Our Journey

What we did

We had only one week to spend in this part of South East Asia. As such, we spent our time in the main city of Southern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, and the impressive Mekong Delta to its South. In the Mekong Delta, we based ourselves in Can Tho and My Tho.

What we skipped

Ho Chi Minh City

Day 1 - HCMC by Night

We arrived in HCMC after sunset, but still decided to head out to see some of the city's iconic sights.
First, we went for some dinner at the Ben Nghe Street Food market. Though a little touristy, we liked the diversity of food on offer. I ate a typical Vietnamese pancake, Bánh Xèo, which was nice but wasn't particularly rich in taste in my opinion.
Then, we walked down Nguyen Hue street, passing the iconic Cafe Apartment building. After taking the obligatory photos of the building, we decided to head West towards the Bui Vien Walking Street. On the way there, we passed the Ben Thanh Market, which was closed, but we took this opportunity to walk into the Silverland hotel next door and take the elevator all the way up to take a look at the city skyline at night from their rooftop bar and pool. The bar was closed, but luckily we were able to enjoy the view anyway.
After this little deviation, we headed straight to the famous Bui Vien Walking Street, a bustling area known for its vibrant nightlife, street food, and lively atmosphere. This street was a little over-the-top for our tastes, but it was fun to experience the energy and see the crazy side of the city at night. After experiencing the madness of this street, we went up to a rooftop bar, The View Rooftop Bar, to enjoy a drink in a more relaxed setting and admire the city skyline at night. And that's a wrap for the first night in HCMC!

Day 2 - Saigon Fever

Our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City! We head a lot of things to do in this city, but one thing was at the top of our mind. We would be flying home on the 23rd of December, leaving us no time to do Christmas shopping at home. Therefore, our first stop in HCMC would be some markets to buy some unique Christmas gifts for our friends and family. We took a Grab to the Ben Thanh Market, the main market in the city. We stopped for an eggyolk coffee at a small cafe right across the street from the market first, before heading into the market. The market itself is a bustling hive with local goods and knockoff designer items. We had a lot of fun browsing through the different stalls and picking out some unique gifts for our loved ones back home.
After the market, we headed to Roots Plant-based cafe for lunch. This place was a little hidden gem, with a cozy atmosphere and delicious plant-based dishes. We both really enjoyed our meals here and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a tasty and healthy meal in HCMC. The coconut coffee was especially memorable!
After lunch, we went back to the markets for some more shopping. We headed to the Com Tam Saigon Central Market, which was a little less touristy than the Ben Thanh Market. Interestingly, the vendors here were less open to bargaining than at the Ben Thanh Market. At Benh Than, prices would start very high, but you could bargain down as much as 80%. At Com Tam, prices were more reasonable to start with, but there was less room for bargaining.

After this shopping spree, we visited the War Remnants Museum. This is a museum that I can highly recommend, as it will leave a lasting impression on you. The museum shows the brutal reality and the horrors of the Vietnam War, with graphic photos from the war. Especially the section on the lasting effects of Agent Orange left a deep impression, showing the impact that this chemical weapon still has on the Vietnamese people today.

We processed the experience of the museum with a relaxed dinner at the Ben Nghe Street Food market, which felt familiar to us at this point. After dinner, we visited a classy speakeasy nextdoor, called the Rabbit Hole, which we highly recommend. We passed the Notre Dame Cathedral, dressed up in Christmas lights, on the way back to our hotel.

Day 3 - Cu Chi

On our third day, we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, a network of underground tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. This was a memorable trip, especially after learning more about the war at the War Remnants Museum the day before. The site itself has been turned into somewhat of a tourist attraction, which sometimes made light of the situation for which the tunnels were used, making the visit to the museum all the more important.
It's good to know that this site is a solid 3-hour drive from the city. We booked our tour via Get Your Guide who organized transport and a guide.

After the Cu Chi Tunnels, we headed back to the city for some more food. We had heard a lot about Pizza 4P's, a popular pizza place in HCMC that uses local ingredients and has a unique fusion of Italian and Vietnamese flavors. We decided to give it a try for dinner, and we were not disappointed! The place allows you to create half-and-half pizzas, which allowed us to taste four different pizzas between the two of us. The tom yum pizza was such a success that we decided to order a third pizza, fully topped with the tom yum ingredients.

