Best Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 2025 4K

Best Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 2025 4K

[Music] [Music] What’s going on everybody? This is Island 
Hopper TV and today we’re going to show you the best things to do in Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam. Let’s do it. That’s right everybody. This is located in South Vietnam and it is the 
largest city with a total population of around 14 million people. We’re going to show you 25 
things to do. You can take a water bus along the Saigon River. I did this in the evening time. You 
can also do it at sunset. It’s very affordable. It’s 15,000 Vietnamese Dong one way. That’s 
like 50. If you wanted the roundtrip ticket, it’s 30,000 Vietnamese Dong. That’s like $1.20. 
And the benefit of doing it at night is it’s very colorful. As you can see, the skyline lights up. 
They’ve got a lot of highrises. They put on these light shows. I would say Friday, Saturday, and 
Sunday are the best days if you wanted maximum lights, but like I said, the sunset is nice as 
well. You can go during the daytime. It’s just Saigon gets quite hot in case you didn’t know. 
And as we continue to show you around, I want to let you know a couple things. Number one is the 
currency conversion. It’s one US dollar equals 25,000 Vietnamese Dong. There’s a lot of zeros in 
this currency. They call it hundreds of thousands or millions at times. For example, you’ll 
withdraw 2 million which is about $80. Okay, so I recommend pulling out 5 million, which 
is around $200 on average. Obviously, currency conversions can vary with time. As we go through 
this video, there will be timestamps below so you can jump around from location to location. Here we 
are now at Ben Thanh Market. This particular market is famous because you can get a lot of knockoffs 
here. Just depends on what you’re looking for, but you can find everything from souvenirs to 
teas, food. I mean, it’s just a cheap, affordable market that’s been around for so long. Ho Chi 
Min City has many modern malls, but people still gravitate to this old classic Ho Chi Min City 
style market. And now we’ve arrived at Bui Vien. This is one of the biggest party streets in all of the 
world right here in Bui Vien. I would say there’s about three types of environment that you’re going 
to get with this street. First one is going to be the daytime. You’ll never know that it’s a 
party street. It’s just a regular street people drive down with a motorbike. But then when sunset 
rolls around, it lights up very nicely. And then from about sunset until 9 or 10 p.m., it’s still 
pretty tame. But by the time 10:00 p.m. rolls out, that’s when the party really kicks off. Now, if 
you’re someone who doesn’t really like partying, I would not recommend being here after 10:00 
because it can be quite chaotic and a bit extreme for some people because it gets loud and it just 
attracts a different type of crowd around that time frame. But either way, coming down here for 
sunset, you’ll be totally fine. and have a beer, get some fur or get some bonme something cool 
and then just head back to the hotel by 9:30, 10, you won’t have any issues. It is in the It 
is in the location of the backpacker district. It’s known as the old western quarter or western 
street because of many western backpackers who came here. There are two streets that form the 
party zone. You have Bui Vien Street being the main one and then several alleyways off to the side. 
But it basically turns into one of the busiest nightlife areas you’ll see anywhere in the world. 
It’s got a cool mix between like modern nightife, but also still you can find some of that real 
down to earth cultural Vietnam style night life where you’ve got people riding around on 
bikes or selling street food or souvenirs, which kind of adds to a little bit more culture and fun. 
This place really reaches maximum capacity around Friday or Saturday night after 10 p.m. for those 
of you wanting to know. Yeah. So, I’m actually at the top of Vietnam. This here is Landmark 81, 
Vin Pearl. You can see Saigon River and downtown Ho Chi Min City from here. Uh, wow. They got this 
harness because you have to wear it when you’re going around here. All right. Landmark 81 is 461 Meters
tall. That’s 1,500 ft. It’s 81 floors. It’s one of the tallest buildings in Southeast Asia and the 
tallest building in actually Vietnam. It is the 15th tallest skyscraper in the world. It’s located 
in the area of Vin Homes, which is outside of the District 1 area. This is more of a laid-back 
type area if you’re thinking about staying at the hotel by Marriott that’s in here. I have stayed 
at that hotel. Prices vary anywhere between $200 a night all the way up to 1,500. just depends on 
peak season. It was completed in 2018. At the very top is the observation deck, the sky view. 
You’ve got 360° views of Ho Chi Minh City. Great way to get a good view with the glass walk. And 
it is one of the highest observation decks in all of Asia. I would say prices start around 200,000, 
go up to 450,000 Vietnamese Dong. It’s like $8 to $12 US depending on uh what you want to do when 
you’re up there. I would say that Glasswalk is quite interesting. It’s open air whereas the 
rest of the experience is not open air. So, uh on a hot day, you you can check out the Saigon 
River and see how it kind of just meanders across this flat land. It’s really cool views up here. I 
would say maybe even consider going at sunset and then staying a little bit past dark. That could 
be nice views. Here we are now at the War Remnants Museum. Now, this place is going to leave you with 
