Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) is a vibrant and charming city where traditional and modern influences live side by side. With an elegant setting of modern office skyscrapers amidst Chinese style pagodas together with a unique mix of culture of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City are really “must-go” destinations for everyone to Vietnam.

Geographical Location

Ho Chi Minh City covers an area of 2,095.6 square kilometers with a population of over 7.9 million people (as of December 2014). The city is located at 10.5° north of the equator, with an average altitude between 5 and 10m; 1,730km away from Hanoi by road, its city center is 50km away from the east coast as the crow flies. Flowing through the city center is the 106km-long Saigon River, which plays the role of a vital waterway for commercial trade activities.

Best time to visit

The city has two distinct seasons: rainy season from May to November, the dry season from December to April. But the sunshine of Saigon is not really hard, the rain does not last too long. Therefore, you can come to Saigon in any time of the year since this is a bustling the city all year round. If you come here in the wet season, you should bring an umbrella or rain jacket along when go out because Ho Chi Minh city is famous for sudden rain. For a more meaningful and memorable trip, you should go to Ho Chi Minh city on occasion after Tet (February, March) to participate in the biggest January full moon festival in Chinatown and lantern festival on the Saigon river.

How to get there

To get Saigon, you can travel by, train, motorbike, train, car, etc. This is not important issue, the important one is to select your suitable transport.

If you are far away from Saigon, you should travel by airplane for time saving and convenience. Let’s plan to travel Saigon in advance, then hunt for cheap air fares, you will save your budget. Now many website update promotion programs of air tickets, you can visit sanvere247.com to hunt cheap air fares to Saigon.

If you travel by train, it will be a great choice for you in case you have much time. With two stations: East and West, from any provinces in all parts of the country, you are able to get Saigon by car.

When getting Saigon, you are able to get on public bus or hire motorbike to go every streets of Saigon.

Things to see

To HCMC people, tourist attractions are not special just familiar; but to tourists, destinations are very interesting. Govietnamtourist.com will list tourist attractions from the city center to suburban.

Destinations in the city center are various including Bach Dang wharf, Ho Chi Minh museum, Ton Duc Thang museum, Ben Thanh market, The City Opera House, The City’s Committee, Saigon Post office, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Nguyen Hue walking street…

1. Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the late 1880s by French colonists, is one of the few remaining strongholds of Catholicism in the largely Buddhist Vietnam. Located in Paris Square, the name Notre Dame was given after the installation of the statue ‘Peaceful Notre Dame’ in 1959.

Measuring almost 60 metres in height, the cathedral’s distinctive neo-Romanesque features include the all-red brick façade (which were imported from Marseille), stained glass windows, two bell towers containing six bronze bells that still ring to this day, and a peaceful garden setting in the middle of downtown Ho Chi Minh City District 1.

 

Notre Dame Cathedral

2. Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office

The Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh is a beautifully preserved remnant of French colonial times and perhaps the grandest post office in all of Southeast Asia. Located next door to Notre Dame Cathedral, the two cultural sites can be visited together and offers visitors a chance to imagine life in Vietnam during the times of the Indochinese Empire. The building was designed by Alfred Foulhoux and features arched windows and wooden shutters, just as it would have in its heyday in the late 19th Century.

Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office

3. Ben Thanh Market

Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 is a great place to buy local handicrafts, branded goods, Vietnamese art and other souvenirs. Here, you’ll find eating stalls inside the market where you can get a taste of hawker-style Vietnamese cuisine or simply cool off with a cold drink when the bargaining becomes too much.

Ben Thanh Market

4. Saigon Opera House

The Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh is an elegant colonial building at the intersection of Le Loi and Dong Khoi Street in District 1, very close to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and the classic Central Post Office. The restored three-storey 800-seat Opera House was built in 1897 and is used for staging not only opera but also a wide range of performing arts including ballet, musical concerts, Vietnamese traditional dance and plays. Performances are advertised around the building and information can be found in the state-operated tourist information centre close by.

 

Saigon Opera House

5. War Remnants Museum

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City first opened to the public in 1975. Once known as the ‘Museum of American War Crimes’, it's a shocking reminder of the long and brutal Vietnam War.  Graphic photographs and American military equipment are on display. There's a helicopter with rocket launchers, a tank, a fighter plane, a single-seater attack aircraft. You can also see a conventional bomb that weighs at 6,800kg. American troops had used these weapons against the Vietnamese between 1945 and 1975.

