Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam·Asia

Currency

VND

Language

Vietnamese

Timezone

Ho Chi_Minh

Continent

Asia

Our guide

Discover Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, which everyone still calls Saigon, keeps a colonial-era centre you can walk. The Independence Palace, frozen in its 1975 décor, is the building where the war ended — the tanks coming through its gates are the image that went round the world. The Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral and the Saigon Opera House come from the same French period, and the Ho Chi Minh City Hall borrows the vocabulary. The War Remnants Museum presents the conflict from the Vietnamese side, without softening. Ben Thanh Market has held its junction since 1914.

When to go

December to April, the dry season: hot, around thirty-two degrees, but workable. From May to November the monsoon brings violent short downpours, usually late afternoon, which do not stop you moving. There is no winter here, unlike Hanoi: the temperature barely shifts all year.

Getting around

Motorbikes are everywhere and crossing the road is a skill: move slowly and steadily, and the flow closes behind you. Ride-hailing, by car or motorbike taxi, is cheap and removes any negotiation. The first metro line is running. District 1, the centre, walks well; the other districts do not.

Where to eat

The south eats sweeter than the north. Bánh mì is at home here, a direct inheritance from the colonial baguette. Cơm tấm, broken rice with grilled pork, is the midday plate. Hủ tiếu noodles replace phở as the everyday breakfast. You eat on plastic stools on the pavement, and that is where it is best. Twenty-five halal addresses are listed, the highest count of our Southeast Asian destinations.

Good to know

The dong is the currency and the notes carry many zeros. Cash dominates outside the larger establishments. Heat and humidity call for air-conditioned pauses in the middle of the day. Haggling is expected at Ben Thanh Market, not in shops with marked prices. And shoes come off to enter temples and homes.

Smart Planning