Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC; , ), also known as Saigon, is the most populous municipality of Vietnam, with a population of more than 14 million in 2025. Its geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigon River. As the largest financial centre in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City has the largest gross regional domestic product out of all Vietnam provinces and municipalities, contributing around a quarter of the country's total GDP. It is the busiest international transport hub in Vietnam, with Tân Sán Nhất International Airport accounting for nearly half of all international arrivals to Vietnam, and the Port of Saigon among the busiest container ports in Southeast Asia. Ho Chi Minh City has historic landmarks and modern landmarks, including the Independence Palace, Bitexco Financial Tower, Landmark 81 Tower, the War Remnants Museum, and Bến Thành Market. It is known for its alleys and nightlife, including the Phạm Ngà © Lão Ward and Bùi Viá»Ân street.
The area was initially part of Cambodian polities until it became part of the Vietnamese Nguyá» n lords in 1698, due to ÃÂại Viá»Ât's expansionist policy of Nam tiến. It served as the capital of the Nguyá» n lords in their final years before the establishment of the Nguyá» n dynasty in 1802. After the fall of the Citadel of Saigon during the Cochinchina campaign in 1859, it became the capital of French Cochinchina from 1862 to 1949. It was also the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1902, and again from 1945 until its cessation in 1954. After France recognized Vietnam's independence and unity, it was the capital of the State of Vietnam from 1949 to 1955. Following the 1954 partition, it became the capital of South Vietnam until it was captured by North Vietnam, leading to a unified communist state in 1976. The city was subsequently renamed after North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, while Saigon remains in use informally and has been the official name of the city's administrative centre since 2025. In 2025, the Bình Dðáng and BàRá»ÂaâÂÂVà ©ng Tàu provinces were merged into Ho Chi Minh City, making it a megacity while inheriting the industrial towns and coastal cities of the two former provinces.
The first known human habitation in the area was a Cham settlement called Baigaur. The Cambodians then took over the Cham village of Baiguar and renamed it Prey Nokor, a fishing village.
Over time, under the control of the Vietnamese, it was officially renamed Gia ÃÂá»Ânh () in 1698, a name that was retained until the time of the French conquest in the 1860s, when it adopted the name , francized as , while the city was still indicated as on Vietnamese maps written in chữ Hán until at least 1891. An old name of Gia ÃÂá»Ânh was , which was later glossed as .
The name Ho Chi Minh City was given after reunification in 1976 to honour the late Ho Chi Minh. The informal name of remains in daily speech. There is a technical difference between the two terms: is used to refer to the city centre, aptly named Saigon and the adjacent neighborhoods of Bến Thành, Tân ÃÂá»Ânh, Xuân Hòa while Ho Chi Minh City refers to all of its urban and rural area.
appears later in Trá»Ânh Hoài ÃÂức's "Comprehensive Records about the Gia ÃÂá»Ânh Citadel" (, , c. 1820), "Textbook on the Geography of the Southern Country" (, , 1908), etc.
Adrien Launay's (1688âÂÂ1823), "Documents Historiques II: 1728 â 1771" (1924: 190) cites 1747 documents containing the toponyms: provincia Rai-gon, Rai-gon thong (for *Sài Gòn thðợng "Upper Saigon"), & Rai-gon-ha (for *Sài Gòn hạ "Lower Saigon"). It is probably a transcription of Khmer (Prey Nokôr), or Khmer (Prey Kôr).
The proposal that Sài Gòn is from non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese ("embankment", , SV: ÃÂê ngạn).
The name commemorates Ho Chi Minh, after the first leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This name, while not his given name, was one he favored throughout his later years. It combines a Vietnamese surname (, ) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese, ; meaning 'will' or 'spirit', and meaning 'light'), in essence, meaning "light bringer". "Saigon" is still used as a semi-official name for the city, in some cases being used interchangeably with Ho Chi Minh City, partly due to its longer history and familiarity.
