Steal This 1 Week Ho Chi Minh Itinerary, Vietnam [2026 Guide]

Saigon doesn’t ease you in.

The taxi from Tan Son Nhat pulls onto a six-lane road and within 30 seconds you’re in the middle of a motorbike river moving with total confidence and no apparent rules. I sat in the back watching it and laughed, not because it was funny exactly, but because nothing in my research had prepared me for how it actually felt to be inside it.

7 days later I wasn’t ready to leave. 

The first pho at 7am on a plastic stool outside a place that had no English menu and three tables. The War Remnants Museum that left me quiet for the rest of the afternoon — the kind of quiet that feels necessary rather than sad. The Mekong at dusk from a hand-rowed sampan, so still you could hear the water against the hull. A banh mi I ate standing on a pavement in District 1 that was, without exaggeration, one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

Most locals still call it Saigon. You should too.

Ho Chi Minh City is loud, fast, warm, and chaotic in a way that stops feeling overwhelming once you lean into it rather than resist it. The food alone would justify the flight. The history demands your attention. The streets never fully go quiet, and somehow that becomes part of what you’ll miss most when you leave.

This guide covers a full week in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — what to do each day, where to eat, how to get around, and the day trips worth building the itinerary around.

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Before You Arrive: All You Need To Know About Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

The Heat In Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Saigon sits close to the equator. 

The dry season (November to April) brings temperatures around 28–35°C with plenty of sunshine. The wet season (May to October) brings afternoon downpours that last an hour and then vanish like they never happened — but humidity goes through the roof. Actually, both are still manageable. Neither is a reason not to go.

Packing for summer means loose, breathable clothing. Linen and cotton only. Anything else and you’ll regret it immediately. A compact umbrella is worth bringing regardless of when you go — not because it rains all day, but because it will rain at some point with zero warning.

The dry season is easier for walking and day trips. November to February is the sweet spot: pleasant evenings, cooler mornings, and tourist season still manageable.

The Traffic In Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Saigon’s streets are a continuous river of motorbikes, and the crossing rule is genuinely counterintuitive: walk slowly, steadily, and predictably. 

Don’t run. Don’t stop suddenly. The bikes will flow around you. It feels terrifying the first time. By day 2, you’ll barely think about it.

Use Grab For Everything

Download Grab before you land. It works like Uber — cars and motorbikes — with prices shown upfront in Vietnamese Dong, no negotiation needed. 

A GrabBike (motorbike taxi) across District 1 costs around VND 15,000–30,000 / USD 0.60–1.20. 

A GrabCar is VND 35,000–60,000 / USD 1.40–2.50 for a 2-4 km trip. 

Street taxis exist, but without a metered app, overcharging tourists is common, and drivers often don’t speak English. Grab removes all of that friction entirely.

Airport note: there’s an extra fee charged when you’re picked up from Tan Son Nhat Airport’s designated zone — your driver will add it to the app. It’s legitimate, not a scam, just worth knowing so you’re not confused when the fare looks slightly higher than expected.

Vietnamese Dong

The Vietnamese Dong has a lot of zeroes. VND 500,000 / USD 20 feels like a lot until you realise it’s roughly the cost of a sit-down meal for 2. A bowl of pho runs VND 50,000–80,000 USD 2–3.20. A cold Saigon beer at a street stall is about VND 20,000 / USD 0.80. The easiest mental shortcut: divide by 5,000 to get a rough USD equivalent. You’ll recalibrate quickly.

Cash is king in Saigon, especially for street food, small stalls, and market vendors. Major ATMs (Vietcombank, Techcombank) work with international cards. Grab can be paid by cash or card.

The New Metro In Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh’s Metro Line 1 finally opened in late 2024 after years of delays — connecting Bến Thành Market to Suối Tiên in the northeast. 

The line runs from Bến Thành Market in District 1 out to Suối Tiên in the northeast, covering 14 stations. The full journey end to end takes around 40 minutes. 

