Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, also referred to as Saigon, is a big metropolis when it comes to each inhabitants and land space. It’s additionally a well-liked vacationer vacation spot. I’ve been residing in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis for almost a decade, and the factor I like most concerning the metropolis is how a lot depth it has.
That’s, you may’t see all the town has to supply with out a little bit of exploration. It’s important to delve deeper into the area people to seek out the most effective issues to do within the metropolis. Sadly, that may create points for vacationers who wish to really expertise what HCMC has to supply.
Probably the most troublesome factor about visiting Ho Chi Minh Metropolis is that the most effective locations to go in Saigon are very unfold out. That is in distinction to, say, Hanoi, the place almost the entire attention-grabbing sights and sights – even the hidden Hanoi hotspots that the majority vacationers by no means encounter – are roughly clustered in a small metropolis middle. As a substitute, a number of probably the most quintessential Ho Chi Minh Metropolis experiences are unfold throughout a big space.
On this information, I’ll go over 9 experiences to hunt out in Saigon that can present you the town in a extra genuine and colourful gentle than the same old Ho Chi Minh Metropolis vacationer sights you’ll examine in most guidebooks. A lot of them are locations that locals I befriended took me to go to. Others are locations I discovered by combing by means of social media teams frequented by expats and English-speaking Vietnamese.
High 9 Off-The-Crushed-Observe Issues to Do in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis
Earlier than discussing every of my 9 picks in higher element, let me present a fast reference information, with particulars for every attraction, together with the common spend for 1 particular person.
1. Ho Thi Ky Road Meals Market for Road Meals
Consuming road meals is likely one of the hottest issues to do in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis. All probably the most fashionable Vietnamese road meals dishes can be found close to the vacationer middle of District 1, however there are just a few streets within the metropolis that provide a road meals expertise past something District 1 can provide. My favourite meals road in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis is Ho Thi Ky Meals Road in District 10.
Ho Thi Ky is positioned in an alley that stretches between Hung Vuong and Ly Thai To, two of the most important streets in District 10. Despite the fact that the alley is comparatively slender, it’s fully lined on both aspect with road meals distributors.
The throngs of road meals explorers, the intense lights, the unique and delicious-looking meals displayed at each stall, and the mouth-watering aroma of all of it give it a “carnival halfway” really feel, in contrast to something I’ve skilled elsewhere on my travels. One of many facets that put it above different meals strolling streets for me is the truth that the skinny, crowded alley has nearly no car visitors.
My favourite half about Ho Thi Ky Meals Road, although, is the sheer number of road meals, a lot of which I had by no means (and nonetheless haven’t) seen elsewhere. The ocean snail shells filled with a combination of floor pork, snail meat, mushrooms, and lemongrass had been one among my favorites, as had been the tiny cups of fried quail egg, aromatic herbs, and dried shrimp. Or the stewed strawberries with chili sugar and ice. Or the kiwi-flavored panna cotta. I may go on for paragraphs.
For my part, Ho Thi Ky Meals Road is the most effective place in Saigon to absorb the city hustle and bustle whereas filling up on unbelievable meals for lower than 200k VND in whole. Go between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm for the most effective expertise.
Notice: Ho Thi Ky Market is split into two alleys that run parallel to one another: the meals road and the flower road. The flower road is fairly cool too, because it shows a higher number of bouquets than you’ve doubtless ever seen. Be sure to go to each streets!
Just a few of the most effective meals streets in Saigon apart from Ho Thi Ky are:
- Xom Chieu Road in District 4
- Van Kiep Road in Binh Thanh District
- Nguyen Thuong Hien Road in District 3
2. Saigon Riverfront Park for Skyline Views
The most effective place to view the Ho Chi Minh Metropolis Skyline is hidden from sight for many vacationers and is principally free to go to.
Enterprise right down to Vo Van Kiet Road in District 1, go by means of Thu Thiem Tunnel, after which flip off the freeway to succeed in Saigon Riverfront Park.
The park is located alongside the riverfront, and there are rows upon rows of plastic chairs and tables the place you may sit and gaze on the unbelievable cityscape on the opposite aspect. Plenty of tall buildings adorned with colourful lights solid their reflections on the river. Crowds of pedestrians and motorbikes mill forwards and backwards in between them, which makes the relaxed ambiance of the park really feel much more particular.
