Romanesque Revival cathedral
Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral
Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral: a French-brick façade, the Virgin of Peace, Chinese characters above the door, a Swiss clock from 1887 and six bronze bells.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City Audio Guide
Explore Ho Chi Minh City with 32 audio stops and researched, fact-checked narration. From the red-brick cathedral to the palace where the war ended, every place explains how colonial Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam and today's city share the same blocks.
- ~6h of audio
- 7 routes · 32 audio stops
- Offline mode
- English and Spanish
- 7Landmarks
- 32Audios
- ~6hOf narration
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0
7 audio guides in Ho Chi Minh City
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Colonial heritage
Saigon Central Post Office
Colonial post office of 1886-1891 in Ho Chi Minh City: iron vault, a façade of gods and scientists and maps of the telegraph.
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Special National Monument
Independence Palace
What to see at Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City: the gate of the 1975 tanks, the façade of Chinese characters, the state rooms, the rooftop and the bunker.
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Memory of the war
War Remnants Museum
What to see at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City: aircraft and tanks in the yard, tiger cages, the guillotine and the Agent Orange room.
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Historic market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market: the 1914 clock tower, Biên Hòa ceramic reliefs, four themed gates, food stalls and a night market in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
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French colonial architecture
Saigon Opera House
A theatre from 1900, sister to the Petit Palais, parliament of South Vietnam and now home to the bamboo circus, on Lam Sơn Square.
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National monument
Jade Emperor Pagoda
What to see at the Jade Emperor Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City: 300 images, the emperor with a veiled face and the chapel where people ask for a child.
Ho Chi Minh City Audio Guide
What to see in Ho Chi Minh City with the EarGuide audio guide
Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, keeps within a few blocks of its centre both the city the French built and the one that closed the Vietnam War. Notre-Dame Cathedral, Romanesque Revival in bare red brick, went up between 1877 and 1880 with materials shipped from France, and beside it the Central Post Office, built in 1886-1891, pays a secular tribute to the telegraph with the names of physicists on its façade. The Opera House, from 1900, was for two decades the parliament of South Vietnam, and Ben Thanh Market, built between 1912 and 1914 on a filled-in pond, has in the clock tower over its south gate the unofficial emblem of the city. Independence Palace, a modernist building from 1966, saw tanks crash through its gates on 30 April 1975; four months later the War Remnants Museum opened, showing the human cost of the conflict. A little further north, the Jade Emperor Pagoda, a Cantonese sanctuary from the early twentieth century, gathers some 300 images and is the temple where people come to ask for a child.
With the EarGuide Ho Chi Minh City audio guide, every place reveals its history through narration researched and fact-checked against historical sources. Unlike a free walking tour or a conventional guided visit, you set the pace, the order and the stops. No groups, no timetables, no internet connection.
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No internet needed
Download the routes before you head out and explore without using data.
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Smart geolocation
The narration starts by itself when you reach the point of interest.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about the Ho Chi Minh City audio guide
How much does the Ho Chi Minh City audio guide cost?
The EarGuide app is free. The Ho Chi Minh City audio guide includes 7 independent routes with about six hours of narration spread across 7 sites and 32 audio stops, and it is found inside the app itself.
Do I need an internet connection to use the audio guide?
No. EarGuide works entirely offline. Download the routes over WiFi before you set out and you can use the audio guide with no connection and no data use throughout your visit. The map shows your GPS position in real time even without coverage.
What languages is the Ho Chi Minh City audio guide available in?
The Ho Chi Minh City audio guide is available in Spanish and English, with researched, fact-checked narration on colonial Saigon, the Vietnam War and the religious life of the city.
How long does the full tour take?
The audio guide brings together 7 independent routes with about six hours of narration in total, from 30 to 90 minutes per route. They can be spread over two days: one for the cathedral, the Post Office, the Opera House and Ben Thanh Market, and another for Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum and the Jade Emperor Pagoda.
Is the audio guide better than a free walking tour or a guided visit?
They are different experiences. The EarGuide audio guide lets you explore Ho Chi Minh City without timetables or groups, pause and resume whenever you like, and replay any explanation as often as you need. It suits independent travellers, families and anyone who prefers to understand the city at their own pace, with no prior knowledge of Vietnam.
Which landmarks and points of interest does it include?
The Ho Chi Minh City audio guide covers 7 main sites: Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh Market, the Opera House and the Jade Emperor Pagoda.
Can I do it all on foot?
Yes. The cathedral and the Post Office face each other, and Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum, Ben Thanh Market and the Opera House are all within about a kilometre and a quarter of them. The Jade Emperor Pagoda is the farthest, a little over a kilometre north of the cathedral: it is about a twenty-minute walk or a short taxi ride.
Can I use a purchase in the other EarGuide apps or on another phone?
Yes. Purchases belong to your EarGuide account, not to one app or one phone. A city unlocked in the EarGuide app is also unlocked in that city's own app, and the other way round, on both iPhone and Android. Just sign in with the same account on the other device. The store's “restore purchases” button only covers the app the purchase was made in, so signing in is what carries it across.
Download the Ho Chi Minh City audio guide free
The Ho Chi Minh City audio guide is inside the EarGuide app, free and ready to use offline. Carry it in your pocket and explore the former Saigon at your own pace.
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