The Best Ho Chi Minh City Tour for Purists! | XO Tours Vietnam
A fun ride to the most popular tourist attractions in Saigon. Learn the history of each famous site from the unique perspective of our guides.
What Makes the “XO Sights of Saigon” the Best Ho Chi Minh City Tour?
The “XO Sights of Saigon” tour stands out as one of the few remaining “pure” city tours in Ho Chi Minh City, avoiding irrelevant stops (e.g. food and coffee stops) designed to stretch out the itinerary.
Every other Ho Chi Minh City tour we’ve found is either a boring bus tour that only take you to the main tourist attractions and provides very generic historical information or student-led tours lacking in-depth knowledge and include lots of “filler” stops. They also have a lot of dead time, where everyone is just standing around waiting to go to the next stop.
At XO Tours, we make the most of your time by only taking you to locations where the history isn’t easily discovered on your own. Our passionate guides will share fascinating stories about each stop and illustrate how they all connect.
The ‘XO Sights of Saigon’ tour is led by tourism majors and teachers who undergo months of study and training before they are allowed to guide. And unlike other Saigon scooter tours that are led by unlicensed student “guides”, we won’t fill the tour time with food and coffee stops to compensate for a lack of knowledge.
The only food we offer on this tour are light snacks to keep you cool and refreshed. If you’re interested in trying Vietnamese food, we recommend booking one of our evening tours.
Which places will we visit on this Ho Chi Minh City Tour?
The “Sights of Saigon” tour offers a good mix of both famous attractions and lesser known markets and sites that the big Ho Chi Minh City tours cannot go to. Some of the places we visit on this tour are The Central Post Office, The Notre Dame Cathedral, The Reunification Palace (outside only), The Secret CIA Building, Tan Dinh Market, The Burning Monk Memorial, Ho Thi Ky Flower Market, The Hidden Weapons Arsenal and The Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda, etc.
On this tour we’ll provide a deep dive into the history of some of Saigon’s most famous locations (with historical photos!), that many travelers have seen in movies, documentaries and school books but never knew the full story behind.
Many other city tours take guests inside the Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum, both of which don’t even require tour guides. The Reunification Palace includes a free guide when you buy a ticket and all the displays and photos at the War Remnants Museum includes detailed captions in English. These 2 attractions also require a lot of time (minimum of 2 hours each) to fully appreciate so we recommend that you visit them on your own so that we can make the most of the time you have with us.
How is the Pace of this Ho Chi Minh City Tour?
We can easily cover the same number of sites in 3.5 hours that would require a full day on most other Ho Chi Minh city tours. Our pace is still very leisurely, so you will not be rushed. At each stop, you will be allowed to get off the bike and walk around so you will have plenty of great photo opportunities. We also won’t take you to the typical tourist traps to try sell you overpriced souvenirs.
Why the early start?
We only run the “Sights of Saigon” tour in the morning, when the weather is coolest. The local markets are also busiest in the mornings so it’s the best time to experience all the hustle and bustle!
“ If you don’t want to be crammed onto a big, hot bus wasting an entire day going to places you aren’t interested in,
then this is the perfect tour for you!
How many people in a group?
Please note that this tour is offered on a join in basis, so there may be other guests joining you on the tour. Our maximum group size is 8 people. For guests that do not want to go in a group, we also offer a private tour option for an extra charge.
Want a cool momento to show off
to your friends and family?
We can film your ride (for an extra 50USD) and create a special video of your Vietnam Adventure! We can also mix in a custom music track in your video upon request.
See Optional Services ↓
According to travel writer Graham Caldwell,
“The Sights of Saigon” and “The XO Foodie” tours were
– THE MOST ENJOYABLE TOURS –
he has been a part of in more than 20 years of travel writing!
Read more about Mr. Caldwell’s experience with XO Tours
Not all motorbike tours are created equal!
To find out why we’re different, and why you
should book with XO Tours
Our tours fill up fast,
so book early to secure your spots!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which stops are included on the "Sights of Saigon Tour?"
The Central Post Office, The Notre Dame Cathedral, The Reunification Palace (outside only), The Secret CIA Building, Tan Dinh Market, The Burning Monk Memorial, Ho Thi Ky Flower Market, The Hidden Weapons Arsenal and The Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda
Are your tours kid friendly?
Yes! We design our tours to be suitable for guests of all ages, and take children on our tours regularly. Parents trust XO Tours to offer the safest possible experience for their children because our drivers are the best in the business! We are also the first motorbike tour company to provide accident insurance for all our guests!
Children 7 years and younger are allowed to share a single motorbike with one of our drivers and another adult. Children 8 years and older must sit on a separate motorbike with their own driver as required by Vietnamese law.
We only charge $30 for children sharing a motorbike however, children 8 years and older are charged the same rate as other guests.
In our experience children enjoy our evening tours much more than our morning city tour because the weather in the evening is much cooler, and the evening tours focus more on culture and food which is much more interesting to most children than history.
We love children and they love XO tours! Watch this video to see how much fun kids have on our tours! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9mYKy1xcU
Do you offer pickup/drop-off service at my hotel/apartment/condo or the airport?
We only offer pickup service in Districts 1, 3, 4 and 5 (some exclusions apply). For guests staying outside of our pickup area, we kindly request that you meet us at the Saigon Opera House in District 1 for the start of your tour(s).
We also do not currently offer airport pickup/drop-off service.
Do you offer a car option if I don't want to go by motorbike?
Yes, we offer a car/bus option if you book a private tour (minimum of 2 adults). There is a $60 USD surcharge to book a car for 2-4 people and an additional $5 USD per person for groups over 4 people ($60 for 4 pax, $65 for 5 pax, $70 for 6 pax, etc.). The surcharge is to cover the cost of the car/bus rental (with driver). Please keep in mind that the car/bus option is only available for private tours, and we cannot mix different transport methods (car + motorbikes), so everyone in the same group will have to use the same transport option. We also require at least 24 hours notice if you wish to join one of our tours by car/bus.
We do not offer a car/bus option for the group tours since traveling by car/bus is much slower than by motorbike and out of consideration for our other guests we cannot delay the tour for any single party.
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