Tay Ninh, from Ba Den Mountain to the Lang Sen wetland

Most visitors know Tay Ninh as a long day out from Ho Chi Minh City: up Ba Den Mountain in the morning, the noon ceremony at the Cao Dai Holy See, back in the city for dinner. That trip still works. What has changed is the province around it. Since 1 July 2025 Tay Ninh also includes the whole of former Long An province, so it now runs from the Cambodian border forests in the north to the flooded grassland of the Plain of Reeds in the south-west, and its administrative centre sits in the former city of Tan An rather than in Tay Ninh town.

This guide is written for people planning a visit on their own or comparing what a tour offers. It explains the places, how long each one needs, how to reach them, what the fixed costs we can source look like, and when each is a poor choice. It does not sell tours, tickets or rooms.

Think of the new province as two halves joined at the Vam Co rivers. The northern half is the old Tay Ninh: flat farmland with a single mountain, Ba Den, rising 986 metres out of it; the Cao Dai Holy See a few kilometres from the former provincial town; the forests of Lo Go–Xa Mat on the border; and Dau Tieng Lake to the east. The southern half is the old Long An: Mekong Delta country of canals and rice, with Tan An as its hub and the Lang Sen wetland out towards the Cambodian border in the far west.

For a visitor that split matters more than the new name. The two halves are not on one easy loop. Ba Den and the Holy See pair naturally in one day from Ho Chi Minh City. Lang Sen is a separate trip, closer in feel to the Mekong Delta, and is usually reached from Tan An rather than from Tay Ninh town. Our day trip or overnight page sets out the hours each combination needs.

Every block that contains a fact that changes, such as a fare, an opening time, a festival date or an administrative name, has a source line under it with the date an editor last read that source. Official sources come first: the National Assembly resolution on the merger, the provincial newspaper, UK travel advice, the national tourism authority, the Ramsar Convention and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity. Where only a commercial or travel-blog page gives a figure, the source line says so, and the figure is shown as a range.

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