Ho Chi Minh city which was formerly known Saigon, is a fun city with great street food, crazy party street, amazing breweries serving delicious local craft beers, beautiful pagoda, cool cafes, shopping in china town, war history, and fancy financial towers that offer some of the best city views and cool bars.
Before the north and south of Vietnam were reunited, Saigon served as the capital of South Vietnam. North and South Vietnam had a different political bend, which is visible among . This makes Ho Chi Minh an interesting place to witness the subtle difference in culture, food and especially the lifestyle.
Entire Ho Chi Minh is divided into Districts from 1 to 16. However, we frequented only in District 1, 3, 4, and 5 which is where all the major attractions are peppered. Our homestay owner gave us a handy Ho Chi Minh map highlighting places of sightseeing, food, and shopping.
| Article Content |
| Vietnam Blog articles link |
| Things to do in Ho Chi Minh |
| 3 to 5 days itinerary |
| Essentials for Ho Chi Minh City |
| Homestay options & prices |
| Travel budget for Ho Chi Minh |
| Cost saving tips |
Vietnam blog articles to checkout for your planning
Things to do in Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh
1. Visit the Pagodas – There are 3 major pagodas in the city namely: Cao Dai temple, Ong Bon temple, and Giac Vien pagoda.
Cao Dai Temple is most famous among tourist and is a must-visit as it represents the Caodaism religion which is an amalgamation of multiple religion around the world. Its ideal to take a tour guide who can walk you through the history of this place.
Ong Bon Temple is a quaint little temple/ pagoda nestled in the China town district 5. This place is surrounded by school and market but once you enter this place, its really peaceful. We sat by the tittle fountain with tortoises feeding on green leafy and only sound was that of waterfall. The subtle smell from the unique spiral incense hanging around the pagoda adds to the atmosphere. We spent an hour out here soaking in the vibes and then taking some pictures.
2. Enjoy Pho – One of the most popular (atleast outside Vietnam) Vietnamese cuisine is Pho, a soupy noodle dish typical to Vietnam that is served with meat and tons of greens. And I must say the Pho is extremely unique and distinct in taste from other noodles. The water thin broth, perfectly cooked meat, thin ricce noodles served with greens of various types that have typically a fresh flavor to them is just mind blowing. You get Pho through out Vietnam and the preparation differs in South, Central, and North of Vietnam. I personally loved the Pho served in South as they have tons of greens of various kinds and are the flavor point is lighter on palatte allowing you to get a taste of all key ingredients in the Pho. Read my detailed article on Best Pho to have in Vietnam.
3. Take a food tour – We are big time foodie and hence this piece comes on top of the list of things to do for us. We decided to take a food tour as there is a language barrier and we knew very little about the cuisine (I believe this is true for many of my readers). We paid about USD 28 per person for a food tour conducted by our homestay owner who was a local and well versed in English.
We took the food tour in District 4, which was a mafia settlement at some point. However, after a bridge was constructed on the Saigon river (Dong Nai river), the settlement slowly turned into a food hub that is frequented more by locals. And since there were more locals coming to the food stalls and restaurants here, the place maintained a lot of authenticities and you wont see places that are “made to look authentic” for tourists.
We tried about 5 dishes, 2 desserts, and 2 kinds of local wine in about 5-6 hours span. Avoid having heavy meal before the food tour. My food guide for Ho Chi Minh highlights the food that we ate in the food tour.
Ensure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes as there will be lot of walking (cause you need to digest food to make way for more food) and you will sit on a lot of low seating plastic stools.
In case you are a pure vegetarian then, give this food tour a pass as most of these places wont serve you pure vegetarian like we get in India. Read my article for pure vegetarian food in Vietnam.
4. Crawl through the Cu Chi tunnels – Crawling through these tunnels was surely an experience. I highly recommend this place to everyone. It’s one of the must-see things in Vietnam. I don’t want to give away too much, but seeing the tunnels and traps created during wartime by Vietnamese people while listening to the tour guide, was a different thing. Be very careful as these tunnels tend to be claustrophobic. We had a gentleman in his 50s who looked fit but sort of fainted after the tunnel walk. There was medical staff on premises who administered necessary treatments to him. The tickets include a tour guide so you don’t need to look for them separately.
