Where Ho Chi Minh City shops, snacks and lunches: the markets worth your morning.
Food markets, farmers markets and covered halls: where Ho Chi Minh City shops, snacks and lunches.
Ben Thanh is Saigon's landmark market, a 1914 hall of produce, dry goods and a busy food court by day that spills into an open-air night market.
Go for: Street food, Snacks, Souvenirs
Tip: Prices are marked up for tourists; the food-court stalls at the back are the real reason to come.
Binh Tay is the grand market at the heart of Cho Lon, a 1920s Chinese-built hall of wholesale goods ringed with food stalls serving Teochew classics.
Go for: Cho Lon food, Wholesale, Snacks
Tip: The wet market outside runs earliest; come at dawn to watch Chinatown do its shopping.
Ben Thanh Street Food Market is a covered food hall a block from Ben Thanh, gathering stalls of Vietnamese and Asian street dishes around shared tables.
Go for: Street food, Seafood, Regional dishes
Tip: It is more polished and pricier than the street, but a comfortable air-conditioned sampler.
Ho Thi Ky is Saigon's best-loved night food street, a maze of alleys behind the flower market crammed with stalls of banh trang, snails, grilled skewers.
Go for: Night food, Snacks, Regional dishes
Tip: Come hungry after dark and graze from stall to stall; it is busiest and best from 19:00.
An Dong is one of Saigon's oldest and largest indoor markets, a wholesale fashion hall in District 5 whose basement food court draws locals for Cho Lon eats.
Go for: Cho Lon food, Wholesale, Snacks
Tip: Skip the upstairs clothing floors and head straight to the basement food stalls.
Cho Cu, the Old Market, is a one-block street market on Ton That Dam in the shadow of downtown towers, a fast-vanishing pocket of old Saigon selling produce.
Go for: Old Saigon, Produce, Snacks
Tip: It is steadily being demolished for development; go soon to see this slice of old downtown.
Vinh Khanh is District 4's official food street, a kilometre of seafood and snail joints where locals crowd pavement tables at night for oc and grills.
Go for: Seafood, Snails, Night food
Tip: It comes alive after dark; go with a group and order many small snail plates to share.
Tan Dinh Market, trading since 1926 by the pink Tan Dinh Church, is a local produce and fabric market whose surrounding stalls serve fine street food.
Go for: Produce, Street food, Fabric
Tip: Skip the fabric floors and graze the food stalls around the market's edges in the morning.
Thai Binh Market sits on the edge of the backpacker district, a workaday produce market whose corner stalls turn out cheap noodle salads, che and snacks.
Go for: Street food, Produce, Snacks
Tip: It is a two-minute walk from Bui Vien; the food stalls at the entrances are the reason to stop.
Ba Chieu is one of Binh Thanh's oldest markets, a sprawling local hall best known among eaters for the dense ring of street-food stalls that surround it.
Go for: Street food, Produce, Snacks
Tip: The food is around the outside, not inside; the night market from 18:00 is the liveliest time.