Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Officially Ho Chi Minh City; almost everyone still says Saigon. The southern capital is louder, hotter, and more obviously modern than Hanoi — skyscrapers, a metro under construction, and a food scene that mixes northern, central, and southern Vietnamese with French colonial leftovers. The historical sites cluster in District 1: the War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace, the Notre-Dame Basilica, the central post office. The Cu Chi tunnels day trip is the most-booked add-on. Stay long enough to do an evening on Bui Vien street, then escape to a rooftop bar for the air.
