Ho Chi Minh City
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Hanoi is the city visitors photograph. Ho Chi Minh City is the one they end up staying longer in, and it takes a day to understand why.
Saigon — the older name, still used by everyone including the airport code — is Vietnam's commercial engine. It is louder, hotter, richer and less concerned with being liked than the capital. Everything on the site about the city is collected here.
Where should you stay?
The day-by-day version of a short visit is the three days in Saigon route.
District 1 to be next to the sights, District 3 to be next to the city. The two sit ten minutes apart, and the choice is about which version of Saigon is outside your door in the morning.
District 1 holds the Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh market, the Opera House and most of the rooftop bars. Convenient, expensive by Vietnamese standards, and the part of town most visibly built for visitors.
District 3 is tree-lined boulevards, colonial villas and quiet alleys, with some of the best food in the city. Rooms and dinner both cost less than in District 1. Older residents drinking iced coffee on plastic stools is the everyday scene here rather than a sight.
Does the metro help yet?
One line, open since 22 December 2024, and it is not the answer to the traffic. Line 1 runs 19.7 km from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien across 14 stations, three underground and eleven elevated. Japanese financing built it, after more than a decade of delays.
For a visitor it is genuinely useful in one direction: out to Thu Duc and the eastern suburbs. Most of what you came for sits inside District 1 and District 3, where walking or a Grab is still faster.
Ride it once for the Opera House and Ba Son stations, and treat the rest of your city transport the way our transport guide sets out.
What should one day hold?
The War Remnants Museum in the morning, the Reunification Palace after it, and the evening outdoors. That order matters: the museum is heavy, and the palace next to it is the same history told as architecture.
The War Remnants Museum costs 40,000 dong, opens 7.30am to 5.30pm daily, and needs about two hours. It is the most confronting building in Vietnam and is not softened for visitors. Most people describe it as the thing that reframed the rest of their trip.
Ben Thanh market is worth twenty minutes and no more. It is a tourist market now; the neighbourhood markets a few streets out are where the city actually shops.
Evenings are the point of Saigon. Nguyen Hue's pedestrian street, a rooftop for the skyline, and a plastic stool somewhere for the food. Com tam and banh mi are both southern dishes, and this is where they are at home.
Is Cu Chi worth the drive?
Cu Chi is one of four places where this history is shown, and they are very different days — see visiting the war in Vietnam.
Yes, with the drive priced in honestly. The tunnel complex sits about 70 km north-west of the centre, and that is one and a half to three hours each way depending on traffic. The site opens at 7am and stops selling tickets at 4pm.
Nothing about the visit is long; the travel is. Budget half a day at the fastest, a full day if the traffic behaves normally. Then decide whether that day is better spent in the Mekong Delta instead.
What about Cholon?
Vietnam's largest Chinatown, 11 km west, with roots to 1778. District 5 is where Saigon's Chinese-Vietnamese community has traded for over two centuries, and it reads nothing like District 1.
Temples, wholesale streets, medicine shops and Binh Tay market fill an afternoon. Go because it feels like a different city, not for a specific address. Take a Grab both ways: 11 km through Saigon traffic is not a walk.
How long does Saigon need?
Two days for the city, three if you are adding Cu Chi or the delta. Saigon rewards evenings more than mornings, and a single overnight only buys you one of those. The four options for that third day are ranked in day trips from Saigon.
District 1 is not one place, and picking the wrong end of it costs a night's sleep — the where to stay page covers which end, and things to do in Ho Chi Minh City covers how the days fill. Choosing between this city and the capital is the Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City comparison.
For a night out of the city, Vung Tau is two hours away on the coast, and midweek it is a different town from the one Saigon fills at weekends.
On a ten-day route through the country, Ho Chi Minh City takes the last two days and the trip ends at its airport. That works, and it is worth knowing that the city you are leaving is the one most people say they underestimated.
FAQ
Where should you stay in Ho Chi Minh City?
District 1 to be next to the sights, District 3 to be next to the city. District 1 holds the Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh market and the rooftop bars; District 3 has the tree-lined boulevards, the colonial villas and cheaper food and rooms, ten minutes away.
Does Ho Chi Minh City have a metro?
One line, open since 22 December 2024. Line 1 runs 19.7 km from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien across 14 stations, three of them underground. It is useful for the eastern suburbs and for the novelty; it does not yet replace a Grab for most visitor journeys.
How much is the War Remnants Museum?
40,000 dong for an adult, under two US dollars, and it opens daily from 7.30am to 5.30pm. Allow two hours. It is the most confronting museum in the country and the one exhibit most visitors say changed how they read the rest of the trip.
Are the Cu Chi tunnels worth it?
Yes, if you accept the drive. The tunnels sit about 70 km north-west of the city, which is one and a half to three hours each way depending on traffic, and the site opens at 7am and stops selling tickets at 4pm. Half a day minimum, and a full day if you go by road both ways.
How long do you need in Ho Chi Minh City?
Two days for the city itself, three if Cu Chi or the Mekong Delta is on the list. Saigon is a place to spend evenings rather than a checklist of monuments, and the second evening is usually the one people remember.
