$67/night. Confirmation numbers for all five properties lived with a third party and never reached the traveler.

The benchmark bánh mì in the city — worth the queue

Iced condensed-milk coffee; order it everywhere, constantly

Broken rice with grilled pork — the everyday Saigon plate

Fresh summer rolls, not fried — lighter than they look

Obama ate here; the pho is fine, the story is the draw

UNESCO World Heritage and the anchor of the city. Go before 9am — it becomes brutally hot and crowded by midday. Budget 3–4 hours; the audio guide is worth the cost.

Evenings only. Local rather than touristic, and an easy way to eat your way through the city's street food in one stretch.

The best of the royal tombs — symmetrical, serene, and far less crowded than the Citadel. If you only do one tomb, do this one.

UNESCO-listed imperial court music performed on the river at night. The most atmospheric evening of the trip. Book ahead.

Seven-story pagoda on the riverbank. Best combined with Minh Mạng as a half-day boat route rather than driven separately.

UNESCO World Heritage and the anchor of the city. Go before 9am — it becomes brutally hot and crowded by midday. Budget 3–4 hours; the audio guide is worth the cost.

Evenings only. Local rather than touristic, and an easy way to eat your way through the city's street food in one stretch.

The best of the royal tombs — symmetrical, serene, and far less crowded than the Citadel. If you only do one tomb, do this one.

UNESCO-listed imperial court music performed on the river at night. The most atmospheric evening of the trip. Book ahead.

Seven-story pagoda on the riverbank. Best combined with Minh Mạng as a half-day boat route rather than driven separately.

Steamed rice cakes in small dishes; imperial-era snack food

Crispier, richer cousin of bánh xèo, served with peanut-sesame sauce

The city's signature dish and the version every other city imitates — order it at least twice

Baby clam rice — a genuinely local dish, rarely found south of here

Grilled lemongrass pork skewers you assemble into rice paper rolls yourself

An 11th-century art form that exists nowhere else. Worth 45 minutes if the schedule lines up, skippable if it doesn't.

Second-best tomb after Minh Mạng, with a more melancholy garden setting. Skip if you're templed out — and by day three you may be.

UNESCO World Heritage and the anchor of the city. Go before 9am — it becomes brutally hot and crowded by midday. Budget 3–4 hours; the audio guide is worth the cost.

Evenings only. Local rather than touristic, and an easy way to eat your way through the city's street food in one stretch.

The best of the royal tombs — symmetrical, serene, and far less crowded than the Citadel. If you only do one tomb, do this one.

UNESCO-listed imperial court music performed on the river at night. The most atmospheric evening of the trip. Book ahead.

Seven-story pagoda on the riverbank. Best combined with Minh Mạng as a half-day boat route rather than driven separately.

The Hội An bánh mì Bourdain made famous

Along My Khe — pick from the tank, pay by weight

Only authentic in Hội An — the noodles use well water from the town itself. Order it there, not in Đà Nẵng

Turmeric noodles with a small amount of intense broth — the regional dish of Quảng Nam

A Hội An specialty made by a single family workshop that supplies the whole town

The cable car ride is genuinely spectacular. The summit is a fake European theme park with long queues. Not worth a full day against more time in Hội An.

Loud, neon, wall-to-wall. Go once and you'll understand it immediately — one night is the correct dose.

Duc's pick. Vietnam's esports club culture is unlike anything at home and worth seeing rather than reading about.

Pair them — they're a five-minute walk apart. The Palace is preserved at the exact moment of reunification in 1975, which is the point of visiting.

Tallest building in Southeast Asia. Go after dark for the city lights; roughly $20 for the observation deck.

Loud, neon, wall-to-wall. Go once and you'll understand it immediately — one night is the correct dose.

Duc's pick. Vietnam's esports club culture is unlike anything at home and worth seeing rather than reading about.

Pair them — they're a five-minute walk apart. The Palace is preserved at the exact moment of reunification in 1975, which is the point of visiting.

Tallest building in Southeast Asia. Go after dark for the city lights; roughly $20 for the observation deck.

Roughly 90 minutes out of the city each way. You can crawl through widened sections. Costs the better part of a day — worth it only if the history matters to you.

Fresh draft beer, roughly fifty cents, served on plastic stools

Egg coffee — a Hanoi invention but widely available and worth trying once

Have it again before you leave

Clear-broth southern noodle soup — the Saigon counterpoint to pho

The most visited museum in the country and a heavy, one-sided, necessary hour. Better placed at the end of the trip than the beginning.

Loud, neon, wall-to-wall. Go once and you'll understand it immediately — one night is the correct dose.

Duc's pick. Vietnam's esports club culture is unlike anything at home and worth seeing rather than reading about.

Pair them — they're a five-minute walk apart. The Palace is preserved at the exact moment of reunification in 1975, which is the point of visiting.

Tallest building in Southeast Asia. Go after dark for the city lights; roughly $20 for the observation deck.

Roughly 90 minutes out of the city each way. You can crawl through widened sections. Costs the better part of a day — worth it only if the history matters to you.

Fresh draft beer, roughly fifty cents, served on plastic stools

Egg coffee — a Hanoi invention but widely available and worth trying once

Have it again before you leave

Clear-broth southern noodle soup — the Saigon counterpoint to pho

The most visited museum in the country and a heavy, one-sided, necessary hour. Better placed at the end of the trip than the beginning.