Asides from outstanding stopovers such as Independent Palace, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Ben Thanh Market, Bitexco Financial Tower,... Ho Chi Minh city also offers you ample amazing experiences with dozens of museums. The following is a list of 8 visit-worthy museums in Ho Chi Minh city that you should not skip when traveling here.
1 - War Remnants Museum - the best war museum in Ho Chi Minh city
The War Remnants Museum opened to the public on September 4, 1975, is a place where documents, photos, and artifacts reveal the crimes committed during the war of aggression against Vietnam. With more than 20,000 documents, artifacts, videos and photographs about the wars in Vietnam, this museum in Saigon District 3 is expected to educate the public about the spirit of protecting national independence, the sense of opposition to the wars of aggression, and preserving peace and solidarity in Vietnam. It is also a member of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
This is absolutely one of the best museums in Ho Chi Minh city - Source: Nghiệp Phạm Đức
The whole area of the museum is 5,400 m2, classified into 3 storeys, each of which has a different topic and artifacts. The first floor is room for the ticket desk, a multifunctional room, and an exhibition entitled “Waging Peace - U.S Soldiers and Veterans who opposed America’s War in Vietnam. The 2 upper floors are the world of images and objects recreating a bloody stage of history. A large number of Americans burst into tears and show regret when observing the cruelty that their country did to the Vietnamese people.
- Address: No.28 Vo Van Tan street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening time: 7:30 a.m - 11:30 p.m
- Entrance fee: 40,000 VND/person ($1.72)
2 - Museum of Ho Chi Minh city - top museums in Ho Chi Minh city
This Saigon museum is located in district 1 - Source: hcmc-museum
With an area of 1,700 m2, the Museum of Ho Chi Minh city is an enormous building displaying, and maintaining antiques, artifacts, historical and cultural evidence of Ho Chi Minh city and also the country. This museum in Ho Chi Minh city is designed as a palace in French neoclassic style characterized by delicate carving patterns, both modern and ancient doorway arches in an airy flower garden.
There are in total 9 rooms, each of which has a different theme such as “Nature - Archaeology”, “Geography - Administration of Sagon”, “War mementos”, “Culture of Ho Chi Minh city”,... Moreover, like some other museums in Ho Chi Minh city, this museum also has a category of online displays for those who don’t have a chance to visit face to face.
- Address: No.65 Ly Tu Trong street, Ben Nghe ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening time: 8 a.m - 5 p.m
- Entrance fee: 30,000 VND/person ($1.3)
3 - Southern Women’s Museum
Established on April 29, 1985, this Ho Chi Minh city museum was built following the will of the previous female generations to maintain and transmit the patriotism and beautiful conventions of Vietnamese women to their descendants. Over years of operation, the museum has made a lot of strive in professional responsibilities with a view to educating the tradition of the Vietnamese women to the public and has become a familiar venue for meetings, and cultural exchanges of women associations.
This is one of the most special museums in Ho Chi Minh city - Source: Kim Beomsu
31,360 artifacts in this museum in Ho Chi Minh city are classified into 24 collections in theme or in materials, 6 of which are especially precious. Moreover, there are more than 11,000 books written about women stored in the library of the work.
Along with collecting documents, and artifacts about the contribution of the Southern women in the war against invaders, the museum also makes great efforts in searching for the role of women in cultural heritage conservation which is embodied in intangible cultural heritage elements related to festivals, beliefs, collective cultural practices, handicraft village,...
A special thing making the Southern Women’s Museum one of the best museums in Ho Chi Minh city is that it is integrated with a 3D exhibition which allows customers to discover this place from a distance if they don't have a chance to visit it in person. You can also use virtual reality glasses to have a more vivid experience.
- Address: No.200 - 202 Vo Thi Sau street, Ward 7, District 3, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening hour: 8 a.m- 5p.m
- Entrance fee: free
4 - Ho Chi Minh Campaign Museum
The Ho Chi Minh Campaign Museum in District 1 is used to display archives about the Ho Chi Minh campaign (April 26, 1975, to May 2, 1975). The outdoor gallery of this Saigon museum is where anti-aircraft batteries and military tanks are used by participants of the campaign, the 30/4 victory monument, hundreds of original artifacts, images, and scientific research. The internal space is ordered in 6 topics, from Paris Accord to Long Phuoc victory, Tay Nguyen Campaign, Hue - Da Nang Campaign,...
This is one of the museums in Ho Chi Minh that help you understand the Vietnam war - Source: thanhtra
Visiting the museum, you can observe with your own eyes typical pictures, objects reflecting the tactful direction of the Vietnam Ministry of Politics, the Central Military Commission, and Commander in Chief, the effort and determination of the Vietnamese people in the rebellion in 1975 throughout stages and campaigns.