There is no such thing as a value of admission, however you’ll be requested to order a drink from one of many distributors on the park. There is no such thing as a established cafe or restaurant on the park, so that you’ll have to select from a smooth drink, a beer, an on the spot espresso, recent coconut water, or, my favourite, pineapple juice combined with ginseng and plenty of milk (sâm dứa sữa).
You would possibly count on such a picturesque spot to be crowded with vacationers and to be a bit on the pricier aspect. However, consider it or not, I didn’t see a single different vacationer there the few instances I’ve gone, and the drinks vary in value from 25-50k VND. Not solely is that this a premier place to view the Ho Chi Minh Metropolis skyline in all its residing colours, but it surely’s additionally a incredible place to expertise a soothing night out as a neighborhood would.
3. Dam Sen Park for Individuals-Watching
Dam Sen Water Park in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis’s District 11 is an often-overlooked day journey for vacationers seeking to have a enjoyable and genuine city Vietnamese expertise.
Whereas waterparks are often constructed outdoors of cities to save lots of on land prices, Dam Sen Park is positioned smack dab within the midst of the city sprawl of Saigon. Meaning it’s very straightforward to get to, even for these spending solely a short while in Saigon.
The city location of the Park additionally means it’s very crowded, particularly on holidays and weekends. It’d even be a bit a lot for individuals who get simply overstimulated. For me, although, and I’m guessing for a lot of readers who love Vietnam, it makes for a few of the finest “folks watching” (which is a favourite pastime for a lot of urbanites worldwide) that I’ve ever encountered.
You’ll see locals from each stroll of life, from households carrying matching swimsuit units and trekking up the tall flights of stone steps to one of many Park’s many waterslides to teenage women making the “duck face” and taking selfies to small boys working in circles and capturing tremendous soakers at one another to aged {couples} holding fingers as they bob down the lazy river on innertubes. Probably the most magical half concerning the Park is that completely everyone seems to be smiling.
The park can also be a good way to beat the warmth, which is a much-appreciated perk in Saigon since the commonest grievance by vacationers visiting the town is the excessive warmth and humidity ranges, particularly throughout summer season months. The lazy river and the wave swimming pools are particularly good for cooling off, particularly since there’s no wait.
Meals is on the market at Dam Sen Park for surprisingly low costs, although they’re a bit larger than what you’d count on outdoors.
Park admission is barely 220k VND for adults and 180k for youths. Hours are 8:00 am till 6:00 pm, although they cease promoting tickets at 4:30.
4. Xuan Thuy Road for Visitors-Free Strolling Road Ambiance
Bui Vien Strolling Road in District 1 is maybe probably the most well-known factor to do in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis for first-time vacationers. It’s loud, it’s crowded, and it’s about as hedonistic as you may get with out visiting Macau or Las Vegas. It’s enjoyable to see as soon as, however most vacationers will in all probability get bored with it rapidly except they’re in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis for the nightlife scene.
On my most up-to-date journey to Saigon, a good friend of mine launched me to what I really feel is a decidedly extra enjoyable strolling road positioned on Xuan Thuy Road in Thao Dien, the town’s largest expat haven in District 2. Beginning in early 2024, the Metropolis started closing Xuan Thuy off to car visitors on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 7 pm and till 2 am.
The road is lined with eating places, bars, cafes, and road meals distributors. They’re full of life and colourful, and lots of of them play pop music out of audio system. It’s nowhere close to as noisy or raucous as Bui Vien, although, with music being stored to a average quantity and no smoke machines or lasers as you see in entrance of many storefronts on Bui Vien. On the finish of the road is a river stroll with some nice skyline views and quite a lot of sellers from pottery studios to memento outlets. Costs are typically reasonably excessive.
Xuan Thuy Strolling Road can also be loads much less crowded than Bui Vien, at the least for now. It doesn’t draw large crowds of drunken party-goers like Bui Vien; as a substitute, you’re extra more likely to see households (each native and international), small good friend teams, and {couples}. You will note folks having fun with cocktails and barbecue, however it can in all probability be a quiet gathering reasonably than a loud social gathering.
