Ho Chi Minh City travel guide: days, districts, food and day trips

Choose your area before your hotel

Since Vietnam's 2025 administrative reform, which also merged Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Ba Ria – Vung Tau provinces, official addresses give a ward and the city without the old district numbers: the Independence Palace now lists itself in Ben Thanh Ward. Hotel listings, maps and the national tourism site still use the familiar district names, so this guide does too.

The old District 1 is the obvious first base. The cathedral, the post office, the Opera House, Nguyen Hue boulevard, Ben Thanh Market and the Independence Palace are all within walking distance of one another, and the national tourism site's own list of city hotels is concentrated around Dong Khoi Street, Lam Son Square and the riverfront. The trade-off is noise and traffic. Check the walk from the hotel to the places you most want to see, and from late October 2026 also check how close it is to the Ben Thanh construction site described in the transport section below.

District 3, west of the centre, is where the War Remnants Museum, Tao Dan Park and Tan Dinh Market are, and it has calmer, tree-lined streets a short taxi ride from District 1. Thao Dien, on the far bank of the Saigon River, is known for riverside cafes and international restaurants, and Saigon Waterbus has a stop there with boats to Bach Dang pier in the centre. It suits a longer stay or a return visit, but most sightseeing days will start with a ride into town.

The colonial core and the Independence Palace: a walking day

Start early at the twin-towered Notre Dame Cathedral (the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception), completed in 1880, and the Saigon Central Post Office opposite it, whose hall keeps its old wooden phone booths and historic wall maps and is still a working post office. The cathedral has been under restoration since 2017, so check whether the interior is open before planning around it. From there, walk down Dong Khoi Street, the city's main shopping street, to the Opera House, then cut across to Nguyen Hue, the pedestrian boulevard that runs from the City Hall building down to the Bach Dang riverfront. City Hall is not open to the public, but the boulevard in front of it is at its liveliest around sundown.

Give the late morning to the Independence Palace, also called the Reunification Palace, built on the site of the French Norodom Palace and designed by the architect Ngo Viet Thu as the residence and office of the President of South Vietnam. Do not miss the command centre and war rooms in the basement. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the palace's official site listed opening every day including public holidays from 7:00 to 18:00, with adult tickets at 80,000 VND, 40,000 VND for students and seniors and 20,000 VND for children aged 6 to under 16. The entrances are at 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and 106 Nguyen Du.

In the afternoon, the national tourism site points to the old apartment and office blocks at 42 Nguyen Hue and 22 Ly Tu Trong, now filled with small cafes and shops. If you prefer art to shopping, the Fine Arts Museum at 97A Duc Chinh and the History Museum at 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem, in a 1929 building, are both in the old District 1.

The War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh and Cho Lon

The War Remnants Museum at 28 Vo Van Tan is the visit most people remember from Saigon, and the hardest. Its photographs of the war and of the effects of Agent Orange are graphic; the courtyard holds aircraft, tanks and bombs. Allow two to three hours and leave the rest of the morning light. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the museum's official site listed opening every day, including holidays, from 7:30 to 17:30 with the ticket desk closing at 17:00, and a standard ticket of 60,000 VND for visitors aged 16 and over (30,000 VND for seniors from 60 and some other groups).

Ben Thanh Market, under its clock tower in the centre, is a matrix of aisles selling fresh produce, coffee, lacquerware and conical hats, with food stalls at the far end of the hall cooking banh xeo and assembling banh mi. Treat it as a place for a first look and a quick lunch; compare prices before you buy souvenirs.

For the afternoon, take a taxi or a ride-hailing car west to Cho Lon, the old Chinese quarter, which the national tourism site recommends exploring on foot. Head for Binh Tay Market, a huge wholesale trading hall, and the Thien Hau Pagoda, an atmospheric temple to the goddess of the sea. Cho Lon is the subject of its own guide on this site.

Getting around: walking, the metro, the river and the ride home

Within the old District 1, walking is usually quickest. For anything further, the national tourism site notes that taxis are everywhere and that ride-hailing apps such as Grab work well once you have a Vietnamese SIM card; agree any cyclo or motorbike fare before you set off.

Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien) opened at the end of 2024 and runs for almost 20 km from the centre to the eastern edge of the city, with three underground stations in the centre. VnExpress, reporting the operator HURC1's National Day timetable in August 2026, said trains would run from 5:00 to 23:00 that day, an hour longer than usual; check the operator's app for current hours. The line is most useful for the east side of the city; it does not serve the airport, Cho Lon or Cu Chi.

Expect disruption around Ben Thanh station from the second half of October 2026. The city's urban railway authority told VnExpress on 3 October 2026 that it will fence off part of the area to build Metro Line 2, closing a section of Pham Hong Thai Street along September 23 Park and changing traffic on nearby streets; the work is planned in stages over more than three years. Leave extra time for taxis around Ben Thanh Market.

On the water, Saigon Waterbus runs from Bach Dang pier at the river end of Nguyen Hue, with stops listed on its official site at Thu Thiem, Ba Son (beside the Ba Son metro station), Binh An, Thao Dien, Thanh Da and Linh Dong. It is a slow, pleasant way to see the city from the river and to reach Thao Dien; check the timetable and book on the operator's site.

Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta: separate trips, not side trips

The Cu Chi Tunnels lie about 70 km northwest of the city centre: a network of tunnels, bunkers and underground kitchens and meeting rooms dug from 1946 and used through the war. There are two separate sites, Ben Duoc and Ben Dinh, which VnExpress's July 2026 guide puts 13 km apart; most visitors choose one. Plan a half-day at least, more with traffic, and wear clothes that can get dirty. The tunnels are narrow and low, so anyone with claustrophobia should stay above ground. The Cu Chi guide on this site covers the two sites in detail.

The Mekong Delta is a different matter. The national tourism site puts Can Tho about four hours from Ho Chi Minh City by bus, and boats to the Cai Rang floating market leave Ninh Kieu wharf around 5:00 in the morning. A same-day trip from Saigon cannot reach Cai Rang at its busiest; if the floating markets matter to you, sleep at least one night in Can Tho. If you do book a day tour from the city, compare the hours on the road with the time on the water.

A workable three-day route

This is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Check opening days for each place you choose.

• Day 1 — The colonial core: the cathedral and post office early, Dong Khoi and the Opera House, the Independence Palace before lunch, then Nguyen Hue and the riverfront at sundown.
• Day 2 — History and markets: the War Remnants Museum at opening time, lunch at Ben Thanh Market, then Cho Lon's Binh Tay Market and Thien Hau Pagoda in the afternoon.
• Day 3 — Saigon by appetite: com tam for breakfast, Tao Dan Park and Tan Dinh Market in the morning, a museum or the waterbus to Thao Dien in the afternoon, and Vinh Khanh Street in District 4 for dinner.
• Day 4 (optional): the Cu Chi Tunnels, or an overnight trip to Can Tho for the Mekong Delta.