For most tourists the metro changes less than you’d expect.

If your week is built around Districts 1, 3, and the Old Quarter cluster — Ben Thanh Market, the War Remnants Museum, Nguyen Hue Walking Street, Bui Vien — Grab and walking cover everything more flexibly and usually faster. 

Where it genuinely earns its place is on the airport transfer question.

Tan Son Nhat Airport doesn’t connect directly to Line 1 — the closest station is Tân Cảng, which still requires a short Grab from the terminal. So it doesn’t replace the airport taxi entirely. That said, if you’re staying near the eastern side of District 1 around Vo Thi Sau Street, using the metro to get partway and completing the last few kilometres by Grab is a reasonable option during peak traffic hours when the road to the airport can add 30–40 minutes to a standard taxi ride.

The practical details worth knowing:

• Fares run from VND 6,000–20,000 (USD 0.24–0.80) depending on distance — significantly cheaper than Grab for the covered route
• Trains run every 10 minutes during peak hours (6–8am, 5–7pm) and every 15–20 minutes off-peak
• Ben Thanh station is the main interchange point — connected to several bus routes and walkable from most District 1 hotels
• Cards and QR payment accepted at all stations — no cash required, though ticket machines have an English language option
• Air-conditioned carriages throughout — genuinely welcome between roughly 10am and 5pm when the Saigon heat is doing its worst
• The metro runs from around 5:30 am to 11 pm daily

My 1-Week Itinerary For Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Day 1 - City intro	Notre-Dame Cathedral Ben Thanh Post Office Ben Thanh Market	District 1 wander Night Market	Com tam dinner Bui Vien Street
Day 2 - History	War Remnants Museum Reunification Palace	Banh mi lunch Hẻm alleyways	District 4 Bun rieu / banh xeo
Day 3 - Day trip	Cu Chi Tunnels	Mekong Delta Sampan canal ride	Bitexco Skydeck Rooftop bar
Day 4 - Chinatown Culture	Binh Tay Market Thien Hau Pagoda Hao Si Phuong Alley	Dim sum lunch Jade Emperor Pagoda	Nguyen Hue Boulevard Egg coffee
Day 5 - Beach day (Day trip)	Speedboat to Vung Tau Christ the King Statue	Seafood lunch Banh khot Back Beach	Ferry back to HCMC Quiet dinner
Day 6 - Slow day	Tan Dinh Market Pink Church	French Quarter Dong Khoi Street Com tam lunch	Street food motorbike tour Rooftop drinks
Day 7 - Souvenirs Shopping	Pho Hoa Pasteur Nguyen Hue Boulevard	Last-minute shopping Lacquerware, coffee beans	Airport

Day 1: Food And Exploring

The first day isn’t for big sightseeing. It’s for calibrating yourself to the city: the heat, the noise, the pace, the food. Don’t pack it too tight.

Morning/Afternoon: District 1 on Foot

Check in, drop your bags, and walk. 

District 1 is the colonial core of Saigon and genuinely pleasant to explore on foot before the midday heat sets in.

Start at Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral — the red-brick French-colonial basilica built in the 1880s, sitting at the end of Dong Khoi Street. Entry is free. It’s an unusual sight in this context, a piece of 19th-century Paris dropped into a Vietnamese city. 

Just across the street, Ben Thanh Post Office is worth a few minutes inside — the original French wrought-iron architecture is intact, and the giant mural of Ho Chi Minh at the far end of the hall makes for a photo that hasn’t gotten old.

From there, go south toward Ben Thanh Market. The indoor market is fine for an overview — dried goods, souvenirs, street food — but the real action is the surrounding streets in the early evening. 

The Night Market extending outward from Ben Thanh kicks off around 6 pm with food stalls, grilled meats, and cold drinks on the pavement. 

Street food here runs VND 30,000–60,000 / USD 1.20–2.50 per dish.

