HO CHI MINH CITY · VIETNAM
The war, the river, and dinner on the kerb.
From the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels to the colonial heart of District 1, the lantern markets of Cholon and the pavement kitchens after dark. The whole of Ho Chi Minh City, and the day trips out beyond it.
Three Saigons
One city, three different trips.
A wartime capital, a French colonial port and a street kitchen that never quite closes, all stacked on the same blocks. Start with the side that pulls you first.
The war years
The war is still here
The War Remnants Museum lays it out without flinching. The Reunification Palace sits frozen on the April morning in 1975 the tanks came through the gates. And two hours northwest you drop into the Cu Chi tunnels the Viet Cong dug by hand. No city keeps its war this close to the surface.
- 1 HCM City: Cu Chi Tunnels Morning or Afternoon Tour
- 2 Cu Chi Tunnels Tour from HCM City – Morning or Afternoon
- 3 HCM: Cu Chi Tunnels & Mekong Delta with Coconut Village Tour
French Saigon
The colonial centre
Notre Dame in red Toulouse brick, the iron-framed Central Post Office that Gustave Eiffel’s office had a hand in, the Opera House and the old Hotel de Ville strung along Dong Khoi. A century on, the Paris of the East still sits in the middle of District 1.
- 1 Ho Chi Minh City Street Food Tour & Sightseeing By Motorbike
- 2 Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Full Day Tour – Max 12
- 3 Saigon: Street Food Tasting & Sightseeing Tour by Motorbike
The pavement kitchen
Eaten standing up
Saigon eats outdoors. A banh mi from a cart, com tam under a tarpaulin, a bowl of pho before first light and the night grills of District 4. The best meals in the city have no menu, no walls and a queue of locals who already know what to order.
- 1 Ho Chi Minh City Street Food Tour & Sightseeing By Motorbike
- 2 Saigon By Night and Street Food By Motorbike | Opt: Ao Dai Riders
- 3 Private Street Food Tour by Motorbike/Car with Local Students
Start here
If you only do one thing.
More first trips to Saigon begin with this one than anything else in the city.
The classics
The Tours Everyone Books First
Cu Chi, the Mekong, a street-food crawl and a morning in the War Remnants Museum. The days most travellers come to Saigon for.
Best of Saigon
What a first week is built around.
The war history, the colonial centre, the street food, the markets, the Mekong and a cooking class that starts at the wet market. Where most trips begin, and the best of each.
The big day trip
How to do the Cu Chi Tunnels.
Forty kilometres northwest of the city, and a different day depending on how you get there. Three ways to see the tunnels, set by the time you want to spend.
The markets
Saigon keeps its life in its markets.
Ben Thanh under its clocktower, the tin-roofed sprawl of Binh Tay over in Cholon, the wet markets that open before light and the floating markets a delta-day south. The city still does its shopping out loud, by hand, in the open.
See Saigon’s market tours →After dark
The city saves its best for after dark.
When the heat finally lifts, Saigon comes out. The night markets and the street-food strips, the rooftop bars high over District 1, the water-puppet theatre and the A O Show at the Opera House, and a dinner boat drifting past the lit towers on the river.
See Saigon after dark →Cholon
Cross the canal into old Saigon.
West of the centre, District 5 keeps the slower, older city: incense smoke coiling under the roof of the Thien Hau pagoda, the herb shops and gold shops along Hai Thuong Lan Ong, and Binh Tay market behind its yellow gate. This is the Chinatown the French found already here.
Walk Cholon and the old quarter →Mekong Delta day trip
Two hours south, the city turns to water.
Past the last of the suburbs the roads give out and the channels take over: stilt houses, sampans under the water-coconut palms, coconut candy pulled by hand, and markets where the whole shop is one loaded boat. The delta keeps its own clock, and most people give it a full day.
- 1 From HCM City: Mekong Delta Tour with Sampan Journey
- 2 HCM: Cu Chi Tunnels & Mekong Delta with Coconut Village Tour
- 3 Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Signature Tour
Where to go
Pick a corner of Saigon.
Downtown for the museums and the food. The Mekong for the river. Cu Chi for the tunnels. Tay Ninh for the rainbow temple. Can Gio for the mangroves. Mui Ne for the dunes.
By the day you want
Or choose how to spend it.
Street food if you came to eat. A scooter to move with the city. A cooking class to take it home. A market for the morning, the river for the skyline at dusk.
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