War Remnants Museum

6. Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels are part of a massive war museum in Ho Chi Minh. They offer visitors a sneak-peek at the underground life of Vietnamese soldiers back in 1948. The site has over 120km of underground tunnels, with trapdoors, living areas, kitchens, storage facilities, armoury, hospitals, and command centres. After the war against the French, Vietnamese soldiers expanded the tunnels and included effective air filtration systems, which helped them survive the Chu Chi carpet-bombings

Cu Chi Tunnels

7. Bitexco Tower and Sky Deck

Ho Chi Minh City’s Bitexco Financial Tower & Sky Deck stands 262 metres high at the centre of the city’s business district and offers visitors dramatic views across the bustling city below. Designed by renowned American Architect Carlos Zapata, this 68-storey tower houses offices, shops, restaurants, and a helipad. CNNGo recently ranked the building fifth in their listing of the world’s 20 most iconic skyscrapers.

Financial Bitexco Tower

8. Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace was the base of Vietnamese General Ngo Dinh Diem until his death in 1963. The palace is like a time capsule frozen in 1975. You can see two of the original tanks used in the capture of the palace parked in the grounds. Reunification Palace was the home and workplace of the French Governor of Cochin-China. It has lush gardens, secret rooms, antique furniture, and a command bunker. It's still in use to host important occasions in Ho Chi Minh, including APEC summits.

Reunification Palace

9. Mariamman Hindu Temple

Mariamman Hindu Temple is a beautiful example of the bright and vibrant architecture of Hindu places of worship. As the only active Hindu temple in Ho Chi Minh, it acts as a community base for the small community of Hindus living in the city.

Mariamman Hindu Temple

10. Emperor Jade Pagoda

Emperor Jade Pagoda, also known as Tortoise Pagoda, is one of the five most important shrines in Ho Chi Minh City. Built at the turn of the 20th Century by a community of Cantonese who migrated from Guangzhou province in Southwest China, this pagoda is a fine representation of Mahayanist branch of Buddhism that is practiced widely in Vietnam.

Emperor Jade Pagoda

Things to do

Though Ho Chi Minh City is not as big as other cities in the world, there are a lot of things to do depending upon the length you stay here.

Visiting amazing places should be the first item in your to-do list.

For short-term trip (less than 3 days), it is advisable to try as much Vietnamese food as possible. For full experience, you should not only go to famous shopping malls such as Parkson or Diamond Plaza but also go to a local market. Ben Thanh Market attracts lots of visitors due to its wide range of products, especially souvenirs at reasonable price. Besides, Dong Khoi street is a famous street for shopping.

Enjoy street food

Shopping at a local market

Night clubs, movie theaters, concerts, coffee shops should be listed in your evening activities in Ho Chi Minh City also.

A rooftop bar at night

For longer stay in Vietnam, after visiting hot destinations in Ho Chi Minh, you should take tours to visit other parts of Vietnam.

A Mekong Delta tour

If you are concerned about charity works, you can also spend time doing volunteer at some orphanages or NGOs. There are plenty of opportunities for good will people to spread the love.

Do charity work

Things to eat

Due to the variety of culture; cuisine in Saigon is also very diverse. it is advisable to try as much Vietnamese food as possible. Lots of foreigners find Vietnamese culinary art fascinating and make the country stand out from the rest of the destinations. Com Tam (broken rice), Pho (Beef rice noodle) and other kinds of noodle are recommended dishes.

Especially, there is a must- try dish when tourists visit Saigon is banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich). The dish is considered as a typical dish in Saigon. In addition, Saigon noshes are not less delicious than any other part of Vietnam.

 

Banh mi is a simple dish but very attractive.

Besides, if you are so excited that you want to learn how to cook a Vietnamese dish, you can sign up for a day course at a Culinary Art center.

Notes:

An important note for travelers when visiting Ho Chi Minh, a crowded and bustling city, is that you should take care of your properties. Make sure your precious properties like wallet, mobile phone, camera, etc. are kept safe. And despite good service, reasonable price or discrimination, tourists should bargain when purchasing in markets.

Do you feel eager to discover more about Ho Chi Minh city? Let’s go with Govietnamtourist.com to start your perfect journey to Ho Chi Minh city now.