Evening: First Proper Meal

Your first meal in Ho Chi Minh should be com tam: broken rice with char-grilled pork, a fried egg, shredded pork skin, and a bowl of broth on the side. It’s Saigon’s unofficial signature dish and costs VND 40,000–70,000 / USD 1.60–2.80 at a street stall. Eaten at 7 pm on a plastic stool on the pavement, with motorbikes passing a metre away, is essentially the city in a plate.

Follow it with a walk down Bui Vien Street: Ho CHi Minh’s backpacker strip, perpetually loud and neon-lit. It’s not where you’ll want to spend every evening, but on the first night it earns its energy. 

A beer here runs VND 20,000–35,000 / USD 0.80–1.40. Good for people-watching before an early night.

Day 2: History And District 4

Morning: The War Remnants Museum

Go early, it opens at 7:30 am and gets crowded by mid-morning. 

The War Remnants Museum in District 3 is one of the most important museums in Southeast Asia. It covers the Vietnam War (referred to here as the American War) through photography, artefacts, and documented accounts — heavily from the Vietnamese perspective, which is the only context that makes sense for a museum located here.

The photography on the upper floors is confronting and extraordinarily powerful. It will stay with you. Budget 1.5–2 hours and don’t rush it. Entry: VND 40,000 / USD 1.60. Grab from most District 1 hotels: VND 25,000–40,000 / USD 1–1.60.

Mid-Morning: Reunification Palace

A 10-minute walk from the museum, the Reunification Palace (also called Independence Palace) is the building where the Vietnam War officially ended on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates. The building has been preserved exactly as it was — the war rooms in the basement, the communications centre, the reception halls above. 

It’s eerie and oddly compelling in the way that places with real historical weight often are. Entry: VND 40,000 / USD 1.60. Give it an hour.

Lunch: Banh Mi

Banh mi in Saigon is different from everywhere else in Vietnam — the baguette is crispier, the fillings more generous, the whole thing slightly messier. Grab one from a street cart for VND 25,000–40,000 / USD 1–1.60 and eat it standing up. 

Banh Mi Huynh Hoa on Le Thi Rieng Street is frequently cited as one of the best in the city — the pork filling is stacked to the point of absurdity. There’ll likely be a short queue. Worth it.

Afternoon: Explore the Alleyways (Hẻm)

The hẻm — narrow residential alleyways running off Saigon’s main streets — are where the city’s real daily life happens.

Explore around Districts 1 and 3, and you’ll find local coffee stalls charging VND 15,000–25,000 / USD 0.60–1, street food carts, children playing, laundry drying, whole communities existing completely off the tourist map.

This is the kind of afternoon that can’t be planned. Just walk in and see what you find.

Evening: District 4 for Dinner

District 4 is directly across the bridge from District 1 — 10 minutes by Grab, around VND 25,000–35,000 / USD 1–1.40 — and is known among food-obsessed visitors as one of Saigon’s best eating districts. Less polished than the tourist areas, full of local stalls doing specific things very well. 

Look for bun rieu (crab and tomato noodle soup, VND 50,000–70,000 / USD 2–2.80), banh xeo (crispy rice pancakes with shrimp and pork, rolled in fresh herbs, VND 60,000–90,000 / USD 2.40–3.60), or grilled skewers from the street vendors that set up after dark at around VND 5,000–10,000 / USD 0.20–0.40 per skewer.

Day 3: Day Trip – Cu Chi Tunnels + Mekong Delta

This is the day that earns the most stories.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are about 70 km northwest of the city — a 1.5-hour journey. They’re the remains of an extraordinary 250 km underground network dug by the Viet Cong during the war, used as living quarters, supply routes, and command centres. 

The sections open to visitors have been slightly widened for tourists, but they remain genuinely tight. 

Crawling through even a 20-metre stretch makes what happened here feel immediately, viscerally real. The trap demonstrations, the bomb craters still visible in the jungle, and the documentary shown before the tour all add context that a textbook can’t.

