10 interesting tours in Ho Chi Minh City

Visitors to Ho Chi Minh City have many ways to explore the city such as joining historical tours and sightseeing tours on the Saigon River.

The 10 tours below are in the list of 100 interesting things about Ho Chi Minh City announced by the Department of Tourism . Tourists can refer to them to add to their city exploration schedule when visiting Saigon.

Saigon Special Forces Museum

The Saigon - Gia Dinh Special Forces Museum is located in a three-story house built in 1963 on Tran Quang Khai Street, District 1. The house used to be a secret base for special forces operations under the management of Mr. Tran Van Lai (aka Nam Lai). After 1975, the owner divided the house into three units to sell to others. Currently, Mr. Tran Van Lai's family has bought back the ground floor and the remaining two floors to build the museum.

The museum began construction and collection of artifacts at the end of 2019 and officially opened to visitors on August 27, 2023. More than 300 artifacts of weapons, letters, and vehicles of the Saigon Special Forces are on display here. The house's original architecture is preserved. During the war, this location was where the Saigon Special Forces carried out secret missions such as meetings, exchanging letters, documents, and providing gold and money to the war zone. The entrance to the museum is by an old elevator, which has been there since the house was built. The first and second floors of the building are where artifacts are displayed. The third floor is an area for visitors to sit, rest, and drink coffee.

The museum welcomes visitors from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the week.

Visit Ho Chi Minh City on a double-decker bus

The Ho Chi Minh City discovery tour by double-decker bus has been in operation since January 15, 2020. This type of tour is popular in many countries around the world. In Ho Chi Minh City, the city tour has a distance of more than 13 km, passing through District 1 and District 3 with 30 attractions such as Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, City Post Office , Ho Chi Minh City Museum. There are about 20 trips per day, with a 30-minute interval between daytime trips. The journey takes about 60 minutes.

The new double-decker bus has an additional night schedule, from 11pm to 7am the next morning. The biggest difference between the day and night trips is that the night trip will run continuously, without stopping at tourist attractions like the day trip. Because at night most tourist attractions are closed.

Ticket prices for experiencing a double-decker bus in Ho Chi Minh City range from 150,000 VND to 500,000 VND per person, depending on the time frame.

Watching sunset on Saigon river

The journey down the Saigon River starts from Saigon Port, District 4 and heads towards Ho Chi Minh Museum (Nha Rong Wharf). Visitors will enjoy the cuisine in the poetic setting of the city as the sun sets. The sunset tour usually departs at 5pm, visitors should arrive about 30-60 minutes in advance to avoid missing the train. The tour lasts one hour. Visitors should check the weather before booking the tour because not every day has a beautiful sunset, some days it rains in the late afternoon, which will affect the tour.

Many travel companies in Ho Chi Minh City sell this tour, prices range from 200,000 VND per person.

*Saigon River in the late afternoon. Photo: Bich Phuong*

Saigon - Mark of Time

The program "Saigon - Marks of Time" takes visitors on a journey full of memories and ups and downs of Ho Chi Minh City through more than 300 years of history. Visitors will hear legendary stories on the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, and see and listen to each page of the city's golden history.

The journey begins at Co Ba Dong Khoi Coffee Shop, where visitors can enjoy coffee and admire the city. Then, visitors continue to visit ancient architectural works such as the Ho Chi Minh City Theater, the Majestic Saigon Hotel, and the Ho Chi Minh City Post Office. The journey also takes visitors across Mong Bridge, admiring the ancient building of the "State Bank of Vietnam" - a bank founded by one of the "Four Great Tycoons" of old Saigon. Throughout the journey, visitors will travel by boat on the Nhieu Loc Canal combined with a double-decker bus.

The tour lasts 9 hours and costs about 600,000 VND per person.

