What are the best food markets in Saigon?
Skip Chợ Bến Thành's interior food stalls — they're tourist-priced and mediocre. Go to Chợ Bình Tây (District 6, Cholon) for authentic market food, or Chợ Bà Chiểu (Bình Thạnh) for local wet market dining. Both have stall food for 40,000–70,000 VND — real Saigon prices.
Saigon’s markets are infrastructure, not tourist attractions. The best food is at markets that haven’t adjusted their prices or menus for visitors — where the plastic stools are for the stallholder’s regular customers, not for people who found the spot on Instagram.
The honest market guide
Chợ Bình Tây (Cholon) — for food, go here
57A Tháp Mười, District 6
The 1928 Cholon market is the best market food experience in Saigon — and almost entirely overlooked by visitors who go to Bến Thành instead. The ground floor has a cooked food section serving Chinese-Vietnamese staples:
- Bánh bao (steamed buns): 15,000–25,000 VND each
- Cháo trắng + hủ tiếu (congee with noodles): 40,000–60,000 VND
- Heo quay (roasted pork): sold by weight at 200,000–280,000 VND per kg, order a small portion for 50,000 VND
- Sủi cảo (Chinese dumplings): 50,000–70,000 VND per plate
The market serves the wholesale community — open from 4am, peak activity before 10am. Come for breakfast.
Chợ Bà Chiểu — the local neighborhood market
Bình Thạnh District, corner of Lê Quang Định and Phan Đăng Lưu
A sprawling wet market without tourist infrastructure. The cooked food section on the second floor serves the market workers and neighborhood residents: cơm bình dân (rice plates), cháo, bún thịt nướng. No English menus, no picture boards — point at what you want.
Price: 35,000–60,000 VND per plate.
Chợ Tân Định — the upscale neighborhood market
District 1, near the pink church at 289 Hai Bà Trưng
Smaller than Bà Chiểu but better maintained, and popular with local middle-class Saigonese. The surrounding streets (Trần Quang Khải, Nguyễn Hữu Cầu) have excellent lunch stalls open 10am–2pm. Good for a mid-morning market wander followed by lunch at a street stall.
Chợ Bến Thành — the tourist market
1 Công Trường Quốc Tế, District 1
Visit for the architecture and orientation, not for food. The interior cooked food section is priced for people who’ve never bought Vietnamese food before. A bowl of phở here costs 100,000–150,000 VND — 2x the street price and rarely the best version.
The perimeter streets outside Bến Thành (Phan Bội Châu, Phan Chu Trinh) have legitimate street stalls at real prices. Eat here before or after going inside.
Night markets
Bến Thành Night Market — surrounds the market from 6pm, focusing on cheap clothing and street food. Shellfish, grilled corn, bánh tráng nướng (grilled rice paper). Less curated than people expect, which is fine — it’s a real market, not a food hall.
Phố Đi Bộ Nguyễn Huệ — Saigon’s pedestrian street runs from City Hall to the riverfront. Not a traditional market but has a weekend market from 7pm–11pm with snack vendors and pop-up food stalls. Central location, good atmosphere.