Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City skyline from Vinhomes Central Park
Time spent: 42 Days; 1 Aug 2026 - 12 Sept 2026
Elevation: 85 ft
Currency: Vietnamese Dong
Lodging Cost: $15.53 per night; AirBNB
Ho Chi Minh City vs Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh City, referred to more by locals as Saigon, has a similar population to Hanoi, but the cities could not be more different. Hanoi has a population close to New York City but still has a small-town vibe. Ho Chi Minh City has only a few million more, but it is wall-to-wall skyscrapers. It is the economic hub of Vietnam. Hanoi is definitely more my speed, but Ho Chi Minh City still has plenty to offer.
But when it comes to the weather, I do give Ho Chi Minh City the edge. It is hot, but not humid. Hanoi will leave your shirt soaked with sweat after just going to get lunch somewhere. Be warned, your balls and ass will have the dampness of a swamp for the entirety of your trip there.
The entrance to Bui Vien Walking Street during the day. It is a whole other world at night.
Ben Thahn Market, probably the central landmark for tourist. Most of the tourist-y stuff is near here
Bui Vien Walking Street
Bui Vien Walking Street: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Okay, it's not that bad, but at night it is quite a sight. The whole street is like one giant nightclub. It is worth seeing, but once (or twice) was enough for me.
This is the premier nighttime destination in Ho Chi Minh City. There are tons of huge bars blasting music into the street, and most have some hotties dancing in front, along with spotlights and smoke machines. I mean, it is a cool spectacle. There are firebreathers working for tips and kids selling candy. And hookers. Plenty of hookers...
There is a lot of good street food available here too. I saw a lady selling what looked to be squid that got run over by a steamroller. I decided to give it a go, and she actually roasted it right there on her cart. At 150,000 VND ($6), it was a slightly expensive snack for Vietnam, but I would highly recommend trying it. It tasted a lot like beef jerky, really tough and chewy, and not fishy at all. If you see it for sale somewhere else in town it might be cheaper, because everything is marked up here. In fact, I went to check it out during the day and there was a bar that had an open pool table, so I stopped in and got a beer at noon for 25,000 VND ($1). Later, when I went back at night and saw how much everything was, I went to that same bar and they had a different menu where the prices had tripled.
This place isn't for everyone, but I would at least check it out. You can walk down the whole street in ten minutes.
Firebreathers on the strip. Unfortunately it is mostly kids doing it.
I think she likes me
The entrance to Bui Vien walking street. It is supposed to be closed to traffic but you will see a fair amount of scooters driving down it anyway.
If the strip in your town isn't this lit, don't bother inviting me
Making "Squid Jerky" mực khô
War Remnants Musuem
I was really interested to learn as much as I could about the Vietnam War while I was in Vietnam.
And honestly, I don't know if I accomplished that task. I know it was a fucked up war, and as I researched it, I had a lot of questions about "Why didn't we do this or that?"
I guess I was hoping I could really get a straight answer to all the questions I had. I didn't ever really get them, but the War Remnants Museum in Saigon is the best place to go in Vietnam to learn about it. It obviously skews one way and highlights fucked up shit American soldiers did while omitting the reverse, but it still gives a pretty accurate depiction for the most part.
Since I have used the internet for more than a day, I've learned you've got to tread carefully on topics like this.
Whose truth do I tell?
America was fighting communism?
Vietnamese patriots repelled the American invaders?
Honestly, both of those statements have a bit of truth to them, but I'm not getting into it, nor do I honestly fucking care.
The war ended over 50 years ago, and Vietnam was very welcoming of me, just as I would be of any Vietnamese person who wanted to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C.
Anyway, that could be considered a bit of a tangent.
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Horrors of war....
They had a few aircraft and tanks on display outside
This is a very informative museum. Entrance is only 40,000 VND ($1.60), and there are audio guides available for a little bit more. I didn't get one, and if you speak English, I can't imagine what more they would offer because all of the displays are in two languages.
The museum doesn't really have a lot of physical displays. It is mostly pictures and descriptions, but it is broken up nicely into sections. The museum as a whole isn't air-conditioned, but all of the individual rooms with displays are.
Just a warning: there are quite a few graphic photos displayed. Some show burned and/or mangled bodies.
There is also a whole section on Agent Orange. Now, I don't really consider people with genetic deformities as "graphic," but they are pretty shocking.
For those who don't know, Agent Orange was a superpowered herbicide. Like if Walter White got into the herbicide game.
America was having a hard time fighting a war in the jungle, so they figured: maybe if we just eliminate the jungle from the equation, we can take the upper hand.
Honestly, I think this is one of the worst atrocities America has ever done in modern warfare. I think it is akin to Saddam Hussein lighting all those oil rigs on fire, just zero concern for the planet in a battle that wasn't really all that important to begin with.
And the effects were devastating, not just to the jungle and wildlife, but to children born to soldiers exposed to it on both sides.
The United States has worked closely with the Vietnamese government to clean up the contamination, efforts that are still ongoing today.
A display about the effects of Agent Orange
Independence Palace
Independence Palace, also known as Reunification Palace, was essentially the White House of South Vietnam during the war. It is where the president of South Vietnam lived and worked, and on April 30th, 1975, 25 months after the United States military left the country, this was where the North Vietnamese army crashed through the gates, signaling the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War.
It is one of the biggest tourist spots in Vietnam, but I was talking to Hoa, a friend I met there, and she said, "It's not that interesting. I went a long time ago and it is just a bunch of rooms with furniture in them."
Haha, she wasn't entirely wrong.
The place is pretty neat because it is a very large building and tourists do pretty much have carte blanche to just walk through the halls. All of the conference rooms have multiple doors that are open so you can see plenty inside, but they are mostly rooms of furniture on display.
Independence Palace, also known as Reunification Palace
On the top floor is a sort of neat atrium that has an open skylight, and you can see the president's bedroom (strangely, there is a vendor up there selling snacks and beer, sure didn't expect to see alcohol on a tour of a government building).
However, there is one section that is pretty cool. The building has an underground bunker, and it is a maze of different windowless rooms dedicated to strategy and communications equipment. I saw this last, and it has its own exit that leads back to the main grounds.
There are a few different entrance fee options; one includes a ride around the grounds, which is essentially a pretty large park. I did one that gave entrance into the palace and something just called "Exhibition." It was 80,000 VND ($3.10). The Exhibition was another building around back with a few displays on the war. It was entirely skippable and the ticket will be slightly cheaper if you skip it, but it is so inexpensive, you may as well get the ticket that lets you check it out.
One of the many conference rooms to see. Some had tables. Some even had entirely different chairs.
Presidential Bedroom. Where the magic happens.
The smoke detector in the corner probably has more processing power than every other bit of tech in the room combined.
The bunker even had it's own shooting range.
Day Trips from Ho Chi Minh City
Like always, I try to check out the major day trips a city has to offer. To schedule these, just head to Ben Thanh Market and you will find several shops offering tours. There are bus and Jeep tours around the city, and while I didn't take any (and never do), this is a city where I would probably recommend them. Ho Chi Minh City is a terrible city to walk for the "average tourist." So many sidewalks are full of parked bikes and food vendors, you often have to go into the street to get around. I wouldn't say it is dangerous, but it gets exhausting always navigating the maze and staying alert.
There are three, kind of four main tours to see in the area, and I went on them all. Below is a short description and a link to my blog post about them if you want to know more:
Cu Chi Tunnels: Here you will learn about some of the war tactics used by the Viet Cong and actually get to go into the dark, cramped tunnel system they used to navigate the jungle.
Can Gio Mangrove Forest: Also called Monkey Island. You will get to feed wild monkeys and crocodiles. Includes a visit to another site used in the Vietnam War. I was fortunate enough to take this tour with Hoa, a friend I met while visiting.
Mekong Delta and Cai Rang Floating Market: This can be split into two tours or you can do an overnight stay and see both. I opted for the overnight because I really wanted to see the floating market. The catch is that it is only open in the morning and is three hours away. If you want to do this on its own, your tour will leave Ho Chi Minh City at around 4:00 AM.
Final Thoughts on Ho Chi Minh City
I had fun here, but Ho Chi Minh City just isn't really my cup of trà đá when I am looking for a place to stay. It does have plenty to do, and if you are like me and want to see some firsthand history of the Vietnam War, it is the place to go.
That said, and it is just my personal opinion, I think if the choice is between Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, I'd pick Hanoi. It is just more my speed, a lot more laid back and walkable.
I heard a lot of comparisons saying the food was totally different, but honestly, I think that is just from travel websites desperate to write an article comparing shit. The food is great, but I didn't see a noticeable difference in the local cuisine.
Ho Chi Minh City probably has the edge for variety if you are looking for a wider selection of Western cuisine, but to me, that is just dumb. Why come to Vietnam and look for a nice Italian restaurant?
I only went to two cities on this trip, but I do plan on coming back next year, so stay tuned for more Vietnam stuff in the future.
I'll leave you with some pictures I took from Landmark 81. At 81 stories, it is the tallest building in Vietnam and second tallest in Southeast Asia.
Where I'm from, we didn't have subways or metro systems, so I always like to use them when I get to a city that has one. Their use for a tourist in Ho Chi Minh City is kind of limited. It is only one line, and besides stops at Ben Thanh Market and here, it doesn't really go anywhere of note. I'd recommend taking a ride from Ben Thanh to here just to see the building and Vinhomes Central Park. It is 300,000 VND ($12) for a ride to the top observation deck, or you can go to the bar on the 75th floor a little cheaper if you buy a drink.
Vinhomes Central Park. It is a really nice a lively park at night
To give you an idea about the city, the building in the distance that looks kind of like Avengers Tower is where Ben Thanh Market is.
81 stories high