Things to do in Ho Chi Minh City

8 activities, venues and outings in Ho Chi Minh City, from theatres and live music to parks and tours.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

Do
Dai Nam Tourist Park
This is one of the largest tourist attractions in Vietnam. It features the Dai Nam Van Hien Temple, an entertainment site, open range zoo, shopping areas, hotels, local and Western cuisine, and the largest man-made mountain range in Vietnam. Costing over 50 billion dong to build, this park is the beginning of mass tourism in Vietnam, although it is aimed at tourists and locals, and comes highly recommended. Transport options to the park are quite convoluted. As the park is new, online information is scarce. According to the locals, it is very much worth a visit, purely just to view the temple.
Adult/child between 1 m and 1.4 m: zoo 80,000/50,000; amusement park 100,000/50,000 dong; waterpark 100,000/60,000 dong; all three 200,000/120,000 dong
Do
Dam Sen Water Park
Close to the city centre. This water park offers some unique water slide experiences, including the amazing "Space Bowl". Restaurant, health services and animatronic dinosaurs are on the premises.
Mon-Sat 08:30-18:00, Sun and holidays 08:00-19:00Admission is based on height and time of arrival; under 0.8 m free, others 40-110,000 dong (90,000 after 16:00)
Do
Nguyen Hue Flower Street
Beautiful assortment of flowers during Tet (Lunar New Year) along the popular boulevard in District 1.
Free
Do
Twenty-Three September Park
Running along Phan Ngu Lao St are a number of parks which fill up with locals before sunset, after work. They play a variety of games which you can participate in: badminton, kicking a shuttlecock and women's group aerobics to music are all very popular, and are great to watch. If you sit down by yourself in the open area near the Ben Thanh market a number of young university age locals will come and ask to practice English with you, this is a great way to spend an evening and the best way to meet intelligent interesting youth, they will question you either individually or in groups and share with you a lot about their country. Beware of those men who want to introduce you to their "sister" who's working as a nurse and wants to move to your country. They will try to make you come into their home so you can reassure their parents, but will actually gamble and cheat at cards with you and/or ask you for money after telling a sad and fake story about some dying relative.
Do Not mapped
Happy Ending Massage Yuan
Despite the name, legitimate foot and body massage, hostess will explain pricing to you at the beginning, usually offering 30% discount.
223,000 dong
Do Not mapped
VNS University
In District 1, the University of Social Sciences has comprehensive university-style courses in Vietnamese, group classes typically 6-10 people.
Do Not mapped
Vietnamese Language Garden
The school offers one-on-one study,focus on intensive classes to get fluent in Vietnamese in a short time, or 1-2 weeks classes for tourist & homes stay to experience the local lifestyle
Do Not mapped
Vietnamese Language Studies
Private school with comprehensive courses from beginner to advanced composition. Students can take private courses or join group classes.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Ho Chi Minh City (CC BY-SA 4.0).