What are the best things to see in Ho Chi Minh City?
The essential first-timer list keeps you mostly in walkable District 1: the colonial landmarks you can string together on foot, plus the two war-history sights that anchor any trip south. There is no single city pass, so each ticketed site charges its own modest admission, while the boulevards, the Post Office, and the markets are free to wander. Here is the Top 5.
Reunification Palace (also called the Independence Palace) is the preserved 1960s presidential palace where the war ended on 30 April 1975, when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through its gates. Left largely as it was, its war rooms, reception halls, and basement bunker make it the single most evocative stop in the city. Practical note: adult admission is 40,000 VND (about USD 1.50), open daily in a morning and an afternoon session (roughly 7:30am to 11am and 1pm to 4pm, with a midday closure), in the heart of District 1. A combined ticket that adds the Norodom exhibit is offered for a little more, around 65,000 to 80,000 VND depending on the source, so confirm the exact combo price at the counter.
War Remnants Museum is the country's most visited and most sobering account of the war, with captured aircraft, tanks, and artillery in the courtyard and unflinching photography inside. Allow a couple of hours and steady nerves. Practical note: adult admission is 40,000 VND (about USD 1.50), with under-6s free and half price for ages 6 to 15, students, and seniors; it is open daily 7:30am to 5:30pm (the ticket counter closes at 5pm), including weekends and public holidays, with no weekly closure day, at 28 Vo Van Tan Street in District 3.
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica is the red-brick, twin-towered basilica built with materials shipped from France, the postcard image of colonial Saigon. Practical note, and this is the one to set expectations on: it has been under major restoration since 2017, with completion now expected around 2027 after several delays. Scaffolding is coming down and new crosses were installed on the towers in March 2026, but full interior access for tourists is not confirmed, and Mass continues for worshippers throughout. Treat it as an exterior and photo landmark, admire the facade for free, and check current interior access closer to your travel date rather than counting on a visit inside.
Saigon Central Post Office, next door to the cathedral, is a grand colonial-era hall of arched iron and a vaulted ceiling, still a working post office more than a century on. Practical note: entry is free, since it is a functioning post office, and you only pay for stamps, mail, or souvenirs; it opens daily, roughly Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, Saturday 7am to 6pm, and Sunday 8am to 6pm. Step inside for the cool, the map murals, and the old wooden phone booths.
Ben Thanh Market is the city's landmark covered market beneath its familiar clock-tower gate, a warren of fabric, souvenirs, and food stalls. Practical note: it is free to browse and you pay only for goods; the main market runs daily about 6am to 6pm (fresh-food stalls wind down by noon), and after it closes the surrounding streets become a lively street-food and souvenir night market, roughly 6pm to 10 or 11pm and later at weekends. Haggle politely inside, and arrive by early evening for the night stalls.
Also worth your time:
- Bui Vien Walking Street, in the Pham Ngu Lao area, is District 1's neon backpacker and nightlife strip, about 850 metres of bars, street food, and live music. It is free to walk, and vehicles are banned from about 7pm to 2am at weekends, when it is at its loudest and liveliest.
- Nguyen Hue Walking Street and City Hall is a 900-metre pedestrian boulevard running from the People's Committee Building down to the Saigon River, free and always open. The French-colonial City Hall at its head (completed 1908) is exterior and photo only, with no public interior access, and was freshly floodlit in 2025, so it is best seen after dark.
- Jade Emperor Pagoda (Phuoc Hai Tu) is one of the city's most atmospheric working temples, thick with incense and carved figures. Entry is free (donations welcome), open daily about 7am to 5:30pm, with longer hours on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month.
- An observation deck. For the modern skyline, the Landmark 81 SkyView deck atop Vietnam's tallest building has the most dramatic river-and-city panorama, from around 420,000 VND (about USD 16) for a standard adult ticket, rising at weekends; the more central Bitexco Saigon Skydeck is the alternative. Confirm the exact package before you book, as combo tickets cost more.
- The Cu Chi Tunnels, about 1.5 to 2 hours' drive northwest, are the vast wartime tunnel network, a realistic half-day trip. Entrance fees are reported inconsistently across sources, clustering around 110,000 VND (roughly USD 4 to 5), and day tours usually bundle the fee in, so confirm what is included when you book.
- A Mekong Delta day trip. My Tho (about 1.5 hours) and Ben Tre (about 2 hours) are the standard, genuinely feasible day-trip bases for sampan rides and coconut-candy workshops, a full day of about 9 hours door to door. The Cai Rang floating market near Can Tho is farther and really needs an overnight, so it is not a comfortable single day trip from the city.
