Embrace the spirit of Saigon with a day trip visiting the iconic landmarks of the city and soaking up its rich tapestry of history and culture. This vibrant tour unravels Saigon’s turbulent past and also provides glimpse into the fascinating variety the city has to offer.
Highlights:
- • Learn more about the horrors of the Vietnam War at the War Remnants Museum
- • Admire magnificent pagodas, impressive buildings, and traditional markets
- • Have a delicious lunch at the Ben Thanh Market.
Itinerary
- • 8:00 pickup within city centre. Start the tour with the Reunification Palace, where the former President of the Republic of Vietnam used to reside. In 30th April, when Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese soldiers set foot inside this building with red flags on hands, that was the day Vietnam got back its freedom and sovereignty.
- • Afterwards, visit the War Remnants Museum, first opened to public in 1975. It’s known as the “Museum of American War Crimes”, a shocking reminder of the enduring and brutal Vietnam War. Graphics photographs and American military are on display. You can also see many more artefacts using against the Vietnamese between 1945 and 1975.
- • Visit the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the late 1880s. 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.
- • Across from the Cathedral is the Central Post Office, a beautifully preserved remnant of French colonial times and perhaps the grandest post office in all of Southeast Asia.
- • Next stop, Giac Lam Pagoda, built in 1744, is the oldest Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City and was listed as an important historical site by the Vietnamese Department of Culture in 1988.The temple is surrounded by spacious, walled garden and fronted by statues of mythical dragons, the protective guardians to many temples here.
- • Have a lunch break at Ben Thanh Market where you’ll find eating at stalls inside the market, tasting hawker-style Vietnamese cuisine and cooling off with a cold drink are just as interesting as trying to bargain your way through the seemingly endless aisles of souvenirs and local handicrafts.
- • Visit Minh Phuong Fine Arts & Handicrafts to see the traditional Vietnamese art form of lacquer work. The premise houses the work station as well as showroom that are open to public for visiting. Wander through the gallery and watch the artists create beautiful lacquer masterpiece and browse through their collections of paintings, furnishings, jewellery boxes, vases, coasters and wall dishes.