Ho Chi Minh City itineraries

District 1 on foot

Start sober in front of the warplanes at the War Remnants Museum, squeeze through Ben Thanh Market after lunch, then watch the Saigon River turn orange from the Skydeck. For a first day here, this order wastes the least time.

Cu Chi, Cho Lon and the pink church

Day one goes from crouching in the tunnels to the incense of Chinatown; day two walks the pink-church and yellow-temple neighbourhood and ends 81 floors up. Stay in the lanes north of Ben Thanh and everything is within a 15-minute Grab.

Dong Khoi to the Mekong

Base yourself at the river end of Dong Khoi. Day one is museums and the Opera House lanes, day two the coconut islands of the Mekong, day three a slow morning of broken rice, a pagoda and the turtle lake. One neighbourhood per day.

Festivals & seasons

Souvenirs