The earliest settlement in the area was a Funan temple at the location of what later is the Phụng Sán Buddhist temple, founded in the 4th century AD. A settlement called Baigaur was established on the site in the 11th century by the Champa. Baigaur was renamed Prey Nokor after conquest by the Khmer Empire around 1145, Prey Nokor grew on the site of a fishing village and area of forest.
The first Vietnamese people crossed the sea to explore this land completely without the organisation of the Nguyá» n Lords. Thanks to the marriage betweenàPrincess Nguyá» n Phúc Ngá»Âc Vạn â daughter of Lord Nguyá» n Phúc Nguyên â and the King of CambodiaàChey Chettha II in 1620, the relationship between Vietnamàand Cambodia became smooth, and the people of the two countries could freely move back and forth. In exchange, Chey Chettha II gifted Prei Nokor to the Nguyá» n lords.
In 1679, Lord Nguyá» n Phúc Tần allowed a group of Chinese refugees from the Qing dynasty to settle in Mỹ Tho, Biên Hòa and Saigon to seek refuge. In 1698, Nguyá» n Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyá» n rulers of Huế by sea to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. King Chey Chettha IV of Cambodia tried to stop the Vietnamese and was defeated by Nguyá» n Hữu Cảnh in 1700. In February 1700, he invaded Cambodia from An Giang. In March, the Vietnamese expedition under Cảnh and a Chinese general Trần Thðợng Xuyên (Chen Shangchuan) defeated the main Cambodian army at BÃÂch ÃÂôi citadel, king Chey Chettha IV took flight while his nephew Ang Em surrendered to the invaders, as the Vietnamese marched onto and captured Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. As a result, Saigon and Long An were officially and securely obtained by the Nguyá» n, more Vietnamese settlers moved into the newly conquered lands.
In 1788, Nguyá» n ÃÂnh captured the city, and used it as a centre of resistance against Tây Sán. Two years later, a Vauban citadel called Gia ÃÂá»Ânh, or Thành Bát Quái ("Eight Diagrams") was built by Victor Olivier de Puymanel, one of the Nguyá» n ÃÂnh's French mercenaries. The citadel was captured by Lê VÃÂn Khôi during his revolt of 1833âÂÂ35 against emperor Minh Mạng. Following the revolt, Minh Mạng ordered it to be dismantled, and a new citadel, called Phụng Thành, was built in 1836. In 1859, the citadel was destroyed by the French following the Battle of Kỳ Hòa. Initially called Gia ÃÂá»Ânh, the Vietnamese city became Saigon in the 18th century.
Ceded to France by the 1862 Treaty of Saigon, the city was planned by the French to transform into a town for colonization. During the 19th and 20th centuries, construction of French-style buildings began, including a botanical garden, the Norodom Palace, Hotel Continental, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Bến Thành Market, among others. In April 1865, Gia ÃÂá»Ânh Báo was established in Saigon, becoming the first newspaper published in Vietnam. During the French colonial era, Saigon became known as "Pearl of the Orient" ('), or "Paris of the Extreme Orient".
On 27 April 1931, a new région called SaigonâÂÂCholon consisting of Saigon and Cholon was formed; the name Cholon was dropped after South Vietnam gained independence from France in 1955. From about 256,000 in 1930, Saigon's population rose to 1.2 million in 1950.
On 14 June 1949, 10 days after France returned Cochinchina to Vietnam, former emperor Bảo ÃÂại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam within the French Union with himself as head of state. The state was proclaimed in July. In July 1954, the Geneva Agreement partitioned Vietnam along the 17th parallel (Bến Hải River), with the Viá»Ât Minh, under Ho Chi Minh, gaining complete control of the northern half of the country, while the southern half remained the rule of the State of Vietnam.
The State officially became the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo ÃÂại was deposed by his Prime Minister Ngô ÃÂình Diá»Âm in the 1955 referendum, with Saigon as its capital. On 22 October 1956, the city was given the official name, ' ("Capital City Saigon"). After the decree of 27 March 1959 came into effect, Saigon was divided into eight districts and 41 wards.