The pedestrian-only a part of Xuan Thuy Road is just not too lengthy – lower than a km – but it surely’s a leisurely strategy to spend a night whereas having fun with some upscale city ambiance.
5. Saigon Waterbus Journey to Binh Quoi Park for Leisure
Except they’re up for spending 380k plus the cash for an costly meal on a Saigon River dinner cruise, most vacationers to Ho Chi Minh Metropolis don’t truly get out on the water. However on a current journey to Ho Chi Minh, I discovered that there’s a strategy to get out onto the river for less than 15k. I additionally felt that it was a extra nice expertise than the crowded and overcommercialized dinner cruises.
The Saigon Waterbus leaves from Bach Dang Pier, which is correct throughout from the Rex Lodge and Nguyen Hue promenade in District 1. The terminal itself could be very good, with a number of clear however busy cafes to go to and loads of seats to attend at in the event you don’t wish to purchase something.
A lot of the buses go to Binh Dan in District 2, Thanh Da in Binh Thanh District, Hiep Binh Chanh in Thu Duc District, and Linh Dong in Thu Duc District. It’s necessary to verify the route you purchase tickets for goes to your meant vacation spot as a result of a few of them are categorical routes that skip sure stops.
Notice that the schedule for the waterbus is slightly bizarre, although. The buses don’t run daily and the tickets generally promote out hours earlier than a waterbus leaves, so I’d advocate going to the station the day of your journey and shopping for tickets then.
My favourite place to go on the Saigon Waterbus is Thanh Da. The journey takes simply over half-hour. It’s a very good period of time to absorb the enduring websites you’ll float previous, from a pair of impressively engineered bridges to Landmark 81, the tallest constructing in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis. Feeling the cool river breeze in my hair as I noticed the town from a brand new perspective is one among my most memorable Saigon experiences.
Thanh Da itself is an island. It’s related to mainland Binh Thanh district by an enormous bridge, but it surely’s nonetheless quieter and barely much less crowded than a lot of the metropolis. And though the world is certainly not rich, it’s dwelling to what I feel is the nicest park in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, Binh Quoi Park. Binh Quoi is split into just a few sections, however all of them are very well-maintained and are a very good place to get pleasure from some genuinely good inexperienced house in Saigon. Park admission is free, and there’s a buffet the place adults can eat for 270k (150k for youths). The park is open on Fridays-Sundays and holidays.
A great way to cap off a visit to Thanh Da is by consuming at Nha Hold Phong Cua, some of the well-known seafood eating places in Saigon. The restaurant has each totally indoor and open-air areas. Their specialty is crab, although the entire seafood could be very recent and most often, you may truly go as much as the tanks on the entrance of the restaurant and pick what you need.
6. 42 Nguyen Hue Cafe Condo for French Colonial Structure
42 Nguyen Hue is a bit higher-profile than most different objects on this article because it’s one of many tallest buildings within the middle of Nguyen Hue Promenade (a vacationer hotspot), but it surely’s nonetheless not talked about almost as a lot accurately contemplating how uniquely lovely it’s.
The constructing is a nine-story condo block that was constructed whereas the French occupied Saigon. These days, every condo homes a cute little store. Tenants embody:
- A bookstore on your entire floor flooring
- Cute cafes serving Vietnamese espresso, milk tea, and ice cream
- Speakeasy-style bars
- Clothes boutiques
- A UK-style tea home
- Co-working areas
- Salons
- An Indian meals restaurant
The outlets change fingers usually so publishing an up-to-date listing on-line is hard. My recommendation is to face on Nguyen Hue, lookup on the constructing, and see for your self what store fronts there are to select from. Alternately, enter the constructing and use the previous stone staircase to discover every flooring to see what they’ve to supply.
7. Phuoc Lengthy Pagoda for an Genuine Journey
This expedition out into the deep suburbs of Ho Chi Minh Metropolis is good for individuals who wish to get away from the chaos of the town middle to have an genuine cultural expertise. District 9 is maybe the sleepiest district of Saigon, and Phuoc Lengthy Pagoda is positioned on the very far finish of the district, in the midst of the Dong Nai River.