Where should you eat in Ho Chi Minh City?
The plate to chase in Saigon is com tam, the "broken rice" dish the city claims as its own: fluffy fractured rice under a charcoal-grilled pork chop, a fried egg, and pickles, typically 30,000 to 65,000 VND. Eat that first, then work through the south's other signatures. Seek out pho, here in its sweeter, herb-heavier southern style with a big side plate of fresh herbs and bean sprouts (40,000 to 120,000 VND); banh mi, the crisp colonial-era baguette sandwich (15,000 to 73,000 VND); goi cuon, fresh rice-paper rolls with a peanut dip (30,000 to 60,000 VND for a plate); banh xeo, the sizzling turmeric-yellow rice-flour crepe (40,000 to 90,000 VND); hu tieu, the light, clear southern noodle soup with Chinese-Cambodian roots (35,000 to 80,000 VND); and ca phe sua da, strong iced coffee over condensed milk (20,000 to 45,000 VND at street level).
For the signature broken rice, Com Tam Ba Ghien at 84 Dang Van Ngu Street in Phu Nhuan District grills its pork chops over charcoal and holds a 2026 Michelin Bib Gourmand, with a plate around 30,000 to 65,000 VND, open daily about 6am to 10pm. For pho, the heritage choice is Pho Hoa Pasteur at 260C Pasteur Street in District 3, serving since 1968 and also a Michelin Bib Gourmand: a regular bowl runs around 85,000 to 95,000 VND and a large 105,000 to 120,000 VND, pricier than a street stall but reflecting its status, open daily 6am to 10:30pm. For the city's most famous banh mi, Banh Mi Huynh Hoa at 26D Le Thi Rieng Street in District 1 loads a single loaf with pate and cold cuts for 73,000 VND, big enough to share, open 6am to 10pm daily. And for a true street-food moment, the Lunch Lady (Nguyen Thi Thanh) at 23 Hoang Sa Street, made famous by Anthony Bourdain, cooks a different single dish each day, bowls around 50,000 to 60,000 VND, open Monday to Saturday from late morning and closed on Sundays.
Beyond the famous names, Saigon is one enormous open-air kitchen: pull up a plastic stool for com tam or pho, grab a banh mi from a cart, and graze the Ben Thanh night stalls. If you want to sample many regional dishes in one sitting, a multi-stall Vietnamese food court such as Quan An Ngon (in the District 3 area, mid-range prices) puts dozens of them under one roof. Expect to eat extremely well for very little.
What does a perfect 3-day Ho Chi Minh City itinerary look like?
A perfect first-timer plan gives the city two days for the sights and the food, plus one day trip out to the war tunnels or the delta. Day one covers the colonial core and District 1 on foot, day two goes deep on war history with a run out to Cu Chi, and day three trades the city for the Mekong. Here is the shape we use most.
Day 1, the colonial core and District 1 on foot. Start at Notre-Dame Cathedral (an exterior and photo stop while restoration finishes) and the Central Post Office next door, then walk to the Reunification Palace for the morning session. In the afternoon, stroll Nguyen Hue Walking Street down to the river, detour past City Hall for photos, and reach Ben Thanh Market before it closes at 6pm. As evening falls, graze the Ben Thanh night-market stalls for dinner and finish on Bui Vien Walking Street, busiest after 7pm at weekends.
Day 2, war history and Cu Chi. Go early to the War Remnants Museum and allow a couple of hours. From late morning, head out to the Cu Chi Tunnels for the afternoon, budgeting 1.5 to 2 hours' drive each way, so it sits comfortably as a half-day-plus trip; the closer, more restored Ben Dinh site is the easier of the two networks. Back in town, end with a sit-down dinner of southern classics at a heritage spot like Pho Hoa Pasteur.
Day 3, the Mekong Delta or a slower city day. For most first-timers, a full-day My Tho or Ben Tre Mekong Delta trip (a sampan canal ride, a coconut-candy workshop, about a 9-hour round trip) is the strongest use of a last full day, since it is the one experience you cannot repeat back in District 1. If you would rather stay in the city, swap in a slow morning at the Jade Emperor Pagoda, a Landmark 81 SkyView sunset, and a final coffee at a rooftop cafe.
This easy Saigon rhythm, paired with a day out to the tunnels or the delta, is the backbone of our Vietnam Express journey, and threads naturally onward to Hanoi and the north if you have more time.
