Hello Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This trip was a little different from the usual trips that we have had in the past because this time we decided to travel with two of our friends which made this trip a couple trip. It was our very first couple trip to HCMC; no light bulbs, no extras. Everything was perfect and I would say it was fun to explore the world with a few extra travel buddies. Plus I have a girl friend to shop with me at HCMC.

In this blog post, I will summarize everything from our HCMC trip such as the Airbnb we stayed, places we visited, food we tried and some other teeny-tiny details here and there. I hope by doing this way, you guys are able to have an idea on what to expect from your HCMC trip (if any of you are planning to visit HCMC).

Okay, without further ado, let's get started!

First, let's talk about our accommodation in HCMC. There are a total of 24 districts in HCMC but you will find most of the museums, restaurants, night markets, landmarks and etc. in District 1 and District 3. For this reason, one of my Vietnamese friends suggested us to live around these 2 districts because it would be much easier for us to travel around and this would also save us a lot of time from traveling as the traffic could be quite congested sometimes and the public transports there were not really reliable.

We then decided to stay somewhere around Bến Thành area in District 1, a place with unlimited restaurants, cafe and night markets. In short, that is where all the good food at. There are quite a number of hotels and Airbnbs available around that area so accommodation wise, you don't have to worry about not able to find a place to stay in District 1.

Since we were traveling in a group of 4 people (or 2 couples) so we decided to rent a whole apartment unit with 2 bedrooms on Airbnb. The Airbnb that we rented was Beautiful Apartment in Downtown Saigon (ITA) hosted by Thuy. I highly recommend this apartment if you are traveling in a bigger group (maybe 4 persons and above) because the apartment is spacious enough to accommodate the four of us with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (yup, private bedroom and bathroom for each couple). And of course, there is a dining area and kitchen which is equipped with microwave, refrigerator, kettle and etc. There is also a washing machine in the apartment so good news for those who wish to do their laundry (no more expensive laundry service from the hotel 😁).
Next up, food.

We ate at a few restaurants or food from the street markets and now I am going to list some of our favorites restaurants or food that we ate in HCMC. ⚠ Spoiler alert ⚠ We had Italian food in HCMC; don't judge me because you will thank me later. 😏

Our favorite Vietnamese restaurant 👉 Đèn Lồng Restaurant (FB: https://www.facebook.com/denlongrestaurant/).
They serve quite a variety of local Vietnamese food at a reasonable price and every dishes that we ordered was delicious! 😋 Our dinner there was about $50 for 4 persons so yeah, I would consider this as a cheap good food to try in HCMC. Definitely don't forget to try their Seafood Fried Rice in Lotus Leaf and Grilled Pork On-a-stick, these were my two favorite dishes at Đèn Lồng Restaurant.
To avoid any disappointment, you do need to make a reservation first if you are planing to have your lunch or dinner there because the restaurant tends to be quite packed during peak hours. We did not make our reservation and we ended up waiting for about 20 minutes for our table to be ready (which was still acceptable in my opinion).

Address: 130 Nguyen Trai, Ben Thanh, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam.
Operating hours: 10 AM - 10 PM

Our favorite non Vietnamese restaurant 👉 Pizza 4P's (Website: http://pizza4ps.com/)
Don't judge us for having Italian food in HCMC. We were walking around Bến Thành area and we could not find a restaurant to satisfy our starving stomachs (because we had been eating Phở or some other noodles for the past 2 days now and we had to eat something different). We then found this place on Google where it has tons of good review so we decided to give it a try (you can never go wrong with pizza).

There are more than 10 pizza flavors available on their menu and my personal favorite was Burrata Parma Ham Margherita (as shown in the above picture 👆), mainly because of the huge burrata cheese on top. If you love cheese as much as I do then you will definitely love this because 🧀 + 🍕 = HEAVEN!

They ain't lying when they say there is always room for dessert and I ain't lying when I say I am a little obsessed with cheese. 😆 So here it goes, I ordered Camembert Cheese Ice Cream as my dessert and hey, this was ON POINT. 👌 Seriously, it was so good and I almost wanted to go back there the next day to have another one.