Day 4 - Last bites

The morning of our departure to Can Tho, I woke up with an ear infection. We visited the Centre Médical International, where a French doctor by the name of Emmanuel prescribed me some Fusidine, which took care of the infection quickly.
We decided to go to a place called Propaganda for lunch. We were blown away by the drinks we ordered, but were slightly disappointed by the food. The decor of the place was very cool though, with a lot of communist propaganda art.
After lunch, we checked out some last sights, including the Jade Emperor Pagoda, dedicated to the supreme god of Taoism. We then visited the Cho Tan Dinh market, which was a little less touristy than the Ben Thanh Market, but we didn't have much success finding gifts here as it seemed to be more of a local market with a focus on textiles. We ended our stay in HCMC with a drink at Mary Jane's rooftop bar right opposite the market, another place we can highly recommend.

The Mekong Delta

Day 1 - Arrival in Can Tho

We booked a van via 12GoAsia to take us from HCMC to Can Tho, which took us around 4 hours. The van was comfortable and the ride was smooth, but when arriving in Can Tho, the driver dropped us off outside of the city. The van company arranged another ride for us to the center of the city, which went smoothly enough. Upon arriving, we realized that there was a football match between the Vietnamese and Thai national teams. Not just any match, the finale of the SEA Games! We exited the car right after the end of the match, which Vietnam had won! The streets were filled with people celebrating the victory, waving flags, honking horns, and singing. A memorable way to arrive in a new city!

We roamed around the streets for a while, enjoying the festive atmosphere and high-fiving every other Vietnamese person we passed by. We ended up visiting a local speakeasy, called TAK. We were the only Westerners, and the staff didn't speak English, but were very friendly and welcoming. We had no trouble communicating thanks to Google Translate. We highly recommend this place, which seemed like an alternative place for the artists and creatives of the city to hang out.

Day 2 - Exploring Can Tho

We started our first full day in Can Tho with a breakfast at a local cafe called Diem Tam - Ca Phe Co Hang. With great coffee and extremely low prices, this place is a hidden gem and a great way to start the day in Can Tho.

To start off our time in Can Tho, we visited two temples: the Phat-Giao Viet-Nam, a Buddhist temple with mixed Asian influences, and the Muniransay Khmer Buddhist temple, a temple with a unique blend of Vietnamese and Khmer architectural styles.

Day 3 - Cai Rang Floating Market

The following day started early with a tour (booked via the "Travel Service Center" under the International Hotel in Can Tho) to the Cai Rang Floating Market, the largest floating market in the Mekong Delta. This market is an iconic sight of the Mekong Delta, with vendors selling their goods from boats on the river. Apparently, this market has decreased in size over the years, as improved logistics make a floating market less necessary for the locals, but it is still a popular tourist attraction and a great way to experience the local culture and way of life in the Mekong Delta. Fun fact: To indicate what produce they are selling, vendors at the market tie some of their produce to a long pole on the boat, which can be seen from a distance.

Day 4 - My Tho

After our troubles with finding a local tour operator in Can Tho, we decided to book a tour to My Tho with Get Your Guide. During this tour, we visited two islands nearby My Tho: Thoi Son / Unicorn Island and Con Phung / Phoenix Island. Here, we partook in many activities, including tasting fresh honey right off the hive, trying some coconut candy, driving through the jungle on a small tuktuk, flowing down the river on a small boat (sampan), and listening to tradidional music. Afterwards, we visited the Vinh Trang Pagoda, a temple famous for its three giant Buddha statues, including a Reclining Buddha and a fat, happy Buddha.

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HCMC Revisited

Day 1 - The last highlights

Our last full day on our trip! We started the day with a coffee and a baked bun at Garden Kisses, a cute cafe with nice food and drinks! We decided to check off some of the sights we hadn't seen yet in HCMC, like the Ho Chi Minh Book Street, the Saigon Central Post Office, and the Saigon Opera House. We then decided to join the Instagram crowd and have a coffee in one of the cafes in the Cafe Apartment. The spots on the top floor balcony were taken, so we had a coffee at Good Day on the floor below, where we took some instagrammable pictures ourselves.

For dinner, we visited Man Moi Tao Dan, an upscale restaurant serving local food as made by the chef's mother. Once again, the food was meat-centered and the AC was a little cold, but we enjoyed our evening here as the food was delicious and the atmosphere was nice, with a mix of locals and tourists.

We ended our final day with a visit to Lulu - Bar and Eatery, a Cuban-style cocktail bar (Cuba is considered a close friend to Vietnam due to communist solidarity) with a great atmosphere and delicious cocktails. We highly recommend this place for a romantic night in HCMC!

Day 2 - The last morning

For our last day in Vietnam, we had a relaxed morning and had another coffee at Garden Kisses, followed by a Banh Mi from a nearby stand on the street (Banh Mi Bay Ho). Many locals were buying large numbers of Banh Mis here, which we suspect were for their office lunches with their colleagues. As suspected, the Banh Mi was delicious!