The Mekong Delta portion of the day takes you to My Tho on the river. The boat trip through the waterways past floating villages and coconut canals — with folk music performed on the islands and fresh tropical fruit on offer — is a useful, lighter counterpoint to the weight of the morning.

The tour includes hotel pickup, lunch, and a guide. Cost: around USD 35–45. Small group tours (max 12 people) are worth the slight premium; you don’t want to experience the tunnels in a crowd of 40.

Hotel pickup is typically 7:15–7:45 am. You’re back in Ho Chi Minh City by 7–8 pm. It’s a full day, properly spent. 

Book the Cu Chi Tunnels + Mekong Delta Combined Day Tour here

Evening: Rooftop Drinks

After a day like that, somewhere quiet with a view is the right call. The Skydeck at Bitexco Financial Tower — entry VND 200,000 / USD 8 — gives you the city at its most vertiginous, 49 floors up with glass panels and the full skyline. Go at sunset if your timing allows.

Alternatively, most boutique hotels in District 1 have rooftop bars with no entry fee. A cold Saigon beer watching the city slow down after dark is more than enough.

Day 4: Cho Lon (Chinatown) And A Slow Afternoon

Most visitors skip Cho Lon. That’s a mistake.

Morning: Cho Lon, Saigon’s Chinatown

District 5, about 20 minutes from District 1 by Grab (VND 35,000–50,000 / USD 1.40–2), is home to one of the largest and most lived-in Chinatowns in Southeast Asia. It doesn’t feel like a preserved cultural quarter — it feels like a real place where the Chinese-Vietnamese community has been living and trading for 300 years. Which is exactly what it is.

Start at Binh Tay Market — a covered wholesale market on the western edge of Cho Lon, built in the 1920s, with a central courtyard and clock tower that hasn’t changed much since. It’s less touristy than Ben Thanh and more interesting for it. Stalls sell dried goods, spices, paper lanterns, and every category of wholesale product the surrounding businesses run on. Entry is free.

From there, walk to Thien Hau Pagoda on Nguyen Trai Street — a Chinese Taoist temple dating from the early 1800s, dedicated to the sea goddess. The incense coils hanging from the ceiling fill the space with a particular kind of smoke-and-sandalwood atmosphere that’s hard to describe. 

It’s still an active place of worship; go quietly and respectfully. Free entry.

Lunch: Dim Sum in District 5

Cho Lon is where you eat dim sum in Saigon. The Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants here have been doing it for decades. Look for Tien Phat for steamed pork and crab dumplings that consistently rank as some of the best in the city. 

A full dim sum spread for 2 runs VND 150,000–250,000 / USD 6–10.

Afternoon: Jade Emperor Pagoda

One of Ho Chi Minh’s most atmospheric temples, the Jade Emperor Pagoda (Phuoc Hai Tu) in District 3 is a working Taoist pagoda dating from the early 1900s. Smoky incense, elaborate carved deities, turtles in the courtyard pond, elderly worshippers moving quietly through the halls. It costs nothing to enter, and it’s genuinely beautiful in a way that doesn’t feel staged. 

Go before 4 pm when it’s quieter. Grab from District 5: VND 30,000–45,000 / USD 1.20–1.80.

Evening: Sit Somewhere Nice

Day 4 is when you’ve earned a slower evening. Walk along Nguyen Hue Boulevard — Saigon’s main pedestrian street — and pick a café with outdoor seating. 

A Vietnamese iced coffee (ca phe sua da) runs VND 25,000–45,000 / USD 1–1.80. The egg coffee (ca phe trung), if you haven’t had it yet, is a whipped egg yolk and condensed milk foam on top of strong Vietnamese drip coffee, and it’s unlike anything else. Order one and sit with it.

Day 5: Day Trip – Vung Tau

Vung Tau is where Saigon residents go on weekends when they need to breathe. 

