See and do in Ho Chi Minh City

See and do in Ho Chi Minh City

We were going to title the post what to see and do in Saigon since for many, if not most, of its residents the pre-war name is still the commonly used one. For the purposes of our post, what to see and do in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon are thus interchangeable. In the 17th century Vietnamese migrants settled in what at the time was largely a Khmer and Cham dominated region renaming the principal, pre-existing settlement Sai Gon or Saigon. Some 300 years later in 1976 the fallen capital of the Republic of Vietnam was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honour of of the leader of the victorious Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Colloquial terms aside there is a legitimate difference in so far as Saigon still correctly refers to the older, central parts of the city – primarily what is now District 1 –  while the greater metropolis is officially Ho Chi Minh City. Note also that the river which cuts a winding path through the city centre is still the Song Sai Gon, or Saigon River.  (We were once reprimanded by a woman in Can Tho when we told her we were going to Ho Chi Minh City. She replied, “where on earth is that?” – or words to that effect – and when we replied Saigon she retorted “well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”)

Today, the already sprawling and rapidly expanding city today is said to be home to some 14 to 15 million inhabitants making it Vietnam’s largest conurbation as well as its commercial centre even if the official capital remains, of course, Hanoi.

Saigon – a brief history

Despite the modern, bustling and somewhat brash city you see today, Saigon has a long and convoluted history so, before running through our suggestions of what to see and do in Ho Chi Minh City, a brief history of the city is called for.

The earliest known structure, in what would have been a small and marshy outpost located on the western bank of the Saigon River, is a 4th century, Funan period, Hindu temple, traces of which were uncovered underneath present-day District 11/s Phung Son Pagoda. With the decline of the Funan civilisation from the 6th to 7th centuries CE onwards the settlement – probably still only a small river port or trading post  – came under the control of the Chams who are thought to have named the site Baigur. After this records go quiet for a few hundred years until ancient inscriptions describe the  Khmer King Suryavarman II, (of Angkor Wat fame), capturing the site during a mid-12th century campaign against the rival Champa kingdom. The new Khmer name of the settlement was Prey Nokor, with nokor being a Sanskrit word for city and a cognate of the Khmer title angkor, suggesting that by that time the strategically located site had grown into 0ne of some importance.

It was to remain a regional centre of the Khmer kingdom until the early part of the 17th century when Cambodian king Chey Chettha II reportedly offered Prey Nokor as a gift to his powerful neighbours, the Nguyen lords of Hue. The new governors subsequently changed the settlement’s Khmer name to the Vietnamese Sai Gon, or Saigon, although historians still debate the actual meaning of the name. For reasons best known to themselves, they soon changed the name to Gia Dinh whose precise meaning is also uncertain but is possibly a Chinese term translating as auspicious and peaceful, or something along those lines.  It was to remain so until the early 1860s  when the city was ceded to the French who, also for reasons best known to themselves, decided to revert to the former name Saigon. Under the French, Saigon became the capital of Cochin China and from 1877 to 1902 the capital of French Indochina. (The latter comprised 5 regions; Laos, Cambodia, Tonkin – northern Vietnam, Annam – the central section of the country, and Cochin China – southern Vietnam.)  The Nguyen emperors had already resettled a number of Chinese families in the city, who were concentrated in what became the Cholon district, (today’s Districts 5 and 6), so in 1936, presumably as a result of the city’s expansion, the French saw fit to come up with Saigon-Cholon and it wasn’t until independence in 1954 that the city reverted once again to Saigon.

To recap, that’s; Baigur, Prey Nokor, Saigon, Gia Dinh, Saigon again, Saigon-Cholon, Saigon for the 3rd time and finally Ho Chi Minh City with control changing from the Funanese, Chams, Khmers, Vietnamese, French and Vietnamese again. We did say it was convoluted.

Some of our favourite Saigon sites

If you’ve travelled from Hanoi to Saigon then you’ll immediately notice some obvious differences. If you thought Hanoi was hectic and congested then Saigon is more so and if you thought Hanoi traffic was bad, Saigon’s is worse. It lives up to its commercial capital tag with a profusion of high rise, smoked glass and concrete apartments, hotels, office blocks and shopping malls. The food is different, any Vietnamese will tell you the mentality is different and the accent is different. The city’s complex history has also resulted in a greater ethnic mix with a large Sino-Vietnamese population and occasional distinctive Khmer traits while the city is still home to a vibrant Cham community.