We decided to spend our last afternoon in another rooftop bar, this time at the IMC Rooftop Bar. We had a final glass of wine here, before Grabbing to the airport for our flight back home.

We had heard horror stories about the waiting lines at the airport, so we arrived 4 hours early. This was a bit of an overkill, as the luggage check-in only opened 3 hours before the flight. We decided to play some card games to pass the time and had a drink at the Butter Bean in the terminal hall, which served us a surprisingly amazing drink with rice and coconut milk. It was amazing. In the end, the check-in and security process went smoothly, and we had a relaxed flight home!

Hotel Reviews

Food & Drinks Reviews

HCMC Restaurants

Pizza 4P's - Hai Ba Trung

Pizza 4P's is a popular pizza franchise in HCMC, known for its unique pizzas and its young and dynamic atmosphere. We had some delicious food here, which mixed Italian and Vietnamese/SEA cuisines. We started with a mango-and-ham entree (mixing up the Italian melon-and-ham dish) and some wine. The restaurant allows you to create half-and-half pizzas, so we got to try four different pizza styles between the two of us. We were blown away by the tom yum pizza, of which we ordered another one after finishing our first half. The only downside of this restaurant is its rather steep prices compared to other restaurants in HCMC.
Find it here.

Propaganda

This restaurant is known for its decor featuring Vietnamese communist propaganda art, and for its menu of local dishes. We were blowm away by the drinks, but were less impressed by the food we ate there. The food was not bad, but it was not amazing either, and we found it to be overpriced for the quality of the food.
Find it here.

Bếp Mẹ Ỉn - Nguyễn Thái Bình

This restaurant was recommended to us by several blogs online, but we were not impressed by our experience here. We found the menu to be pretty monotonous and the focus seemed to be on presenting instagrammable dishes rather than on the food itself. The food we had was underwhelming, and the AC was unreasonably cold, which we didn't dress for. The other customers, mostly Vietnamese locals and Chinese toursists, didn't seem to mind the cold.
Find it here.

Mặn Mòi, Tao Đàn

An upscale restaurant serving local food, supposedly like a Vietnamese grandmother would make it. The restaurant is known for its unique architecture. As Vietnam is supposed to be an easy cuisine to find vegetarian food, we were surprised to find that the menu was very meat-focused. Nevertheless, the food we had was delicious and the atmosphere was nice. The restaurant seems to attract both tourists and locals, and the service was good, though the AC was a little cold for our tastes, which we found to be a recurring theme in many Vietnamese restaurants with local clientele.
Find it here.

KHAP KHAP Thai Bistro - Thảo Điền

After several days of Vietnamese food, we were longing for some Thai food again (our favorite SEA cuisine). We visited Khap Khap, which was a Thai restaurant in the expat area of Thao Dien. The food was good though not as good as other Thai food we'd had, with less authentic flavors.
Find it here.

Ivegan Ben Thanh

We might have simply ordered the wrong thing, but we were not impressed by our visit to this vegan cafe. We found the food to be underwhelming and overpriced (we both had a bowl which wasn't flavorful), the interior was rather sterile and cold, and the service was not great either. Not a terrible experience, but we wouldn't recommend this place.
Find it here.

HCMC Cafes

Garden Kisses

A cozy little cafe / bakery serving some delicious coffee and pastries. We enjoyed it so much that we started our day here twice!
Find it here.

Roots Plant-Based Cafe

One of our favorite meals in HCMC was at Roots! This is a plant-based cafe / restaurant where we enjoyed a particularly amazing coconut coffee and some delicious vegan bowls. We highly recommend this place, especially if you're looking for a place to get some rest after some shopping at the Benh Thanh market!
Find it here.

Eggyolk Coffee

A fun stop for a quick eggyolk coffee break, as well as pastries and other drinks. The eggyolk coffee was a fun experience, and the pastries were also good, though not amazing. The shop also sells eggyolk coffee merchandise like mugs and T-shirts, which is fun but also made it feel a little touristy and gimmicky.
Find it here.

Good Day (Cafe Apartment)

This café has one location on the top floor of the Cafe Apartment building and another on the floor below, where we had a drink. The drinks were good and we very much enjoyed the view from the balcony. It's a fun place to have a drink and take some pictures. The entire Cafe Apartment is a bit of a tourist trap, but if still worth a visit in our opinion.
Find it here.

