A Private Ben Thanh Night Market Food Tour with a Saigon Guide

About 4 hours door to door, starting with a 5:30 pm hotel pickup and ending back at your hotel. Inside that time the pace is yours: stay longer where you are enjoying it, move on where you are not.

At your own hotel, anywhere in central Ho Chi Minh City — the former Districts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 10, Phu Nhuan and Binh Thanh. Staying in Thao Dien, An Phu or Phu My Hung? We collect you there too, for a transfer surcharge shown at checkout. Your guide waits in your hotel lobby for 20 minutes and messages you on WhatsApp; after that the booking counts as a no-show. A late pickup shortens the tour rather than extending it.

A few hundred metres at each stop, on flat pavement; the private car carries you between areas and waits close by. Motorbike food tours are a very Saigon way to eat — they slip into alleys a car cannot — but each guest rides behind a separate driver. We keep your group together in one car, so you sit down to eat, stay dry if it rains, and can bring children or older parents along.

Yes. This is a sample night and every part of it can be adjusted: swap a dish, skip a stop, or spend longer at the night market. Tell us before you book and we confirm the plan, the menu and an all-inclusive price in writing. If a stall is closed or a dish has sold out, your guide swaps in the nearest equivalent and tells you on the spot. We never quietly downgrade a tour.

Yes. Your guide is a licensed local from Saigon who speaks fluent English, knows which stalls are worth it and which to skip, orders for you in Vietnamese and explains how each dish is eaten and why the city eats it. On this tour that means telling you why the banh xeo here is so much bigger than in central Vietnam.

Yes, and nothing repeats: our four tours have four menus and share no dish, so each one is a different night. Pair this one with the Cholon Chinatown tour, the Vinh Khanh snail street tour or the Saigon breakfast tour. Booking more than one? Message us on WhatsApp and we will plan them together.

For the whole group, from one to four guests: four people pay less each than two, with the same car and the same guide. Children under 5 travel free and do not count towards the group size; from 5 a child counts as one guest. For five or more, message us for a quote.

Two ways: pay the full price online by card, or pay a 30% deposit online and the rest in cash on the day of the tour, in US dollars or Vietnamese dong. We can also send a secure payment link on WhatsApp. The booking is confirmed once the online payment goes through, and your pickup time and guide’s name arrive in writing.

Yes - free cancellation up to 3 days before departure for a full refund, and free rescheduling subject to availability. Within 3 days of departure, 30% of the tour price is charged because the car and guide are already committed. Date changes are arranged over WhatsApp.

Vegetarian: yes, all the way through — banh xeo filled with tofu, mushrooms and bean sprouts, rice-paper rolls with tofu and herbs, la lot leaves grilled around a mushroom filling, bot chien made without egg for vegans, and dipping sauces made with soy instead of fish sauce. Muslim-friendly: beef, chicken or seafood instead of pork; bo la lot fillings often mix in pork, so your guide checks the filling and swaps the dish if it does, and asks every kitchen whether a broth or sauce uses pork; we cannot promise certified halal stalls. Allergies: Tell us about allergies when you book. Street kitchens share woks, grills and oil, so no dish can be guaranteed free of traces; guests with severe allergies should carry their own medication.

An appetite, light clothes and comfortable shoes. You do not need cash for anything on the menu, since every dish and a drink at each stop are already paid; bring small notes for extra drinks or anything you want at the night market, and if you chose to pay the balance in cash, bring it for your guide.

Rain does not cancel a food tour: the private car carries you between stops and your guide moves to stalls with a roof, keeping the menu as close as possible, with no partial refund. If you would rather wait for a dry evening, move to another date free of charge. In a storm or under an official weather warning we move your tour to another date; if no date suits you, you get a 100% refund.