3 Days in Saigon: The First-Timer Itinerary
Three days builds on the 2-day core, War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace and Ben Thanh, then adds a full day in Cholon for the Chinatown market and a real street food crawl. Need less time or more? Try the 2-day , 4-day , 5-day or 7-day version, all built on this same spine.
Book these before you go
- District 1 hotel: check current rates on Agoda
- A Landmark 81 or Bitexco Skydeck ticket for sunset: browse options on GetYourGuide
- An evening street food tour, worth building a whole night around: check dates on GetYourGuide
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Arrival, War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh Market |
| Day 2 | Notre-Dame exterior, Central Post Office, a skyline deck, Nguyen Hue at night |
| Day 3 | Cholon: Binh Tay Market, Thien Hau Temple, a street food crawl |
Day 1: Arrival And The War-History Core
- Land at Tan Son Nhat (SGN), just 6-8km from District 1. Take Grab (roughly 110,000-250,000 VND, 25-45 minutes depending on traffic) rather than an unbranded car soliciting outside Arrivals
- Check in, then head to the War Remnants Museum (28 Vo Van Tan, District 3), 40,000 VND adult, open 7:30am-5:30pm. Budget a real 1.5-2 hours
- Walk or short Grab to the Reunification Palace (135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia), roughly 40,000 VND entry, ticket window closes 3:30pm
- Lunch on pho (45,000-70,000 VND) or banh mi (20,000-35,000 VND) from a street cart near District 1
- Evening at Ben Thanh Market, covered stalls until 6pm, then the street food and souvenir night market outside running to roughly 10pm
Day 2: Notre-Dame, The Post Office And A Skyline Sunset
- Morning walk past Notre-Dame Cathedral, closed to tourist visits since 2017 mid-restoration, exterior photos only, then the free Central Post Office across the square, its ironwork is often wrongly credited to Gustave Eiffel, the real architect was Alfred Foulhoux
- Stroll Dong Khoi and Nguyen Hue walking street, District 1’s upscale shopping and pedestrian core
- Late afternoon at a skyline deck: Landmark 81’s SkyView (Vietnam’s tallest building, 300,000-500,000 VND) or Bitexco’s Saigon Skydeck (a flat 240,000 VND, plus a genuinely strong rooftop bar)
- Dinner near Bui Vien or Dong Khoi depending on the mood you want for the evening
Day 3: Cholon And A Proper Street Food Crawl
- Morning in Cholon, Vietnam’s largest Chinatown, technically spanning Districts 5, 6, 10 and 11. Start at Binh Tay Market, a colonial-era wholesale market that reads far more local than Ben Thanh
- Visit the Thien Hau Temple, a 19th-century Cantonese temple built for the sea goddess Mazu, ornate and genuinely atmospheric on a quiet morning
- Afternoon street food crawl: com tam for lunch, then a proper stretch of stalls for banh xeo (crispy stuffed crepe, 90,000-120,000 VND, usually shareable) and fresh spring rolls
- Evening back in District 1, ca phe sua da at a local shop rather than a cafe chain, this iced coffee with condensed milk is Saigon’s own, not the egg coffee invented in Hanoi
Is Cholon worth a full day on a first visit? Yes, if you want to see Saigon beyond the tourist core. Binh Tay Market and the surrounding streets run at a completely different, more local pace than District 1, and the food here rewards slow wandering over a checklist. Skip it only if you’re purely here for the headline sights on a tight schedule.
A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go
Grab, not Uber, is the ride-hailing app here. US, Canadian and Australian travelers need an e-visa before flying, apply through the official Vietnam e-visa portal . Cross the street slowly and steadily, never stop or bolt. Three days is a genuinely comfortable pace here; the full Saigon guide and the ranked places guide both go deeper if you want more before you land.