In December 1966, two wards from old An Khánh Commune of Gia ÃÂá»Ânh, were formed into District 1, then seceded later to become District 9. In July 1969, District 10 and District 11 were founded, and by 1975, the city's area consisted of eleven districts, Gia ÃÂá»Ânh, Củ Chi District (HáºÂu Nghéa), and Phú Hòa District (Bình Dðáng).
Saigon served as the financial, industrial and transport centre of the Republic of Vietnam. In the 1950s, with the U.S. providing nearly $2 billion in aid to the Diá»Âm regime, the country's economy grew more rapidly under the capitalist model; by 1960, over half of South Vietnam's factories were located in Saigon. Beginning in the 1960s, Saigon experienced economic downturn and higher inflation, as it was completely dependent on U.S. aid and imports from other countries. As a result of urbanisation, with the population reaching 3.3 million by 1970, the city was described by the USAID as being turned "into a huge slum". The city had "prostitutes, drug addicts, corrupt officials, beggars, orphans, and Americans with money", and according to Stanley Karnow, it was "a black-market city in the largest sense of the word".
On 28 April 1955, the Vietnamese National Army launched an attack against Bình Xuyên military force in the city. The battle lasted until May, killing an estimated 500 people and leaving about 20,000 homeless. Ngô ÃÂình Diá»Âm then later turned on other paramilitary groups in Saigon, including the Hòa Hảo Buddhist reform movement. On 11 June 1963, Buddhist monk ThÃÂch Quảng ÃÂức self-immolated in the city, in protest of the Diá»Âm regime. On 2 November of the same year, Diá»Âm was assassinated in Saigon, in a successful coup by Dðáng VÃÂn Minh.
During the 1968 Tet Offensive, communist forces launched a failed attempt to capture the city. Seven years later, on 30 April 1975, Saigon was captured, ending the Vietnam War, and the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army.
In July 1976, upon the establishment of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including the Cholon area), the province of Gia ÃÂá»Ânh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chi Minh City, in honour of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. At the time, the city covered an area of with eight districts and five rurals: Thủ ÃÂức, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, Bình Chánh, and NhàBè. Since 1978, administrative divisions in the city have been revised multiple times, including in 2020, when District 2, District 9, and Thủ ÃÂức District were consolidated to form a municipal city. On 29 October 2002, 60 people died and 90 were injured in the International Trade Center building fire in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City, along with its surrounding provinces, is described as "the manufacturing hub" of Vietnam, and "an attractive business hub". In terms of cost, it was ranked the 178th-most expensive major city in the world according to the Mercer Cost Of Living 2024 survey of 226 cities. In terms of international connectedness, as of 2024, the city was classified as a "Beta+" city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
The city is located in Southeast Vietnam. The average elevation is above sea level for the city centre and for the suburb areas. It borders the provinces of Tây Ninh and ÃÂá»Âng Nai to the north, ÃÂá»Âng Nai and Lâm ÃÂá»Âng to the east, Tây Ninh to the west, and ÃÂá»Âng Tháp and the South China Sea to the south with a coast long. The city covers an area of or 2% of the surface area of Vietnam, extending up to Minh Thạnh commune ( from the Memot in Cambodia) and down to Côn ÃÂảo special administrative region. The municipality also extends far to the east to Bình Châu ( from the city center). Due to its location on the Mekong Delta, the city is fringed by tidal flats that have been modified for agriculture.
During the rainy season, a combination of tide, rains, flow volume in the Saigon River and ÃÂá»Âng Nai River and land subsidence results in flooding in parts of the city. A once-in-100 year flood would cause 23% of the city to undergo flooding.
The city has a tropical climate, specifically tropical savanna (Aw), with an average humidity of 78âÂÂ82%. The year is divided into two seasons. The rainy season, with an average rainfall of about annually (about 150 rainy days per year), usually lasts from May to November. The dry season lasts from December to April.
