05 May 6 Things You Must Do in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
6 Things You Must Do in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- // Destinations, Vietnam
When you have limited time in a city, you need to know the things you want to do and see straight away — that was us in Ho Chi Minh City. We had about three days to explore and hit those can’t miss high points.
Drew and I walked, scooted, and sweated our legs off to bring you the things that you simply must see, do, and eat if you have limited time in Ho Chi Minh City.
If you’re into cheap eats, street food, markets, and nightlife you’ll love Ho Chi Minh City.
Here are a few things you shouldn’t miss if you only have a couple days to explore Ho Chi Minh City.
Find What You're Looking For
Stepping off the plane in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly—but still commonly—known as Saigon), the humidity spread over us desert rats like we’d jumped into a vat of warm pudding.
The city of more than 12 million people is a bustling hive of activity; every inch of the roadways and sidewalks is filled with cars, buses, and, yes, the infamous scooters (apparently 8.5 million scooters flood the roadways in Ho Chi Minh City every day).
It’s green and lush with big, beautiful palm trees and many plants — many that I’d never seen before. The vibrant labyrinth of side streets with their giant tangled nests of wire overhead is in sharp contrast to the wide boulevards from which they jut off.
» Keep Your Valuables Zipped Up & Secured At All Times
Pickpockets are quick and efficient. With all the people around bumping into you, you’d likely never feel someone reaching into your pocket or backpack.
» Getting Around Ho Chi Minh City
If you use a taxi, make sure they turn on the meter. You’ll get a cheaper fare than if you try to negotiate and there are quite a few scammers. Also, you can’t miss the Vietnamese version of Uber called Grab, which allows you to hop on the back of a scooter, rather than a car. The drivers wear bright green helmets and windbreakers as they scoot around the city. If you download the app, you’ll find it is a fast and cheap alternative to a cab.
Street Food
Don’t just watch the excitement and chaos that is Ho Chi Minh City traffic scene—get in it!
There is no better way to feel that frenetic energy than by hopping onto the back of a scooter.
We found a tour company that combined our love of street food and got us out onto the streets. Hands down, this was one of the best experiences of our whole Vietnam holiday.
Our tour guides from Saigon Street Eats picked us up at our hotel. Helmets in hand, Drew and I jumped onto the back of their scooters and whizzed off into the maze of streets. The fact that the tour started during rush hour added to the excitement—and terror!
One of the things I liked the most about this tour was our guides. They spoke great English and were extremely knowledgeable about the history of Ho Chi Minh City, the neighborhoods we visited, and how history has shaped the food in Vietnam.
For more information on some of the foods listed below, check out my blog post on the seven street foods you must try in Ho Chi Minh City.
Foods We Sampled With Saigon Street Eats:
- Bò lá lốt (beef wrapped in betel leaves)
- Bánh mì (banh mi sandwiches)
- Bánh xèo (savory crunchy fried pancake)
- Seafood on Nguyễn Thượng Hiền Street: Snails, boiled clams with lemongrass and salt topped with fish sauce, BBQ scallops with peanuts and fish sauce, grilled conch
- Bún bò Huế (vermicelli and beef soup native to the city of Huế)
- Dessert: Sinh tố bơ (avocado shake) and Chè ba màu (three bean drink)
- Each stop came with a drink (water, soda, or local beer)
There are so many delicious street foods to try in Ho Chi Minh City! I recommend going with a tour company that will really dive into the history and local culture. Check out this highly-rated tour (that includes a good time on a motorbike).
Here are some other foods that you must try in Ho Chi Minh City:
- Bánh Bao – Steamed meat bun with egg
- Chanh muối – Salty lemon drink. Here’s a great blog post about the drink.
- Phở – Aromatic noodle soup
- Seafood – Snails, clams, scallops, and conch
- Bánh Tráng Nướng – Vietnamese pizza
- Bun Bo Nam Bo – Vermicelli with grilled beef
- Ca Phe Sua Da – Sweet iced coffee with condensed milk
Dong Khoi Street
Dong Khoi Street is arguably the best place to find grand old colonial buildings in Ho Chi Minh City. Between the 1960s and the 1970s, the now posh street was known as Tu Do Street and it served Saigon’s seedier locals and visitors as the red-light district.
