese food, billed as the “pioneer cuisine of the south”, the kind of frontier cooking that fed the people who first settled the Mekong Delta. It runs to around 79 dishes, laid out at stations across the gardens, much of it cooked fresh in front of you: grilled meats and seafood, banh xeo pancakes, spring rolls, pho, soups, southern specialities, and a long table of desserts. There is live traditional music, folk games, and at some sittings a round of bingo, all of it in Vietnamese.
It runs weekend evenings only, roughly 5:00 to 8:30pm. As of 2026 it costs around 439,000 dong for adults and 279,000 dong for children under 1.4 metres, and drinks are extra.
The honest verdict, and it matters: arrive early. When the buffet opens and everything is fresh, it is genuinely good, genuinely local, and a real experience, and the crowd around you will be almost entirely Vietnamese families rather than tourists. Turn up at half seven, though, and you may find the food picked over, cooling, and being cleared away, which is exactly when the “tourist trap” reviews come from. Get there by five or six, eat while it is hot, and stay for the sunset.
2. The gardens and the riverside
The free part, and a genuinely pleasant hour.
The grounds are green, shaded and quiet, with lotus ponds, coconut palms, little wooden bridges, the monkey bridge, and paths along the Saigon River. After the noise and heat of central Saigon, the change is immediate and welcome. It is pretty, it is calm, and it is a nice place to simply wander.
Set your expectations on size, though. It is not large, and you can walk the whole thing comfortably in half an hour. This is somewhere to slow down and sit by the water, not somewhere to explore for an afternoon.
3. A backdrop for photos
Worth being honest about, because in practice it is one of the main things people use Binh Quoi for.
This is one of the most popular spots in the city for Vietnamese wedding photos, ao dai portraits, and graduation shoots, and at weekends you will see couples and families in full traditional dress posing against the ponds and palms everywhere you look. It is genuinely lovely to witness, and for a foreign visitor it is a window into a side of local life you do not usually get close to. Several travellers describe turning up expecting a quiet garden and finding hundreds of locals in beautiful clothing using it as a stage, and coming away charmed by it.
4. Fishing and shrimping
The most fun thing here, and the one almost no guide mentions.
Within the grounds you can rent a rod and fish or catch shrimp in the ponds, and the on-site kitchen will cook whatever you pull out. The set-up is relaxed and hands-on: they give you the equipment and the bait, help you get the shrimp off the hook, and drop your catch into a basket in the water until you are ready to eat. It costs roughly 100,000 to 120,000 dong an hour, and you can order from a menu too if the fishing is slow.
It is a genuinely good hour, especially with children, and it reviews better than almost anything else on the site. If you are bringing kids out here, this is the thing to do.
5. Boating and the water taxi
There are paddle boats for the ponds and boat trips on the river, and the site connects to the Saigon Waterbus, which is one of the nicer ways to arrive. Drifting in down the river is a better introduction to the place than a taxi across town, and it makes the journey part of the day rather than a chore.
6. The resort at Binh Quoi 2
A short distance away is Binh Quoi 2, a separate property with bungalows built on stilts over the water, linked by wooden bridges, and a swimming pool. It is a resort rather than an attraction, and you would go there to stay or to eat by the river rather than to look around. More on that in the practical notes below.
What not to expect
A short, honest word to save you disappointment.
There are no rides, no shows outside the weekend buffet, no attractions in the theme-park sense, and no “village” to tour. The name suggests something to explore, and there is not really one. If you come on a weekday afternoon expecting a sight, you will find a pretty but quiet garden and a restaurant that is not serving its buffet, and you will wonder what you came for. Time your visit right and it is charming. Time it wrong and there is genuinely very little here.
Location and getting there
Where is Binh Quoi Village
The address you want is Binh Quoi 1, at 1147 Binh Quoi, on the Thanh Da peninsula in Binh Thanh. It is about eight kilometres north-east of District 1, and a twenty to thirty minute drive depending on traffic.
One thing worth clearing up: Binh Quoi is not a single place. Saigontourist runs several riverside properties out here, labelled Binh Quoi 1, Binh Quoi 2 and so on, and it confuses people. For a visitor, Binh Quoi 1 is the one that means “Binh Quoi Village”, with the gardens and the weekend buffet. Binh Quoi 2 is the resort. Make sure your driver takes you to the right one.
Grab or taxi
The simplest way, and what most people do.
From District 1 it is a straightforward ride of around 100,000 to 130,000 dong each way. Have the destination set in the app in Vietnamese, since the English name means little to most drivers, and check the Grab and taxis in Ho Chi Minh City guide if you are new to the apps.
