Saigon in 7 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
A full week covers Ho Chi Minh City properly on a real budget, both sides of the river, every core sight, and a slow departure day instead of a rushed one. This extends the 6-day plan with a genuine wind-down day rather than another paid attraction.
Book these before you go:
- A District 1 hostel or hotel, check rates on Booking.com , ahead of Tet or a dry-season weekend
- A street-food tour for evening two, roughly US$29-33 for 8-10 tastings
- A Landmark 81 SkyView or Bitexco Skydeck ticket if you are doing one of the two on Day 3
- A Cu Chi Tunnels tour if you are extending this week with the day-trip family rather than resting
| Day | Focus | Est. daily spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh Market, street food | 350,000-450,000 VND |
| 2 | Reunification Palace, Notre-Dame exterior, Jade Emperor Pagoda, food crawl | 450,000-850,000 VND |
| 3 | Cholon, Metro Line 1, one viewpoint decision | 250,000-750,000 VND |
| 4 | Tao Dan Park, District 3 back streets, no paid tours | 150,000-250,000 VND |
| 5 | A modest museum, riverside walk, local market shopping | 200,000-350,000 VND |
| 6 | The Thu Duc riverside district, cheaper food away from District 1 | 250,000-400,000 VND |
| 7 | Final market run, last meal, budget airport transfer | 150,000-250,000 VND |
Day 1: Arrival and District 1 Core
Fly into Tan Son Nhat (SGN) and Grab into District 1 for roughly 110,000-250,000 VND. Check into your hostel or hotel, then walk to the War Remnants Museum, 40,000 VND, open 7:30am-5:30pm, allow two to three hours. Afternoon: wander Ben Thanh Market for orientation. Dinner is a street-food plate, com tam or banh mi, both under 65,000 VND.
Day 2: Reunification Palace and a Street-Food Crawl
Morning: the Reunification Palace, roughly 40,000 VND, or 65,000 VND combined with the exhibition, ticket window 8am-3:30pm. Walk to Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office next door, free to view from outside. Afternoon: the Jade Emperor Pagoda, free. Evening: a self-guided street-food crawl for under 150,000 VND, or the booked tour above.
Day 3: Cholon and One Viewpoint Decision
Head to District 5 for Cholon, Vietnam’s largest Chinatown: Binh Tay Market and Thien Hau Temple, both free. Ride Metro Line 1 back toward the Thu Duc/Landmark 81 side of the river, 6,000-20,000 VND. Decide on one paid viewpoint here, not both: Bitexco Skydeck at roughly 240,000 VND or Landmark 81 SkyView at 300,000-500,000 VND, or skip both for a rooftop bar drink instead.
Day 4: The Deliberately Cheap Day
The lowest-spend day of the trip on purpose. Morning in Tao Dan Park, free. Spend the rest of the day in District 3’s back streets and no-frills eateries, where a full meal runs closer to 40,000-70,000 VND than District 1 prices.
Day 5: District 3 and the Museums
A modest-entry museum, the Fine Arts Museum or the City Museum, both charge a few tens of thousands of dong. Spend the afternoon on a slow riverside walk, free, and shop at a local market rather than Ben Thanh.
Day 6: The Thu Duc Side of the River
Cross back toward Thu Duc for a longer look than Day 3 allowed: newer streets, a different pace, and food that runs cheaper than District 1 equivalents. If you have an eighth day to spare beyond this week, the Cu Chi Tunnels, 1.5-2 hours out, roughly 110,000-125,000 VND entry, are covered fully in our separate Ho Chi Minh City day-trip guide .
Day 7: The Slow Departure Day
Use the morning for a final market run away from Ben Thanh for cheaper souvenirs, and one last street-food meal, pho or banh mi, under 70,000 VND. Airport Bus 109 covers Tan Son Nhat for 40,000-50,000 VND if your flight timing and luggage allow it, otherwise a Grab runs 110,000-250,000 VND.
Is a full slow departure day actually worth losing a sightseeing day?
Yes, for a week-long trip specifically. Six days of museums, viewpoints and neighborhood crawls add up to real fatigue, and a rushed final morning risks missing a flight over one last market stop. A full week has room to end deliberately rather than sprinting to Tan Son Nhat with a half-eaten banh mi.
Does a week in the city need the Cu Chi Tunnels or Mekong Delta added on?
Only if you have an extra day beyond this seven, since those day trips belong to a different plan entirely. Our day-trip guide covers Cu Chi, the Mekong Delta, Vung Tau and Tay Ninh with their own travel times and costs, built to extend this week rather than replace any of its seven days.
For the ranked version of everything covered across this week, see the marquee sights list , or the full guide for the e-visa and airport transfer detail this itinerary assumes you already sorted.