SAIGON SHORE EXCURSION: Saigon Past and Present Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. As a local guide, We will listen carefully and re-arrange your itinerary and suggestion to fit your timetable to explore the city as you wish: + The historical sites: Reunification Palace, War Museum, History Museum… + The architectural buildings: City Hall, Opera House, Central Post Offfice… + The religious sites: The Pink church, Jade Emperor Pagoda… + The local areas: Local village, Dist 7, Binh Thanh Dist…

   3 h

2. Saigon Eco Village: This place is very famous with local people for picnic and fishing at weekend. I will introduce to you how they grow the rice, how they catch a fish but in Saigon city (This is an unseen part of Saigon). We will enjoy a cup of coffee or local beer with Vietnamese style here.

   1 h

3. Independence Palace was the base of Vietnamese General Ngo Dinh Diem until his death in 1963. It made its name in global history in 1975. A tank belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through its main gate, ending the Vietnam War. Today, it's a must-visit for tourists in Ho Chi Minh City. The palace is like a time capsule frozen in 1975. You can see two of the original tanks used in the capture of the palace parked in the grounds. Independence Palace was the home and workplace of the French Governor of Cochin-China.

   45 minAdmission included

4. You will find this pagoda in District 1 one of the oldest pagoda in Saigon, which is roughly a ten minute drive from the city centre.

   30 min

5. The People’s Committee Building Saigon in central Ho Chi Minh City features well-preserved French colonial architecture in a spacious garden landscape. Originally constructed as a hotel in 1898 by French architect Gardes, it now serves as a city hall and one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Occupying the end of Nguyen Hue walking promenade, it has three buildings with embossed statues of animals and people, intricate bas-reliefs on the walls, as well as a statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of the main building.

   10 min

6. Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 is a great place to buy local handicrafts, branded goods, Vietnamese art and other souvenirs. Here, you’ll find eating stalls inside the market where you can get a taste of hawker-style Vietnamese cuisine or simply cool off with a cold drink when the bargaining becomes too much. The market is big, difficult to navigate at times and certainly best avoided during the hottest part of the day but all the same its well worth a look.

   30 min

7. Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the late 1880s by French colonists, is one of the few remaining strongholds of Catholicism in the largely Buddhist Vietnam. Located in Paris Square, the name Notre Dame was given after the installation of the statue ‘Peaceful Notre Dame’ in 1959. In 1962, the Vatican conferred the Cathedral status as a basilica and gave it the official name of Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica. Measuring almost 60 metres in height, the cathedral’s distinctive neo-Romanesque features include the all-red brick façade (which were imported from Marseille), stained glass windows, two bell towers containing six bronze bells that still ring to this day, and a peaceful garden setting in the middle of downtown Ho Chi Minh City District 1.

   10 min

8. The Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh is a beautifully preserved remnant of French colonial times and perhaps the grandest post office in all of Southeast Asia. Located next door to Notre Dame Cathedral, the two cultural sites can be visited together and offers visitors a chance to imagine life in Vietnam during the times of the Indochinese Empire. The building was designed by Alfred Foulhoux and features arched windows and wooden shutters, just as it would have in its heyday in the late 19th Century.

   20 min

9. The Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh is an elegant colonial building at the intersection of Le Loi and Dong Khoi Street in District 1, very close to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and the classic Central Post Office. The restored three-storey 800-seat Opera House was built in 1897 and is used for staging not only opera but also a wide range of performing arts including ballet, musical concerts, Vietnamese traditional dance and plays. Performances are advertised around the building and information can be found in the state-operated tourist information centre close by.

   10 min

10. Ho Chi Minh City Book Street is a pedestrian-only street next to the Saigon Central Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon. These three places are in a very central and popular area of District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City. The street is closed off to cars and scooters and is lined with dozens of cafes, bookstores, and souvenir shops. Large trees hang over much of the street, which provides good shade and an overall pleasant atmosphere. It’s also a no-smoking zone.

    15 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 3 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Ho Chi Minh City

• Its from-price is 63% above the median of the 518 day trips we list in Ho Chi Minh City.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 192 of 518.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, still widely called Saigon, is Vietnam's buzzing commercial hub of French colonial landmarks, war history and superb street food.

District 1 holds the main sights within walking distance: the red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral, the elegant Central Post Office with its vaulted hall, the colonial Opera House and the ornate City Hall. The Independence Palace preserves its rooms as they were at the end of the war, and the War Remnants Museum tells the story of the conflict with sobering directness.

Top-ranked sights in Ho Chi Minh City: Cu Chi Tunnels, Saigon Opera House (Opéra de Saïgon), Saigon Central Post Office.

See all 2927 experiences in Ho Chi Minh City