Museums in Ho Chi Minh City
Save upto 30%
by comparing quotes from 3 agents
District 1 Walkables and the Cu Chi Day Trip
Here is the list of 12 Museums in Ho Chi Minh City
1. War Remnants Museum
Disturbing reminders of Vietnam's gory past await you at the War Remnants museum in District 3 of Ho Chi Minh City. The museum displays exhibits from the Vietnam war, including the french guillotine, the 'tiger cages' where prisoners were kept and photographs of 'Agent Orange', a chemical spray that led to widespread genetic defects. There are also fighter planes and tanks on display.
2. Independence Palace
The Reunification Palace, also known as the Independence Palace, was once the home to the president of Southern Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the site of the end of the Vietnam War. Originally called Norodom Palace, it is now an iconic Ho Chi Minh City museum. You can wander the grand halls and explore the underground tunnels and bunkers used during the war. A free guided tour is available.
3. Cu Chi Tunnels
Cu Chi Tunnels were a part of the extensive underground network that the Vietnamese Congress used as a hideaway during the war. You can now go through some of the safer parts of the tunnel to experience the conditions of the Vietcong during the war. Avoid visiting if you are claustrophobic. 5-hour speedboat, apart from driving. Morning and afternoon tours that last around 6 hours are available.
4. Fine Arts Museum
Fine Arts Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is one of the most popular art centres in the city, which aims at preserving, collecting and displaying contemporary as well as traditional artworks. The yellow-and-white building combines French and Chinese elements, and houses a variety of paintings and sculptures. Oil, lacquer, silk and ceramic works are found next to ancient Champa relics.
5. Museum of Vietnamese History
Located just inside Ho Chi Minh City's botanic gardens and zoo in District 1, the Museum of Vietnamese History offers a compelling glimpse into the rich past of the country. A former museum of Asian studies during Vietnam’s colonial period, it is now solely dedicated to Vietnamese and Asian history. The Museum of Vietnamese History includes an assortment of exhibits like wooden coffins, royal jewellery, and even a mummified body.
6. Ho Chi Minh City Museum
The Ho Chi Minh City Museum documents the city's growth through various artefacts, photographs, ceramics, and war materials. Built in 1885, the museum features impressive neoclassical architecture with unique motifs and a lovely flower garden. There is also a network of tunnels underneath the building, used by President Diem in the coup of 63.
7. Ao Dai Museum
Located at a distance from the city centre in District 9, Ao Dai museum celebrates the national dress of Vietnam in a landscape. Surrounded by coconut trees and canals, the museum traces the evolution of the Ao Dai through the years. On display are several beautiful pieces owned by royals and celebrities, and you can even try one on and get a photo clicked.
8. Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine
Modernity and tradition come together at the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine and Pharmacy. Located in District 10 of Ho Chi Minh, the museum features more than 3,000 exhibits that date all the way back to the stone age. Herbal concoctions, vessels, wines, shops, scales, cabinets-all find a place in the 16 floors here
9. Artinus 3D Art Museum
Artinus 3D Art Museum is an interactive 3D art gallery located in District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City. Making use of light effects and painting techniques, the artworks create an optical illusion that allow you to step inside a cave, dangle on a bridge above the sea or even fight a T-Rex while you're there.
10. Couleurs d'Asie by Rehann
Couleurs d'Asie is the photography studio-cum-gallery of renowned Hoi An based photographer Rehahnn. Located on Dong Khoi Street, Rehahnn's work captures the raw beauty of Vietnamese, Cuban, Indonesian and Indian culture. Having been featured on National Geographic, Rehahnn's photography is among the most expensive fine art in the country. Famous portraits of Rarindra Prakarsa and Manny Librodo cannot be missed.
11. Ton Duc Thang Museum
Located in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, Ton Duc Thang Museum celebrates the peace-loving President Thang' life and achievements. Eight display wards showcase photographs and artefacts from Duc Thangs upbringing, education, his presidency and his 15 year-stay at the Con Dao Prison. The Museum is a worth visiting for history buffs.
12. Southern Women's Museum
Southern Women's Museum in Ho Chi Minh is a wonderful tribute to the achievements of Vietnamese women. The museum's first floor showcases the evolution of the Ao Dai, Vietnamese traditional dress for women. On the second floor are photographs and artefacts in honour of women who played a vital role during and after the war, and have contributed to their nation meaningfully.
The centre of Ho Chi Minh City is compact enough that four or five of these can be done on foot in a day. The War Remnants Museum is the one nobody skips, and it should be said plainly that its photographic sections on chemical warfare and civilian casualties are graphic and upsetting, and it is not a museum to take young children through without thinking about it first. Independence Palace, ten minutes away, is the opposite kind of experience, a 1960s presidential residence preserved intact down to the telephones in the war rooms, and the gates the tanks came through in 1975. The Museum of Vietnamese History sits in the Botanical Gardens, and the Fine Arts Museum occupies a fine colonial mansion worth entering for the building alone. Two smaller ones are further out and reward the trip: the Ao Dai Museum in District 9, on the national dress, and the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine in District 10. The Cu Chi tunnels are about 60 km north-west and take a half day. See also museums in Hanoi, floating markets in Vietnam and caves in Ha Long Bay.
This post was published by Muhammed Salih
Top Hotels In Ho Chi Minh City
FAQs on Museums in Ho Chi Minh City
Which museum should you visit if you only have time for one?
The War Remnants Museum in District 3. It is the most visited museum in the city and gives the Vietnamese account of the war through photography, aircraft and armour in the courtyard, and a reconstruction of the Con Dao prison cages.
Is the War Remnants Museum suitable for children?
Use judgement. Parts of it, particularly the sections on Agent Orange and on civilian casualties, are graphic and distressing, and there is no way to route around them. Many families visit the courtyard and the ground floor and skip the upper galleries.
Are the Cu Chi tunnels a museum?
Not exactly. They are a preserved section of the Viet Cong tunnel network about 60 km north-west of the city, with a display area, a firing range and a stretch of widened tunnel visitors can crawl through. Allow half a day including travel, and note that the crawl is genuinely tight.
Which museums are within walking distance of each other?
The War Remnants Museum, Independence Palace, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and the Fine Arts Museum are all in or near District 1 and within a twenty-minute walk of one another. The Museum of Vietnamese History is a short ride further, in the Botanical Gardens.
What are the opening hours?
Most open around seven thirty or eight and close by five, and several still take a midday break of an hour or two. Independence Palace and the War Remnants Museum stay open through lunch. Some of the smaller museums close on Mondays.
Which are the more unusual ones?
The Ao Dai Museum in District 9, set in a garden and devoted to the history of the national dress, and the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine in District 10, housed in a reconstructed wooden building with a large collection of apothecary cabinets and instruments.