The average temperature is . The highest temperature recorded was in April while the lowest temperature recorded was in January. On average, the city experiences between 2,400 and 2,700 hours of sunshine per year.
The city is a municipality at the same level as Vietnam's provinces, and is divided into 113 wards, 54 communes, and 1 special administrative zone (as of 2025):
113 wards ( in area), which are designated as urban or suburban ('):
54 communes ( in area), which are designated rural ('):
One special administrative zone ( in area), which is designated municipal city ('):
The population of the city, as of the 1 October 2004 census, was 6,117,251 (of which 19 inner districts had 5,140,412 residents and five suburban districts had 976,839 inhabitants).
In 2007, the city's population was 6,650,942 â with the 19 inner districts home to 5,564,975 residents and the five suburban districts containing 1,085,967 inhabitants. The result of the 2009 Census shows that the city's population was 7,162,864 people, about 8.34% of the total population of Vietnam, making it the highest population-concentrated city in the country. As of the end of 2012, the total population of the city was 7,750,900 people, an increase of 3.1% from 2011.
As an administrative unit, its population is the largest at the provincial level. According to the 2019 census, Ho Chi Minh City has a population of over 8.9 million within the city proper and over 21 million within its metropolitan area.
In August 2017, the city's mayor, Nguyá» n Thành Phong, admitted that previous estimates of 8âÂÂ10 million were drastic underestimations. The actual population (including those who have not officially registered) was estimated 13 million in 2017. The Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, a metropolitan area covering most parts of the southeast region plus Tiá»Ân Giang Province and Long An Province under planning, will have an area of with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020.
The majority of the population are ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) at about 93.52%. Ho Chi Minh City's largest minority ethnic group are the Chinese (Hoa) with 5.78%. Cholon is home to the largest Chinese community in Vietnam. The Hoa (Chinese) speak a number of varieties of Chinese, including Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien, Hainanese, and Hakka; smaller numbers also speak Mandarin Chinese. Other ethnic minorities include Khmer with 0.34%, Cham with 0.1%, as well as a small group of Baweans from Bawean Island in Indonesia (about 400; as of 2015), they occupy city center of Saigon and Bến Thành. Other nationalities including Koreans, Japanese, Americans, Russians, South Africans, Filipinos, French and Britons reside in Ho Chi Minh City as expatriate workers. The highest concentration of which are in Thủ ÃÂức and Phú Mỹ Hðng.
As of April 2009, the city recognises 13 religions and 1,983,048 residents identify as religious people. Buddhism and Catholicism are the two predominant religions in Ho Chi Minh City. The largest is Buddhism as it has 1,164,930 followers followed by Catholicism with 745,283 followers, Caodaism with 31,633 followers, Protestantism with 27,016 followers, Islam with 6,580 followers, Hòa Hảo with 4,894 followers, Tá»Ânh ÃÂá» cð sé PháºÂt há»Âi Viá»Ât Nam with 1,387 followers, Hinduism with 395 followers, ÃÂạo Tứ ấn hiếu nghéa with 298 followers, Minh Sð ÃÂạo with 283 followers, BaháüàFaith with 192 followers, Bá»Âu Sán Kỳ Hðáng with 89 followers, Minh Lý ÃÂạo with 67 followers.
The city contains 20.2% of Vietnam's GDP, 27.9% of industrial output and 34.9% of the FDI projects in the country in 2005. In 2005, it had 4,344,000 labourers, of whom 130,000 are over the labour age norm (in Vietnam, 60 for male and 55 for female workers). In 2009, GDP per capita reached $2,800, compared to the country's average level of $1,042.
Refer to the chart below for year-by-year summary of HCMC's economy:
The city and its ports are part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe. As of June 2006, the city had three export processing zones and twelve industrial parks, in addition to Quang Trung Software Park and Ho Chi Minh City hi-tech park. Intel has invested about 1 billion dollars in a factory in the city. More than fifty banks with hundreds of branches and about 20 insurance companies are also located inside the city. The Stock Exchange, the first stock exchange in Vietnam, was opened in 2001. Ho Chi Minh City has 66 shopping malls, about 300 supermarkets and 405 traditional markets, along with thousands of convenience stores and stabilized price points.