We had taken a tour wherein we clubbed the museum, independence palace, and Cu Chi Tunnel as they were all in the political theme. For this tour we paid about USD 30 per person which included the entry tickets for the museum and palace, morning breakfast and lunch, and transportation service from hotel and back to hotel. We spent about about half a day on this trip and literally could only fit in the visit to Post office in the morning since we were early.
5. Visit the War Remnant museum – Any war museums are not easy to visit as they end up stirring so many emotions within one. I believe that’s what a good war museum aims for. This was no different. As we ended up spending 2hrs in this museum, quietly soaking in every piece of information. And even after we left, we were not talking to each other for some time. Some of the photographs and jail look-alikes created will surely make your stomach churn a bit. But do give it a go and don’t hesitate. Coz history is there to teach us. We didn’t need a tour guide here as the museum did that job very well.
6. Loose yourself in Cho Lon (China Town) – is a bustling place with shops selling everything from bird cage to dried fish to blankets to dry fruits to weighing scale of all sizes. Cho Lon is a concentrated Chinese settlement that also houses a Bein Tay market for wholesale and retail shopping. If you have knowledge of Chinese herbs and medicine, this is the place to get yourself some goodies in Ho Chi Minh. We chose to be by ourselves and literally explore lanes and shops that we felt were interesting. I ended up buying some amazing dried rose bud tea, dried butterfly pea tea, jujube, and khatu from a local shop.
7. Shop at Ben Thanh market – is filled with lots of things like fruits, snacks, dry fruits, dried fish, and tons of souvenir shops. There are lots of stalls selling coffee as well, but we preferred to buy coffee from some local shops in Hanoi.
8. Do a beer tour – In last 10 years, there are some craft beer companies have cropped up in Ho Chi Minh. There are many craft beers that are must-try. If you have limited time, the best way will be to take a beer tour or go on a self-assisted beer tour like the one we had taken.
9. Enjoy Ca Phe hopping – Vietnam is synonym with food and coffee with various types of Ca Phe to enjoy various preparations of coffee that are unique to Vietnam. Read here for best coffee to have and best cafes to try to create your own wish list.
10. Visit central Post office – which was built in French era and hence the architecture displays the french style in every bit. This will be a nice place to send postcards to your loved ones.
11. Visit the Reunification palace – This palace is mainly a symbol of united Vietnam when after the war, north and South Vietnam were reunited. Most interesting part of this building for us was to see the basement from where the president operated during the war. We put this on our list as it was part of the tour, else we would have happily missed this.
Other things to do:
12. Visit Notre Dame cathedral – This cathedral claims to be old and beautiful and usually appears on tourist list for Saigon. However, we couldn’t see this cathedral as its under renovation till 2023.
13. View Saigon from the heights of Bitexco tower – Bitexco tower it’s a tall commercial building that used to be the tallest tower of Vietnam. It has an observation deck on the 49th floor which can be accessed with an entry fee of INR 737. You can watch sunset from the observation deck or while sipping a cocktail at one of the fancy restaurant in the building.
14. Take a day trip to Mekong Delta – Mekong Delta is most famous for floating boat markets, wherein tourist can glimpse the traditional way Vietnamese would trade goods. We gave this a miss as based on my research this is a highly touristy place wherein things are made to look authentic for tourist, something that we are not a fan off. You can take a tour or travel on your own to Mekong Delta.
