Saigon’s 100 Exciting Things are Named

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica,

The list of HCM City’s 100 exciting things was made public on August 21. The list includes famous architectural works and special cuisines.

Earlier, on June 14, 2012, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of HCM City launched a campaign that seeks and votes on 100 “exciting things” about Ho Chi Minh City. The campaign aims to recognize and promote the city’s outstanding cultural values and prominent tourism products and services.

The campaign was launched after six months of preparations. Its advisory board gathered and short-listed 218 “candidates” that people would vote on to decide the final list of 100 things.

The “candidates” were categorized under 20 groups, consists of luxury hotels, business hotels, tourist restaurants, exhibition-conference centers, travel tours, tourism events, health and beauty care, by-night entertainment locations, sightseeing locations, artistic, cultural and historic vestiges, transport companies, art performance locations, Southern delicacies, varieties of fruit, architecture, museums, markets, coffee shops, shopping centers and souvenir products.



HCM City Post Office



People contributed to this campaign by vote on these “things” between June 14 and July 30, 2012. Beside the online voting, 2,500 ballot papers for each category were sent to experts in the mail and distributed to tourists via travel companies.

 According to the organizing board, they received 29,000 paper votes and over 6,200 online votes. A similar vote was organized two years ago.

The voting results

Five outstanding museums: War Remnant Museum, HCM City History Museum, Ho Chi Minh Museum, HCM City Museum and HCM City Art Museum.

Five outstanding architectural works: Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, HCM City Post Office, HCM City Opera House, Giac Lam Temple, Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street.

HCM City Opera House

Five outstanding historical and cultural relics: Cu Chi tunnel, Independence Palace, Rung Sac-Can Gio military base, Thien Hau temple, Ngoc Hoang Palace.

Five interesting entertainment sites: Suoi Tien Park, Dam Sen Park, Binh Quoi Tourist Site, Saigon zoological and botanical garden, Mot Thoang Viet Nam tourist site.

Five typical traditional markets: Ben Thanh, An Dong, Binh Tay, Soai Kinh Lam and Tan Dinh.

Five outstanding forms of tourism: ecological tourism, gastronomic tourism, city tour, shopping and waterway tourism.

Five typical tourism events: Nguyen Hue flower road, HCM City tourism festival, Southern fruit festival, Tao Dan New-year flower festival, international food festival.

Five luxurious hotels: Sheraton, Caravelle, Majestic, Park Hyatt Saigon, REX.

Giac Lam Temple

Five business hotels: InterContinental, Asianna Saigon, Windsor Plaza, Legend Saigon, Continental.

Five exhibition-conference centers: White Palace, Saigon Fair and Exhibition Center, Phu Tho Sports House, Van Thanh Tourist Zone, Tan Binh Conference and Exhibition Center.

Five favorite shopping sites: Tax Trading Center, Vincom, Cresent Mall, Miss Ao Dai, Minh Phuong lacquare and fine-art shop.

Five favorite restaurants of tourists: Muoi Xiem banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe) restaurant, Cham Charm, Com nieu Saigon, Mandarin, Ngon.

Five typical souvenirs: ao dai, non la (conical hat), manually embroidery items, silk and sandy paintings.

Five favorite southern cuisines: banh xeo, goi cuon, com tam (broken rice), cha gio and caramel fish.

Five interesting entertainment sites at night: Semi-circle Lake, Pham Ngu Lao Street, Hard Rock Café, Megastar and Saigon Saigon Bar.

Five top beauty salons and spas: Ngọc Anh Spa, Sen Spa, La Cochinchine, Authentic Spa and Anam QT Spa.

Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street.

Five interesting coffee shops: Highlands, Trung Nguyen, Gloria Jeans, Central, Windows.

Five typical transport firms: Taxi Mai Linh, Taxi Vinasun, Phuong Trang, Vietravel, Hoa Binh Travel.

Five favorite fruits: mangosteen, mango, star apple, pomelo and pitaya.