Iconic covered market built in 1914 with a landmark clock-tower entrance on Le Loi Boulevard, selling silk, lacquerware, souvenirs and food stalls, plus a lively street-food night market that sets up outside after dark.
Free
Former South Vietnamese presidential palace whose gates were famously crashed by a North Vietnamese Army tank on 30 April 1975; visitors can tour the war rooms, state reception halls, and rooftop helipad.
from VND 40,000
49th-floor observation deck of the 262m Bitexco Financial Tower, the lotus-bud-shaped skyscraper that defined HCMC's skyline before Landmark 81, with 360-degree views over the Saigon River and downtown.
from USD 9.25
Lune Production's contemporary Vietnamese circus-acrobatics show performed inside the 1897 Saigon Opera House (Municipal Theatre), using bamboo baskets, poles and ladders to tell the story of rural-to-urban village life.
from USD 30.99
Purpose-built theater on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street staging traditional Vietnamese water-puppet performances (roi nuoc) with live traditional musicians, a centuries-old northern Vietnamese folk art form.
from VND 200,000
1960s residential apartment block whose nine floors have been converted into dozens of independent cafes, boutiques and design shops, reached by a retro caged elevator and popular for skyline-view balcony photos.
District 1's backpacker nightlife strip, closed to traffic on Friday and Saturday nights for street performers, cheap beer stalls and bars that spill drinkers out onto the pavement until late.
Free
Museum at 28 Vo Van Tan documenting the Vietnam War (American War) through captured military hardware, photojournalism and exhibits on Agent Orange, consistently one of HCMC's most-visited and most sobering sights.
from VND 40,000
Bright pink-and-cream neo-Gothic Catholic church completed in 1876 on Hai Ba Trung Street, one of the most photographed buildings in the city thanks to its candy-colored facade.
Free
District 4's after-dark seafood-and-snail alley, lined with pavement stalls and plastic-stool restaurants serving oc (snails), grilled seafood and beer to crowds of locals every evening.
Free
One of Cholon's oldest Chinese pagodas, founded in the early 19th century on Lao Tu Street, known for its elaborate ceramic roof figures and carved wooden temple panels.
Free
Small neighborhood Buddhist pagoda tucked among Thao Dien's villas and cafes, a quiet, low-key contrast to the area's expat bars, boutiques and coworking spaces.
Free
Large suburban shopping mall on Xa Lo Ha Noi serving the Thao Dien/Thu Duc expat and local community, with a multiplex cinema, supermarket and family entertainment zone.
Observation deck spanning the upper floors of Landmark 81, Vietnam's tallest building at 461m, with glass-floor sections and panoramic views over the Saigon River and Binh Thanh.
from VND 420,000
Riverside eco-tourism park on a bend of the Saigon River in Binh Thanh, known for its buffet restaurants, folk-music performances and rowing-boat rides through landscaped gardens.
Wartime tunnel network northwest of the city, with preserved sections visitors can crawl through · Phú Hiệp, Củ Chi
Art museum in a colonial-era villa, showing Vietnamese painting, lacquer and sculpture · 97A Phó Đức Chính
City museum in the neoclassical former Gia Long Palace, covering Saigon's history · 65 Lý Tự Trọng
History museum in a pagoda-style building beside the zoo, with artefacts from prehistory onward · 2 Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm
Zoo and botanical gardens dating to 1864, a shady spot for families · 2 Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm
Large theme park mixing Buddhist-legend sculpture, rides and water slides · 120 Võ Nguyên Giáp, Tăng Nhơn Phú
Water park with slides and pools in District 11 · 3 Hòa Bình, District 11
French-colonial theatre from 1900 on Lam Son Square, still used for concerts and shows · 07 Công trường Lam Sơn
Museum on the history of the Vietnamese ao dai tunic, with historic and modern designs · 206/19/30 Long Thuận, Long Phước
Museum on the role of women in southern Vietnam's history and daily life · 202 Võ Thị Sáu
Museum of traditional Vietnamese medicine, with herbs, tools and a rebuilt pharmacy · 41 Hoàng Dư Khương
Museum on the life of President Ton Duc Thang, near the Saigon River · 5 Tôn Đức Thắng
Museum on the 1975 Ho Chi Minh Campaign that ended the war · 2 Lê Duẩn
Indoor children's role-play city where kids try out jobs · 98 Nguyễn Thị Thập, Him Lam, Tân Hưng