18 Best Things to Do in Ho Chi Minh Vietnam
Saigon is home for me, and it’s still a city I never get bored of.
There’s always somewhere to eat, another coffee shop to try, or a neighborhood that feels completely different from the one you were in ten minutes ago. I love that you can have a very full day here without planning every hour.
If it’s your first visit, these are the things to do in Ho Chi Minh City I’d put at the top of your list, along with a few of my favorite ways to enjoy the city.
Plan your Ho Chi Minh City trip
| Planning your trip | What I’d choose | Book |
|---|---|---|
| Where to stay | Stay somewhere central on your first trip so you can walk to plenty of sights and easily get around by Grab | Compare hotels |
| Best food experience | Join a street food tour if you want to try more local dishes without figuring everything out yourself | Check street food tour |
| Evening show | A O Show is a fun choice when you want something different after a day of sightseeing | Book A O Show tickets |
| Easy sightseeing | A sightseeing bus is handy when you want a quick first look around central Saigon | Get sightseeing bus tickets |
1. Visit the War Remnants Museum
The War Remnants Museum is one of the places I’d make time for, even though it’s not an easy visit.
Some of the photography and personal stories are difficult to look at, and I usually want a little time afterward rather than rushing straight to the next attraction. It gives you important context for the Vietnam War and its impact on ordinary people.
There’s military equipment outside, but the indoor exhibitions are the part that stays with me most.
Give yourself enough time to go through at your own pace. This isn’t somewhere I’d try to squeeze into a packed hour.
2. Explore Independence Palace
I love the interiors at Independence Palace because so much of the building still feels frozen in another era.
The old reception rooms, meeting spaces and offices are fascinating to wander through, especially if you enjoy retro design. Then you head downstairs, and the mood changes completely.
The underground bunker is probably my favorite part.
You’ll find old maps, communication rooms and command spaces below the palace, and it adds a very different side to the visit after all the grand rooms upstairs.
Get Independence Palace ticket →
3. Walk from Notre-Dame Cathedral to Central Post Office
This little pocket of central Saigon is really easy to explore on foot.
Start around Notre-Dame Cathedral, then cross over to the Saigon Central Post Office. The cathedral is still being restored, but the square around it is such a familiar part of the city that I’d still stop when you’re nearby.
The Post Office is one of my favorite old buildings in the center.
I love the high ceiling, old maps and little details inside, and it’s still a working post office rather than a building you only admire from behind a rope.
Book Street is right next door, so don’t miss it. It’s a short pedestrian street with bookstores, small stalls and cafés, and I like how calm it feels considering how busy the surrounding streets can be.
4. Wander around Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is touristy, but it’s still worth seeing on a first trip.
The market is packed with coffee, dried fruit, clothes, souvenirs and food, so there’s always something going on. I usually enjoy wandering around more than arriving with a serious shopping plan.
If you do want to buy something, bargaining is completely normal.
And don’t only stay inside the market. The surrounding streets are lively too, and this whole area makes a good starting point for exploring central Ho Chi Minh City.
5. Eat your way through Saigon
Food is one of my favorite parts of Saigon, and I could very easily plan a day around what I want to eat next.
Phở and bánh mì are obvious places to start, but don’t stop there. Look for cơm tấm, bún thịt nướng, hủ tiếu, bánh xèo and whatever seems busy when you walk past. Some of my favorite meals are the simple ones.
A tiny table, a bowl of noodles and a cold drink can be all you need, especially when you’ve spent the morning walking around in the heat.
A food tour is also a great option when you want to try more without spending half the evening searching.
I like Saigon food tours because they usually take you beyond the obvious restaurants in the center and introduce you to little local places you might otherwise miss.
Book a Saigon street food tour →
6. Spend a few hours in Cholon
Cholon feels completely different from central District 1, which is exactly why I like coming here.
You’ll find Chinese temples, traditional medicine shops, old shophouses and markets all mixed together. The streets are busy, but there’s a lot more local life than around the main tourist area.
I’d start around Binh Tay Market and then make your way toward Thien Hau Pagoda.
The incense coils hanging from the ceiling are beautiful, and I always like slowing down here for a while before heading back into the streets.
Don’t try to see Saigon Chinatown in twenty minutes. Give yourself time to wander, look down side streets and stop when something catches your attention. Cholon is much more fun that way.
7. See Saigon from above at the Skydeck
Saigon looks completely different once you get above all the traffic.
The Saigon Skydeck inside Bitexco Financial Tower gives you a wide view over the city and the river. I especially like spotting places I’ve just walked through from a completely different angle.
Late afternoon is my favorite time to go. You can see the city in daylight first, then stay as the buildings start lighting up for the evening. It’s a nice way to understand just how enormous Ho Chi Minh City really is.
Bitexco isn’t your only option for seeing Saigon from above. Landmark 81 SkyView is much higher and gives you a completely different perspective over the city and river.
Book Landmark 81 SkyView tickets →
8. Explore Saigon by motorbike
Motorbikes are such a big part of everyday life here that seeing the city from the back of one feels completely natural.
The traffic can look wild when you first arrive, so joining a motorbike tour is a much easier way to enjoy the experience without having to drive yourself.
What I like most is how much ground you can cover. You can move quickly between neighborhoods, stop for food and end up in parts of Saigon you probably wouldn’t reach during a normal walking tour.
And once you’ve been in the traffic for a little while, it starts feeling much less chaotic than it looks from the pavement.
Book a Ho Chi Minh City scooter tour →
9. Take a Vietnamese cooking class
A cooking class is a fun change after spending a few days eating your way around Saigon.
The one I joined included a farm-to-table experience, which made the day much more interesting than simply turning up in a kitchen. Seeing the ingredients first made cooking with them feel much more connected.
Then you get to sit down and eat everything you’ve made.
A Ho Chi Minh City cooking class is especially nice when there’s a dish you’ve been ordering repeatedly and you’re curious about how it’s actually made.
Join Ho Chi Minh City cooking class →
10. Explore Ho Thi Ky Flower Market
Ho Thi Ky is one of those places where I usually arrive planning to have a quick look around and end up staying much longer. The narrow lanes are packed with flowers, little shops and food stalls, and it feels completely different from the bigger tourist sights around District 1.
The flower market is lovely to walk through, especially when you get into the smaller lanes filled with buckets of roses, orchids and colorful bouquets. It has been one of Saigon’s main flower markets for decades, and you’ll see vendors preparing flowers for shops, celebrations and everyday customers across the city.
But I’d come hungry because the food around Ho Thi Ky is just as much a reason to visit. There are loads of small stalls squeezed into the surrounding streets, so you can wander around trying Vietnamese snacks, grilled food, desserts and drinks as you go.
I particularly like coming later in the day when there’s more going on and the food area starts getting busy. If you’d rather have someone show you what to eat, Ho Thi Ky is also included on several Saigon street food and motorbike tours.
11. Watch a traditional water puppet show
If you haven’t seen a water puppet show elsewhere in Vietnam, Saigon is an easy place to fit one in.
The Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre puts on short evening performances with wooden puppets moving across the water, accompanied by traditional music and Vietnamese storytelling. It’s colorful, a little quirky and very different from the other evening activities in this list.
I’d choose this when you want something cultural without committing the whole night. The show is fairly short, so you can easily go for dinner afterwards or combine it with an evening around central Saigon.
You don’t need to understand Vietnamese to follow everything either. A lot of the fun comes from the music, puppets and seeing how the performers manage to make everything move across the water.
Book Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show tickets →
12. Cruise along the Saigon River
The city feels surprisingly calm once you’re out on the river.
I like going around sunset because you see the skyline while there’s still some daylight, then watch everything start glowing as it gets darker.
A dinner cruise makes a nice evening when you want to slow things down. Or choose a shorter sightseeing cruise if you mainly want the views without planning the whole night around it.
Either way, seeing Saigon from the water is a very different experience from being surrounded by motorbikes all day.
Compare Saigon River cruises →
13. Walk along Nguyen Hue in the evening
Nguyen Hue gets much more fun once the heat starts easing in the evening.
Families and groups of friends come out, City Hall lights up at one end, and the whole pedestrian street feels lively without needing any real plan.
I usually like wandering toward the river and seeing where I end up.
The Café Apartment is right on Nguyen Hue too, with lots of little cafés stacked inside the old building. Head upstairs for a drink if you want a good view over the street.
This is one of those simple Saigon evenings I never get tired of.
14. Watch A O Show at Saigon Opera House
A O Show is a lovely choice when you want an evening that feels a little different.
The performance mixes bamboo circus, acrobatics, music and scenes inspired by Vietnamese life. It’s playful and creative without feeling like you need to understand a complicated story.
I also really like the setting. Saigon Opera House is beautiful inside, and stepping back out into the middle of District 1 afterwards makes the whole evening easy to combine with dinner or drinks nearby.
15. Traveling with kids? Spend a day at Suoi Tien
If you’re traveling with kids, Suoi Tien is one of the easier ways to give everyone a break from museums and historical sights.
The park mixes rides and water attractions with very Vietnamese decorations, huge Buddhist-inspired statues and some wonderfully over-the-top areas. It definitely doesn’t look like a theme park you could pick up and drop into another country.
I’d treat this as a proper half-day or full-day outing rather than trying to squeeze it between central Saigon attractions.
Metro Line 1 also makes getting out toward Suoi Tien much easier than it used to be, which is another reason it now works better for visitors staying in the city.
Get Suoi Tien Theme Park tickets →
16. Take a long coffee break
Coffee breaks can easily become part of the day in Saigon rather than something you squeeze between attractions.
I like finding somewhere upstairs where I can sit by a window and watch the traffic below. A strong cà phê sữa đá and half an hour of doing very little is sometimes exactly what I want.
Pasteur Street and the streets around Notre-Dame Cathedral are good areas for café hopping.
You’ll find old apartment cafés, little independent spots and newer specialty coffee shops close together, so you can simply wander until somewhere looks good.
17. Spend an afternoon in Thao Dien
Thao Dien shows a very different side of Saigon from the old buildings and busy streets around District 1.
I like coming over here when I want a slower afternoon with good coffee, restaurants and little shops rather than another round of sightseeing. There are plenty of independent Vietnamese fashion brands, design stores and cafés around the neighborhood now, so it’s easy to wander without much of a plan.
Food is another good reason to come. You can go from a casual café to some of the city’s most interesting newer restaurants within a few streets, then stop somewhere for a drink before heading back across the river.
Thao Dien isn’t somewhere I’d squeeze into a short one-day Saigon itinerary. But if you have three or four days, it’s a nice way to see what the city feels like beyond the traditional tourist sights.
18. Have a night out in Saigon
There’s no single “right” way to spend a night out here.
I like rooftop bars when I want drinks with a view and somewhere I can actually have a conversation. There are plenty around District 1, so you don’t have to travel far after dinner.
Bui Vien is the complete opposite. It’s loud, bright and very touristy, but it can be fun to walk through once just to see the chaos for yourself. If that doesn’t sound appealing, skip it.
Saigon has cocktail bars, live music, breweries, late-night cafés and plenty of quieter places, so there’s no reason everyone needs to end up on the same street.
Have another day? Get out of the city
Cu Chi Tunnels are the day trip I’d choose if you want to continue exploring Vietnam’s wartime history.
You can see sections of the underground tunnel network and learn much more about how people lived and moved below ground. It pairs naturally with the War Remnants Museum without feeling like the same experience.
For something completely different, head into the Mekong Delta.
A day tour gives you a quick look at the waterways and smaller towns south of Saigon, although I’d stay overnight if you have enough time and want a slower experience.
Book a Mekong Delta day tour →
Tay Ninh is another easy option when you want to swap city streets for mountain views and something culturally different.
Ba Den Mountain and the Cao Dai Holy See work really well together, and you can comfortably visit them on the same trip.
Where to stay in Ho Chi Minh City
For a first visit, I’d stay somewhere central so you can walk out in the morning and already be close to plenty of places you want to see.
Park Hyatt Saigon is my pick for classic luxury. The location beside the Opera House is hard to beat, and you can easily walk to Nguyen Hue, Central Post Office and lots of restaurants.
Hôtel des Arts Saigon – MGallery has a more stylish, modern feel. I especially like the rooftop for an evening drink, and the location still makes exploring central Saigon very easy.
For somewhere quieter, I’d choose Mia Saigon. The riverside setting feels completely different from the center, so it’s a lovely option when you want somewhere peaceful to come back to after a busy day.
Compare hotels in Ho Chi Minh City →
Final thoughts
Saigon has plenty of famous attractions, but I don’t love the city because of any one museum, market or building.
It’s the combination that makes it fun. You can spend the morning somewhere serious, have an amazing lunch on a tiny plastic stool, disappear into a café for an hour and then find yourself beside the river as the city lights come on.
So see the big sights, especially on your first trip, but don’t plan every minute.
Leave some room to wander, eat something you weren’t looking for and stop when somewhere catches your attention. That’s much closer to how I like enjoying Saigon.