International fashion boutiques, restaurants, and cafes now line the street which has become one of the most costly areas of the city.
From Dong Khoi Street you can easily admire:
- The Continental and the Caravelle Hotels (popular meeting points for international reporters during the Vietnam war),
- The Opera House (which was once was the headquarter of the Vietnam Cong Hoa congress and features beautiful architecture),
- The Central Post Office,
- The Notre Dame Cathedral, and
- City Hall (the Central Post Office, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and City Hall are beautiful examples of French Colonial architecture).
Make a point to go inside the Central Post Office, which is still in operation.
The ceiling and paintings inside are worth a look. One of the two maps on the walls features the telegraph network connecting Vietnam and Cambodia in 1892 and the second map is of Saigon, also in 1892.
Chợ Bến Thành (Ben Thanh Market)
Practice your haggling skills at the Chợ Bến Thành (Ben Thanh Market), the largest old-style market in the central district. Yes, it’s touristy and yes, absolutely you’ll need to keep your valuables locked down, but its narrow aisles and feisty shop owners make this indoor market worth the visit. Cute, naive-looking women at the stalls will always quote a 50-100% higher price to tourists. So don’t let them fool you, these ladies are sharks; feel free to bargain hard.
What can you buy here? This Ho Chi Minh market is divided between tourist goods (jeans, T-shirts, knockoffs of designer purses, shoes and outerwear, and other souvenirs) and regular market items (fruits and vegetables, flowers, meat, and spices). Don’t miss the bags of weasel coffee, which are coffee beans that have been ingested by weasels, pooped out, washed, roasted and packaged just for you! (We bought a package but we’re saving it to open and enjoy with my dad.) Though it may seem odd, weasel coffee is a true delicacy in Vietnam!
Beware of vendors’ vagueness. Confirm the number of items you are being quoted a price for. Also, if the price is a 15 or a 50, confirm which it is with the vendor’s calculator or one on your phone. Vendors will use the confusion of the language barrier to sound the alarm when you “give them too little.”
At 6pm, the indoor market closes, vendors move their goods outside, and the night market begins. We planned on finding a tasty-looking food stall at the night market but happened upon a pop-up food fair on the way to Bui Vien Street.
We tried a popular and delicious Bánh tráng nướng aka “Vietnamese pizza” (it’s more similar to a quesadilla or a hard-shell taco, IMHO). Rice paper is cooked open-faced on a grill with quail eggs, green onions, meat, and typically some other Southeast Asian flavors like fermented shrimp paste, dried pork, and Sriracha. Here’s a video of one being made.
>> Don’t miss this awesome tour of Ben Thanh Market & cooking class!
Bui Vien Street (or the Backpacker Street)
Walking down the Bui Vien Street (or the Backpacker Street) at night is loud and crowded and supposedly “pedestrian only” but, like most traffic rules in Vietnam, they are meant to be broken. Definitely don’t let your defenses down here because you still might get hit by a scooter.
It’s fun to take a walk down the street and watch the throng of activity that happens here. If you’re into the bar or nightclub scene, this is the place for you. Also, catering to the backpackers and younger crowds, hotel rooms are cheaper along this street, but probably because of the all-night noise.
CultureTrip has a great write-up of the street:
Nothing can compare to walking down Bui Vien around midnight—crowds in tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalks, and music vibrating your organs. Below you, strewn garbage and filth. Above, schizoid power lines. There’s a weird kind of nervous energy to the scene.
I think this probably goes without saying, but if you go to Bui Vien Street, keep a good hold of your valuables.
Nguyen Thuong Hien Street
Located in District 3, Nguyen Thuong Hien street is dedicated to selling seafood and street food and should not be missed. This is where we stopped on our Ho Chi Minh City food tour to try snails, conch, clams, and scallops. The food is fresh, reasonably priced, and delicious, and it’s a fun place to watch dressed-up young couples on dates.
Củ Chi Tunnels
Stretching out over 75-miles, the Củ Chi tunnels are a must-see for history buffs. They were the location of several guerrilla military campaigns during the Vietnam War, as well as the Viet Cong’s base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. These tunnels, though massive, are just a small part of the underground tunnel network that zigzags through much of former South Vietnam.
