Question 1

Ho Chi Minh City on Your Own

Accepted Answer

From Phú Mỹ, an independent day in Ho Chi Minh City starts with a drive of about an hour and a half each way, so most people join a ship's excursion or book a private tour. If you do go alone, keep the plan small: a few sights close together in the center, a car you trust, and a fixed time to head back. Getting there: Shuttle buses run from the port to Saigon, and taxis wait just outside the port. A private tour company can arrange your port pass if you send your passport details in advance. A compact morning: The Independence Palace at 135 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa Street and the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, on the corner of Lý Tự Trọng and Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa streets, stand close together. The War Remnants Museum is at 28 Võ Văn Tần. Choosing a car: In the city, use pre-booked transport or a licensed ride-hailing app such as Grab or XanhSM, and book the whole journey in the app, because scammers sometimes pose as drivers for these companies. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own, and with the long drive back to Phú Mỹ, leave the city with plenty of time to spare. Watch the clock: All-aboard is given in ship's time, which may not match the clocks ashore or your phone. Vietnam keeps the same time all year, seven hours ahead of UTC. Carry ID: Vietnamese law requires you to carry photo ID, and a printed copy of the photo page of your passport and your visa is accepted. Keep the passport itself somewhere secure.

Question 2

From Phú Mỹ to the City

Accepted Answer

The simplest way from Phú Mỹ into the city is a ship's excursion or a tour booked before the cruise. Shuttle buses and taxis are the alternatives, and the drive takes about an hour and a half. Shuttle buses also run from the port to Bà Rịa, a town about 16 km away. A local tour company needs your passport details ahead of time to get you a pass into the port, and it usually collects the port fees as well. Those fees were about USD 25 to 30 per person in October 2026. Check before you go. Motorbike accidents are common in Vietnam and have injured and killed visitors, which is worth weighing before you take a motorbike taxi.

Question 3

What to Eat

Accepted Answer

A traditional southern Vietnamese meal is plain rice with catfish braised in a clay pot, a sour fish soup and fish sauce on the side. The south also has its own noodle soups and seafood dishes. The clay-pot fish is cá kho tộ, and the sour soup is canh chua. Cơm tấm is broken rice, most often served with grilled pork. Hủ tiếu is a noodle soup brought by Teochew Chinese immigrants. It comes in many styles, including a dry one served with sauce instead of broth. Bánh khọt and bún mắm are two signature seafood dishes of the south.

Question 4

Tipping and Currency

Accepted Answer

Tipping is not required in Vietnam, but leaving 5 to 10 percent in a restaurant is becoming more usual. Vietnam's currency, the dong, comes only in notes, and no coins are in use. The higher notes are plastic and the low ones are paper. Tip with the plastic notes, because a tip in paper notes can be considered rude.

Question 5

City Names and the War Remnants Museum

Accepted Answer

The official name is Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, but Saigon is still the name you will hear in everyday speech. The War Remnants Museum covers the wars fought here between 1946 and 1975. The War Remnants Museum is at 28 Võ Văn Tần. It opens daily from 7:30 to 17:30, and the ticket counter closes at 17:00. Admission was 40,000 dong in February 2026, with children under 6 free and students at half price, and the museum also sells tickets online. Check before you go. Inside, the photographs are graphic, covering the effects of Agent Orange and napalm and wartime atrocities. The Saigon Central Post Office, built between 1886 and 1891 when Vietnam was part of French Indochina, is now visited as a sight in its own right.

Question 6

History

Accepted Answer

Ho Chi Minh City has been a Cham village, a Khmer settlement, a base of the Nguyễn lords, the capital of French Cochinchina and the seat of South Vietnam's government. It took its present name in 1976, after the war ended. Before the Vietnamese: A Cham settlement called Baigaur stood here from the 11th century, and around 1145 the Khmer Empire took it and renamed it Prey Nokor. Sài Gòn: Vietnamese settlers arrived in the early 17th century and adapted the Khmer name into Sài Gòn. In 1679 the Nguyễn lord let refugees from Qing China settle in Saigon and nearby towns. Gia Định: In 1698 the Nguyễn lords set up their own administration here and named the area Gia Định, detaching it from Cambodia. French rule: French forces took the Citadel of Saigon in 1859, and from 1862 to 1949 the city was the capital of French Cochinchina. The Gia Long Palace, now the city museum, and the Central Post Office both went up between 1885 and 1891. The presidential palace: The Independence Palace was built from 1962 to 1966, replacing an earlier palace badly damaged when two dissident air force pilots bombed it. 30 April 1975: At 10:45 that morning a North Vietnamese tank broke through the palace's main gate, which effectively ended the Vietnam War. A new name: In July 1976, after the country was reunified, Saigon and the area around it became Ho Chi Minh City. To learn more ashore: The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, inside the grounds of the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens on Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Street, holds about 25,000 objects on the history and cultures of southern Vietnam.

Question 7

With Children

Accepted Answer

With children, a day in Ho Chi Minh City from Phú Mỹ means a long drive each way, so pick one or two stops rather than a full tour. The old zoo and botanical garden suits younger children, and the war museums suit older children and teenagers better. Younger children: The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the oldest in Vietnam, opened to the public in 1869 and keeps about 2,000 animals of more than 120 species. The main gate is at 2B Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Street. School age: A helicopter, fighter planes and a tank stand in the walled yard of the War Remnants Museum, and children under 6 enter free. The war photographs indoors are graphic, so decide beforehand how far into the building you will go. Teenagers: The Independence Palace, the former presidential palace, is open to visitors as a museum, and a T-54 tank stands in the gardens by the entrance.

Ho Chi Minh City

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