On Vietnam's Provincial Competitiveness Index 2023, a tool for evaluating the business environment in Vietnam's provinces, Ho Chi Minh City received a score of 67.19. This was a fall from 2022 in which the province received a score of 65.86. In 2023, the province received its highest scores on the 'Time Costs' and 'Law and Order' criterion and lowest on 'Access To Land' and 'Policy Bias'.
With a population of 8,382,287 (as of Census 2010 on 1 April 2010) (registered residents plus migrant workers and a metropolitan population of 10 million), the city needs increased public infrastructure. In 2007, three million foreign tourists, about 70% of the total number of tourists to Vietnam, visited the city. Total cargo transport to city's ports reached 50.5 million tonnes.
Ho Chi Minh City has buildings from styles and time periods. French influence during the colonial era can be seen throughout the city, especially in the city center where a number of buildings can be found. Buildings of French colonial architecture include the Ho Chi Minh City Hall, Saigon Central Post Office, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon and Bến Thành Market. Ho Chi Minh City is also home to a number of buildings inspired by Chinese architecture, which are mostly found in Chợ Lá»Ân, the city's Chinatown quarter. These include the Thien Hau Temple, which was first built around 1760.
During the Republic of Vietnam era, Vietnamese modernist architecture began to develop in the city. Buildings which were commissioned during this time include the Independence Palace, replacing the former Independence Palace which was of Baroque Revival architecture.
Ho Chi Minh City has parks, including the Tao ÃÂÃÂ n Park, located next to the Independence Palace. Other parks in downtown include the September 23rd Park and 30/4 Park.
The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens is located on the northern end of Saigon quarter. It contains a collection of over 600 rare animals and about 4,000 plant species, some of which are over 100 years in age.
NguyỠn HuỠBoulevard was the first pedestrian street in Ho Chi Minh City. It opened to the public in April 2015, and is a spot for locals and visitors to gather. Events are held in the precinct throughout the year, including the annual flower festival during Tết.
Bui Vien Walking Street is known for its status as a hub for western backpackers and tourists. Bui Vien Street, also known as "Western Street", is a tourism hub in Ho Chi Minh City that offers restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, live music pubs, and rooftop bars. Before becoming a walking street, Bui Vien Street was a destination for backpackers to have fun, try unfamiliar cuisines, and explore new places during their trip to Ho Chi Minh City.
The city is served by Tân Sán Nhất International Airport, the largest airport in Vietnam in terms of passengers handled (with an estimated number of over 15.5 million passengers per year in 2010, accounting for more than half of Vietnam's air passenger traffic).
Long Thành International Airport is scheduled to begin operating in 2026. Based in Long Thành, ÃÂá»Âng Nai, about east of Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thành Airport will serve international flights, with a maximum traffic capacity of 100 million passengers per year when fully completed; Tân Sán Nhất Airport will serve domestic flights.
The city is a terminal for Vietnam Railways train routes in the country. The Reunification Express (tàu Thá»Âng Nhất) runs from Saigon to Hanoi from Saigon Railway Station near the Nhieu Loc Channel, with stops at cities and provinces along the line. Within the city, the two main stations are Sóng Thần and Sài Gòn. There are several smaller stations such as Dé An, Thủ ÃÂức, Bình Triá»Âu, Gò Vấp. Rail transport comprises 0.6% of passenger traffic and 6% of goods shipments.
Traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam's southern provinces has steadily increased over the years; the ÃÂôi and Tẻ Canals, some of the routes to the Mekong Delta, receive 100,000 waterway vehicles every year, representing around 13 million tons of cargo. A project to dredge these routes has been approved to facilitate transport, to be implemented in 2011âÂÂ14. In 2017, the Saigon Waterbus launched, connecting down town to Thủ ÃÂức.