A coastal city about 125 km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, it’s the closest beach to the city — French colonials called it Cap Saint-Jacques and used it as a seaside retreat. The contrast with Saigon’s density is immediate and very welcome.

Getting There: The Speedboat

Skip the 2-hour road journey. The Greenlines DP high-speed ferry from Bach Dang Wharf in District 1 takes 90 minutes and costs around VND 200,000–250,000 / USD 8–10 each way. The ride itself is part of the point — you leave downtown Saigon, travel through the waterways, past mangrove forests, and arrive by sea. 

Departures run several times daily from around 6:30 am.

Book the Greenlines DP speedboat here

Morning: Christ the King Statue and the Views

From the Vung Tau ferry terminal, grab a Grab or a motorbike taxi (xe om) to the Christ the King Statue (Tuong Chua Kito Vua) on the southern tip of the peninsula. 

It’s 32 metres tall with arms spanning 18 metres — one of the tallest Christ statues in Asia. You climb 847 steps inside the statue’s body to a viewing platform at the arm level. The panorama of Vung Tau’s 2 beaches, the peninsula, and the South China Sea is worth every step. 

Entry: VND 20,000 / USD 0.80.

Afternoon: Beach and Seafood

Bai Sau (Back Beach) is the longer of Vung Tau’s 2 main beaches — about 10km of sand. During the week it’s relaxed and uncrowded. On weekends it fills with Saigonese day-trippers. Rent a sun lounger for VND 30,000–50,000 / USD 1.20–2 and spend an hour or two in the water.

Lunch near the beach will be seafood, and it should be — Vung Tau is known for fresh catches. A seafood lunch for 2 at a beachside restaurant runs VND 200,000–400,000 / USD 8–16. 

Look for banh khot on the menu — Vung Tau’s own dish, small crispy coconut rice cakes topped with shrimp, eaten with fresh herbs. You won’t find them done better anywhere else.

Evening: Return to Saigon

Last ferry back is typically around 5–6 pm. You’re back in District 1 by early evening with enough time for a proper dinner and a quieter night.

Day 6: Tan Dinh, Pink Church, And The French Quarter

By Day 6, you know the city well enough to appreciate its quieter corners. This is a slower day by design.

Morning: Tan Dinh Market

Tan Dinh Market in District 3 is a proper, working wet market — vegetables, seafood, dried goods, everything sold fresh every morning. It winds through several alleyways and is completely unphotogenic in the best possible way. Grab a bowl of pho from one of the stalls inside for VND 50,000–70,000  / USD 2–2.80, or a banh mi for under VND 40,000 / USD 1.60.

2 minutes’ walk away: the Tan Dinh Church — known universally as the Pink Church because it is, aggressively, entirely pink. Built in the 1870s, it has apparently always been this colour. The interior is equally vivid. Worth a quick stop and a photograph.

Mid-Morning: The French Quarter on Foot

The area around Dong Khoi Street and Le Loi Boulevard is where Saigon’s French colonial architecture is most concentrated. Wander with no particular agenda. 

The Caravelle Hotel lobby is worth stepping into briefly — it was the base for foreign journalists during the war, and the rooftop bar still exists. The Continental Hotel next door is where Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American. Neither requires a booking to look around the lobby.

Lunch: Com Tam Properly

Day 6 is the right time to find a proper com tam lunch — not a tourist version, just a local canteen. 

Most neighbourhood streets in Districts 1 and 3 have at least one. The tell: plastic stools, handwritten menu on the wall, rice cooked in individual portions. A full plate with drink runs VND 60,000–100,000 / USD 2.40–4.

Afternoon: Street Food Motorbike Tour

If you’ve done the walking and the museums and the markets over the past days, an evening street food tour by motorbike is the way to actually eat your way through neighbourhoods you wouldn’t find on your own. 

You ride pillion on a local’s bike through alleys in Districts 4, 1, and 3, stopping at specific stalls for specific things. It covers far more ground than walking, and you eat considerably better. 

