Shopping

Ho Chi Minh City can be a fun place to shop. You can buy things here from all over Vietnam. The main shopping district is Dong Khoi street, which runs from the Cathedral to the waterfront. The side streets off Dong Khoi, as well as Nguyen Hue Boulevard which runs parallel to Dong Khoi are also full of shops. One of the nice things about shopping here is that the street is also full of many restaurants and coffee shops, so you can easily take a break from shopping and enjoy some of the local coffee.

A somewhat less touristy shopping experience can be found at one of the city's many markets. The best of these is probably Ben Thanh on the traffic circle at one end of Le Loi Boulevard. This covered market was built by the French in 1914. Inside, stalls sell everything from clothes to housewares to fresh produce.

When shopping, note that most of the shops along Dong Khoi have prices marked in US Dollars, and that is the currency you are expected to pay in. In the markets, prices will usually be in Vietnamese Dong. Even when prices are marked, you can usually bargain if buying more than one item.

One very curious thing we noticed is that marked prices on many items were much lower at the international airport than any shop we visited along Dong Khoi. While waiting until you're about to leave the country to buy those "must have" souvenirs may not be a good idea, you may want to make sure you have some time to do some additional shopping at the airport.

Ben Thanh Market
(Cho Ben Thanh). Every imaginable product of the Vietnamese economy is sold here -- look for a cheap meal, a hat, even live snakes. The building that houses most of the market was constructed in 1914 by the French, who called it Les Halles Centrales (the Central Market Halls). The best time to visit the market is first thing in the morning, when stocks of produce are piled high and vendors are hustling. OPEN: Daily 7-7.

Diamond Plaza
Department Store, District 1

Diamond Plaza, a shiny, modern department store complex, has three floors of shopping as well as restaurants, a bowling alley, and Saigon's first Western-style cinema.

Night market (just outside of Ben Thanh market). Here you can enjoy many kinds of different food and drink, and go round to do your shopping as well. Open from 17:00 (when the Ben Thanh market closes).

Saigon Square, corner of Hai Ba Trung and Nguyen Du. Some of the former Russian Market stores have moved here. Very popular for hip, young people; you can find cheap watches, DVDs, T-shirts, jeans, shorts, slippers, etc, and there's a nice supper market in the middle of the square. Open 09:00-19:00.

Tax Department Store, corner of Le Loi and Nguyen Hue. Formerly the Russian Market, this is now a rather sterile department store of sorts filled with stalls selling touristy kitsch, although the selections get better as you ascend the levels. There's a good supermarket on level 2.