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Places to go in Ho Chi Minh
We only ended up with a few days in Ho Chi Minh and didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked due to jetlag but the one thing I can definitely recommend is a half day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels.
Below are the places we intended to visit, we didn’t make it to any of them in the end but it was still an interesting city to spend a couple of days in.
Things to Do:
– Visit the Museum of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine, a private collection that traces the history of traditional remedies.
– See the Vietnamese perspective on the war at the War Remnants Museum
– Browse Antique Street, but if you’re thinking of purchasing anything remember there are a lot of fakes.
-Book a free tour with a local student from an organisation called Saigon Hotpot
– Visit the basement of the Reunification Palace which includes a war room and a series of military tunnels.
– A cooking class is a great way to get a chance to explore a food market with a local, learn more about food and life in Vietnam and of course cook and eat your own authentic Viet cuisine.
– Try Vietnamese coffee, especially the iced version.
Places to Eat and Drink:
Be careful of street food, the stallholders don’t always see hygiene as a priority. If you’re feeling brave try one of the local delicacies that include Vietnamese snake wine (snake infused rice wine), worms, grasshoppers, duck embryos and kopi luwak (coffee that has been fermented in the stomach of a creature called a civet).
– Dong Hoa Cuan, try the spicy caramelised fish
– Cuc Gach Quan, this place is very popular so you will need to book but the food and decor gets consistent praise and it was visited by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
– Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa, supposed to be the best Banh Mi in town
– Xoi Che Bui Thi Xuan for sticky rice dishes
– Hu Tieu Vo Van Tan for pho
– Quan An Ngon, a chaotic terrace with different chefs serving street food. We were going to try this place but the lack of airconditioning on a sticky night drove us elsewhere. It is supposed to be very good street style food though.
– Du Mien Café, for a relaxing lunch in a great setting
– Casbah Cafe, a little tricky to find (down an alleyway and through a nondescript door) but if you can brave your way in and up the stairs you’ll find a roof terrace with views of the city.
– Banh Xeo 46A is supposed to be the best for banh xeo (sizzling crepes).
– Fanny Icecream, very popular with tourists and not overly cheap but reputed to be one of the best ways to cool off. Dream Cones is also supposed to be good.
– The Lunch lady (Nguyen Thi Thanh) – a popular street vendor who serves up a different noodle dish every day
– Visit Nguyen Thuong Hien Street, known as ‘snail street’ for seafood.
– Com Neiu Sai Gon in District 3 for clay pot baked rice, Anthony Bourdain also raves about this place but it’s not getting great reviews recently so there may have been a change in management.
Day Trips:
Tours outside the city are plentiful and cheap and well worth doing if you have enough time.
– Take a trip out to the Cu Chi tunnels, a complex of underground tunnels used by the Viet Cong that are part of a much larger network covering 250km across most of the country. Don’t worry if you’re claustrophobic you don’t need to go down into the tunnel if you don’t want to. We chose Saigon River Express for our tour and they were great, I would definitely recommend their boat trip to Cu Chi. It is a little bit expensive (US$69 per person) but it was so nice on the boat out in the fresh air with a small friendly group. They took great care of us with an informative tour, cold drinks, a light breakfast of croissants and fruit, and a tasty lunch on the way back. We were really happy with the whole trip and it’s a fascinating place, definitely worth a visit.
Visit the map below to find these places, locating them is a little tricky but I’ve tried to do my best:
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