Ho Chi Minh City

In December 2024, Ho Chi Minh City opened its first metro line, twenty years after construction began. Line 1 runs 19.7 kilometres from Ben Thanh Market in the city centre to the New Eastern Bus Terminal in Thu Duc, with three underground stations and eleven elevated ones. Time magazine put it on their list of the world’s greatest places for 2025. For a city that had been defined for decades by motorbike traffic so dense it looked like a fluid, the arrival of reliable rail transit is a bigger shift than the infrastructure itself suggests: it changes how visitors can move around the city, and it gives some legitimacy to HCMC’s ambition to position itself as a major regional metropolis rather than a sprawling, chaotic inheritance from the postwar decades.

The city is still chaotic, of course. That chaos is part of what makes it one of the most compelling cities in Southeast Asia. The density, the noise, the streets where food stalls and motorbike repair shops and tailor workshops coexist in the same block, the way the colonial French streetscape of District 1 transitions within a few hundred metres into the covered markets and narrow lanes of Cholon, the Chinese commercial district: this is a city that has absorbed colonial rule, war, reunification, Soviet-style central planning, and then thirty years of rapid economic growth, and retained a character that is entirely its own.

What to See

The War Remnants Museum at 28 Vo Van Tan Street in District 3 is the most visited museum in Vietnam for good reason. The exhibits cover the American War (the local term) through the lens of the Vietnamese civilian experience: aerial bombardment, Agent Orange defoliation, the Phoenix Program, and its aftermath. The “Requiem” exhibition, displaying photographs taken by journalists from both sides who were killed during the conflict, is particularly affecting. The museum opens daily from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm; arrive by 5 pm to buy tickets. Admission is around 40,000 Vietnamese dong for foreigners (approximately $1.50 USD). Allow two hours minimum. It is not a comfortable place to be, which is the point.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are 40 kilometres northwest of the city centre, accessible by organised tour or by boat and bus. During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong built an extensive tunnel network beneath Cu Chi district that at its height included living quarters, hospitals, kitchens, and munitions workshops. At least 45,000 Vietnamese died defending the tunnels over the course of the war. Visitors can crawl through sections of tunnel that have been widened by about 30 percent to accommodate foreign bodies; the original tunnels were built to Vietnamese dimensions of the 1960s and 1970s. There is also a firing range where visitors can discharge an AK-47 for a fee, which has an odd double quality of being simultaneously crass and the only place in the world most visitors will ever fire a military weapon. Most tours from the city take half a day and cost around $15 to $25 USD per person.

Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office face each other on Cong xa Paris Square in District 1. The cathedral is a Neo-Romanesque structure built by the French in 1880 from materials shipped from France including the red bricks, which were fired in Marseille. The Central Post Office next door, also French colonial, has a vaulted iron ceiling, large historical maps of the Saigon area on the interior walls, and is still a functioning post office. Both are walkable from Ben Thanh Market and from the Ben Thanh metro station.

The Jade Emperor Pagoda (Phuoc Hai Tu) in District 3 is the most atmospheric religious site in the city: a Taoist and Buddhist temple dedicated to the Jade Emperor of Chinese heaven, thick with incense smoke, decorated with elaborate wood carvings and terracotta figures, and genuinely active as a place of worship. The turtles in the small courtyard pond are released by worshippers as an act of merit. It is not heavily commercialised and is one of the better places in HCMC to spend a quiet hour away from the traffic.

Ben Thanh Market is worth walking through once, primarily for orientation and for the street food stalls on the surrounding streets in the morning. The market interior is heavily tourist-oriented and the prices reflect this; serious shopping is better done in Binh Tay Market in Cholon or in the specialist wholesale streets of District 5 and District 10.

The Metro

Line 1 connects Ben Thanh in District 1 to Thu Duc, passing through Binh Thanh (which has good access to the antiques quarter) and ending near Suoi Tien cultural park. Fares are modest. Payment is by contactless card (Mastercard, Visa, JCB, and others) or via the HURC app. The metro does not yet cover the whole city, but it makes the journey from the centre to the east side significantly faster and cooler than the same trip by taxi in traffic. Line 2, which will add a north-south axis, is under construction with expected completion around 2030.

For now, Grab remains the most practical way to move around the parts of the city the metro does not reach. Set the pickup location precisely before requesting a ride, as drivers in heavy traffic need exact coordinates.

