Ho Chi Minh - the former Saigon - is a city, which is always connected to the Vietnam War. Once there, you will recognize that the history of the country is still present. War Monuments like the War museum and picture walls in the city remind the people of the past.
Nevertheless, this should not be the reason for traveling to Ho Chi Minh. We did it as the connection from Singapore is pretty convenient and Vietnam is said to be cheap, which is always welcome when living in Singapore. We had no clue what is waiting in Saigon, as it is still called. Having read many things about "what to do in Ho Chi Minh", it seemed that this city will be one of the best cities we have been traveling to. Everything was said to be "interesting to see", "cool", "worth to visit". The best thing we read was that "watching the traffic" is very interesting in Ho Chi Minh - which turned out to be true. Rest of the city can be seen in less than one day.
Ho Chi Minh indeed turned out to be a cool city. But this is to the fact that there are some hidden places where you can have a drink or two. There are many galleries, coffees, and roof top bars. But do not expect Saigon to be a place for sightseeing.
2 days in this city are a very nice experience. If we had been there for a 3rd day, we would have gone to the Mekong Delta, which is nearby.
Make sure you
... book a nice hotel
... know which taxi agencies are the ones you can trust (Vinasun and Mai Linh provide fair and transparent pricing)
... are not too sensitive to smog and smells
... are ready to be offered the most massages in your life.
Don't be afraid crossing the street. Somehow it always seems to work that everybody is following his route. Some will stop for you, some will drive around you - sometime only a few centimeters. You can spend hours watching the traffic. Especially in the rush hours it is worth to watch the thousands of motorbikes finding their ways through that chaos on the streets. Good and save place we can recommend directly in front of the town hall.
Beware of the smog, you can see it hanging in the city. For crossing the street walking, you just have to pluck up your courage, raise your hand, and go.
We have seen many of these kind of markets and we rate this one as "okayish". It is a huge market where you can find the common food, vegetables, fruit, and flowers. Besides they offer a lot of more touristy stuff, such as faked Rolex.
A thing which did not get out of our minds was the at the fish market, where they sold frogs - skinned, headed, but still alive.
In front of the market you can find many rickshaw drivers offering their tour to the city's sightings. If not overpriced, it would be a good alternative to walking. They seemed to be very friendly, until we told them not to go with them, although they have been very persistent.
Walking from the Ben Thanh Market to the Town Hall, you will see all other monuments, the city has to offer.
Heading to the Tao Dan Park, you can stroll through the park, watching the Vietnamese people doing there exercises or competing in foot-badminton. The park is located directly next to the Independence Palace, which is a potential next stop for a photograph of the unspectacular palace. From there it is only a 4 minutes walk to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, which was constructed by French colonists in the late 19th century. Next to the church, there is the old Post Office, where many tourists are writing their postcards to their beloved ones at home. It is just a post office, but with a nice interioir. Taking the way from the Post office to the City Hall, you will be led to one of the main traffic sceneries. Following the pedestrian zone, you will pass the Opera House. The zone ends at the Bitexco Tower.
The Bitexco Tower offers the best view on Ho Chi Minh as you can enter a 360° skydeck of Saigon's highest building on floor 49. Entrance fee is VND 200,000. But most of the visitors cannot withstand the upgrade to the "World of Heineken Tour" on floor 60, which costs additional VND 50,000 and 3-4 Heineken beer with their compliments. What they tell and show you about Heineken's brewery processes is not worth to mention. But in the end you have a nice view and a cold beer. Best time going there is in late afternoon for sunset.
The view from the skydeck is brilliant, if the weather is not too dusty. Recognizing the dimension of the city, you will recognize how large that home to 7 million people is.
In the area of the Opera House you can find some hidden places, especially small shops selling souvenirs. But also art galleries are very common in this area. Often, they are not easy to find. Our favorite gallery was in the second store a building, we run into it by accident, searching for the restaurant we wanted to go for breakfast. We spent plenty of time in the gallery of Réhahn, a French photographer, watching his photographs. His photographs definitely make you to want to see more of Vietnam. Strolling through these galleries and shops is a really nice way to see what is going on behind the scenes in Ho Chi Minh. You will not run into many tourists.
Ho Chi Minh is a very good city to enjoy food and drinks. There are hundreds of nice coffee places and you have the feeling that ever house contains a rooftop bar, where locals and tourists enjoy their drinks.
Our favorite place for breakfast was L'usine, located near the Opera House. It is one of these hidden places. We had no chance finding it, without asking locals in this area where to find it as it was hidden on level 2 of a normal house, without any signs mentioning this restaurant. Beautiful breakfast in a cozy atmosphere. It was one of the places, which made us saying that HCM is a cool city.
Searching for a rooftop bar is easy. From small places to crowded bars, you will find everything in Saigon.
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