One practical point: this is a quiet residential peninsula, so getting a Grab back can take a few minutes longer than in the centre. If you have come for the evening buffet, book your return ride before everyone leaves at once.
The Saigon Waterbus
The nicest way to arrive, and an experience in itself.
Rather than sitting in traffic, you can come part of the way down the Saigon River by waterbus, which turns the journey into a slow, breezy river trip past the city and the skyline. Arriving at Binh Quoi from the water suits the place far better than pulling up in a taxi.
It is not the fastest option, and you will likely still need a short Grab at one end, but if you are not in a hurry it is worth it. As with the taxi, sort your way back in advance.
Bus
Bus 44 runs from the Ben Thanh area out to the Thanh Da peninsula and costs almost nothing.
It is slow and it is aimed at locals rather than tourists, but it works if you are on a tight budget and not in a rush. For most visitors the small saving is not worth the extra hour.
Nearby to combine a visit
Be honest with yourself here: there is very little else out this way, and Binh Quoi does not slot neatly into a day of other sights. Thanh Da is a quiet residential peninsula, not a cluster of attractions. Treat this as a half-day or an evening on its own rather than one stop among several.
If you do want to link it to something, the natural pairings are both on the way back towards the city. Landmark 81 and its riverside park sit between here and the centre, and make a good sunset pairing if you would rather see the modern side of the river than the rural one. Van Thanh Park, another green Saigontourist property, is closer in and similar in spirit if you simply want more of the same.
Practical tips for visiting Binh Quoi Village
When to go
This is the tip that decides whether the trip is worth it.
Come on a weekend evening, arriving around five or six. That gets you the buffet while the food is fresh, the live music, the sunset over the river, and the local crowd in full swing. It is the whole reason to make the journey, and it is a genuinely nice few hours.
A weekday visit is a different and much emptier proposition: quiet gardens, no buffet, no music, and not a great deal to do. If a weekend evening does not fit your trip, it is fair to question whether the trip fits at all.
Buffet times and booking
The weekend buffet runs roughly 5:00 to 8:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. At busy times, and especially around holidays, it is worth booking a table ahead through Binh Quoi’s website or by phone, because it does sell out.
Entrance and cost
There is a small entrance fee to the grounds themselves, which is minimal. The real cost is the buffet, at around 439,000 dong for adults and 279,000 for children under 1.4 metres. If you are only coming to walk the gardens and fish, you will spend very little; if you are coming for the buffet, that is the budget.
Drinks are extra, and marked up
An honest warning that catches people out. Drinks are not included in the buffet price, and they are priced well above what you would pay in the city, with something as simple as a bottle of water costing several times the normal rate. It is not a scam, it is just how these places work, but factor it in so the final bill is not a surprise.
Bring cash and prepare for the heat
Bring cash for the extras, the fishing, and the drinks. And remember the whole place is outdoors with limited shade in the open areas, so in the daytime a hat, sunscreen and water are worth having. This is another reason the late afternoon and evening is the better time to be here.
English is limited
The signage, the folk games, the music and the bingo are all in Vietnamese, and staff speak limited English. This is part of the appeal, since it is a local place doing a local thing rather than a tourist show, but go in knowing you are a guest at something that was not built with foreign visitors in mind.
Is Binh Quoi Village worth visiting?
The honest answer, for most first-time visitors on a short trip, is no.
If you have only a handful of days in Ho Chi Minh City, your time is better spent on the sights in the centre and, for a day out of the city, on the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Mekong Delta, or Tay Ninh. Binh Quoi is a manufactured, tidied-up version of the rural south. Those places are the real thing, and if it is the Mekong Delta you want, go to the Mekong Delta.
That said, there are people it genuinely suits, and it is not the tourist trap some reviews claim. Come if you live here or are staying a long time and have already seen the city. Come if you want a relaxed local evening, the weekend buffet, live music and a sunset over the river, with a crowd that is almost entirely Vietnamese. And come if you are travelling with family, because the open space, the fishing and the boats make it one of the easier, lower-stress options for families exploring Ho Chi Minh City with kids. On those terms it delivers exactly what it promises.
The recommendation is simple: come on a weekend evening, arrive by five or six for the fresh buffet and the sunset, or do not come at all. A weekday daytime visit is a quiet garden and little else, and not worth the trip across the city. Get the timing right and Binh Quoi is a pleasant, genuinely local few hours. Get it wrong and you will wonder why you bothered.