The highlight of the museum is an electronic physical model connected with a large screen installed right at the center of the gallery, retelling all the stages in Vietnamese, English, and French. Besides, there are thousands of valuable remains in this war museum in Ho Chi Minh city helping you to have an insight into one of the most important events in the history of Vietnam.
- Address: No.2 Le Duan street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening hour: 7:30 a.m - 4:30 p.m
- Entrance ticket: free
5 - Artinus 3D Art Gallery - top best museums in Ho Chi Minh city
Artinus 3D Art Gallery Museum - Source: divui
Covering an area of 4,000 m2, the Artinus 3D Art Gallery is a destination you must visit once in your trip to Ho Chi Minh city because of its strong sensory impacts. The experience that you get once coming to this museum in Saigon is no longer contemplating inanimate paintings but creating visual works with attractive story content.
The 3 dimension art technology brings you to different worlds where you can freely let your imagination and creativity take the floor. The principle of near and far in different flats such as walls, floors, and ceilings is applied by Korean artists to create vivid, lively sceneries as if they were real.
- Address: No.02-04 Street 9, Residential Him Lam, Tan Hung ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening time: 9 a.m - 6 p.m
- Entrance fee:
+ Weekday: 150,000 VND ($6.5)/children; 200,000 VND ($8.6)/adult
+ Weekend: 200,000 VND ($8.6)/children; 250,000 VND ($10.8)/adult
6 - Ho Chi Minh city Museum of Fine Art
This one of the greatest art museums in Ho Chi Minh city - Source: vnexpress
Put into service in 1991, the museum was constructed on a ground of 3,514 m2 in Art Deco style which is considered as a unique and impressive architecture that harmoniously combined the characteristics of European and Asian.
The whole museum comprises 3 buildings, of which the first one is used to display modern artworks, the second makes room for thematic exhibitions and regular exhibitions, and the third is the place for ancient and contemporary objects. The Museum of Fine art is preserving approximately 22,000 works of the most famous Vietnamese artists which reflects fundamental characteristics of art in Ho Chi Minh city as well as the Southern Vietnam.
- Address: No.97 Pho Duc Chinh street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening hour: 8a.m - 5 p.m
- Entrance fee: 30,000 VND/person ($1.3)
7 - Ao Dai Museum - top 8 best museums in Ho Chi Minh city
Ao Dai museum in Ho Chi Minh - Source: @baotangaodaivietnam
Talking about Vietnamese costumes, people think of Ao Dai at once. Over thousands of years of history, Ao Dai appearance has had particular changes. That’s why the Ao Dai museum was built to keep models of Ao Dai over the stages and untold stories about it.
This museum in Ho Chi Minh city is the heart and soul of the artist and designer Si Hoang who has an endless passion for the traditional costume of Vietnam. The property is a space of 20,000 m2 including components such as a lake, a pond, a garden, a gallery keeping up to 300 models arranged in chronological order., an experiential area, and a big opera house.
One reason that makes Ao Dai Museum one of the most worth-visiting museums in Ho Chi Minh city is that approaching here, you are given a chance to take part in designation stages from drawings, and measuring to embroidering and even choose the most beautiful design to try on. The staff here is in charge of instructing you on every step.
- Address: No.206/19/30 Long Thuan street, Long Phuoc ward, Thu Duc city, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening time: 8:30 a.m - 5:30 p.m
- Entrance fee: 50,000 VND/person ($2.15)
8 - Fito Museum - a museum in Saigon about Vietnamese traditional medicine
This museum in Saigon starts from the ideas and aspirations and the long-term accumulation of Mr.Le Khac Tam, a practitioner in medicine for dozens of years. With the wish to maintain the precious treasure of the fathers, uphold the Vietnamese traditional medicine and help those who care about its history get to know and further research, he had nourished a plan to build a museum of this traditional career.
Fito Museum is one of the best museums in Ho Chi Minh city - Source: JAEHYUN BAHK
His dream came true in 2003 when the construction was launched and came into operation in 2007, with 6 floors and 18 chambers in an area of nearly 600 m2. Fito Museum tries as hard as possible to resemble the form, described in detail with images, carvings, and artifacts so that visitors can clearly picture the procedures such as check-ups, diagnosing, prescription, and decoction of the imperial doctor in the past. Moreover, in this best museum in Ho Chi Minh city, there is room for worshiping Tue Tinh Doctor and Hai Thuong Lan Ong doctor, those having substantial contributions to Vietnamese traditional medicine.
- Address: No.41 Hoang Du Khuong, Ward 12, District 10, Ho Chi Minh city
- Opening time: 8:30 a.m - 5 p.m
- Entrance fee: 120,000 VND/person ($5.2)
Hanging out in one of the above-mentioned museums in Ho Chi Minh city is one of the rewarding activities that you can have when traveling to this city. The ones that we mentioned above are sure to bring you not only precious knowledge in a variety of fields but also amazing experiences.
— Ha Bich