Tours run around USD 50 per person and typically last 3–4 hours through the evening. Book through any of the reputable operators in District 1.

Evening: Nguyen Hue and a Last Proper Bar

End on Nguyen Hue with a drink somewhere that has a view. 

The rooftop bars above the walking street aren’t all equal — skip the most obvious tourist ones and look for somewhere a floor or two up with a terrace. A cocktail in a decent bar in this area runs VND 80,000–150,000 / USD 3.20-6.

Day 7: Morning Markets, Last Day, Departure

No big plans. The last day is for eating whatever you missed, buying coffee to take home, and a long breakfast.

Morning: Pho Hoa Pasteur

End where you should probably have started: a bowl of pho. Pho Hoa Pasteur on Pasteur Street has been operating since 1968 — starting as a sidewalk cart before becoming one of Saigon’s most beloved pho institutions. 

The broth is simmered from early morning, the beef is tender, the herbs and bean sprouts arrive fresh on the side. A bowl runs around VND 80,000 / USD 3.20. Order the combination bowl — brisket, flank, and tendon — and don’t skip the fried dough sticks on the side.

Mid-Morning: Nguyen Hue and Last Shopping

Nguyen Hue Boulevard has everything you need for a last-minute haul: lacquerware, silk goods, embroidered pieces, and Vietnamese coffee. 

For coffee specifically — pick up Trung Nguyen ground coffee or whole beans from any supermarket or café. A bag of decent local grounds runs VND 80,000–150,000 / USD 3.20–6 and will last far longer than whatever airport shopping you’d otherwise do.

If you want a proper souvenir rather than a commodity, look for hand-painted lacquerware in the shops just off Dong Khoi. Small pieces start around VND 150,000–300,000 / USD 6–12. Bargaining is expected; 20–30% off the opening price is generally reasonable.

Afternoon: Head to the Airport

Allow extra time. Tan Son Nhat handles enormous volumes and security queues can be long, especially during peak evening departure windows. 

A GrabCar from District 1 costs VND 100,000–150,000 / USD 4–6 and takes 20–40 minutes depending on traffic. Give yourself at least 2.5 hours before departure.

Where To Stay In Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

District 1 is where you want to be for a first visit. It puts you within walking distance of most major sights, all the best street food in the centre, and easy Grab access to everywhere else. 

District 3 is also excellent — slightly quieter, more residential feel, home to the War Remnants Museum and some great local food streets.

Avoid booking anything in District 7 or further out unless you specifically know why you want to be there. Ho Chi Minh City is big; unnecessary travel time adds up.

Budget accommodation (dorm beds, clean guesthouses) starts from around USD 8–15/night. Mid-range hotels in District 1 run USD 40–80.

If you want a pool and a rooftop, boutique properties in District 3 like La Vela Saigon deliver that without the big brand markup.

Day Trips From Ho Chi Minh City

Cu Chi Tunnels + Mekong Delta (Day 3)

You spend the morning crawling through 250 km of hand-dug wartime tunnels northwest of the city — tight, dark, and genuinely claustrophobic in a way that makes the history feel immediate rather than textbook. 

Bomb craters still pit the jungle floor. Booby trap displays line the walking trail. 

Then the afternoon flips completely: you’re on a wooden boat drifting through coconut canals on the Mekong, eating fresh fruit off the tree and floating through waterways so quiet and overhung with palms that the city feels like a different world. 

Hotel pickup, lunch, and guide included. A full 12-hour day that covers more emotional ground than anything else on this itinerary.

Price: around USD 35 – USD 45

Book your guided Chi Chi Tunnels tour here

Vung Tau Beach Day 

Saigon’s coastal escape, 90 minutes away by high-speed ferry down the river. 

You arrive by sea, which already puts you in a different headspace. The morning goes to the Christ the King Statue — 800 steps up the hillside, a spiral staircase through the statue’s interior, and a panoramic view of both beaches and the open South China Sea from the arms. 

Lunch is fresh seafood and banh khot (Vung Tau’s own coconut rice cakes with shrimp — order them). 

The afternoon is Back Beach: sun lounger, warm water, 10km of sand, and the kind of quiet that 4 days of Saigon makes you genuinely need.

Price: around USD 8–10 each way.

Book your Vung Tau Beach adventure here

Mekong Delta Deep Dive

The better Mekong day if you want water and nothing else. 

Ben Tre sits deeper into the delta than the standard My Tho tour stops — quieter, less visited, and more genuinely rural. 

You spend the day on a hand-rowed sampan through coconut canals so narrow the palms close overhead, and the noise disappears completely, visiting a coconut candy workshop where you taste it warm straight off the production line, a honey farm where the tea comes with fresh honeycomb, and a long riverside lunch of clay pot rice and grilled fish that arrives in waves and isn’t rushed. 

Price: Around USD 30–40

Book your guided Mekong Delta tour here

What To Eat In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Saigon will ruin you for eating cheaply at home. Here’s what you should go for:

Com Tam (Broken Rice)

VND 40,000–70,000 / USD 1.60–2.80

The Saigon dish. Broken jasmine rice with char-grilled pork, a fried egg, shredded pork skin, and a small bowl of broth on the side. I ate this for breakfast on my second morning from a stall that had exactly four plastic stools and a handwritten menu. Found on virtually every street corner — if you walk more than ten minutes in any direction without passing a com tam stall, you’re not walking on a main road.

Pho

VND 70,000–100,000 / USD 2.80–4.00

Saigon-style pho is slightly sweeter and lighter than the Hanoi version.

The herb plate that arrives alongside — bean sprouts, lime, fresh basil, chilli — is eaten generously and folded into the bowl, not left on the side as a garnish. Pho Hoa Pasteur on Pasteur Street in District 3 is the reference point for the city — been open since 1968, no frills, and a queue most mornings before 8am. I went twice. Worth it both times.

Banh Mi

VND 25,000–40,000 / USD 1.00–1.60

Roast pork, pâté, pickled daikon, coriander, chilli, and mayonnaise in a baguette that somehow manages to be perfectly crispy and light at the same time. Eat one every morning if you can. The street carts are better than the sit-down places. I found a cart outside a pharmacy in District 1 that I went back to three mornings running — the woman running it clearly thought this was normal behaviour, which it is.

Banh Xeo (Sizzling Pancake)

VND 60,000–90,000 / USD 2.40–3.60

Crispy rice-flour pancake filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts — you hear it coming before you see it, which is where the name comes from. You tear pieces off, roll them in a lettuce leaf with fresh herbs, and dip in nuoc cham. The rolling is the slightly chaotic part when you first try it and the lettuce keeps tearing. Order two if you’re actually hungry. One is a starter.

Bun Bo Hue

VND 50,000–80,000 / USD 2.00–3.20

The spicy noodle soup from Hue — rich, dark broth with lemongrass, shrimp paste, and chilli oil floating on top. Considerably more intense than pho, which is entirely the point. Not for the heat-averse but worth attempting at least once. Best at morning stalls before 9am when the broth has been going longest. I ordered it on a recommendation from the guesthouse owner and sat in a state of mild, very pleasant suffering for twenty minutes.

Bun Rieu (Crab And Tomato Noodle Soup)

VND 50,000–70,000 / USD 2.00–2.80

Crab and tomato noodle soup — tangy, complex, and consistently underrated compared to pho despite being arguably more interesting.

The broth has a depth that takes a few spoonfuls to fully register. I ordered it on a side street in District 3 on the recommendation of a woman who pointed at it when I looked confused at the menu and said something that roughly translated as “you want this one.” She was right.

