Bui Vien Street is the main street of the so-called "backpackers area" of Ho Chi Minh City. Here you will be able to find a wide range of restaurants, bars, souvenir shops and budget hotels/hostels. Take a tour of Bui Vien Street, to immerse yourself in the local lifestyle and culture.
The total ‘backpackers area’ consist of roughly four streets and some small interconnecting alleys. To have dinner here is very affordable and will cost you around VND 100-200.000 (US$ 4-8), for this amount you will have a decent meal including a drink. The options vary from Vietnamese, Indian, Italian to Chinese and Western. On Bui Vien street you also find many bars that offer drinks with a view of the busy city life. Depending on the location you can have a beer for VND 10.000 to VND 80.000 (US$ 0.5-3). Besides this, there are many souvenir shops that sell affordable gifts ranging from paintings, statues to clothing and bags. As this is the heart of the city center, it can easily be reached by foot or taxi, and almost all locals in here speak English. It gets busiest from early evening, around 18:00, with the many bars and pubs popular until 02:00 or even later.