In hindsight, Hanoi may seem sedate while the building boom means Saigon lacks the narrow lanes of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, as well as its large stock of colonial period architecture. Nevertheless, if the above is sounding too negative, Saigon is a fun city, does have some great sites and there are several excellent choices to see and do in Ho Chi Minh City.

French period architecture

Beginning with the French period then several spectacular structures remain. Possibly the best known and most visited is actually the old post office, originally constructed from 1886 to 1891 in a mixed Gothic, Renaissance and French colonial style. It’s been beautifully restored and both the interior and exterior are well worth a few pics. Immediately opposite is Saigon’s very own Notre Dame Cathedral. Constructed around the same time as the post office, albeit in a more prosaic, Romanesque style from red bricks reportedly imported from Marseilles. (Since the spectacular Cham towers of central Vietnam, (e.g. Nha Trang’s Po Nagar or World Heritage My Son) were constructed out of locally made bricks over a thousand tears ago , you’ve got to wonder why they bothered.) The grand old cathedral has also seen a recent make-over. Other contemporary sites include the 1898 opera house and the spectacular Saigon City Hall, now Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Building. The former is less grandiose than Hanoi’s opera house, yet still striking in deign while the latter is said to have been modelled on the Paris City Hall. (Visitors aren’t allowed inside but, if you’re in the area, the exterior is well worth a look.)

War Remnants Museum

Located in a purpose-built structure in District 3, Saigon’s War Remnants Museum, (or Museum for Peace as their website now seems to be calling it), is certainly the city’s most harrowing site. (Ok, it’s not as bad as Phnom Penh’s S21 – Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum – or the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, but it does result in occasional tears.) The expression ‘history is written by the winner’ is a very true one but these are Vietnamese slants on documented events so whatever the Vietnamese government spin,  My Lai, Agent Orange, carpet bombing by B52s etcetera are all undeniable US atrocities. (Conversely and interestingly, aforementioned Cambodian museums completely underplay any US responsibility for the Cambodian civil war and Khmer Rouge.) Allow from 1 to 2 hours and you’ll need a coffee break, and possibly something stronger afterwards.

Independence or Reunification Palace

Set in a tree-filled park, a stone’s throw south of the War Remnants Museum, the palace was originally built as the French governor’s residence before becoming home to the South Vietnamese president Diem. It’s also the location of the famous last-ditch, rooftop helicopter evacuation in April 75 as the North Vietnamese troops closed in.  Time permitting you can do a tour but at least ask your guide to stop outside so you can grab a shot of the iconic exterior.

Markets

Needless to say a large commercial centre such as Saigon comes with myriad markets and since you can’t visit them all we’d say Cho Ben Thanh or Cho Binh Tay are the best options. (Yes, cho means market.) Ben Thanh is conveniently situated in District 1 while Binh Tay forms the epicentre of the Chinese, Cholon district. Both are worth a wander and combine food, household goods, clothes etc with souvenir and tourist-orientated stalls while both offer great street food opportunities. You don’t need to do both but either is good.

For street food markets both Ben Nghe and Ho Thi Ky come with convenient, central locations and great reviews so if you have a free evening either spot would be up there on the see and do in Ho Chi Minh City list. Flag down a metre taxi, upload the Grab app or ask reception to call you a ride and head over for some serious grazing.

Pagodas

As with markets, it goes without saying that a city of 14 million comes with a lot of pagodas. Every Saigon travel blogger will have their favourite, most spectacular temple or ‘hidden gem’ but we’re not certain there are many real stand out ones and a visit to a pagoda really depends on which one conveniently fits in around the rest of your city itinerary. Don’t expect huge Hue-style complexes – that was the imperial capital – but Jade Emperor Pagoda has a convenient District 1 location and displays all the features you’re likely to see at any other city temple.  (Then president Obama took in that one on his Vietnam visit so it must be a good bet.)

Ho Chi Minh History Museum

While visitors can get easily ‘museumed-out’, so they claim, we always maintain it’s a shame not to have at least a cursory glance over the history of the region you’re visiting. You’ll explore the bustling markets and picturesque temples and learn about 20th century history with the French period and Indochina war but what about the other 2000 plus years of Vietnamese history? It’s not a huge exhibition but we’d say the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, (Bảo tàng Lịch sử Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) is well worth devoting an hour or so to. Happily, its central location is more convenient than its Vietnamese name.

