Saigon is one of the cheapest major city breaks in Asia, because its two best paid attractions cost almost nothing: the War Remnants Museum is 40,000 dong and the Reunification Palace is 80,000. The entire colonial core is free and walkable inside about a kilometre, so you do not pay for transport either. The one place money genuinely has to go is Cu Chi, which is 50 to 70 kilometres out of town. Prices are in Vietnamese dong as published.
1. The War Remnants Museum
The most important thing to do in the city and one of the cheapest, at 40,000 dong a person, half price for students and free for children under six. Open 7:30am to 5:30pm daily, with the ticket counter closing at 5:00pm.
It is also the busiest — around 1.4 million visitors in 2025. The museum launched online QR-code ticketing in February 2026 specifically to kill the queue, so book ahead if you can. Otherwise arrive at opening or after 3:00pm; the middle of the day is when the coach tours arrive.
2. The Reunification Palace
The building the tank drove through in 1975, with its 1960s interiors intact and a command bunker underneath. 80,000 dong for an adult, 40,000 for students and seniors, and 20,000 for children aged 6 to 17.
It has the longest opening hours of any paid sight in Saigon — 7:00am to 6:00pm every day of the week, including public holidays and Tết — which makes it the reliable option when everything else is shut. The 40,000 dong student rate is the best concession in the city, so carry a student card if you have one.
3. The free colonial core
Costs nothing and delivers the city's most photographed architecture. The 1891 Central Post Office is a working post office, so you walk straight in for free. Nguyễn Văn Bình Book Street runs alongside it, and Nguyen Hue walking street with the view up to City Hall is two minutes away.
Do this stretch after 6:00pm. Nguyen Hue is pedestrianised and lit, the post office facade is floodlit, and you avoid the afternoon heat entirely. Buying and posting a postcard from inside the post office is the cheapest souvenir in Saigon.
4. Ben Thanh Market and the metro
The market is free to walk into, and the cooked-food stalls are the part worth your time — the souvenir aisles are a haggling arena rather than a bargain. It is also the downtown terminus of Metro Line 1, so the two pair naturally.
The metro opened in December 2024 and has been charging fares since January 2025, so it is fully operational rather than a trial. It runs 5:00am to 10:00pm Monday to Thursday and until 11:00pm Friday to Sunday. Singles are 7,000 to 20,000 dong by distance, a one-day unlimited pass is 40,000 and three days is 90,000. Paying contactlessly takes 1,000 dong off every fare, and the day pass beats singles from the third journey.
5. The Cu Chi Tunnels
The only thing on this list you cannot do cheaply, and the only one where the spend is justified. It is 50 to 70 kilometres from the centre and eats half a day at minimum.
Budget 135,000 dong for a foreign visitor: 35,000 admission plus a 100,000 compulsory visitor-service ticket that took effect on 1 February 2026. Any guide still quoting a flat 35,000 is out of date. Published opening times vary between 7:00am and 8:00am, closing at 5:00pm.
Going independently by public bus is a false economy — roughly two and a half hours each way with two or three transfers. A group tour usually costs less once you count the day you lose. If you have the choice, Bến Dược gets fewer coaches than Bến Đình.
Worth knowing
- Notre-Dame Cathedral is closed to tourists. The cathedral's own site says so plainly: during restoration it is open only for the faithful attending Mass. Exterior photographs only. Most guides still tell readers they can walk in — they cannot.
- But the outside is worth seeing again. Two gold-plated crosses were installed on the towers in March 2026 and the scaffolding has been coming down, so the facade is photographable for the first time in years. Full completion is put at 2027 or later.
- Skip the Bitexco Skydeck on a budget. It opens 9:30am to 9:30pm, and the cheapest ticket costs more than the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace put together.
- Prices here change without much warning. The Cu Chi increase in February 2026 is a good example. The figures above are the current published rates, but confirm at the gate if the budget is tight.
The short version
Two museums for 120,000 dong, a free colonial walk after dark, and a metro that costs less than a bottle of water. Save the real money for Cu Chi — budget 135,000 dong plus transport — and do not plan on going inside the cathedral, because it is shut to visitors.