The Ho Chi Minh City History Museum stands at 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, inside the grounds of the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The museum's own page describes the building as an old French-built work from 1929 in the "Indochinese revival" style, and says the collection holds more than 43,000 documents and objects, 12 of them national treasures. The front building went up in 1927, a rear U-shaped wing designed by architect Nguyen Ba Lang followed in 1970, and in 2012 the culture ministry listed the building as a national architectural and artistic relic.
Vietnamese Wikipedia gives the start of the story: the colonial government of Cochinchina signed the decree founding the museum on 28 November 1927 and opened it on 1 January 1929. The museum's own timeline adds that from 1956 it was the National Museum of Vietnam in Saigon, showing old art from several Asian countries.
Getting there
Measured in a straight line on map coordinates, the museum is next to the zoo, about 0.9 km from the Jade Emperor Pagoda and about 1.6 km from Independence Palace. Saigon railway station is about 3.1 km away and Tan Son Nhat International Airport about 6.7 km, both in a straight line; the roads are longer.
Hours and fees
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard, from 1 October 2026 | VND 60,000 |
| Half price for eligible groups, including Vietnamese seniors | VND 30,000 |
| Children, students, people with severe disabilities, poor households | Free |
The museum's fee notice of 17 September 2026 sets these prices from 1 October 2026 under the city's Resolution 29/2026, the same for Vietnamese and foreign visitors. Bring an ID or proof if you qualify for a discount. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 11:30 AM and 1:00 to 5:00 PM, and closed on Mondays.
Our take
It closes at lunchtime and all day Monday, so plan around that. It sits inside the zoo grounds, so we'd do both in one morning or one afternoon.
Nearby
- Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens: in the same grounds.
- Jade Emperor Pagoda: about 0.9 km in a straight line.
- Independence Palace: about 1.6 km in a straight line.