Here is our 3/5 days itinerary for Ho Chi Minh:
| Day 01 | Since we landed in Ho Chi Minh in late morning, after check in we straight had lunch and sipped juice while we relaxed from the travel. Evening was spent with general strolling around the area to get ourselves acquainted based on the map given by our homestay lady. We ate some Pho, drank egg coffee at Little Hanoi Ca Phe, and ended our day with some Saigon beer. |
| Day 02 | 1st half we took a bus to travel to China town, where we visited the Ong Bon Temple and strolled around the Bin Tan market sipping bubble tea. Both these places are usually visited by locals so we didn’t face barrage from vendors asking us to step in and make purchase. We had amazing Pho at a local restaurant in the market. We had booked our food tour with our homestay owner for 2nd half which started at 5pm from our homestay and lasted the entire remainder of the evening till about 10:30pm. We had some great conversations during our tour which we continued at a local brewery called Winking Seal which was close to our homestay and on my list. |
| Day 03 | We had booked ourselves a full-day tour that started at 8 am from homestay to make our first pitstop at the War Museum, Central Post Office, (Notre Dame cathedral which is bang opposite the post office couldn’t be part of this list since its closed till 2023), Independence palace, 2 hours travel to Cu Chi Tunnels wherein we halted at a govt authorised Lacquer painting workshop to see the process, toured the Cu Chi tunnel, and travelled back to homestay by 7pm. After a quick shower and some rest, we went to the crazy street for a relaxed dinner while enjoying. If you have only 3 days, with this itinerary you will cover the major attractions. |
| Day 04 | In the first half we spent some quiet time reading at Little Hanoi Ca Phe followed by lunch of Pho. In the second half we went on self-assisted craft beer tour around the city which we completely did on walk to exert energy and remain sober ensuring we enjoyed all the breweries we planned for. |
| Day 05 | We started our day with a Vietnamese coffee at Ca Phe Soo followed by a stroll in the Ben Thanh market as they are bang opposite to each other. Later we took a stroll in Ly Tu Trong street (District 1) checking our local artist shop (fb page) followed by some more coffee at Manki Ca Phe. This day was mainly kept for Ca Phe hopping as we are fond Vietnamese coffee. We ended our day with some relaxed time at the Ho Chi Minh Central park which 200 meters from our homestay. |
Essentials for Ho Chi Minh City
| Sim card: Viettel |
| Copy of Lonely Planet for Vietnam |
| Flight: Vistara, Indigo, Spice Jet, and Viet Jet |
| Airport City Transfer: Mia Linh Taxi or Vinasun Taxi |
| Tours: Get Your Guide, Free walking tour |
| Food Guide in Vietnam: Vegetarian / Non vegetarian / Anthony Bourdain picks |
Homestay prices
Prices vary from 210000 VND to 1080000 VND per night which will provide you with a compact bedroom, self-sufficient bathroom, and wifi. We chose Vy Khanh Homestay that we booked from Agoda as the owner has 9.6 rating with amazing reviews, deservingly. We also stayed at Cactusland that we booked via Airbnb with major difference being, the room and bathroom was spacious separate dinning area and a lovely terrace with Bluetooth speaker which we hardly got to use.
You can also book hostels that provide bed in a dorm, common bathroom, and wifi which will be cheaper.
Budget for Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh
If you have street food then the prices will range from 4000 VND to 200000 VND per dish. Food is relatively cheap when compared to Indian prices.
Mode of travel can be local bus if you have time on hand, Grab cabs (they are like Uber of Vietnam) which we found to be bit pricey but good service or hire scooters which could be bit risky given that most of the people in Vietnam have their own driving rules.
For a Mid-range budget of INR 35000 to INR 45000 you can enjoy basic homestay, most meals at local street food, essential cab usage, and experiential spending at Ca Phes’ and breweries.
Here is our cost split for 2 people:
| Expense Type | Cost for 2 (INR) |
| Local travel | 2204 |
| Meal | 17532 |
| Stay | 3500 |
| Tour/ Experiences | 5267 |
| Grand Total | 41611 |
Cost saving tips
- If you plan well and stick to a district for most of the day, you can minimise cab usage or walk for nearby distances as walking is the best way to explore a city.
- Take Saigon free walking tours to see the city and but ensure to tip the guide well.
- Use public transport such as bus for leisure times
- Walk. Walk. Walk. This is the best cost saving effort which allows one to see the place at a slow pace.
- Eat at local street food. The Vietnamese food tastes best at the street stalls and unfortunately not so much at the restaurants. This saves money, you get to contribute to local economy, and definitely priceless experience of getting to connect with locals at these joints.
Read Vietnam related articles here:
Here is a Visual Tour of our Ho Chi Minh trip:
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