Butter Bean

A little coffee shop in the airport terminal. This is not the kind of place we'd normally share a review on, but we had to include it because of the amazing drink we had here. We had a drink with rice and coconut milk, which was surprisingly delicious! A great way to end our trip with a final taste of Vietnam.
Find it here.

HCMC Bars

The View Rooftop Bar

This rooftop bar is located at the end of Bui Vien, the main party street in HCMC, and provides a nice view over the city. Due to its location, it's got more of a party vibe going on, which is fun if that's what you're looking for. It's easy to meet some other travelers here, and the drinks are reasonably priced for a rooftop bar.
Find it here.

Mary Jane's The Bar

An unpretentious rooftop bar with nice staff and great views over the city. We needed to kill some time before heading to Can Tho, and we were pleasantly surprised by this bar. This is not a particularly fancy place, but a nice place to have a drink with friends or a romantic date night, with good cocktails at reasonable prices and a relaxed atmosphere.
Find it here.

Rabbit Hole

An upscale speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a refined interior and a distinguished cocktail menu (with many cocktails referecing Alice in Wonderland). We found the atmosphere a little to quiet and formal for our tastes, and the cocktails come at a higher price, but if you are looking for a refined cocktail experience in HCMC, this is the place to be.
Find it here.

Lulu - Bar & Eatery

A Cuban-style cocktail bar with a nice, romantic atmosphere. There are several different seating areas, including an area with tables for food and drinks, a bar area with high tables and stools, and a cozy area with sofas and low tables. The restaurant incorporates Cuban culture in its design and menu, with Cuban music playing in the background. The Vietnamese consider Cuba a close friend due to their shared Communist ideology. We had some of the most delicious cocktails of our trip here, and we would highly recommend this place.
Find it here.

IMC Rooftop Bar

This rooftop bar provides a nice view over the city and has a relaxed atmospohere, great for a drink in the late afternoon with friends and family. We were happy to spend a couple of hours here waiting for our flight, but we wouldn't necessarily recommend coming here just for a drink.
Find it here.

HCMC Street Food

Ben Nghe Street Food

This market contains lots of stalls with food from different cuisines, mainly Vietnamese but also Thai, Indian, and Korean food. We tried several dishes here, including a Banh Xeo, a savoury Vietnamese pancake, which we found a tad bland compared to other SEA food. We also tried the Thai and Korean food, which were both delicious and very affordable.
Find it here.

Bánh Mì Bảy Hổ

Spicy and delicious bánh mì at an unbeatable price.
Find it here.

Bánh Mì Xanh

Vegan bánh mì restaurant serving two options: all-tofu or fake meat mix.
Find it here.

Can Tho Restaurants

L'Escale

This restaurant is a French-style bistro overlooking the Mekong river. We enjoyed our food and the view here, and would recommend it for a nice dinner with a view in the center of Can Tho. We especially liked the Vietnamese white wine!
Find it here.

Cơm Ơ 68 Cần Thơ

We decided to check out this restaurant after finding in on Google Maps. The restaurant serves local food at a very affordable price, and the staff seemed to be least prepared for English speakers, but as per usual they were very friendly and helpful nonetheless. We translated the menu using Google Translate and we went for the Beef Hot Pot (Lau Bo). The waiter showed us how to eat it, by putting the beef in the hot pot and wrapping it in a rice paper with some herbs and dipping it in the sauce. We had a fun experience here, but be prepared for a very local experience, as this restaurant seems to cater exclusively to Vietnamese locals. Not recommended if you don't like the ambiguity that comes with ordering from a menu you don't understand.
Find it here.

Bún bò Huế - Huỳnh Châu

Another very local experience, this time recommended by our guide of the floating market. This place exclusively serves Bún bò Huế, a spicy beef noodle soup. The food wasn't our thing, and the restaurant was rather hectic. We didn't enjoy our meal here as much as other local places, but it's a fun experience if you want to try a local specialty.
Find it here.

Can Tho Cafes

ĐIỂM TÂM - CÀ PHÊ CÔ HẰNG

This cafe caters to the locals of Can Tho. We had some amazing food and drinks at an even more amazing price. We can definitely recommend!
Find it here.

Can Tho Bars

TAK Speakeasy

We had found this speakeasy online and decided to visit this local speakeasy in Can Tho. After walking to its direction using Google Maps, we found the place by the seeing the tapir logo on the door. TAK is a charming speakeasy with an intimate atmosphere, catering to the artists and creatives of Can Tho. While the rest of the city was celebrating the football victory against Thailand that evening, the people in the bar seemed to be discussing other topics. The staff did not speak English, but were very friendly and created some amazing cocktails for us.
Find it here.