And lastly, don't forget to make your reservation.

Address: 8 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Operating hours: Monday - Saturday: 10 AM - 2 AM, Sunday: 10 AM - 11 PM
Operating hours: 2:30 PM - 11 PM

Our favorite street food 👉 Bánh tráng

Bánh tráng or known as the Vietnamese Pizza (that was what my Vietnamese friend told me), it is a rice crepe with lots and lots of toppings, just like pizza. 🍕


I do not have the exact location to this night market because they were only there for some time and would move to another place. If you see the word "Bánh tráng" at a restaurant or night market then just order it, that is the right word for this (verified by my Vietnamese friend 😉).

Our favorite cafe 👉 Partea at The Café Apartment (FB: https://www.facebook.com/letspartea/)
Okay, let me be honest. The only main reason why we loved this cafe so much was because of their super cute decorations. Seriously, it was because of their cute decorations.
Besides than the cute decorations, it was also a good place to chill and relax. Since it is located at the fourth floor, you get to enjoy your tea with an amazing view.


Address: 42 Nguyen Hue street.District 1, 700 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Operating hours: 8 AM - 10:30 PM

Our favorite place to visit 👉 Củ Chi Tunnels

We booked our half day tour to Củ Chi Tunnels from Klook for only $17 per person which included both transportation and entrance fee to Củ Chi Tunnels. Củ Chi Tunnels is located about 50 KM away from our hotel and it took us nearly 2 hours to reach there. There is no direct public transport to Củ Chi Tunnels (from what I Google-ed so far) so joining a tour group had saved us a lot of hassle, all we had to do was to sit back and relax until we reached our destination (seriously, I slept throughout the 2 hours bus ride).

At the end of the tour, I would say it was a very fun and informative trip. Our tour included a local English speaking tour guide and her name is Love. Ms Love was really friendly and she made the tour really enjoyable for everyone. She even explained to us the history of Củ Chi Tunnels and let us experience ourselves crawling through the tunnels. You don't need to worry about being too big or tall and not able to fit into the tunnels because some of the tunnels have been made larger to accommodate tourists.

Click here to book a tour from Klook.

Okay, that is it to this post. I think I took longer than I expected to summarize everything for you guys (maybe I was just being lazy). I hope that this post is able to help you or give you a rough idea on what to eat or do in HCMC. So people, what are you waiting for? 😉

Have fun.

The girl who loves to travel,
Rachel.

We were not really lucky on that day because it started to rain once we got off the bus at Punggol Settlement. 

Why must you rain??? 😩 

Because of the rain, we then decided to take the bus back to Punggol Interchange Station. There is a shopping mall located beside Punggol Interchange Station and that was where we spent our time while waiting for the rain to stop.

Waterway Point

We went shopping for a bit and there was nothing interesting for me to show you guys, haha. You know, the usual stuff that girls do when they shop. 👭 Wandering around the mall, trying on tons of clothes and making unnecessary purchases because they are on sales. 😂

Let's move on to our lunch.

We planned to have our lunch at the food court in Waterway Point but OMG, searching for a seat during lunch hour or peak hour was not an easy job. 😓

Then we met Mr. Robot who was a very hardworking and dedicated tray collector. The best employee award goes to... *drum rolls* MR. ROBOT! 😁🤖🥇

In the end, we gave up and decided to have our lunch at Menya Musashi.

Before we start, let's take a few minutes to appreciate the beauty of fake food on restaurant's window display.


Here comes our lunch. 😋🍜
I had been craving for some delicious ramen and yes, the time had come.

I ordered a bowl of White Seafood Ramen and with an additional $3, I got to complete my meal with a small side dish (of your choice from the menu) which was the Musashi Crispy Gyoza and a cup of Houji Tea.

BF, on the other hand, got a bowl of Black Shabu Shabu Ramen with Fried Tofu and Houji Tea.

Here is their menu if you are interested in trying them out.

🐶🐶🐶

That happy face when you just bought your favourite bag.

🌏🌏🌏

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