Ho Chi Minh City tickets

The Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the History Museum, the Fine Arts Museum and the tunnels are open every day, including holidays and Tet, with the palace open 7:00 to 18:00 and the museums closing around 17:00. The cathedral's interior is closed for restoration until 2027, though Mass is said and the square is always open. Nguyen Hue is pedestrian on weekend evenings. Tet, the lunar new year in late January or February, shuts shops and restaurants for a week and fills the city with flowers.

Everything is cheap in dong: the Independence Palace is 80,000 for adults and 40,000 for students and seniors, the War Remnants Museum about 40,000, the History and Fine Arts Museums about 30,000, the Cu Chi tunnels 135,000 for foreign visitors since February 2026 with a tour on top, the Bitexco Skydeck about 240,000 and the Landmark 81 SkyView from about 300,000. Roughly 26,000 dong make a US dollar in 2026; the temples, the markets, the post office and the cathedral square are free.

Grab, the ride-hailing app, on a motorbike for one person or in a car for two, is the city's transport, cheap and everywhere; Metro Line 1 runs from Ben Thanh past the Opera House and Ba Son to the eastern suburbs for 7,000 to 20,000 dong a ride, with day passes at 40,000. The Saigon Waterbus from Bach Dang pier is a 15,000-dong river cruise in disguise. Walking in District 1 is fine; crossing the road means walking slowly and steadily into the motorbikes, which flow around you.