The HCMC Metro, a rapid transit network, is being built in stages. Line 1 was opened in 2024. The line connects Bến Thành to Suá»Âi Tiên Park in TÃÂng Nhán Phú, with a depot in Long Bình. Planners expect the route to serve more than 160,000 passengers daily. A line between Bến Thành and Tham Lðáng has been approved by the government, and several more lines (Lines 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) are the subject of feasibility studies.
For short trips, "hug vehicle" motorcycle taxis are available throughout the city, usually congregating at a major intersection. You can also book motorcycle and car taxis through ride-hailing apps like Grab and Gojek. An activity for tourists is a tour of the city on cyclos, which allow for longer trips at a more relaxed pace. For years, cars have become more popular. There are approximately 340,000 cars and 3.5 million motorcycles in the city, which is almost double compared with Hanoi. The growing number of cars tend to cause gridlock and contribute to air pollution. The government has called out motorcycles as the reason for the congestion and has developed plans to reduce the number of motorcycles and to improve public transport.
The city has two expressways making up the North-South Expressway system, connecting the city with other provinces. The first expressway is Ho Chi Minh City â Trung Lðáng Expressway, opened in 2010, connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Tiá»Ân Giang and the Mekong Delta.
The second one is Ho Chi Minh City â Long Thành â Dầu Giây Expressway, opened in 2015, connecting the city with ÃÂá»Âng Nai, BàRá»ÂaâÂÂVà ©ng Tàu and the Southeast of Vietnam.
The health care system of the city has a chain of about 100 government owned hospitals or medical centres, dozens of international facilities, and privately owned clinics. The 1,400-bed Chợ Rẫy Hospital, upgraded by Japanese aid and the French-sponsored Institute of Cardiology, Prima Saigon Eye Hospital (ophthalmology), a member of World Association of Eye Hospitals, City International Hospital and Franco-Vietnamese Hospital are among the top medical facilities in the South-East Asia region, according to Tran Quoc Bao, who is an Asian healthcare leader and investment banker and has led twelve major healthcare M&A transactions, with a combined value of US$2 billion, and recognised as a Top Voices in Asian healthcare.
High schools in the city include Lê Há»Âng Phong High School for the Gifted, Phá» Thông NÃÂng Khiếu High School for the Gifted, Trần ÃÂại Nghéa High School for the Gifted, Nguyá» n Thðợng Hiá»Ân High School, Nguyá» n Thá» Minh Khai High School, , , Marie Curie High School, Võ Thá» Sáu High School, Trần Phú High School and others. While the former schools are public, private education is also available in Ho Chi Minh City. High school consists of grade 10âÂÂ12 (sophomore, junior, and senior).
Ho Chi Minh City has over 80 universities and colleges with a total of over 400,000 students. Universities include Vietnam National University, with 50,000 students distributed among six schools; The University of Technology (, formerly Phú ThỠNational Center of Technology); The University of Sciences (formerly Saigon College of Sciences); The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (formerly Saigon College of Letters); The International University; The University of Economics and Law; and the University of Information Technology.
Other higher education establishments include University of Pedagogy, University of Economics, University of Architecture, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Nong Lam University (formerly University of Agriculture, Forestry and Silviculture), University of Law, University of Technical Education, University of Banking, University of Industry, Open University, University of Sports and Physical Education, University of Fine Arts, University of Culture, the Conservatory of Music, the Saigon Institute of Technology, VÃÂn Lang University, Saigon University, and Hoa Sen University.
In addition to the above public universities, Ho Chi Minh City is home to some private universities. One is RMIT International University Vietnam, a campus of Australian public research RMIT University with an enrollment of about 6,000 students. Tuition at RMIT is about US$40,000 for an entire course of study. Other private universities include The Saigon International University (or SIU) is another private university run by the Group of Asian International Education. Enrollment at SIU averages about 12,000 students. Depending on the type of program, tuition at SIU costs US$5,000âÂÂ6,000 per year.
