Most trips to Vietnam often start in Ho Chi Minh City, and it is a great city to get your bearings and get to know what Vietnam is like before traveling further inland.
The 10 best places to visit in Vietnam, including all the information you need to start making this trip happen.
Let's begin with one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ho Chi Minh City: the Cu Chi Tunnels.
- Cu Chi Tunnel
- The War Remnants Museum
- Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
- Ho Chi Minh City Opera House
- The Independence Palace
- Saigon Post Office
- Ben Thanh Market
- Bitexco Financial Tower
- Nguyen Hue Walking Street
- Mekong Delta
1. Cu Chi Tunnel
One of the most unique places you can visit in Ho Chi Minh City is the Cu Chi Tunnels, a vast 250+ kilometer network of tunnels located around 60 km away from Ho Chi Minh City that were used by the Viet Cong for military operations during the Vietnam War.
It was hand-dug and consisted of a wide network of extremely small tunnels that can barely fit a full-grown man.
Now, imagine people living in these small, dark, and damp tunnels amidst the extremely humid weather of Vietnam for months on end, and you will see why the Cu Chi Tunnel is such an interesting place to visit.
There are many organized day trips you can take from Ho Chi Minh City, and it usually takes about half a day to walk around the area.
You can also visit the Cu Chi Tunnels together with the Mekong Delta in a one-day organized trip to save time.
It is a great place to also learn about the history of the Vietnam War and how the Viet Cong used these tunnels to communicate, resupply, and simply hide from the US military, and eventually drove them out.
I highly recommend that you go in the morning so that the heat is a little more bearable.
If you want to crawl into these tunnels, which I recommend you do as long as you do not have claustrophobia, the deeper you crawl, the more humid and damp it gets.
The midday heat won't help make it any more comfortable.
2. The War Remnants Museum
To understand where the Vietnamese people are coming from, we first have to learn about the history of the country, and there is no better place to learn about the atrocities committed during the Vietnam War than at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.
The museum consisted of 2 floors and a courtyard filled with old relics of war, such as American tanks and choppers, that were abandoned after the US military left the country haphazardly at the end of the Vietnam War.
Inside, you will find a single room on the second floor dedicated to the Vietnamese version of the war, its motives, and how it unfolded from the perspective of the locals.
It painted quite a picture of how different the perspective was between the two sides. Most of the reasons revolved around the fact that they wanted to get rid of the colonial power and become independent.
3. Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica is an important landmark in Ho Chi Minh City and a great example of the French colonial influences that spread across this area during the height of colonial days.
The basilica is built in a beautiful Neo-Romanesque style of architecture with two iconic spires and a clock tower in the middle, all constructed using red bricks imported all the way from Marseille, France.
It is a beautiful 19th-century piece of architecture that stands out from the rest of the city with its bold colors and intricate designs, both inside and outside. You can enter the premises for free, but only devotees are allowed to walk around freely, whereas tourists are often limited to the viewing area.
4. Ho Chi Minh City Opera House
Ho Chi Minh City Opera House is another excellent piece of architecture that is worth a visit when you are in Ho Chi Minh City.
The structure was built in the 19th Century in this beautiful French-colonial-style architecture, resembling those opera houses you find across Europe.
The place has since been used multiple times for theatrical shows, and in order to see the inside, you are going to have to align your visit during a show and buy a ticket from here.
To learn more about the history of these places, I highly recommend that you go on a walking tour with a local guide so they can take you to the Opera House, as well as other places like the Independence Palace and the Notre-Dame Basilica, and explain the history in detail.
5. The Independence Palace
If you are going on a walking tour around Ho Chi Minh City, you will likely pass the Independence Palace, a brutalist-style building considered to be the place where Vietnam unified itself.
It was here that a tank crashed through the gate, bringing an end to the Vietnam War.
This place is more about the history and how significant it is to the Vietnamese people than the beauty of the architecture, and you will really appreciate the place more if you visit it with a local who can tell you all about the history of the palace.
If you like history, be sure to go on a walking tour in Ho Chi Minh City.
6. Saigon Post Office
Saigon Post Office is another impressive colonial piece of architecture that still retains its beauty both from the outside and inside.
The building was constructed in the 19th century by a French architect who also designed the iconic Eiffel Tower.
The post office is still in use even today, and you can go inside and admire all its ornate decor that is still stuck in the 19th Century.
Walking through the post office is as close to a time machine as it gets.
Most walking tours will take you to the post office as well, so be sure to join them while you are in Ho Chi Minh City.
7. Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a bustling market located in this old-school brutalist-style structure that is filled to the brim with people and shops selling all kinds of stuff, from street food to flip-flops.
It is chaotic, crowded, and full of energy that is not seen anywhere else but here.
That is why I recommend you stop by Ben Thanh Market in the evening and immerse yourself in the chaotic nature of Ho Chi Minh City and its inhabitants.
Unfortunately, the place is also known to have many pickpockets, so be sure to secure all your belongings before you enter.
Also, people can get quite aggressive here if you are not buying anything, but that's normal here as people are competing for attention, so try not to let that bother you.
All in all, it is still a great place to visit and an awesome way to get a glimpse of what Vietnam is like.
8. Bitexco Financial Tower
Bitexco Financial Tower is one of the few modern skyscrapers standing over 262 meters (861 ft) right in the center of the city.
It is the second tallest in the city and the fifth tallest in the country.
With 68 floors, the tower offers a great vantage point above Ho Chi Minh City, and there is a nice observation deck on the 49th floor called Saigon Skydeck where you will be able to have a stunning view of the sunset over the horizon across the span of the entire city.
In order to get to the observation deck on Bitexco Financial Tower, you are going to have to purchase a ticket from here and you will have access to the 360° observation deck as well as an exhibition explaining the history of the tower and how it came to be.
If you are looking for a viewpoint in Ho Chi Minh City, there is no better place to be than here.
9. Nguyen Hue Walking Street
Another great place to visit in Ho Chi Minh City is Nguyen Hue Walking Street, the largest road in the city spanning over 670 meters in length and 644 meters in width.
The road connects the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City office with Ho Chi Minh City Passenger Ferry Port, with a beautiful elaborate garden in the middle of the two roads.
There is quite a lot to see along the walking street, from all the grand garden decors and fountains to tourist attractions on the side of the road, like the famous Cafe Apartments – an entire building filled with hip cafes and shops that are extremely popular among the local youth.
You might also find many young locals approaching tourists, trying to converse with us and practicing their English.
It is a great place to meet locals and a great way to interact with them while also helping them improve their English skills. Win-win.
10. Mekong Delta
Last but not least, the Mekong Delta is a must-visit when you are in Vietnam.
This is where the mighty Mekong River, the 12th longest river in the world, meets the sea as it makes its way from the Tibetan Plateau across 6 countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and eventually Vietnam.
The Mekong Delta is a maze of waterways that teems with life, from beautiful mangrove trees to lush paddy fields.
TheThe area is also home to several villages and cities that live off the resource-rich Mekong River.
TheSurrounded by rivers, nature, and floating markets, the Mekong Delta is best explored by boats, and you can do just that straight from Ho Chi Minh City with a guided tour that also includes an overnight stay in Can Tho.
If you are looking for a fun thing to do near Ho Chi Minh City for a day or two, I highly recommend you go on one of these Mekong Delta tours and spend a few nights in Can Tho to explore the Mekong Delta and all that it has to offer.