What to See in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Free Audio Guide

The best things to do in Ho Chi Minh City include exploring French-colonial landmarks, museums, temples, markets, bridges, and the historic districts of Saigon. The city brings together major chapters of Vietnamese history with lively streets, religious buildings, and striking modern architecture. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Ho Chi Minh City with 65 narrated places, so you can discover the city while walking at your own pace.

What to See in Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, officially the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, is one of Ho Chi Minh City’s most recognizable landmarks. Its red bricks were imported from Marseille, reflecting the building’s French origins. Construction began in 1877, and the cathedral opened in 1880; its two bell towers were added in 1895 and rise to about 58 metres.

The basilica was established to serve French Catholic colonists and remains the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saigon. It stands beside the Saigon Central Post Office, making the pair a natural starting point for exploring the historic centre.

Saigon Central Post Office

The Saigon Central Post Office is still a functioning post office and has operated continuously since the late 1880s. Built between 1886 and 1891, it combines grand neoclassical design with subtle Eastern decorative details.

Inside the main hall, two large painted maps show the telegraph lines connecting South Vietnam and Cambodia and the area around Saigon as it appeared in 1892. The building is on Paris Commune Square, immediately beside the basilica.

Independence Palace

Independence Palace was the presidential residence of South Vietnam and is now a museum and convention hall. Designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ, it occupies the former site of Norodom Palace, built by French colonists in the late nineteenth century.

The palace preserves original interiors from the 1960s and 1970s, including an underground bunker. It became internationally associated with the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, when a tank crashed through its gates. For anyone interested in the history of the Republic of Vietnam, the palace offers a direct connection with the country’s wartime past.

War Remnants Museum

The War Remnants Museum documents the consequences of the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. It opened on 4 September 1975 and now holds more than 20,000 documents, artifacts, and films, with around 1,500 items on permanent display across nine thematic exhibitions.

Outdoor displays include tanks, planes, helicopters, and artillery. Inside, the exhibitions address subjects including Agent Orange, napalm, and the prison system on Con Son Island. It is one of the most visited museums in Vietnam and a significant, often challenging, place to learn about the country’s modern history.

Museum of Ho Chi Minh City

The Museum of Ho Chi Minh City occupies the former Gia Long Palace, once the official residence of the French governor of Cochinchina and later a presidential palace for South Vietnam’s leader Ngo Dinh Diem. Its architecture combines French-colonial elegance with Vietnamese elements, including high ceilings, shuttered windows, and broad staircases suited to the tropical climate.

The museum stands on two hectares at the corner of Lý Tự Trọng and Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa streets, close to Independence Palace. The building itself is an important part of the visit, reflecting the city’s transformation from colonial capital to modern metropolis.

Saigon Opera House

Saigon Opera House faces Lam Sơn Square and Đồng Khởi Street in the centre of the city. Built in 1900 as the Opéra de Saïgon, its Western-style façade is one of the most distinctive examples of French-colonial architecture in Ho Chi Minh City.

The 500-seat building is a municipal theatre and multi-purpose performance venue. It also played a political role: from 1956 to 1967, it housed the National Assembly, and later served as the seat of the chambers of the National Assembly of South Vietnam. Its façade was restored in 1998.

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Ho Chi Minh City Hall, officially the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council and People’s Committee Head Office, was built in French-colonial style between 1898 and 1908 and inaugurated in 1909. It served as an administrative building under successive governments and remains the seat of the city’s government.

The building faces Nguyễn Huệ Boulevard, between Pasteur, Lý Tự Trọng, Đồng Khởi, and Lê Thánh Tôn streets. A statue of Ho Chi Minh stands in the square in front of it.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts

At 97 Phó Đức Chính, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts introduces visitors to Vietnamese painting, sculpture, ceramics, and other works. Established in 1987 and opened in 1991, it occupies three three-storey buildings.

