Ho Chi Minh City
Đông Nam Bộ
Gary Todd · CC0
A vibrant, warm-hearted economic powerhouse that never sleeps—where the old and the new intertwine.
Saigon—Ho Chi Minh City is a city of energy. From skyscrapers to little alleys fragrant with coffee, from the bustling Ben Thanh Market to enticing sidewalk eateries. The Saigonese are generous and hospitable. This is a place where every dream has its place.
Best time to visit: Dry season, December to April
Local specialties
- Com tam (broken-rice plate)
- Hu tieu noodles
- Banh mi
- Pha lau
- Iced milk coffee
Places (22)
War Remnants Museum
The Vietnam War told through documentary photography — heavy, direct and hard to forget.
Independence Palace
The modernist palace where the Vietnam War ended at 11:30am on 30 April 1975.
Landmark 81
Vietnam's tallest building, eighty-one floors bound together like a sheaf of bamboo.
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
A red-brick cathedral with twin bell towers downtown, its bricks shipped in from Marseille.
Nguyen Hue Walking Street
A seven-hundred-metre paved boulevard — the city's outdoor living room.
Saigon Central Post Office
A French-era post office with a steel vault, hand-painted maps, and still open for business.
Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts
A Chinese merchant's yellow mansion, now a museum — and home to Saigon's oldest lift.
Bach Dang Wharf
A riverside park at the foot of the walking street, facing Landmark 81 and Thu Thiem.
Giac Lam Pagoda
Saigon's oldest pagoda, founded 1744, with over a hundred wooden statues and porcelain-studded walls.
Jade Emperor Pagoda
A Chinese temple thick with incense smoke, full of carved wooden figures and a turtle pond.
Binh Tay Market
Cho Lon's wholesale market, Chinese tiled roofs around a courtyard with a clock tower.
Ben Thanh Market
An iconic Saigon market where vibrant city life and the city's culinary flavors come together.
Cho Lon
Vietnam's largest Chinatown — assembly halls, herbal medicine shops and Chinese shop signs.
Tao Dan Park
A large green space in District 1, with a corner given over to bird keepers at dawn.
Turtle Lake
A roundabout with a pool and a concrete lotus tower that becomes a street-food spot after dark.
Saigon Opera House
A Belle Époque opera house at the head of Dong Khoi street, two goddesses carved into the facade.
Bui Vien Street
Saigon's backpacker street — speakers at full volume, chairs into the road, open until dawn.
Can Gio Mangrove Forest
A world biosphere reserve inside the city limits — a forest replanted from dead ground.
Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens
A zoo and botanical garden open since 1864 — among the oldest still running anywhere.
Bitexco Financial Tower
A lotus-bud tower with a helipad jutting out of its side, observation deck on floor 49.
Nguyen Van Binh Book Street
A hundred-metre street beside Notre-Dame, lined with book kiosks under tamarind trees.
Cu Chi Tunnels
Over 250km of tunnels dug by hand into red earth — an underground town in wartime.