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This is one of the largest tourist attractions in Vietnam. It features the Dai Nam Van Hien Temple, an entertainment site, open range zoo, shopping areas, hotels, local and Western cuisine, and the largest man-made mountain range in Vietnam. Costing over 50 billion dong to build, this park is the beginning of mass tourism in Vietnam, although it is aimed at tourists and locals, and comes highly recommended. Transport options to the park are quite convoluted. As the park is new, online information is scarce. According to the locals, it is very much worth a visit, purely just to view the temple.
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Chùa Ngọc Hoàng or Phước Hải Tự
A Taoist temple considered by many to be Saigon’s finest, dedicated to the Jade Emperor, the king of the gods in Chinese mythology. Built by Cantonese immigrants in 1909. Check out the room filled with unusual figurines, to the left of the main hall. There are many turtles in a concrete pond in the courtyard. A calm place to rest from the city noise.
Chùa Giác Lâm
Built in 1744, this is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Ho Chi Minh City. On the temple grounds is a bodhi tree that was gifted by a Sri Lankan monk in the 1950s. There is also a 7-storey tall pagoda that is said to house relics of the Gautama Buddha that were gifted by the same monk that gifted the bodhi tree.
The Landmark 81 Central Park
The highest tower of Vietnam with 81 floors which is 461.3 m, it has a big mall inside which includes a CGV cinema. Landmark 81 are also surrounded in a complex of apartments as part of Vinhomes' Tan Cang, or Central Park. Access the views by paying for SkyView (top 3 floors; 300k/500k weekdays/weekends, children/elderly half price; 200k for VND students on weekdays) or by patronizing one of the restaurants/cafes/lounges on the upper floors (prices vary, but tend to be 100k+ VND, high for Vietnam but about average for global HCOL cities; these are accessible through the Marriott Autograph Collection hotel by transferring elevators at the hotel's skylobby). There's also reasonably priced local and international food in the food court on the lower level.
Often overlooked by tourists, this museum celebrates the women’s role in the society, economy, and revolutionary history of the southern part of the country. It offers informative exhibits that include photographs, historical documents, and artifacts such as statues, combat equipment used by women, paintings and dioramas, tools used in the traditional production of textiles, and ao dai worn by famous women. As of a February 2018, the second floor had an exhibit on the history of the ao dai and another on textile production, the third floor detailed women’s revolutionary contributions, and the fourth floor was under renovation.
The museum has a fine collection of Vietnamese antiquities. Read up on Vietnamese history first or you'll have no idea what you're looking at. Outside, the Botanical Gardens are very nice and a good place for a cheap lunch away from the crowds. Six times a day, you can see a 20-minute water puppet show (adult 50,000 dong, child 35,000 dong). It's quite amusing, even for adults.
A rare gem and a must see for geology & natural history enthusiasts. This 3-story building houses a collection of earthly artifacts (and even some non-earthly ones), including a few rare examples. Sadly in a state of neglect with poor lighting and little to no interpretive text. You can read more about it here.