In 1698, Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyen rulers of Hue to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. The name Saigon was officially admitted.After conquering Saigon in 1859, the French was building the city with many functions such as administration, military, economy, port… With Geneva Convention, Saigon became the capital of the Republic of Vietnam . The city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of classical western - style buildings in the city reflect this, so much so that Saigon was called "the Pearl of the Far East" (Hon Ngoc Vien Đong) or "Paris in the Orient" (Paris Phuong Đong).
In 1975, according to the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the city came under the control of the Vietnam People’s Army. In 1976, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the late communist leader Ho Chi Minh. However, the name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese.Ho Chi Minh city is located in the South of the country, lies 1.760 km south of Hanoi (by road). It is situated on the right bank of the Saigon river. Being the biggest city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city has 5,2 million people. 
Ho Chi Minh City lies in the tropical climate region near the equator. Like southern provinces, it has a high temperature all the year and two distinct seasons, the dry and the rainy. The rainy season lasts from May to November and the dry season from December to April. If you arrive during the wet season, bring a raincoat and umbrella however the rain come suddenly but it is not long.

 Saigon Highlights

++ Ben Thanh Market

Location: Ben Thanh Market is situated at the intersection of Le Loi Avenue, Ham Nghi Avenue, Tran Hung Dao AvenueLe Lai Street, 700m south-west of the Rex Hotel.
Characteristics: At first, the market was situated near the Ben Nghe River Dike. After being moved many times, it is now standing in the centre of the city where consumers can conveniently find all sorts of products.

According to Vuong Hong Sen, author of "the book Saigon of the Past", in 1912, the French filled a pond, the Boresse, into a solid foundation of 12,000m² and built a market on it. The market was close to a landing stage (Ben) of the old city (Thanh), hence its name of Ben Thanh. The opening ceremony for the market in March 1914 was a big festive event.

At present, the front of Ben Thanh Market faces Quach Thi Trang Square; its rear faces Le Thanh Ton Street; its right, Phan Chu Trinh Street and its left, Phan Boi Chau Street. At all of its four sides, there are bustling trading shops. Located at the centre of the city, Ben Thanh Market is always loaded with varieties of goods, such as consumer goods, cakes and candies, food and foodstuff, and particularly high-quality fruit and vegetables. Goods are displayed in a very attractive way that always catches the eyes of the buyers. They meet all requirements for the customers’ daily life or for their families. The market has four gates that are very convenient for the market-goers. For all of its advantages, Ben Thanh Market is one of the most attractive tourist sites in the city for both domestic and foreign visitors.

 ++ Duc Ba Cathedral

Location: Duc Ba Cathedral is located on Han Thuyen Street, facing down Dong Khoi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: The resplendent Governor’s Palace, completed in 1875, symbolized the regime’s political power in Asia. And five years later, the Duc Ba (Our Lady’s) Cathedral was inaugurated, and became the spiritual and cultural crucible of the French presence in the Orient.

 After the first French colonizing force arrived in Vietnam in the mid - 19thcentury, it took only 21 years before the country had a cathedral to match the hulking Gothic edifices of France itself. The cathedral is supposed to represent the glory of the French Empire. Yet, as is always the case with colonization, this attempt to import French traditions into Vietnam

Several architects put forward design proposals for the cathedral, but in 1877 the authorities selected Mr Bourard, who was famed for his religious architecture. He envisaged, and executed, a basilica-like structure with a square plan. The cathedral is composed of two main central bays with two sidereal corridors, with tall pillars and light coming in through sets of high windows, and a semi-circular shrine. The style follows a Roman pattern, although the outside contains some modifications: the cathedral’s vaults are Gothic, and a modern steel skeleton supports the whole building.

In 1894 a pointed minaret was added to the bell tower, at the behest of an architect named Gardes, who was also responsible for the Xa Tay Palace, the building that now houses the Municipal People’s Committee. The cathedral is a much smaller than those in France, but it was the largest in the French empire. The interior is very large: the principal shrine and two additional bays are 93m long, and reach 35m in width at one point. The semi-circular shrine at the rear seats a choir during services, and there are five chapels. The walls are made of Bien Hoa granite, combined with red tiles from Marseilles, all without coating. Red tiles from France were also used on the roofs, but they were later replaced with tiles of equal quality from Phu Huu. Natural light streams in through stained-glass windows which were made by the Lorin Company from the French town of Sartre.

The whole building is well-ventilated thanks to a system of air-holes placed above and under the windows. The belfry is 57m high. For a long time it was the highest structure in the city centre, and was the first thing an arriving traveller would see when approaching the city by boat. Six bells weigh a combined 25,850kg. In 1885, the floor was taken apart and new pillars were added, because the original foundation could not bear the cathedral’s weight. Stepping inside the cathedral, tourists see a line of Chinese characters eulogizing the Jesus’ mother, "the innocent and unblemished Virgin Mother", and stained-glass portraits of Vietnamese believers amid Asiatic plants. On the square in front of the cathedral, there is a statue of the Virgin Mother made of white marble, symbolizing peace. All told, it’s an unusual building: a Western architectural and religious style that has been transplanted into, and adapted to, the East. The colonizers were trying to impose French beliefs and customs onto Vietnam but once that culture arrived on Asia’s shores, it took on a life of its own. The cathedral is seen as a unique synthesis, adding an unmistakable Oriental flavour to an ancient Occidental recipe. transformed the colonizers’ culture in the process. Even though the cathedral is built in a Western architectural style, it has a uniquely Eastern aspect. 

++ Binh Quoi Tourist Village

Location: Binh Quoi Tourist Village is located on the Thanh Da peninsula by the Saigon River, 8km from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: This is the city’s biggest resort with its unique scenery. 

There are 55 modern-equipped bedrooms in the village, which nestle under big trees by the river. The village’s restaurant is where big parties can be held and famous grilled dishes and Vietnamese traditional specialties can be found. There are marvellous shows of traditional music in the evening, including “Ky Yen Festival,” “Southern amateur singing on Ghe Hau,” “Traditional Vietnamese Wedding.” Such shows attract a great deal of domestic and overseas tourists. You can also go water-surfing, fishing, swimming, play tennis, and many other kinds of sport. From Binh Quoi, you can boat along the Saigon River to visit the Ben Duoc Underground Tunnel, Lai Thieu Fruit Gardens, and back to the Nha Rong Harbour

++ Giac Lam Pagoda

Location: Giac Lam Pagoda is located at 118 Lac Long Quan Street, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: It is one of the city’s oldest pagodas with many Buddha statues made of brass and precious timber. 

Giac Lam Pagoda (also known as the Cam Son or Cam Dien Pagoda) was built in 1744, under the reign of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat. Unlike many other local religious structures, it has not been renovated since 1900; the architecture, layout, and ornamentation remain almost unaltered. The scenery around the pagoda is picturesque and many people come here to write or recite poetry.

Standing in the front garden is a shining white statue of the Goddess of Mercy, perched upon a lotus blossom, a symbol of purity. Inside, on either side of the main altar, are statues of Ameda Buddha and Sakyamuni Buddha, along with more representations of the Goddess of Mercy. Giac Lam Pagoda is open from 6 am to 9 pm.

++ Can Gio - a biosphere reserve of the world

Location: The ecological forest of Can Gio is situated 50km away from downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: With an area of over 70,000 ha, of which 35,000 ha is salt-watered forest, Can Gio has been recognized as a biosphere reserve of the world by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Can Gio has been recognized as a biosphere reserve after evaluation of various aspects, including the people, ecology, environment and biosphere sustainability. Those who visited this place decade ago can hardly recognize it today, due to the countless towering trees and plants that stretch out of sight, and the harmonious biosphere of the coastal mangrove forest. So far nearly 40,000 ha of forest and land have been restored. According to the Can Gio Forest

Before the construction of a 20 km-long road linking Binh Khanh wharf to Can Thanh, which runs along Can Gio to beach April 30, Can Gio was a remote area whose residents lived on catching crabs and mussels. Now it is an interesting eco-tourist site attracting many people from Ho Chi Minh City and other places. The Saigon Tourism Company and Phu Tho Tourism Company have established eco-tours to this area. Visiting Can Gio, you will see crocodiles lying in the swamp and hundreds of monkeys that come from mangrove clumps to the walk-ways of Lam Vien ecological site, to welcome the visitors. They catch sugarcane the visitors give them, and eat them with delight. On holidays, there were averages of 2,000 visitors a day to Can Gio. At peak times there were over 6,000 visitors a day. Visitors could stay at the residential quarter April 30, adjacent to the beach or at Actmang quarter in the 2,100ha Lam Vien area with countless mangrove trees. Quite a few people like to hire hammocks and umbrellas to rest under the canopy of the trees.

In the near future the war zone in the shrub forest, which was home to 800 commando soldiers in wartime, would be restored. It will become a 3,000m² preservation sites with 14 houses-on-stilts, roofed with date palm trunks and water-coconut leaves. When this project is completed, Can Gio will have another traditional tourist site, attracting not only young people, but also those who want to know more about the struggle of the fighters in the shrub forest in the past.

Taking a boat ride on the big Dong Nai and Long Tau Rivers or on the smaller Vam Sac, Dong Thanh and Soai Rap Rivers, which run through Can Gio, visitors will not think that they are visiting a district on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. They seem to be in the watery areas of Ca Mau and Kien Giang, the southernmost area in Vietnam with vast mangrove and cajeput forests. The roots of the mangrove trees on the sides of the river twist with one another then spread out and root deep into the earth. It is these roots that make Can Gio a protective forest safeguarding millions of city dwellers, and an ideal ecological tourist site as well. Managing Board, at present more than 600 households with 1,500 people reside in this area. They live on reforestation, forest protection and aquatic production. In the early 1970’s, the concept of "Biosphere reserve" was announced with the aim of protecting the species in danger of extinction. The biosphere reserves must preserve the samples of the ecological systems in the world, and work as a laboratory where research and observation of these ecological systems are undertaken. The reserve seeks measures to help the local people benefit from nature.

Travel Guides in 67cities and Provinces of Vietnam:

Hanoi|Hochiminh(Saigon)|Halong|Hue|Hoian|Haiphong|Catba|Hoabinh|Caobang|laocai|Maichau|
Sapa|Sonla|Dienbienphu|Thainguyen|Phutho|Babe-Backan|Hagiang|langson|Bacninh|Hatay|
Haiduong|NinhBinh|Thaibinh|Quangninh|DongHoi|QuangBinh|Quangtri|Phuyen|Phutho|Thanhhoa|
Nghean|Hatinh|Danang|Taynguyen|Kontum|Gialai|Daknong|Daklak|Dalat|BinhDinh|Nhatrang|
PhanThiet|Muine|Vungtau|KienGiang|Phuquoc|Tayninh|Vinhlong|Travinh|Dongthap|Tiengiang|
Angiang|Cantho|Bentre|Camau|