If I was to go back, I’d think about taking a Ho Chi Minh city tour because I think they could get you off the tourist path and take you to some quite interesting local spots. Instead of heading straight to TripAdvisor to find a decent Ho Chi Minh city tour, try Viator or GetYourGuide, which often have the same tours, but for way less money.  The highest rated city tours TripAdvisor, for most cities, not just Ho Chi Minh, are almost certainly the most expensive and not necessarily the best.

Also consider this, if you book a Ho Chi Minh city tour with a lot of the guys on TripAdvisor, they’re going to take you to all the typical tourist attractions because a lot of people on TripAdvisor are the touristy types.  I’ve found that if you book through someone else, like a private, but registered guide elsewhere, they’ll not only be much cheaper, they’ll take you to places that aren’t listed on most travel guides.  Of course they can also take you to to the must-see places, but you might just get a much more “local” tour booking with someone who’s not influenced so much by tourism.  Some Googling is necessary but it might be worth it.

For accommodation in Ho Chi Minh, The Park Hyatt is a nice hotel and right amongst all the action so a good place to stay if that’s your thing. We also stayed a night on the way back from Da Nang (because although there’s direct flights from Hong Kong to Da Nang, they were booked solid during Chinese New Year) at another nice hotel, completely different though, along the river and in a quiet part of town, but not so far that it’s inconvenient, although you can’t really walk to the thick of things in the city. It’s called Villa Song Saigon, in District 2. Definitely worth staying if you want a break from the city yet still be reasonably close to everything.

There’s plenty of flights from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh on Cathay, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet so you shouldn’t any problems getting there, Airport is not great but the lines at immigration were actually pretty good considering it was Chinese New Year.

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Go back to our Destination Guide here.