Ho Chi Minh: Story Of Saigon Afternoon Group Tour

Highlights

• Explore Saigon’s top wartime landmarks and remarkable hidden sites
• Ride a cyclo through Ban Co’s maze-like lanes and stop for sock coffee
• Visit Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum with an expert local guide 
• Step beneath an ordinary Saigon home into a secret weapons cellar
• Stay close to the city and its people with no time wasted inside a tour van

Description

Meet your guide where Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức set himself on fire in June 1963, producing one of the defining photographs of the 20th century. Thousands pass this corner without knowing what happened here. You will not. A few streets away stands a house you would never notice. That was precisely the point. Beneath its floor, Trần Văn Lai and his network concealed nearly two tonnes of weapons in preparation for the 1968 Tet Offensive. Descend through the hidden entrance into an operation conducted inside a city that believed it was watching everything.

Back above ground, climb into a cyclo and continue through Bàn Cờ, the “chessboard” neighbourhood named for its dense web of narrow, intersecting lanes. Stop at a neighbourhood café for traditional “sock coffee,” brewed through a cloth filter, before continuing to the Reunification Palace. Its ceremonial halls, presidential chambers and command rooms remain suspended in the final days of South Vietnam. Together with your guide, walk through the spaces from which a government watched the war close in, until tanks entered the palace grounds on 30 April 1975.

Continue on foot to the War Remnants Museum. Explore the museum grounds with your guide, surrounded by aircraft, tanks and other military equipment from the war. Then head inside to experience its powerful galleries independently and at your own pace. Outside, Saigon returns. At Turtle Lake, discover the feng shui legend connecting its unusual design to the palace you have just left. Then finish on Book Street, where the tour ends and the city hands you back: free to browse, find dinner or continue into the evening.

One afternoon. One expert local guide. No more than 12 guests. This is the Saigon hiding in plain sight.

Includes

• Expert English-speaking local guide
• Cyclo ride through Bàn Co neighborhood
• Traditional Vietnamese 'sock coffee' tasting
• All entrance fees
• Small group experience with a maximum of 12 guests

Excludes

• Additional food and beverages beyond those specified
• Personal purchases and souvenirs
• Gratuities for guide and cyclo driver (optional)
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off

Important Information

• Cancellation is free if made 24 hours before the travel date
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Hat, sunglasses and sunscreen
• Small amount of cash for personal purchases
• Rain jacket or umbrella during wet weather

Easy cancellation

Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund