February 17, 2025, 9:24 am | Read time: 5 minutes

Ho Chi Minh City is one of Asia’s up-and-coming metropolises. TRAVELBOOK author Anna Wengel visited the city in the south of Vietnam — and fell in love with it. Here, she gives six good reasons why you should definitely visit the former Saigon.

1. The Book Street – a Must Not Only for Book Fans

There is a small street in District 1 that will entice any bookworm out of their reading corner: Book Street. There are many small stalls here with books in Vietnamese and other languages. “Barack Obama” lies next to a Vietnamese children’s book and, together with various garlands and flower pots, provides the backdrop for the perfect selfie. It is not only book lovers who feel at home on Book Street with its large amount of reading material and street cafés. Many Vietnamese and tourists, who are less interested in the books themselves, also wander through the book idyll with selfie sticks and smartphones and use it as a backdrop for the next ultimate Instagram shot.

2. The Exciting Contrasts Between Young and Old

There is hardly a moment in Ho Chi Minh City when a selfie is not being taken around you. Vietnamese women naturally date the many newcomers from (almost) all over the world. Drinking alcohol and partying are part of the culture of people in their mid-twenties, as are Instagram and fashion weeks. However, they are not interested in who is currently prime minister, as disenchantment with politics is also part of everyday life. It’s enough to know Ho Chi Minh († 2.9.1969). A picture or photo of the former prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam hovers, sticks, and stands everywhere anyway.

Sounds familiar from a European perspective, doesn’t it? If it weren’t for the selfies and the cult of personality, it could be Berlin. But it’s not. The generation of up to 30-year-olds is faced with a very traditional generation of parents — so the grown-up children get up to their modern antics in secret. If you introduce a foreigner as your partner at home, things get serious. Marriage and all that. The parents also take their country’s political system seriously – their offspring call it “brainwashed.” Ho Chi Minh City is a city of contrasts, which is precisely why it is so exciting.

3. The Food in Vietnamese Street Restaurants

Do you like Vietnamese food? If so, I’ll write Ho Chi Minh City in huge letters on your to-do list without being asked. I’ve eaten my way through countless local street food restaurants, and there’s never been anything that didn’t have a giant “Mmmmhhh” written in the imaginary speech bubble above my head. The food alone is reason enough to visit Ho Chi Minh City.

4. The Hip Coffee House Culture

Looking for a bit of peace and quiet and a place to work, I fell head over heels in love with a place. The café apartments at 42 Nguyen Hue with their balconies. Every single balcony belongs to a hipster café, coworking space, or studio. The perfect place to work. The French influence in Ho Chi Minh City can still be seen today in the distinctive café culture, among other things.

5. Navigating the Bustling Streets: A Traffic Adventure

Moses could part the waters. I think to myself about parting the traffic as I step boldly onto the vast main road. Fearfully expecting to be knocked down by at least one of what feels like millions of scooters and motorcycles. But the opposite is the case: everyone drives around me as if I were a sacred cow in India. A good feeling. Almost as good as sitting on a motorcycle and being part of this shoal-like traffic in Ho Chi Minh City.

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6. Nightlife

On weekend nights in Ho Chi Minh City, people are out drinking, laughing, and talking to friends and strangers. Everywhere in the city center, you see small and large groups of people who are not bothered by the fact that “socialist spies are said to be everywhere among them” (I was told). So it’s hardly surprising that almost no one is interested when a guy in a Spiderman costume first strolls across the street and then suddenly runs off, disappearing at a good pace behind the nearest dragon figure. Much more exciting for most people sitting around is the array of ladies who stride through the streets dressed up in traditional Vietnamese dresses and transform them into a beautiful sea of color.