Tourist attractions in the city may relate to periods of French colonisation and the Vietnam War. The city's centre has some American-style boulevards, and French colonial buildings. The majority of these tourist spots are located down town. Structures in the city centre include the Reunification Palace ('), City Hall ('), Municipal Theatre (', also known as the Opera House), City Post Office ('), State Bank Office ('), City People's Court ('), and Notre-Dame Cathedral ('), which was constructed between 1863 and 1880. Some of the historic hotels include the Hotel Majestic, dating from the French colonial era, and the Rex and Caravelle hotels, both of which are former hangouts for American officers and war correspondents in the 1960s & '70s.
The city offers restaurants serving Vietnamese dishes, including phá» and rice vermicelli. The area around Phạm Ngà © Lão Street and Bùi Viá»Ân Street in down town is referred to as the Backpackersâ Quarter. Saigon Hotpot is a volunteer student group that gives international tourists free tours of the city.
It was approximated that 4.3 million tourists visited Vietnam in 2007, of which 70%, approximately 3 million tourists, visited the city. Ho Chi Minh City welcomed 6 million tourists in 2017. According to Mastercard's 2019 report, the city is the country's second most visited city (18th in Asia Pacific), with 4.1 million overnight international visitors in 2018 (after Hanoi with 4.8 million visitors). In H12025, HCMC welcomed over 22.1â¯million visitors (3.8â¯million international and 18.3â¯million domestic), generating approximately â«118â¯trillion (~USâ¯$4.6â¯billion), a +27.3% year-over-year growth. Over the Tet 2025 holiday, the city led all Vietnamese provinces in tourism receipts with ~$303â¯million, up 17% from 2024. In September 2025, HCMC is hosting ITEâ¯HCMCâ¯2025 which focuses on sustainable tourism and trade networking and is the 19th of its kind.
Locations for art in Ho Chi Minh City include Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, and art galleries located on Nam Kỳ Khá»Âi Nghéa street, Trần Phú street, and Bùi Viá»Ân street.
Ho Chi Minh City has roadside restaurants, coffee shops, and food stalls where locals and tourists can use local cuisine and beverages. It is ranked in the top five best cities in the world for street food.
, Ho Chi Minh City was home to 91 association football fields, 86 swimming pools, and 256 gyms. The largest stadium in the city is the 15,000-seat Thá»Âng Nhất Stadium, located on ÃÂào Duy Từ Street, Diên Há»Âng ward. The next largest is Military Region 7 Stadium, located near Tan Son Nhat Airport in Tân Sán Hòa. The Military Region 7 Stadium was of the venues for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals. Phú Thá» Racecourse, another sporting venue established during colonial times, is the only racetrack in Vietnam.
The city is home to a number of association football clubs. Ho Chi Minh City F.C. is based at Thá»Âng Nhất Stadium, formerly as Cảng Sài Gòn, it was four-time champions of Vietnam's V.League 1 (in 1986, 1993âÂÂ94, 1997, and 2001âÂÂ02). Navibank Saigon F.C., founded as Quân Khu 4, was also based at Thá»Âng Nhất Stadium, emerged as champions of the First Division in the 2008 season, and was promoted to the V-League in 2009, the club has since been dissolved during a corruption scandal.
In 2011, the city was awarded an expansion team for the ASEAN Basketball League. Saigon Heat was the first ever international professional basketball team to represent Vietnam. In 2016, a second professional basketball team was created, Wings, playing in the domestic Vietnam Basketball Association. The city hosts international sport events throughout the year, such as the AFF Futsal Championship and the Vietnam Vertical Run. Other sports are represented by teams in the city, such as Irish (Gaelic) Football, rugby, cricket, volleyball, basketball, chess, athletics, and table tennis.
The city is twinned with:
In addition to its twin towns, the city is in cooperation with: