1

Plenty of good restaurants especially in the Dong Hoi district. I particularly like Vietnam House on the Dong Hoi and the nearby Lemongrass at 4 Nguyen Thiep.
Plenty of Pho places too.

Trips: the obvious are Mekong delta, Cuchi tunnels combined with the very unusual Cao Dai temple. exterior

interior

Vung Tau by hydrofoil is memorable. VT is a seaside resort but the town with its few interesting temples and the giant statue of Christ and the views from the outstretched arms is worthwhile
view
That small island in the bay is odd. If you go there it will appear very serene with a temple(?) but if you go look closely you will see two pillboxes there.

2

Hi Barumba,

I think we had just the experience for you!
Last week we joined the girls of grEAT tours (from two wheels ltd.). They take you on a scooter tour through Ho Chi Minh city and we had 4 hours of seeing the different districts and tasting the best local quisine.

These lovely ladies (you will fall in love with them in at least 3 languages during some fast language lessons ;)) will take you past all the exciting parts of town, usually left out in other tours and as they are local students, they know the best places to eat and can tell you all about what's happening in Saigon.

We took a 4 hour evening tour, which was all about street food and it was surely a grEAT experience. Everyone that books will be driven around by his/her personal driver for 4 hours. Since at least 5 good meals and a lot of driving is involved, this is not the cheapest tour in town (around 60 dollars) but there is also a short afternoon tour is you want to save a bit of money (and are not used to being on the back of a scooter for a long time).

The tour was very new, but most hotels should have a flier hanging around somewhere. If not, you can find them on Facebook (if your internet allows this) or call 08 66 808 300.

That was our best experience in town anyway... The Cu Chi tunnels are worth a visit as well of course. We took a tour as cheap as 100.000 Dong from the hostel, which was a bit cheesy, but you get what you pay for :). At least you get to see an important part of Vietnam history! And if you do not want to combine with Cao Dai (which is quite a drive) it is an excellent combination with the war museum in district 1, where you can ask to be dropped off after the Cu Chi tour.

Our Mekong tour was a bit underwhelming to be honest...

3

in Saigon we stuck entirely to street food

in your short amount of time, I think a good way to sample a variety of high quality street type food would be to check out the food section in one of the bigger markets..

I had consistently good food at the Ben Thanh market on a few occasions.., pho tai, banh cuon, com, bun...

one of my regrets was not going to Banh Xeo 46A but you can't eat everything !

4

I second Lemongrass. Good food and a nice place. They have got live music (traditional chinese instrument) when I went there in late october.

5

Like previous poster had mentioned, food at Ben Thanh is not bad. At night there is also a night market there. I wouldn't suggest buying anything inside cho Ben Thanh though. It's a tourist trap and you are most likely going to be ripped off. If you want to buy some clothing, go to Taka or Saigon Square. They are slightly better.

Street food is usually the way to go. If you see a lot of foreigners in a restaurant, leave. Most likely not 100% authentic. Around district Tan Binh, there are many Vietnamese Korean restaurants. District 5 - Chinatown is also a good place to check out for food. However, the service you get there might not be great.

Mekong Delta tour or Cu Chi Tunnel is also fun. Remember to try the elephant ear fish (ca tay tuong) while you are there. It's an interesting fish to eat. There are a lot of meat and you can eat its skin.