a somber feeling. It can be a bit depressing at times reading some of the information about that 
Vietnam War. People come here and take pictures with the old American Army equipment. They also 
have tanks and airplanes as well. But what you read when you go inside there and learn about the 
tiger cages and all of the terrible things that happened during war, it’s just a reminder that war 
is never good. And this war, if you didn’t know much about the history, you will find out about 
it. Basically, it was kind of like a civil war between the North and the South. The Americans 
joined the war to fight with the south and uh ultimately the northern Vietnamese won the 
war and the country was reunited under North and South as one Vietnam and Hanoi became the capital 
and the city of Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the northern Vienam leader Ho Chi Minh. 
Here we are now at the old Saigon post office. This was built by the French in the late 1800s 
when Vietnam was part of French Indochina. The French were here making Vietnam a colony for about 
67 years. Uh, and it was famous because during the war, this was actually one of the places people 
would get their mail, buy stamps, send postcards, and it functions now as a museum and a real 
working post office. Still to this day, people visit here just because it’s an old colonial 
building right next to the church Notre Dame. In my honest opinion, I would visit here either before 
11:00 a.m. or after 400 p.m. because in the middle of the daytime, Saigon is so hot and definitely 
go around trying some of the street food. What I like to do is actually go around Saigon while I’m 
here to find the best Banh Mi and the best Pho here. You can do that right now for a dollar a meal. And 
the reason I like to shop around for my favorite street food is just because I like to see what 
kind of variations of pho or Banh Mi are around. But then once I find my favorite, that’s when I 
know, hey, that’s my spot. So, it’s kind of like a fun little hobby that I do when I visit Saigon 
is find the best pho and the best Vietnamese food. In case you didn’t know, pho is a soup and then 
banh mi is a baguette that came from the French but now is Vietnam style. While here I found 
a lot of different Japanese and Korean options while in Ho Chi Minh. Like I said earlier, there 
is the Notre Dame church. It was actually under construction while I was here in November 2025. 
The area behind me is called Book Street. Nice area to walk around, enjoy some coffee. It’s like 
a cafe road. The book street is actually near the post office and Notream Cathedral. You can do all 
of that in the same day walking around here. Then they have plenty of massage and self-care here in 
Ho Chi Min City if that’s your thing. You know, you can get a back massage, a foot massage, 
facial, hair wash. Also, they have lots of rooftop bars. Uh they seem to be popping up everywhere 
around here. So, as time’s gone by, it seemed like a lot of the rooftop bars were on top of boutique 
hotels, especially around the area of District 1 around Japan Town. And it’s nice thing to do in 
the evening time if you wanted more of a luxury type experience. I found them to be in places like 
the Hilton. They have a great view up there. They have a restaurant and then on top of that, they 
have the rooftop bar with these great views of the Saigon River. Lights up great at night. 
So, lots of options for you with the rooftop bars. It’s kind of like Bangkok. They’re following 
that pattern of building rooftop bars for evening experience. So, again, it’s one of those things. 
You can do a different rooftop bar every night you’re here. It’s just something to do kind of for 
your bucket list if you wanted. I would say three or four days in Ho Chi Min is enough. Here we are 
now at the Jade Emperor Pagoda. The Jade Emperor Pagoda is for someone who wants to see what kind 
of Buddhist culture or Buddhist beliefs Vietnam has. There’s not very many temples like you would 
see in say Thailand. Uh this one’s actually kind of small. They do have a koiish pond and a 
small temple. This might not be for everyone, but some of you may appreciate this and it’s free 
to visit. And here we are now at the Independence Palace. Let’s go inside. Now, this here is the 
former presidential palace for South Vietnam from 1966 to 1975. It served as like a command post 
where American and southern Vietnamese generals would meet and discuss plans for the war. It’s 
also famous because this is where the northern Vietnamese tanks arrived when the fall of Saigon 
happened in 1975. Now, when it’s not raining, you can actually rent one of these bikes. 
The rental bike company is called TN Go. If you wanted to download and set it up before you 
arrive, then you can ride the bikes around. Now, we’re actually headed to the sky deck. This is 
another observation tower that you can go to the top. This is one of the coolest looking buildings 
in all of central Saigon, I would say. And they’ve got a big hle pad up there. But nice views 
overlooking the Saigon River. The thing about the Saigon River is it’s just so windy. It’s literally 
like a snake river. It is 240,000 Vietnamese dong. That’s about $10 per person. I would say the best 
observation deck in all of Ho Chi Min City is probably Landmark 81, but this one’s right there 
in the heart of the city, so you can easily get great views if you wanted. At this point, I would 
say the Hilton rooftop bar is similar. But if you go to the Hilton rooftop, you’ve got to buy 