Saigon - Back to a peaceful place

This is a tour of historical temples, and also an opportunity for tourists to learn about the diverse and rich culture of Ho Chi Minh City. Tourists can visit and worship the Phu Day Holy Mother Temple, offering incense to commemorate the merits of the two national heroes Trung Trac and Trung Nhi. The journey continues to visit Giac Lam Pagoda, the first pagoda in the city with ancient architecture and over 300 years old. The tour takes visitors to visit Ngoc Hoang Pagoda, learn about the Mendicant sect at Minh Dang Quang Monastery, one of the nine major sects of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

Saigon Saturday afternoon

This tour is a combination of double-decker bus and river bus, taking visitors to visit famous tourist attractions in the city in 4 hours. The double-decker buses with acoustic melodies take visitors past the Ho Chi Minh City Theater, Dong Khoi Street, Tran Hung Dao Monument, History Museum and War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh Market, Independence Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Nguyen Hue Walking Street. Visitors stop at Ben Bach Dang Park then continue their experience on the river bus. The river bus takes visitors to Thanh Da village. On this route, visitors can admire the Saigon River with high-rise buildings on both sides. The river bus arrives at the dock, the bus will take visitors to Binh Quoi Tourist Village and enjoy a buffet party here.

The tour costs about 800,000 VND per person.

History Tour - Green

The "History - Green" tour program is an activity that combines historical exploration with meaningful activities that contribute to environmental protection. In 90 minutes, visitors will go down the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, admiring the bridges associated with the historical journey of Ho Chi Minh City such as Hoang Hoa Tham bridge, Bui Huu Nghia bridge, Kieu bridge. The special highlight of the tour program is the experience of making lanterns from bamboo pulp paper (a type of self-destructing paper used as fish food) and releasing fish, contributing to enhancing the rich ecosystem of the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal.

Tours start at VND199,000 per person.

Thu Duc - City by the green river

Tourists depart from Bach Dang Wharf, District 1, travel by river bus to Linh Dong Wharf, Thu Duc. From here, the tour begins, visitors are taken to the Ao Dai Museum, which preserves and recreates the traditional beauty of Vietnamese national costumes. Here, visitors can experience wearing Ao Dai, listen to stories related to Vietnamese Ao Dai, talk and exchange about the art of lullabies from three regions. The tour also takes visitors to the National Cultural and Historical Park, the Hung Kings Memorial Area, Buu Long Pagoda - a religious work voted by National Geographic as one of the 10 most beautifully designed Buddhist works in the world. In addition, Thu Duc City has many destinations not to be missed such as Hoi Son ancient pagoda, Minh Dang Quang Zen Monastery, Long Truong ecological garden house, Tam Da lotus lake.

*Architecture of Buu Long Pagoda, Thu Duc City. Photo: Quynh Tran*

Tour From Old Saigon to New Ho Chi Minh City

The tour program is a diverse experience, combining walking, cycling and bus. The trip starts at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street, where visitors can walk, read books, and check in. Visitors continue to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral opposite the book street, visit Ho Chi Minh City Post Office, a few steps away. During the tour, visitors also have the opportunity to make their own Vietnamese coffee, experience the city's unique coffee shops. Then continue walking along Dong Khoi Street, famous for shopping centers such as Vincom Center, Parkson Plaza, Union Square.

The tour also takes visitors past historic buildings such as the Continental Saigon Hotel, the People's Council Headquarters, the Ho Chi Minh Monument Park, and Bach Dang Wharf. At the final stop, visitors will enjoy a panoramic view of the city from above at the Saigon Skydeck observation deck inside the Bitexco building.

The tour usually departs on Sundays, lasting half a day and costing around 400,000 VND per person.

Bicycle - Peaceful day in the land of steel

This is the only suburban tour in the list of 10 interesting tours in Ho Chi Minh City. Tourists gather on Ly Tu Trong Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, then board a bus to the "steel land" of Cu Chi. Arriving at Tam Tan Street, Cu Chi District, tourists receive bicycles and begin cycling along Tam Tan Street along Thay Cai Canal. Continue cycling to Provincial Road 7 station, from here there will be a bus to take tourists to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels Historical Site - Ben Duoc Temple. Other activities in the tour include cycling to visit Pham Van Coi rubber plantation, Trung An commune fruit garden, and enjoying Don Ca Tai Tu.

The tour lasts one day and costs about 1.9 million VND per person.

Bich Phuong

Source : Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism

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