Ho Chi Minh City Activity Guide
Skip the landmark checklist for a morning and try something Ho Chi Minh City is genuinely good at teaching visitors to do, whether that is rolling a spring roll, brewing Phin coffee, or deciding what to make of a firing range at a wartime tunnel site.
Learn to cook, brew, or shape something
Hoa Tuc’s Saigon Cooking Class, based in a former colonial opium refinery at 74/7 Hai Ba Trung, District 1, opens with a Tan Dinh Market walk before a three-hour hands-on class covering spring rolls, green mango salad, thit kho to, and lemongrass chicken, for around 850,000 to 1,150,000 VND. Vietnam Cookery Center on Ly Tu Trong is a separate, longer-running operator worth comparing. Lacaph, on Nguyen Cong Tru, runs a 90-minute Phin-brewing workshop centered on Vietnamese Robusta rather than espresso method, ending with three drinks to taste: ca phe sua da, ca phe muoi, and bac xiu. Pottery studios around Thao Dien and Binh Thanh, including Vuon Nha Gom and Haru Craft, offer two-hour wheel-throwing sessions for roughly 350,000 to 500,000 VND, and Ddreamer Studio in District 3, trading since 2014, teaches a slower custom silversmithing class in 940 silver.
Compare current cooking class dates on GetYourGuide against Hoa Tuc’s own site before booking.
The Cu Chi Tunnels’ shooting range, stated plainly
At the tunnel site, primarily the more commercialized Ben Dinh gate, a separate firing range lets visitors shoot AK-47, M16, K63, RPK, RPD, or older carbines for roughly 60,000 VND per bullet, sold in minimum lots of ten rounds, cash only, so a minimum session runs about 600,000 VND. This is a site tied to real wartime combat deaths, and it is entirely optional; a large share of visitors walk the tunnels and skip the range because of the noise it brings to an otherwise quiet stop. There is no need to justify going either way.
Get outside the center
Vespa Adventures’ Saigon After Dark tour rides small groups through District 3 and 4 backstreets and live-music cafes by scooter, around $85 to $110, and a Les Rives partnership combines a Cu Chi Tunnels speedboat trip with Vespa touring on select dates. Guided SUP and kayak sessions around the Thanh Da peninsula and the District 7 canals run roughly two hours for 350,000 to 500,000 VND, away from the traffic entirely.
Vespa Adventures’ own booking page and Lacaph’s workshop listing both carry current pricing direct from the operators. For the passive version of the same city, the sightseeing guide covers the landmarks nearby, and the city guide has the wider orientation.
Book the cooking class or coffee workshop for a morning slot, since both wrap by early afternoon, and leave the shooting range decision until you are actually standing at the tunnel gate.