drinks at least. Now, we’re actually headed out to the Coochi Tunnels. Again, another relic of 
the Vietnam era. This is an area where soldiers from northern Vietkong would actually hunker down. 
They were called guerillas doing guerilla warfare. And these were basically soldiers not wearing a 
uniform, but these were local Vietnamese people fighting with the North against the Americans. 
They had a lot of different tactics here like booby traps and all sorts of different things 
you’ll see about how they were living in these tunnels. And they were very effective with this 
technology they were using, which is really just tunnels. And the coochie tunnels really reveal all 
of that to you. One thing that was revealed to me being out here is how miserable it would have had 
to have been to be a soldier or someone fighting out here in a very dangerous environment because 
of the weather and the elements. It goes from rain to hot as heck. It’s like a sauna out here. It’s 
just so bad. I mean, the war must have been one of the worst situations anyone could have ever found 
themselves in. You can see how they were making shoes out of old tire rubber. Now, here we are at 
the Meong Delta. So, the Meong Delta has got a few different activities. You basically get on a boat 
and you go across this massive wide river. This is actually, I think, the longest river in Southeast 
Asia and one of the longest in all of the world really. It’s a big river nonetheless. And you go 
around here, they got islands and on those islands they have activities like bee farm, trying local 
fruits. Uh the locals here, they always told me, they said everything that people could ever need 
from life, the Meong River Delta right here would provide. Whether it be fish or vegetables, fruit, 
or food in general, just a bread basket of food here in the Meong Delta area. Yes, that is a 
banana tree. I’ve never seen so many bananas on a tree. We took a little horse and buggy over to 
the canals. They also have these canals that kind of branch off the Meong. I did a little boat tour 
there. That’s when you can really see how lush this place is. I mean, every day I was in Saigon. 
It rained. If you’ve been following the news, you know that Vietnam’s been getting a lot of rain, 
but this is kind of normal during rainy season for Saigon to get rain. It’s just they’ve gotten a lot 
more this year than they did in years past. So, there’s been some flooding, but this Meong River 
is always just so lush. And you can see that uh by the fruits all around. Anyway, you also 
will see there’s a temple. They even have like this hotel here that you can stay at. Then they 
have the crocodile farm right here. From what I’ve been told, there is no crocodiles in the 
actual river. At least that’s what they told me. But yeah, here’s a look around the temple and 
then that hotel I was telling you about. It’s like bamboo kind of tiki huts. But what we do 
uh in the evening time is you can head to the opera house. They do shows still to this day if 
you’re looking to do that in the evening time. A nice way to kind of unwind and relax by watching a 
local show at the opera house. The area around the opera house is known as the central area and they 
have a famous road known as Nagian Wayi and that’s actually a very famous road that connects from the 
river all the way up to the end where they have the Ho Chi Min statue as well as the area where 
the opera house is. Now around here you’ll have a lot of motorbikes. You’ll have people asking 
you if you want to take a rickshaw. I’m going to tell you at around 12:00 in the afternoon, I have 
no idea how these rickshaw drivers are able to do this and just drive people around because even 
as a passenger from about 11 or 12 until 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, it is so hot in Saigon. 
I mean, 45 minutes outside and you really start to feel it. So, I like to come down here in the 
Guian way in the evening time just after sunset. It’s still hot, but it’s nowhere near as hot with 
the sun. The Guian Way has a lot of restaurants, bars, cafes, and they also do a lot of festivals 
here. Some rooftop bars as well. The good news is they did just complete a metro system here in Ho 
Chi Min City. It is new. I think it opened like a year or a year and a half ago. You can try 
and ride that if you’re looking to get around on public transport. Me personally, I go around 
on the motorbikes, but I don’t drive it myself. I go around with an actual grab driver. Some 
foreigners, they do rent their own bikes. They consider that to be dangerous. It’s also dangerous 
to actually ride a motorbike in general, but it’s common here. Here we are now at the Turtle Lake 
Loop. This is located between District 1 and District 3. It’s just a cool loop to say that 
you’ve driven around it on a motorbike if you wanted to. It’s called the turtle uh lake because 
of the turtle monument that once stood here, but there is no actual turtles in the lake. It’s 
just a little fun tourist activity if you wanted to check it out. I decided to stop here when 
I ended up going up to the pink church. Just keep in mind the pink church doesn’t open until 
like 4:00 in the afternoon. So, don’t even try and come over here before then. But, uh the pink 
church is another famous church for those of you into that. Also, another great way to get around 
Saigon is on the hop on, hop off bus if that’s something you’re into. By the way, if you’re 
planning to visit Vietnam, we did just make a best places to visit in Vietnam video. You’ve got 
to watch that next. Click the link right here.