If you refer back to our brief history section then you’ll see that the Vietnamese presence in both Saigon and the Mekong Delta region is relatively recent. The museum consequently houses plenty of artefacts from the early Funanese, Cham and Khmer Hindu cultures as well as exhibits on the sporadic and frequent conflicts with the powerful Chinese empire to the north.

If you have any spare time then the museum makes for an interesting and informative visit so hop in a Grab or even take a stroll – there’s plenty of street life to take in and, as always in Vietnam, no shortage of excellent local coffee shops to break up the walk.

Some we’re not so keen on

If you search the web for see and do in Ho Chi Minh City you’ll certainly come across at least a couple of much-touted sites that, for various reasons, we’re not including in our suggestions. Best known of these are the famous Cu Chi Tunnels in what are now the northwest suburbs of the city. The tunnels were constructed as part of a vast, secret underground Vietcong base during the late 60s.) As an almost de rigeur see and do in Ho Chi Minh City, the site gets very crowded indeed especially when you factor in domestic visitors too,  There are tanks, planes and military hardware on show, as well as a shooting range, pagodas, restaurants, coffee shops and souvenir stalls and in our opinion, overall, Cu Chi has turned into something of a circus. (Not to mention the traffic jams getting there and back.) Furthermore the tunnels themselves have been altered (widened for larger tourists) and manicured to the point where they bear little resemblance to the originals.

However, a comparable set of tunnels can be found further north at Vinh Moc in Quang Tri Province, in the former DMZ just north of Danang. We say comparable in so far as the site was another underground Vietcong base but in our opinion they are far better in every way. The area’s geology meant the tunnels were larger so fewer alterations were necessary for the public and they remain far more authentic. The labyrinth descends three levels while at one point a side tunnel leads directly onto an adjacent beach from where the Vietcong were supplied at night time by small boats.

They are far more off-the-beaten-track, see far fewer visitors and the basic carpark features just a few wooden noodle stalls and tiny visitors centre. There’s really no photo so on our Hanoi to Saigon tours we include Vinh Moc but not Cu Chi while on our Saigon to Angkor tours Cu Chi is replaced by Xeo Quit, (or Quyt). The latter was also a hidden Vietcong base although in this case most of the tunnels are through the Mekong Delta jungle rather than underground and it’s visited by dugout canoe rather than on foot. Located in Dong Thap Province and once again, far less crowded and we’d say far more picturesque.

The Mekong Delta

Xeo Quit brings us on to the another much-touted option to see and do in Ho Chi Minh City, a Mekong Delta tour. While Saigon could be said to represent the northern limits of the Mekong Delta, the Delta proper begins some two hours south of the city in My Tho. From here the myriad waterways of the Delta stretch off into Vinh Long, Dong Thap, An Giang and Ben Tre provinces and west to Chau Doc and Cambodia’s upper delta. (1) Can Tho, the unofficial capital of the Delta is a 3 hour drive from Saigon so for a one day tour you’re looking at a ridiculous minimum of 5 to 6 hours’ driving time.  It’s a pointless, scratch-the-surface tour and explains why awesome sites such as Xeo Quit see so few foreign visitors.

Monkey Island

Nearly forgot this one but it does feature on plenty of Saigon tour operator’s windows or hotel ‘where to go’ brochures and is another site that we’re not about to include on our small group Vietnam tour itineraries. Monkey Island is a protected area of mangroves situated in Can Gio District, some 50 kilometres southeast of the city. While its commendable that the eco-system and its resident long-tailed macaques are being protected you’d have to be either a very fresh traveller to the region or a primate fanatic to drive 2 plus hours to see what are Southeast Asia’s commonest, and certainly least popular, monkey species.

Ho Chi Minh on our tours

Vietnam’s a relatively large country with lots to see so barring an unlimited timeframe, one can’t eternalise in Saigon anymore than in Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An or anywhere else. Our Ho Chi Minh City section is 2 days, 2 nights so we can’t include everything however, our Vietnam tour itineraries do aim to offer, as always, a cross range of the best-known sites along with lesser visited ones like Xeo Quit.  We also factor in time at leisure when you have the choice of some downtime or taking in a site that doesn’t normally feature such as the Museum of History.

(1) Vietnamese provincial boundaries saw a major reorganisation in 2025 so so that may no longer be strictly accurate.