Discover Ho Chi Minh City Through Its Quirky Cafes

Vietnam’s relationship with coffee runs deep. As the world’s second-largest producer, the country built its identity around robusta beans, introduced during French colonial rule in the late 19th century. Most of the cultivation now happens in the fertile Central Highlands, but the creativity happens everywhere. From egg coffee whisked with yolks and condensed milk to coconut and yoghurt coffees served hot or chilled, Vietnam takes its coffee very seriously.

While that culture runs nationwide, the experience shifts as you move between cities: Hanoi is where you’ll find the more culturally rooted side of Vietnamese coffee: it was here, after all, that egg coffee originated, spurred by the lack of milk to add to the beverage during the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC in short, or Saigon as it is also called), by contrast, is energetic and experimental. Cafés here lean towards innovative design, themes, and new ideas, creating spaces that feel modern, playful, and trend-forward. It’s this contrast that makes HCMC such an exciting place to explore, especially if you’re looking for cafés that go far beyond the ordinary.

Below, we have compiled a list of the most breathtaking and out-of-the-world cafes that you will find in Vietnam’s capital city.

Du Mien Garden Café

Garden cafés, or quán café sân vườn as they are called, are a Vietnamese staple, with Du Mien being one of the most beloved examples. Tucked inside a quiet residential alley, this sprawling space is draped in greenery, waterfalls, koi ponds, and enough trees to make you forget you’re in one of Southeast Asia’s busiest cities. Its star attraction is a massive tree house wrapped around a century-old trunk, where you can sip a robusta brew and pretend you’ve relocated to Da Lat for the day. It’s peaceful, romantic, and a refreshing antidote to the city’s relentless buzz.

Koi Garden Coffee

Koi Garden Coffee’s manager Minh got the idea for this cafe after noticing elderly people stopping to feed fish at a tiny neighbourhood café. Today, the idea has evolved into a full-blown pond-within-a-café experience. Sunken tables are set surrounded by large pools to form these little islands, while you sip your cà phê sữa đá (iced milk coffee) surrounded by hundreds of eager koi swirling around you. The cafe also offers fish food, which you can feed to the fish in the moats.

HP Ice Lounge

The Ice Lounge is truly a one-of-a-kind experience, because everything here, from the décor to the chairs, is carved from ice. Guests get bundled up in thermal jackets, fur hats, and gloves before they are let into the premises. Hilariously, though, they don’t offer footwear, so brace yourself. The irony? They also serve ice cream. So, if the sweltering heat of Saigon ever gets to you, you know where to go.

Babo Café

Cat cafés? Done to death. Dog cafés? Cute, but expected. Babo Café takes the animal theme to a whole new level with a reptile theme, housing more than 10 cold-blooded creatures, including snakes, lizards, frogs, and turtles. It’s reportedly the first of its kind in the city. If you’ve ever wanted a turtle staring you down while you enjoy an iced coconut coffee, congratulations; your strangely specific dream is valid here.

Do Phu Coffee

At first glance, this looks like your standard vintage-themed café with traditional Vietnamese architecture. Then you notice the trap door in the floor. Cà Phê Đỗ Phủ once served as a Viet Cong safehouse, complete with hidden bunkers, escape passages, and secret meeting rooms. As the saying goes, the owner, Tran Van Lai, used to shelter soldiers, stash weapons, and host covert discussions right under the noses of American forces. Today, it operates as a café-museum hybrid where you can wander through wartime relics before digging into some pork chops. If you like your coffee with a side of history, this one is non-negotiable.

The Café Apartments

You probably know about The Café Apartments from the time they went viral on Instagram a couple of years back. This former 1960s apartment block at 42 Nguyen Hue Street once housed American military officials. Today, it’s an aesthetic wonderland: nine floors packed with boutiques, bars, and cafés, each glowing with its own colour palette at night. It’s basically a vertical food-and-drink playground designed for wandering, snacking, and collecting Instagram shots. The view of the Nguyen Hue walking street from the balconies is an added bonus.

Cafe San Vuon Mien Thao Moc

This place is like a Tinkerbell set come to life, so if you want full fairy-tale energy, this garden café delivers. Think lantern-lit pathways with mini waterfalls on one side and mossy stone walls on the other. Plus, there are misting systems that keep things cool when the humidity becomes unbearable. Guests can pick between open garden tables or semi-open pavilions, but the magic really kicks in after sunset when the lanterns glow. Every angle feels handcrafted for the perfect shot, and the ambience lives up to the hype.