Vietnamese Communist forces originally dug the tunnels in the late 1940s during their war for independence from the French. When the United States came to the country to support the anti-Communist movement, the Viet Cong expanded their network of tunnels.
Why you should go. You’ll crawl through reconstructions and original parts of the tunnel system (including an underground conference room), view displays of the different types of booby traps, and learn about the incredible way they were designed.
If you’re not claustrophobic, you should definitely hunker down and crawl through the tunnels. Please remember that, when you are going through the tunnels, you will not be able to stand. Ever. At all. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring insect repellent to fend off the pesky mosquitoes.
A video at the beginning of the tour shows a glorified version of the life the Viet Cong lived in the tunnels and highlights the damage caused by the war in the area. However, it contains intense propaganda against America and some outright lies. Go in understanding that you’re in a communist country where facts and truth are optional and the most valued quality in a person is blind allegiance to the government.
Obviously, I’m not a fan of the video, but the worst thing is the shooting range on the property. For about $1 a bullet, visitors can fire a number of assault rifles, such as M16s and AK-47s, as well as a light machine gun like the M60. There is no escape from the sounds of the shooting range; you hear it everywhere.
I have nothing against shooting these types of weapons; I’ve shot some myself at ranges in Las Vegas. However, I can’t imagine what it must be like for the men and women who served during this war (either side), to walk through that forest—a place where thousands of people were killed and machine-gun fire was a constant soundtrack—and hear the sounds of war ringing throughout the trees. I mean…it brought tears to my eyes and I wasn’t even alive then.
Getting There
There are many tour companies that offer round-trip transportation and guided tours of the Củ Chi tunnels. Make sure they head out in the morning to beat some of the other tourists. We went with our Gate 1 tour group but this tour company has great reviews and would be a good way to get there (half day tours start at $14 per person which includes your entrance fee and a bottle of water). In 1966, American B-52 bombers decimated the Củ Chi region when they began dropping 30-ton loads of high explosives from the air, turning the lush jungle into an apocalyptic scene.
American troops often underestimated the tunnels’ size and the operation was deemed unsuccessful. When soldiers located tunnel openings, they flushed the entrance with gas, water or hot tar to force the Viet Cong into the open, or they tossed in grenades to close off the opening. The tunnels, which included three independent levels, trap doors, and an advanced air filtration system, were so well designed that these methods were largely useless.
What You Can Expect to Pay in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:
> Lodging: $20 (wallet-friendly) vs $65+ (average) per night.
> Coffee: Around $.50
> Dinner: $20 (two people) Wine, Appetizers, and Seafood Main Courses
> Beer: $1.50
Recommended Lodging Options in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:
- Bright Apartment in a Great Location (from $18 / night)
- Cute Hotel Close to the Airport (from $30 / night)
- Hotel in District 1 (City Center) with Breakfast Included (from $55 / night)
- Just a 7-Minute Walk from Ben Thanh Market with Airport Shuttle (from $30 / night)
- Beautiful Property with Garden and Indoor Pool (from $150 / night)
What to Wear in Vietnam
With high heat and humidity every day, you really want to consider what you’re going to wear to Vietnam carefully. I really enjoyed wearing loose cotton dresses, sandals with thicker soles, and loose-fitting linen-type pants. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Resources to Help Your Travels
As always, everything on this site is completely free. If you found this post (or anything on YouFoundSarah.com) useful, I’d be grateful if you considered using the affiliate links below. I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. These are the services Drew and I love to use ourselves when we plan our travels. Thanks for your support!
— Sarah
Booking.com – For booking hotel rooms.
Tours by Locals and GetYourGuide.com – For finding high-quality tours around the world.
VRBO – For renting homes across the world.
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About Sarah
Sarah hails from the land of fried chicken, sweet tea, buttered biscuits, and the friendliest people you’ll ever meet…Alabama! She loves exploring undertouristed locations — places that you wouldn’t automatically think “I’ve always wanted to go there!” Of course, we’ll always have Paris, but what gets Sarah really jazzed is finding those diamond in the rough cities and sharing them with you. Read more…
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