Food

Ho Chi Minh City’s food culture is one of the strongest arguments for visiting. The range from street stall to fine dining, and the quality at every level, is genuinely exceptional.

Com tam (broken rice) is the city’s signature dish in a way that pho is not: pho is a northern dish that was transplanted south; com tam originates here. The rice is served with grilled pork (suon), pork skin (bi), a steamed egg cake (cha trung), fish sauce, and pickled vegetables. Com tam Ba Ghien has been serving it in Binh Thanh district since 1995 and is a reference standard. Any com tam stall with local customers and a queue at 7 am is a reliable bet.

Banh mi Huynh Hoa at 26 Le Thi Rieng in District 1 is frequently cited as the best banh mi in the city, with fillings that include multiple types of pork pate, ham, and pickled vegetables, all in a freshly baked baguette. It opens from around 6 am and queues form early. Arrive before 8 am if you do not want to wait.

Pho Hoa on Pasteur Street in District 3 has been operating since the 1960s and serves one of the most consistent bowls of pho bo (beef noodle soup) in the city. The broth is clear, not cloudy, the beef is fresh, and the herbs and bean sprouts arrive in a separate plate for you to add according to preference.

For something more ambitious, Anan Saigon at 89 Ton That Dam in Ben Nghe is a Michelin-starred restaurant in the historic Ton That Dam market building. Chef Peter Cuong Franklin takes Vietnamese street food as the starting point for a tasting menu that is both recognisably Vietnamese and genuinely inventive. The restaurant operates by reservation only for the tasting menu (seatings at 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm) and a la carte from 5 pm to 11 pm Tuesday through Sunday. Prices are high by local standards and moderate by international fine dining standards.

For coffee, Ho Chi Minh City has a distinct coffee culture. Ca phe sua da, iced coffee dripped through a phin filter and served with sweetened condensed milk, is available everywhere and costs almost nothing. The better local coffee shops roast their own beans; Nguyen Coffee Supply and The Coffee House are reliable chains with good sourcing.

Where to Stay

District 1 is where most visitors base themselves, particularly the blocks around Dong Khoi Street and Ben Thanh Market. The Hotel Continental Saigon, opened in 1880, is the most historically significant property in the city and has been recently restored; it is at the mid-to-upper range of the market. The Park Hyatt Saigon on Lam Son Square faces the Opera House and is the best luxury option in terms of location. Budget accommodation clusters around Pham Ngu Lao Street and Bui Vien, which is the backpacker district; rooms here start under $20 USD per night and the area is lively into the early hours.

District 3 is quieter than District 1, has a good concentration of restaurants and cafes, and is convenient for the War Remnants Museum. Several boutique hotels occupy renovated French colonial villas in this district.

Binh Thanh and the areas along the Saigon River are developing fast, with new hotels in the mid-range opening as the district gentrifies. The metro connection to Ben Thanh makes it practical.

Getting Around

Grab is the dominant ride-hailing app and covers motorcycles (cheaper, faster in traffic) and cars. Download it before you arrive and link a payment card. Taxis (Vinasun and Mai Linh are the reputable companies) are metered and reliable if you prefer not to use an app.

The metro Line 1 is useful for specific journeys to the east and is cheap. Cyclos (three-wheeled pedal rickshaws) are still available in the tourist district and are a slow, scenic way to cover short distances.

Practical Notes

The currency is the Vietnamese dong. Prices in markets are in dong; some tourist restaurants and hotels quote USD. ATMs are widespread in District 1. Cash is still commonly used for street food and small stalls.

Crossing the street in HCMC, particularly on busy roads without traffic lights, requires a specific technique: walk slowly and steadily at an even pace, making eye contact with approaching traffic, and motorbike riders will navigate around you. Do not stop suddenly or run. This sounds implausible the first time you are confronted with it but works reliably in practice.

The best months to visit are November to April, when the dry season keeps temperatures high but humidity lower and rain infrequent. The wet season (May to October) brings daily afternoon downpours that are heavy but usually brief.

If you have only one day, the War Remnants Museum in the morning and an afternoon walking District 1, finishing at the Central Post Office before dinner at a com tam stall, covers a reasonable cross-section. Two or three days allows for Cu Chi Tunnels and proper exploration of Cholon, which is a separate city within the city and significantly undervisited by Western tourists.