After a solid 5 days in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), I can say with confidence that Vietnam is a country I will visit again and again. I love Vietnamese food, I love Vietnamese people, and I love the chaos of Vietnamese traffic, albeit a bit scary. Today I’m going to be walking you through all the places we ate at and visited over the course of 5 days in beautiful HCMC, aka Saigon. And hopefully you, too, will be inspired to visit this exciting city.
5 Days in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Day 1
We landed late in the afternoon, and our only agenda was to check into our hotel and find dinner. This trip was with my mom, my sister K, and two family friends, and our goal was to try as many Michelin star restaurants as possible. So for our first meal in HCMC, we headed for Bep Me In.
Bep Me In is one of the top rated restaurants in HCMC, and it did not disappoint. This is what we ordered:
We ordered a lot of drinks and some other miscellaneous dishes. Overall, everything we ordered exceeded all of our expectations, some of the best food I’ve ever had. The most recommended item here is the Vietnamese pancake, but our favorite were the beef skewers and the barbecued pork, Vietnamese barbecue is SO. GOOD.
Overall, this is a great place to hang out at night with friends or with family, recommend!
Day 2
Like most people, we started off our day in search for a good cup of coffee. We walked through a local market (very impressive selection of fruit), and headed towards Phuc Long Milk Tea.
I got the tra sua phuc long as recommended by the staff, which is their classic milk tea. Coming from a country with milk tea shops around every corner, I did not find anything special about their drinks. Drinks in Vietnam are also a bit on the sweeter side, so make sure to tell them ‘less sugar’ when you are making your order.
After our morning drinks, we walked 10 minutes to Pho Hoa, a popular place amongst the locals. We were very surprised to see so many local families enjoying pho this early in the morning. But I guess a warm and hearty bowl of pho is a great way to start the day!
Pho Hoa is a two-floor restaurant, the first floor was full so we were brought to the second floor. We were pleasantly surprised because the air conditioning is actually a lot stronger on the second floor. The environment was bright and clean and there were big full-length with beautiful views of the city outside.
There’s really not much for me to say, the pho just hits different in Vietnam. The broth is so aromatic, so sweet and tangy, and so so delicious. The noodles are just the right amount of chewy. I could eat this everyday.
After a very filling breakfast, we headed to the pink church (Nhà thờ Tân Định), which is one of the most iconic landmarks of the city. Tân Định church was completed in 1876 during the French colonial period and is the second largest church in HCMC. History aside, this is the cutest church I’ve ever seen. The pastel pink! My inner pilates princess is screaming.
I attempted to take some cute photos here but my tripod being my sister, all the photos turned out tilted.
But that’s alright because an even better photo spot turned out to be just right across Tân Định church, at Cong Cafe. Cong cafe is a popular chainstore in Vietnam, kinda like the Starbucks of Vietnam. Many tourists go there to enjoy local coffee and get better views of the church. Be sure to go up the third floor, where there’s a tiny area of outdoor seating. Views are amazing there. We got the coconut smoothie and coconut coffee, which seems to be what’s popular there.
After a long morning of just eating, we went to what is now my most recommended place in HCMC- the War Remnants Museum (tickets: 40.000 VND). It’s easy to forget that the Vietnam war ended only about 50 years ago- close enough that many of our parents watched it unfold on international news. But walking through the streets of HCMC brings that history right back to the surface.
You’ll see locals, some not much older than me, living with severe deformities or missing limbs. Physical reminders of the lasting impact of Agent Orange. It’s heartbreaking, and confronting it right there on the street forces you to reflect on the cruel realities previous generations endured, long before today’s bustling cafés and trendy districts existed.
HCMC is an incredibly fun and vibrant place to visit, but this is also part of its heavy, unavoidable truth you’ll experience here.
Our last attraction of the day was the independence palace, I’m don’t have much to say about it other than it was a nice walk around the city.
After our daytime activities had ended, we headed to MASSAGE CỔ PHONG for a delicious massage. Truly one of my favorite activities in Vietnam. First you change, and then they take you into an oven for a sauna, and then after that they get you ready for your massage. It was a wonderful experience, it includes a head massage and they even dry your hair for you afterwards!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant I had heard everybody rave about, even before we came to HCMC, and that is- Pizza 4P’S. Is it the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life? Probably not. But is it worth a visit? Definitely, 100% yes. The atmosphere, the service, and the food- it’s absolutely everything you’re looking for for a great night out. I can’t really tell you what we got because I have forgotten most of the their names, but everything was de-liiiiiight-ful.
We ended day 2 with a spontaneous evening bus tour that took us around the city for some beautiful night views.
Day 3
On day 3 we started the morning with our usual routine- find a cute cafe for some coffee first. On this day we decided to visit the cafe apartment that I had seen so much of on Tiktok. There are around 9 floors filled with cafes and cute shops in this apartment building, and you actually have to pay to use the elevator. We decided to just walk around and explore the cafes. We ended up going inside Saigon Oi to order some coffee and snacks.
we came out of this cafe realizing that everyone was at the café next door, not sure why but I would still recommend this café to anyone who wants to visit because they had really good drinks and their food and cakes were really decent as well.
After exploring the city for a bit, we decided to have a small midday snack a Hoa Tuc, which turned into a full-on lunch. But hey, it happens.
Hoa Tuc is yet another michelin restaurant that serves Vietnamese food with a hint of French twist. The restaurant is very much giving 1900s Parisian vibes, and it starts getting pretty busy after 12. Everything we ordered was so good, I’m honestly getting hungry just from going through the photos.
With a happy tummy, we headed to Buu dien, which is also the Vietnamese word for “post office”. Although Buu dien can refer to any post office in Vietnam, it is most commonly referring to the one in HCMC, popular for its French colonial style building. Legend says that it was designed by the same guy who designed the Eiffel tower. I’m not sure how accurate that is, please do let me know if you’re familiar with the history of this place!
This was also one of the highlights of my trip because here, you can pick out and buy a post card of your choice and send it anywhere to the world. I had a lot of fun writing one with my mom and sister.
You’ll find the popular HCMC book street right next to Buu dien. I am quite a big reader so I was really looking forward to this street. Aesthetic? Yes. But I should’ve expected that most books were in Vietnamese, so there wasn’t much I could look through. Nonetheless a beautiful street to walk through!
It rained for the rest of the day so we just decided to spend a chill afternoon shopping at Nguyễn Trãi Street, or often known as just “the HCMC shopping street”. I had heard so much about the clothes here on Tiktok prior to coming, but honestly, it didn’t really live up to its expectations. I did find one really really cute store called Secodee. If you’re looking for some cute clothes, definitely check that store out!
We ended this rainy night with dinner at Phở Việt Nam. Their signature pho here is phở thố đá, which comes in a hot stone bowl. The best part of pho is definitely the soup, especially on a rainy night like this one. A very satisfying meal.
Day 4
The cafe of choice this morning was Little Hanoi Egg Coffee. Coffee lovers are going to have a trip here in HCMC, from coconut latte to egg coffee, HCMC is truly a coffee lover’s world. Little Hanoi Egg Coffee is definitely my favorite cafe that we visited on this trip. Would definitely go back again someday. I had the hot egg coffee- so foamy, creamy, and rich in flavor. Our friends said the cold egg coffee had a bit of a stronger eggy taste. They also had a marvelous selection of brunch menu. Get the mango toast!!! So good omg. The PERFECT place for a slow morning brunch.
After one of the best brunches of my life, we went souvenir shopping at the Ben Thanh Market. You definitely can’t miss this one!! It was such a fun experience, they sold everything from local food stalls to coffee beans, cashews, and even fun T-shirts. The quality of the cashews here are really good, I definitely recommend buying some for back home or just as souvenirs for friends and relatives.
After an intense morning of shopping at the Ben Thanh Market, we made a little rest stop at Maison Marou, a gourmet Vietnamese chocolate company based in HCMC. We sat down for some chocolatey drinks and some chocolate ice cream. Maybe I just don’t understand gourmet chocolate, but a little overhyped in my opinion. Not a must-visit.
The Fine Arts Museum is also a place many come for aesthetic photos. i think very meh, I didn’t really understand what was going on in there, but also, im not much of an artsy girl either. After browsing through the fine arts museum, we separated into two groups. My mom and I went to Rapi Rabi to get our hair dyed whilst K and the others went for a massage at MIUMIU Spa.
I got highlights and have gotten so many compliments by other hairstylists, if you’re looking for a professional and affordable place to dye your hair, Rapi Rabi is the place for sure. I will definitely go back just to dye or to get highlights in my hair. MIUMIU Spa is also very popular, but did it live up to its hype? Apparently so. Honestly I have yet been to a massage parlor in SEA that hasn’t lived up to its hype. Maybe except for one in Chiang mai, they gave an amazing massage but my back itched all over afterwards for two days.
For dinner, we celebrated my 25th birthday at Sol Kitchen and Bar. But they had amazing food, the oysters were so fresh and the cocktails were *chefs kiss*.
Day 5
If we’re being really honest, there’s probably more to eat in HCMC than there is to see (and I love that!). But by day 5, we were running out of attractions to go to so we decided to book a day trip to the Mekong River. Before leaving, we stopped by Bahn Mi Huynh Hoa to get some breakfast to go. I’ve heard so many good reviews about this place but as someone who doesn’t eat anything other than lean meat (no fats, no organs, no blood…), I couldn’t get myself to eat anything other than the bread. If you’re okay with organs and fats, then this will probably be delicious.
We also stopped by Katinat to buy some drinks. I absolutely love the variety of drinks in Vietnam, but do remember to tell them to add less sugar!! The Vietnamese definitely prefer their drinks sweet.
We chose to have our last meal in this city at Bep Cuon Saigon, which serves authentic Vietnamese cuisine and gives a very similar vibe to Bep Me In, the first restaurant we went to. We made our way to Bui Vien Street and then went for some final shopping at the mall on our last night in HCMC. On our way back to the hotel, we encountered the TikTok fest and apparently there was a super popular Vietnamese pop star on stage- Orange (singer). I’ll leave the name here in case any of y’all would like to search her up. Super impressive voice!
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was, without a doubt, one of my favorite trips of this year and I’ll definitely be back again real soon!
xoxo,
Emily
