HCMC II Day 3-4: Saigon City Tour, Cafe Apartments & Flight Home

DAY 3

It was bright and sunny this morning as we walked to Pho Viet Nam in search of breakfast. The restaurant was well known for their, you guessed it, pho!

Condiments and sauces

Watch the chefs work at the open kitchen

The price is higher than other restaurants but you get much better quality meat. The soup was fantastic!

Drinks (left) and tendon soup (right)

Yummy beef pho

After a satisfying breakfast, we explored the nearby Ben Thanh metro station. The Vietnamese finally welcomed the opening of their first metro line in December 2024 after waiting for many years! 🎊 The metro was very new and modern, though the ticket machines were strangely not yet operational.

One of Ben Thanh Station's Exits

The area surrounding the metro station

View of our hotel, Silverland Ben Thanh, from the park across the road

The sun was too scorching hot to stay out in the open for long so we headed to the hotel to take a Grab to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, which was located just 10 minutes away. I was actually surprised to see that the cathedral was under construction when we arrived!

Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon

Surrounding areas of the famous cathedral

Just opposite of the cathedral was the famous Saigon Central Post Office, which I mistook for a train station at first glance because it looked a lot like the train stations I had seen in London! 😅

Saigon Central Post Office

My favourite photo of the trip!

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The famous Ho Chi Minh City Book Street was also conveniently located opposite the cathedral.

Ho Chi Minh City Book Street

Lots of shops

We walked for about 15 minutes to the nearby Diamond Plaza, hoping to find a supermarket to load up on groceries. Unfortunately the mall only had a small K-Market.

Diamond Plaza

K-Market

We bought some snacks for the kids and took a Grab to The Cafe Apartments.

The building became famous for its many cafes and shops!

Financial buildings in the area, including a large high-definition screen

The statue of Ho Chi Minh and The People's Committee Hall just down the street

As we scanned all the restaurants at the Cafe Apartment, Chocovine caught my eye and we decided on it because the younger kids and I love chocolate! 🍫 We forgot to count to determine which floor the restaurant was on and I'd decided to press the lift button based on my gut feeling (yes, I'm an ENTJ!).

And what do you know, I was right! 😜

You'd need to pay an Elevator Fee to ride the elevator but it's really cheap

We got a nice big table for my big family (left) and enjoyed the view from the balcony (right)

View from the balcony

Chocovine menu

Sausages and drinks

Grilled chicken

Chocolate Signature Blended (left) and Chocolate Fondue (right)

Exploring the shops in the building after our lunch

After an enjoyable lunch, we boarded a Saigon Electric Buggy for sightseeing in the city!

Spacious seating for 6 people with a table

Map of the attractions

Just nice for our family

Enjoying the drive

Saigon River

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens and various museums

Independence Palace

Saigon Opera House

Statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of The People's Committee Hall building

We asked the Buggy driver to drop us at Ben Thanh Market for our convenience (saved on transport back). It was time for afternoon tea at our hotel!

Various snacks; I especially love the mangoes!

Live performance!

The Mum-in-law, Eldest and I did our final shopping at Saigon Centre and Ben Thanh Market before dinner while the younger kids and Hubby napped in the hotel room.

Street near Saigon Centre

We loved our dinner at Ancua so much on the first day that we decided to have it again on the last night of our trip!

Fresh seafood again! 😋

Yummy lobsters! 😋

Giant prawns and fried noodles (yes again!) 😋

Cheese-baked crabs (if I didn't remember wrongly 😅)

Fried baby squid

It was our most expensive meal in Saigon but it was well-worth the price! My foodie seafood-loving family enjoyed it. What a great way to end our day! 😀

DAY 4

The Hubby and I awoke very early to sneak out on our own for breakfast at Pho Viet Nam since we loved it so much the previous morning. I ordered their signature hot stone pho and loved it! It was so good! 👍🏻

Chefs preparing the bowls of hot stone noodles

Piping hot soup!

We returned to Bahn Mi The One to buy breakfast for the family since we liked it so much.

We also bought pork rice from the store down the street (right side of picture)

Bahn mi and pork rice

By the time we returned to the hotel, the family was up and ready for their food! After a satisfying breakfast in our room, we checked out of the hotel and took a Grab to Tan Son Nhat Airport at 10am.