Saigon, on two wheels.
The Cu Chi tunnels an hour north, a sampan through the Mekong, com tam counters and banh mi carts, District 1 once the heat lifts. The ones that repay the ride out, priced, with a link straight to the booking.
Book these seven first.
The ones a Saigon week keeps returning to: the tunnels an hour north, a sampan through the delta, and the street-food run your hotel won’t put on a map.
Cu Chi Tunnels Tour from HCM City – Morning or Afternoon
Cu Chi Tunnels from HCMC takes you underground for a hands-on look at Viet Cong hideouts, with District 1 pickup.
From $15 per person
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Go underground at Cu Chi.
The Viet Cong dug two hundred kilometres of tunnels here by hand. Crawl a widened stretch, watch a trap demonstration, fire a rifle on the range if you like, and still be back in District 1 for a late lunch. Take the early departure and beat the tour buses to the entrance.
Cu Chi, the Mekong, or both?
The two day trips every first-timer weighs up. One is a half day underground, one is a full day on the water, and plenty of tours fold them into a single long haul. Here is how to choose the one that fits your trip.
Just the tunnels
Cu Chi on its own
7 hours · from $13 · 19,646 reviews
A half day north to the tunnels, morning or afternoon, and back in the city for a late lunch. The pick when time is tight, or when you want the Mekong to have a full day of its own. Small-group departures skip the queues at the range.
Compare the Cu Chi tours →
Just the delta
Straight to the Mekong
9 hours · from $16 · 13,132 reviews
My Tho and the boat to the islands, a sampan down the coconut creeks, honey tea and a bowl of elephant-ear fish. A full, slow day on the water. The unhurried option, and the one families settle on.
See the Mekong days →
The big day
Both in one day
10 - 11 hours · from $35 · 11,836 reviews
Tunnels before the heat, lunch on the road, then the delta all afternoon. It is a long day, six in the morning to dark, but you tick off Saigon’s two icons in a single trip. Go with a small group so the schedule actually holds.
See the combo tours →
Saigon gets going at dusk.
The heat breaks, the plastic stools spill onto the pavement, and District 1 fills with grill smoke and scooter horns. Ride pillion between banh xeo and bia hoi, or take the river by dinner cruise. Someone who knows the lanes gets you to the good stalls.
The food is the tour.
Com tam for breakfast, a banh mi from the cart that knows what it is doing, bun thit nuong over charcoal, pho where the broth has been on since dawn. Book a guide who orders in Vietnamese and skips the tourist counters.
Hop on the back.
Nine million people, nearly as many scooters. Ride pillion behind an ao dai rider, take a vintage Vespa through the back lanes, or sit back in a cyclo and let the traffic part around you. This is how the city actually moves.
The old quarter still stands.
The Central Post Office that Eiffel’s firm drew up, Notre-Dame in imported French brick, and out in Cholon the incense-dark temples and shophouse medicine shops. A morning on foot, or a slow cyclo, turns the traffic into a two-hundred-year story.
Pick your Saigon, block by block.
The city moves in districts. District 1 for the landmarks and the coffee. Cholon for temples and shophouse medicine shops. Ben Thanh for the market crush. The river when the heat finally lifts.
What’s your kind of day?
A dozen Saigon days, market to river. Tap the one that fits and you are among the tours.
Out at dawn, back by dark.
The good day trips all start early. The tunnels an hour north, the Mekong’s sampans and floating markets to the south, Vung Tau’s beach when you want the coast. Every one of them home by evening.
Seventy-two hours, sorted.
You won’t see all of Saigon in one trip, but three days does the icons justice. This is the order we’d give a friend landing at Tan Son Nhat tomorrow.
Day 1
Land, then eat
Ease in with District 1 on foot: Notre-Dame, the Central Post Office, a ca phe sua da in the shade. Come dark, climb on the back of a scooter for your first street-food run.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Go north, go south
The big day trip. Crawl the Cu Chi tunnels before the heat, break for lunch on the road, then trade the highway for a sampan through the Mekong’s coconut creeks.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Markets and the river
Cholon’s temples and medicine shops in the morning, the crush of Ben Thanh at midday, then let the Saigon River carry the afternoon by boat.
Plan day three →
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