Only stayed a few days in Ho Chi Minh and honestly I don’t think I’d have wanted to spend too much more time there with or without kids. It and Vietnam are a way behind Thailand in terms of development but that doesn’t, and shouldn’t make it any less desirable to visit. I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed by it, in either or good or bad way, but I’d be more than happy to go back for a longer period of time and see a lot more things than we had the time to see on this visit.
There’s not a lot of note to see or do in Ho Chi Minh in terms of iconic landmarks and sites such as the Notre Dame Cathedral are underwhelming and won’t be that interesting for most people except the very staunchest of history buffs. Ho Chi Minh is not a place you say you’re going to see anything specific, most people will stay in the city, walk around District 1 which consists of the Ben Thanh Market, Saigon Centre and Opera House, all of which again, are not anything that is going to hours of endless entertainment, unless you happen to be a particularly keen street photographer.
Nevertheless, it’s quite an interesting city as a whole, the people are nice, there’s loads of street markets and the street food is excellent. There’s flights into Ho Chi Minh from most major cities and getting around is cheap even in taxis. There’s a few day tours you can do but once again, nothing that you’re going to absolutely wild about so stay 2 or 3 days then head to one of the beach areas.
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