In this best things to do in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam travel video we show you all around this mega city in the south. In this Ho Chi Minh City vlog we show you around the Saigon River, rooftop bars, Nguyen Hue, Bui Vien, and some of the top museums like War Remnants and Independence Palace. We also go out Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta to show you around some of the top areas outside Saigon. This Ho Chi Minh City vlog is a travel itinerary that can be completed in a 3 to 4 days. We show you 25 things to see and do while you visit Manila. If you plan to travel to Saigon, you will want to watch this Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam travel vlog. You can do this Saigon travel guide in 4 to 7 days depending on how fast you want to go. In this Ho Chi Minh City video we take you to Landmark 81, Ben Thang Market, and much more. Ho Chi Minh City is known for its local food and nightlife around Japan Town and Saigon District 1.

MORE VIETNAM TRAVEL VIDEOS:
Best Things To Do in Vietnam: https://youtu.be/rbNZbC2IqLs
Best Things To Do in Hanoi: https://youtu.be/YcSIbqLYqT8?si=NC6oLFgnrYel4sTn
Best Things To Do in Da Nang: https://youtu.be/Z8cQDARqiYk

Ho Chi Minh Attractions 2025
00:00 Intro
00:33 Water Bus
01:47 Ben Thanh Market
02:13 Bui Vien
04:03 LandMark 81
05:44 War Remnants Museum
06:47 Saigon Post Office
07:30 Local Food
08:21 Notre Dame
08:28 Book Street
08:40 Self Care
08:50 Roof Top Bars
09:48 Jade Emperor
10:14 Place Of Independence
10:38 Rent A Bike
10:46 SkyDeck
11:31 Cu Chi Tunnels
12:43 Mekong Delta
14:33 Opera House
14:53 Nguyen Hue
15:49 Metro
16:04 Motor Bike Tour
16:19 Turtle Lake RoundAbout
16:45 Pink Church
16:57 Hop On Hop Off
17:02 Outro

#hochiminhcity #saigon #vietnam

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