Simply the journey out to the pagoda is an expertise. It’s a cool expertise to look at the internal metropolis trimmings of Saigon regularly fade away and provides strategy to filth roads, patches of forest, and previous girls promoting fruit by the aspect of the highway. The journey ought to take about 45 minutes by taxi from District 1. If you happen to’re capable of drive a motorcycle, although, I’d extremely advocate driving your self and taking a extra scenic route that avoids the freeway.
When you arrive on the financial institution of the Dong Nai River, you’ll have to take a ferry to the island with Phuoc Lengthy Pagoda on it. An previous hand-paddled boat runs to and from the pagoda continuously through the day daily besides holidays. Tickets price 20k VND every means.
The pagoda itself is full of life and colourful, like one thing you’d count on to see within the Vietnam part of Disneyworld’s Epcot Middle. It’s not as sprawling as a few of the Vietnamese pagodas I visited, but it surely was some of the spectacular. It additionally has an added feeling of quiet and serenity because it’s on an island.
8. Crescent Mall Promenade for an Night Stroll
Most Ho Chi Minh Metropolis vacationers by no means get the possibility to go to District 7, but it surely’s a hotspot for expats due to how lovely elements of the district are. It has a number of parks and quiet avenues, and possibly probably the most attractive a part of all is the strolling promenade on Ton Dat Tien Road outdoors Crescent Mall.
Notice: Ton Dat Tien Road continues on the opposite aspect of the river. Be sure to begin your stroll on the Crescent Mall aspect!
The promenade is at its nicest on Friday and Saturday evenings. Throughout that point, it’s closed off to visitors and is lit with smooth multi-colored lights that replicate off the river working alongside one aspect of the promenade to create a dreamy impact. The promenade results in Starlight Bridge, a strolling bridge with a rainbow of differently-colored lights lining it and cascades of water pouring from the bridge into the river.
On the opposite aspect of Starlight Bridge is likely one of the best-kept parks within the metropolis. The park comprises slender stone paths main over small ponds and weaving in between grassy hills the place you may sit and watch the celebrities. It additionally has an space the place kids can cheaply lease electrical scooters, rollerblades, or hoverboards to putter round.
9. An Dong Market for Buying
Most vacationers in Saigon are instructed Ben Thanh Market is a superb place to purchase souvenirs and native items, but it surely’s truly means overpriced and never precisely genuine. In my travels, I’ve discovered An Dong Market in District 5 is the most effective place to really store.
An Dong has that crowded, chaotic really feel you need from an genuine Ho Chi Minh Metropolis native market expertise. Regardless of that, although, the multi-level market remains to be orderly sufficient to the place you could find what you need. There’s a flooring devoted to meals items (together with cooked road meals, dried meals, and produce), a flooring for garments, and a flooring for artisanal items.
The meals flooring is my favourite. It gives an even bigger choice than Ben Thanh with regards to ready meals, and the costs are nowhere close to as excessive. The dried items choice can also be incredible, with extra jerkies, preserved fruits, and Vietnamese candies than you can eat in a lifetime. I extremely advocate making an attempt the khô bò, Vietnamese spiced beef jerky.
The artisan’s flooring is a superb place to purchase souvenirs. They’ve small steel sculptures of cyclos and different icons of Saigon, chopstick bins with hand carvings on them, rolls of Vietnamese calligraphy artwork, and way more. I acquired all of my presents for folks again dwelling on this flooring.
Surrounding the parking zone of the market are a number of stalls, together with just a few tailors specializing within the conventional Vietnamese costume áo dài. If you wish to get a memento that you just or a fortunate recipient can put on, this is likely one of the finest locations to do it. The áo dài you get right here might be custom-made and would require a number of becoming classes over just a few days, so be sure you’ll be in Saigon for just a few extra days in the event you purchase one.
As I stated earlier, my favourite factor about Ho Chi Minh Metropolis is its many layers. There are many Saigon sights for first-time guests to entry, however I really feel like I’m able to “peel off one other layer” and discover extra new issues to do each time I’m going again. I hope this information will assist the extra adventurous amongst you to peel off just a few layers directly and get proper to the most effective actions in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis.
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Posted NOV 22, 2024
