Fodor's Expert Review Binh Thuy Ancient House

One of the very few remaining examples of 19th-century residences in the Mekong Delta, this house has been designated an official national relic by the Ministry of Culture. Built in 1870, the privately owned house is now managed by the sixth generation of the Duong family. The exterior looks French, but the interior is quintessentially Vietnamese, and all five rooms are furnished with antiques. The house appeared briefly in the 1992 film The Lover, based on the novel of the same name by French author Marguerite Duras, as the ancestral home of her Chinese lover (the actual home of The Lover still exists in Sa Dec but at the time of filming it was being used as a government office). Binh Thuy Ancient House is a 10-minute taxi ride from most hotels, and it's worth visiting Binh Thuy Temple, an ornate structure that predates Binh Thuy Ancient House, along the way.