Your five-minute guide to Ho Chi Minh City

Get to know Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it is still known to its millions of inhabitants, one of Southeast Asia’s most frenetic cities.

Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. — Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City’s (HCMC) Tan Son Nhat international airport is just eight kilometres from the city.

The cheapest and most convenient way to get to the city is by taxi; it should cost around $10.

Drivers might try to offer a higher set fare, but always ask to turn the meter on and use the Mai Linh (white and green) or Vinasun (white) taxi companies as they are the most reliable.

Getting out and about

By foot

The sites in HCMC are predominantly located within District 1, which means you can see most of it by foot. You could easily do Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum and Ben Thanh Market in one day.

By taxi

Getting around the city by taxi is reasonable. It’s around 60 cents for flag fall and 20 cents per kilometre, so a trip from Thien Hau Temple to The Independence Palace (about five kilometres) will cost you around $2.

By motorbike

Saigon’s traffic is a chaotic sea of bumper to bumper motorbikes. We don’t recommend hiring one on your own, but if you want to see Saigon on two wheels, try a guided tour with XO Tours, an all-female motorbike company whose four tours cover major sites, street food, the city by night or the best shopping spots.

By cyclo

What better way to get around than by the iconic cyclo? Sadly these three-wheeled bicycles are vanishing from the city, but if you come across a friendly cyclo driver while wandering around District 1, hire one for around $3 to $5 for an hour.

Sightseeing

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Archbishop’s Palace

Said to be the oldest house in HCMC, the Archbishop’s Palace was built in 1790 and is one of the best examples of French colonial architecture in the city.

Despite being relocated several times since it was first built (it now sits in the French Quarter) the original structure, with its tiled roof, carved wooden doors, beams and pillars, has been around for around 200 years.

Tao Dan Park

A fantastic place to people-watch, particularly in the early morning between 7am and 9am when groups of elderly gentlemen bring their pet birds in cages to ring out a collective morning symphony.

The park itself is 10 hectares of green space, with benches and pathways under shady trees – an ideal spot to cool off from the midday heat.

You’ll also spot many locals here exercising, or heading to and from the Workers’ Club, home to a clubhouse, tennis courts and an Art Deco pool.

Saigon Opera House

You haven’t done HCMC until the fat lady sings. You may walk by the Opera House on your travels, but we recommend heading inside the glorious French-style building and seeing a performance.

It hosts a variety of classical and contemporary performances throughout the year, from opera and ballet to rock concerts.

Shopping

Ben Thành Market

This is Ho Chi Minh City’s bustling central market. Pick up souvenirs, clothing, jewellery, hardware, sweets, fruit and veggies, spices… you name it, it’s here. Haggle to your heart’s content (except at the stores with ‘Fixed Price’ signage).

Vincom Center

The city’s biggest mall is divided into two buildings, with everything from Jimmy Choo to Mango, a host of eateries, a huge games centre – bumper cars, air hockey and the like – and a kids’ section called the Fairy Garden.

Dong Khoi Street

Home to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office and the Opera House, this street runs for about six blocks and boasts HCMC’s more upscale and boutique shops. But it’s also a great strolling street with plenty of restaurants and cafés to stop at.

Eat & drink

Street food

You’ll find street vendors everywhere in Saigon. One of the best grab-and-go options is Bánh mì, a fresh baguette usually filled with pork or chicken, with chilli, pâté, cucumber, thin strips of pickled carrots, white radish, fresh coriander and a sprig of spring onion. Delicious!

Coffee

Since its introduction by French colonists in the 19th century, coffee has become an everyday staple for the Vietnamese. In particular, iced coffee (‘Ca phe sua da’) – which some liken to melted coffee-flavoured ice cream.

Pho

Vietnam’s unofficial national dish can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Popular places to try it include Pho 2000 (near Ben Thành Market), Pho 24 (spotted in several locations around the city), Pho Le and Pho Hoa. Or just stop by a street vendor!

Dining out

Try Hoa Túc in District 1, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in a beautiful Art Nouveau setting – they also do cooking classes; Cuc Gach Quán, a delightful family restaurant in a restored French colonial villa (the Jolie-Pitts have dined here); and the hip riverside restaurant/bar The Deck has a great courtyard, daybeds and a top cocktail and wine list – worth the 20-minute drive for a change of scenery.

Where to stay

District 1 is the place to be, home to sites such as Reunification Palace, Central Post Office, Ben Thành Market and the Jade Emperor Pagoda.

Silverland Sakyo Hotel and Spa

This hotel is just a 10-minute walk from the Opera House and even less to Vincom Shopping Center.

It has a funky Japanese-meets-Vietnamese design; each room is vibrantly styled and spacious.
There’s a rooftop jacuzzi pool with a bar, a lobby lounge and a Japanese sushi restaurant.

From $101 a night; silverlandhotels.com/silverland-sakyo-hotel-spa

New World Saigon

This hotel is superbly located, just opposite the famous Ben Thành Market, a fantastic area for walking.

The hotel itself is contemporary and elegant with two restaurants, two bars/lounges, a bakery/café, an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court, gym and day spa.

From $167 a night; saigon.newworldhotels.com/en

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Caravelle Hotel

Possibly the city’s most iconic hotel, the Caravelle is located on Dong Khoi Street, within walking distance to the Opera House, Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office.

Built in 1959, the hotel was home to many members of the International Press Corps during the American War (it has bullet-proof glass!), with most of their work taking place at the 10th floor rooftop bar, now known as Saigon Saigon.

There are two other bars, two restaurants, a café, day spa, pool and gym.

From $258 a night; caravellehotel.com

InterContinental Saigon

Just a short stroll from the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the InterContinental is located between Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi streets.

The modern rooms are spacious with floor-to-ceiling windows and fantastic views over the city.
The hotel has three restaurants – Asian and Italian cuisine – and two bars/lounges.

From $300 a night; ihg.com

Helpful phrases

‘Hello’ = Xin chao

‘Good bye’ = Tam biet

‘Thank you’ = Cam on

‘How much?’ = Bao nhieu?

‘Where’s the… toilet?’ = Nha ve sinh… o dau?

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.