The main building was constructed between 1929 and 1934 as a villa for the Hua family. The collection includes oil, silk, lacquer, and woodcut paintings, as well as traditional ceramics and Buddhist art. Archaeological exhibits on the third floor include Champa and Óc Eo relics.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History and Hùng King Temple

Inside Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History presents Vietnam’s history across all periods through tens of thousands of artifacts. The museum opened on 1 January 1929 and was designed by French architect Auguste Delaval. It was formerly known as the Musée Blanchard de la Brosse and the National Museum of Vietnam in Saigon before adopting its current name in 1979.

Next door, Hùng King Temple is dedicated to the Hùng kings. Also designed by Auguste Delaval, it was inaugurated on the same day as the museum in 1929. The temple is also known as Đền Hùng Vương and Đền Quốc tổ Hùng Vương.

Giác Lâm Pagoda

Giác Lâm Pagoda is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Ho Chi Minh City. Built in 1744, it is the ancestral temple of the Lâm Tế Zen sect in the southern region. The pagoda stands on Cẩm Sơn hill and is also associated with the traditional names Cẩm Đệm and Sơn Can.

Its name, Giác Lâm, means “Awakening Forest.” The temple offers a glimpse of the city’s long Buddhist tradition beyond the colonial landmarks of District 1.

Mong Bridge

Mong Bridge, or Cầu Mống, crosses the Bến Nghé Channel between District 1 and District 4. Its curved steel structure explains its local name, “Rainbow Bridge.” Originally called Pont des Messageries maritimes, it was built for the French merchant shipping company Messageries maritimes.

The bridge is about 128 metres long and 5.2 metres wide, with pedestrian sidewalks. It was dismantled during work on the East-West Boulevard and the Saigon River Tunnel in 2005, then reassembled with reinforced foundations and decorative lighting. It is now a footbridge.

Củ Chi Tunnels

About 69 kilometres northwest of central Ho Chi Minh City, the Củ Chi tunnels form an extensive underground network in An Nhơn Tây commune, Củ Chi District. Viet Minh and National Liberation Front forces dug the tunnels during the Indochina and Vietnam wars.

The complex included living quarters, hospitals, kitchens, storage areas, offices, and communication routes. It also served as a base of operations at the end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and forces used it to launch attacks on central Saigon during the 1968 Tết Offensive. The tunnels reveal how military operations and everyday life were organized underground.

Landmark 81

Landmark 81 rises on the western bank of the Saigon River, north of the historic centre and immediately south of Saigon Bridge. At 461.2 metres and 81 storeys, it is Vietnam’s tallest building.

The mixed-use tower forms part of Vinhomes Central Park and includes a hotel, luxury apartments, offices, cinemas, restaurants, and leisure facilities. Floors 79 to 81 contain a multi-storey observation deck, while the tower’s lower and middle levels include apartments, hotel rooms, and other urban uses.

Explore Ho Chi Minh City with a Self-Guided Audio Tour

Neywo makes it easy to turn these sights into a Ho Chi Minh City self-guided walking tour. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.

The city currently has five walking tours and one bus route:

• Saigon’s French Quarter: Basilica, Post Office and Opera — 3.1 km, 115 minutes, 8 narrated stops.
• Fall of Saigon: Palace, War Museum and Turtle Lake — 4.25 km, 104 minutes, 6 narrated stops.
• Rivers, Bridges and Temples: Mariamman to the Dragon House — 2.88 km, 77 minutes, 6 narrated stops.
• Zoo, Temple and Mosque: Saigon’s Quiet Side — 2.16 km, 71 minutes, 6 narrated stops.
• Cholon Pagodas and Churches — 4.47 km, 89 minutes, 5 narrated stops.
• Bus 31: Opera House to Tan Dinh through the French Quarter — 2.3 km, 10 minutes, 5 narrated stops.

Download Neywo to explore Ho Chi Minh City independently and hear the story of each place when you arrive. The narration is available in 11 languages, and the free audio guide lets you discover Saigon without joining a group or following a fixed schedule. After exploring the city, continue your journey through Vietnam and discover destinations such as Hanoi, Hue, or Da Nang.