Must-see attractions in Ho Chi Minh City

  • Fighter planes outside War Remnants Museum.

    War Remnants Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    To understand the US invasion of Vietnam, and contextualize its devastating impact on the country's civilians, this remarkable and deeply moving museum is…

  • Pagoda in Vietnam

    Jade Emperor Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built in 1909 in honour of the supreme Taoist god (the Jade Emperor or King of Heaven, Ngoc Hoang), this is one of the most atmospheric temples in Ho Chi…

  • Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Notre-Dame Cathedral (Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica)

    Notre Dame Cathedral

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built between 1877 and 1883, Notre Dame Cathedral enlivens the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's government quarter, facing Ð Dong Khoi. A red-brick, neo…

  • Giac Lam Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

    Giac Lam Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Believed to be the oldest temple in HCMC (1744), Giac Lam is a fantastically atmospheric place set in peaceful, garden-like grounds. The Chinese…

  • Exterior of Reunification Palace (formerly known as Independence Palace).

    Reunification Palace

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Surrounded by royal palm trees, the dissonant 1960s architecture of this landmark government building and the eerie ambience of its deserted halls make it…

  • Indochina war-era tank, in grounds of Ho Chi Minh City Museum.

    HCMC Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    A grand neoclassical structure built in 1885 and once known as Gia Long Palace (and later the Revolutionary Museum), HCMC’s city museum is a singularly…

  • Coiled red incense, Phuoc An Hoi Quan  Pagoda

    Phuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Delightfully fronted by greenery and opening to an interior blaze of red, gold, green and yellow, this is one of the most beautifully ornamented temples…

  • Food cubes

    Binh Tay Market

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Cholon’s main market has a great clock tower and a central courtyard with gardens. Much of the business here is wholesale but it’s popular with tour…

  • Central Post Office, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, Indochina, Southeast Asia, Asia

    Central Post Office

    Ho Chi Minh City

    The city's landmark French-era post office is a period classic, designed by Marie-Alfred Foulhoux (though often credited to Gustave Eiffel) and built…

  • Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, Xa Loi Pagoda

    Xa Loi Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    The inner walls of this sanctuary, famed as the repository of a sacred relic of the Buddha, are adorned with paintings depicting the Buddha’s life…

  • HWAJG6 Vietnam, Southeast region, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Khanh Van Nam Vien Pagoda, built in 1939, is the only exclusively Taoist pagoda in Vietnam

    Khanh Van Nam Vien Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built between 1939 and 1942, this temple is said to be the only pure Taoist temple in Vietnam and is unique for its colourful statues of Taoist disciples…

  • Military officer students visiting Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museum.

    Fine Arts Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    With its airy corridors and verandas, this elegant 1929 colonial-era, yellow-and-white building is stuffed with period details; it is exuberantly tiled…

  • Reception hall altar of the Giac Vien Pagoda, Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City. This Vietnamese Buddhist pagoda dates from 1744 and is said to be the oldest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City

    Giac Vien Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    In a land where so many ancient temples have been ‘restored’ in concrete and neon, it’s a joy to discover one that looks its age. The temple has an…

  • Exhibit on early Vietnamese history

    History Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built in 1929, this notable Sino-French museum houses a rewarding collection of artefacts illustrating the evolution of the cultures of Vietnam, from the…

  • Saigon's Opera House, built in 1900

    Opera House

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Gracing the intersection of Ð Dong Khoi and ÐL Le Loi, this grand colonial edifice with a sweeping staircase was built in 1897 and is one of the city's…

  • Facade of the People's Committee Building

    People’s Committee Building

    Ho Chi Minh City

    One of the city’s most prominent landmarks is home to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. Built between 1901 and 1908, the former Hôtel de Ville…

  • Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Bitexco Financial Tower

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This elegant 68-storey, 262m-high Carlos Zapata–designed skyscraper dwarfs all around it. It's reportedly shaped like a lotus bulb, but it also resembles…

  • Southern Women's Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This museum is dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of Vietnamese women. The first floor is the most accessible to foreign visitors, with…

  • Formerly the home of US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge from 1963 to 1967

    Salon Saigon

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Housed in a splendidly restored French-colonial mansion – a building that was the home of US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge from 1963 to 1967 – Salon Saigon…

  • Ha Chuong Hoi Quan Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This Fujian temple is dedicated to the Goddess of Seafarers, Thien Hau (Thien Hau Thanh Mau), also known as Ma To. The four carved stone pillars, wrapped…

  • Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine

    Ho Chi Minh City

    A lovely piece of traditional architecture in itself, this absorbing and very well-stocked museum with over a dozen exhibition rooms affords fascinating…

  • The Factory

    Ho Chi Minh City

    HCMC's best contemporary art space is in District 2 on the east side of the Saigon River. Interesting exhibitions and showcases of local artists are…

  • San Art

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This inspiring, independent, nonprofit gallery was founded by artists, giving other local artists the opportunity to display and develop their intriguing…

  • Norodom Palace Gatehouse

    Ho Chi Minh City

    The only surviving structure from the original Norodom Palace (which was bombed in 1962 and replaced with today's Reunification Palace) is this impressive…

  • Cha Tam Church on DL Tran Hung Dao in Cholon.

    Cha Tam Church

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built around the turn of the 19th century, this decaying light-caramel-painted church exudes a sleepy, tropical feel. A pew in the church is marked with a…

  • Le Van Duyet Temple,Vietnam.

    Le Van Duyet Temple

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Dedicated to Marshal Le Van Duyet (1763–1831), this shrine is also his burial place, alongside that of his wife. The marshal was a South Vietnamese…

  • Ho Chi Minh Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Ho Chi Minh Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Nicknamed the ‘Dragon House’ (Nha Rong), this former customs house was built by the French authorities in 1863. The museum houses many of Ho Chi Minh’s…

  • Thien Hau Pagoda

    Thien Hau Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This gorgeous 19th-century temple is dedicated to the goddess Thien Hau, and always attracts a mix of worshippers and visitors, who mingle beneath the…

  • Quan Am Pagoda ('Hoi quan On Lang') or Ong Lao Temple - One of Vietnamese Chinese temple at Ho Chi Minh City.

    Quan Am Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    One of Cholon’s most active and colourful temples, this shrine was founded in the early 19th century. It’s named after the Goddess of Mercy, whose full…

  • Mahavishnu sculpture

    Mariamman Hindu Temple

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Only a small number of Hindus live in HCMC, but this colourful slice of southern India is also considered sacred by many ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese…

  • VIETNAM - 2006/09/27: Vietnam, Hue, Tomb Of King Tu Duc, Gate. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Tao Dan Park

    Ho Chi Minh City

    One of the city's most attractive green spaces is 10-hectare Tao Dan Park, its bench-lined walks shaded with avenues of towering tropical trees, including…

  • TO GO WITH: VIETNAM-MILITARY-TET-OFFENSIVE by Franck ZELLER.Ngo Van Lap, son of Pho Binh restaurant's owner Ngo Toai, a Viet Cong agent, shows in Ho Chi Minh-City, 28 January 2008, the meeting room in the restaurant where was ordered the start of the Vietnam War's Tet 1968 offensive.    AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam (Photo credit should read HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)

    Pho Binh

    Ho Chi Minh City

    A humble noodle-soup restaurant may seem an unusual attraction, but there's more to Pho Binh than meets the eye. This was the secret headquarters of the…

  • Chantaransey Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Founded in 1946, this Theravada Buddhist pagoda serves the Khmer community in HCMC. The peaceful grounds include living quarters for about 30 monks, a…

  • Central Mosque in District 1.

    Saigon Central Mosque

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built by South Indian Muslims in 1935 on the site of an earlier mosque, lime-green Saigon Central Mosque is an immaculately clean and well-tended island…

  • The entrance to the Ton Duc Thang Museum

    Ton Duc Thang Museum

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This small patriotic museum is dedicated to Ton Duc Thang, Ho Chi Minh’s successor as president of Vietnam. Born in 1888 in Long Xuyen in the Mekong Delta…

  • Interior of Cho Quan Church

    Cho Quan Church

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Originally built by the French and destroyed three times, this 19th-century house of worship is one of the city's largest churches, with good views from…

  • Phung Son Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Built between 1802 and 1820 on the site of structures from the Funan period, dating back at least to the early centuries of Christianity, this Buddhist…

  • Saigon South

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Saigon’s District 7 is a sleek, fashionable and well-designed retreat for the wealthy within the fringes of the city. Businesspeople, both expats and the…

  • Nghia An Hoi Quan Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Noteworthy for its gilded woodwork, this temple has a large carved wooden boat hanging over its entrance and inside, to the left of the doorway, an…

  • Tam Son Hoi Quan Pagoda

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Retaining much of its original rich ornamentation, this 19th-century temple – a guildhall named after Sanshan (Three Mountains) in China's seaboard Fujian…

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