Ca Phe Trung (Egg Coffee)

VND 40,000–60,000 / USD 1.60–2.40

Strong Vietnamese drip coffee topped with a foam of whipped egg yolk and condensed milk. Somewhere between a coffee and a dessert, which is exactly what it is. Rich, sweet, and genuinely unlike anything else.

Order it cold if the temperature is doing what Saigon temperatures usually do. Most cafes serve it — the quality varies less than you’d expect.

Banh Khot (Coconut Rice Cakes)

VND 50,000–80,000 / USD 2.00–3.20

Small crispy coconut rice cakes topped with shrimp, eaten with a pile of fresh herbs and a dipping sauce. Technically a Vung Tau speciality and best eaten there — I had them on the day trip and they were considerably better than the versions I’d had in the city. Worth ordering in Saigon, worth going to Vung Tau for the proper version.

3 Best Bars In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Birdy Rooftop Bar — District 1

The rooftop bar that earns its reputation without trying too hard. Perched above the noise of District 1 with a clear view across the city, strong cocktails at reasonable prices, and a crowd that’s split between expats who come every week and tourists who’ve found it on the second night rather than the first. Go around 6pm before it fills up and stay for the sunset. The gin and tonic list is genuinely considered.

House of Barbaard — District 1

A craft beer bar on Bui Vien that somehow manages to feel nothing like Bui Vien. The tap list rotates through Vietnamese and regional craft breweries — I worked through three I’d never heard of and liked all of them. Good for a long evening with nowhere to be, which is the right pace for this kind of bar.

Chill Skybar — Bitexco Financial Tower, District 1

The view from the 26th floor of the Bitexco Financial Tower on a clear evening is one of the better urban panoramas in Southeast Asia. It’s touristy, the drinks are priced accordingly, and none of that matters once you’re standing at the railing looking out over the city at night with a cocktail in your hand. Go once, go at sunset, don’t look at the bill too closely. 

Tips For Visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Download Grab before you land. This is the single most important practical tip. Motorbike for short trips, car for comfort or when you have luggage.

Cross the street slowly. Walk into traffic at a steady pace. The bikes will part around you. Do not stop suddenly or run.

Carry cash. Street food, market stalls, and local coffee shops are mostly cash only. VND 500,000–1,000,000 / USD 20–40 in mixed notes covers a full day easily.

Dress for the heat. Loose linen and cotton always. If you’re visiting temples or pagodas, cover your shoulders and knees — most sites have wraps available at the entrance if you forget.

The best hours are early and late. Mornings before 9 am and evenings after 6 pm are when Saigon is most alive and most tolerable in terms of temperature. The 12–3 pm window is for cafes, pools, or air conditioning.

eSIM for Vietnam. You keep your home number active on your primary SIM for banking apps and calls while running Vietnamese data on the eSIM simultaneously. Most providers offer instant top-ups through the app if you run low mid-trip, without buying a new plan or reinstalling anything. And if you’re continuing to other Southeast Asian countries after Vietnam, regional eSIM plans cover multiple destinations on a single profile, no swapping at each border.

Beware of cyclo drivers near tourist sites. The rickshaw-style cyclos near Notre-Dame Cathedral and Ben Thanh Market are notorious for agreeing on a price, then demanding several times as much at the destination. Take Grab instead.

FAQs About Things To Do In Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

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The food is the point of the whole thing — no single city in Southeast Asia matches it for sheer volume and quality of street eating. 

If you’re coming as a group, Ho CHi Minh City is one of the easier cities to navigate together. Just agree on a base district before you book accommodation. Splitting across Districts 1 and 3 when you’re trying to coordinate dinner every night gets old quickly.

A thing worth sorting before you fly regardless of group size: travel insurance that covers Southeast Asia properly. Vietnam’s healthcare costs for tourists without coverage are significant, and a missed connection or cancelled tour during peak season — particularly around Tet — can mean non-recoverable booking costs that a basic policy would have handled. Sort it before you book the flights, not after.

Go hungry. Bring cash. Walk into the traffic. You’ll figure the rest out as you go.