Zoos In and Around Ho Chi Minh City: Which One to Choose

For a few hours in the city, go to Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens: founded in 1864, it sits about 300 metres from Ba Son metro station and charges adults 60,000 VND, as of September 2026. If you want a safari-style park and have a day to spare, head out of town to Đại Nam Văn Hiến, about 40 km north, or to My Quynh Zoo, where you ride through a semi-wild area while the animals roam free. They are the three zoos near Ho Chi Minh City among those we list in Vietnam.

Which zoo to choose

Saigon Zoo: the one in the city

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens was founded on 23 March 1864 and calls itself the eighth-oldest zoo in the world. It keeps more than 120 animal species and more than 320 plant species, and its grounds hold over 2,500 trees, more than 700 of them old-growth. The address is 02 Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, in Saigon ward.

Featured location Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens Quận 1, Vietnam SEAZA Historical records place it among the oldest surviving zoos anywhere. It sits near the lower reach of the Nhiêu Lộc-Thị Nghè canal, with two gates, on Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm and Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai streets.

Among the animals, look for white Bengal tigers, clouded leopards, African lions, giraffes and gibbons. The zoo's own animal pages also feature the white rhinoceros and the black-shanked douc. One resident is odder than most: Bạch Tuyết, an arctic fox who, unlike most of her species, has an all-black coat.

The zoo is also a history stop. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, with some 25,000 artifacts from South Vietnam, stands inside the grounds, as does the Temple of Hùng King, once a monument to Indochinese soldiers who died for France in the First World War.

Getting there is easy. Metro Line 1 opened on 22 December 2024, and the zoo lies about 300 metres north-west of its Ba Son station.

Đại Nam Văn Hiến: a safari zoo inside a theme park

Đại Nam opened on 11 September 2008 and spreads over 450 hectares, about 40 kilometres north of Ho Chi Minh City. It used to be in Bình Dương province and is now counted as part of Ho Chi Minh City. Its 12.5-hectare open zoo was Vietnam's first safari-style park and holds over 100 species, among them white lions, white tigers, rhinos, elephants, zebras and giraffes. The park's own zoo page describes two white lions imported from a farm in South Africa, and white and green peafowl roaming among the deer.

The complex also has the largest artificial sea in Vietnam, temples, man-made mountains, rides, hotels and shops, and a July 2026 CafeF report put the number of rides at more than 40, alongside a racecourse. Choose Đại Nam if your group wants a theme park day with a safari zoo in it.

My Quynh Zoo: the safari ride

Mỹ Quỳnh Safari, named after its founder's daughter, stands on a 50-hectare site in Tân Mỹ commune and keeps more than 100 animal species. Its contact page places it in Đức Hòa district, Long An province, 7 km from the Củ Chi flyover.

Here the safari is the point. You ride a vehicle through a semi-wild area on the "people caged, animals free" model, with the chance to get close to wild animals. The park also has a bonsai and koi garden, a play area, a water park and a resort, so it can fill a full day.

So which? Pick Saigon Zoo if you have a morning or an afternoon and no car, Đại Nam for a big theme-park day with a safari zoo attached, and My Quynh if the ride among free-roaming animals is what you came for. The country's other listed zoo, Hanoi Zoological Gardens, is about 5 km west of central Hanoi, so it only fits a trip north.

Tickets and saving money

These prices were checked in September 2026.

• Saigon Zoo: 60,000 VND for anyone 1.3 m or taller and 40,000 VND from 1 m to under 1.3 m; under 1 m free with a parent. The zoo sells tickets only at its own gate counters and as e-tickets on its website, so skip third-party sellers.
• My Quynh Zoo: 100,000 VND for adults and 60,000 VND for children 1-1.4 m tall at the gate; under 1 m free. The gate ticket covers the bonsai and koi garden and the wild animal garden, but not the safari, play areas, water park or resort. The safari costs 150,000 VND per seat for anyone 1 m or taller and 100,000 VND under 1 m, and the water park 100,000 VND, or 40,000 VND under 1 m.

At Saigon Zoo, a family or a group can save with a book of 10 gate tickets, sold at a 10% discount: 540,000 VND for the adult book and 360,000 VND for the child book. The tickets can be shared between several people, so one book covers a group of ten. Groups can also phone the zoo on 028 39100885 for a discount.

Add-ons cost extra: 150,000 VND for the electric-car tour, 250,000 VND for the night combo, and 200,000 VND for "Vườn thú của bé", a children's combo with a guided walk, animal feeding, a train ride and 30 minutes of unlimited rides.

Best time to visit

Ho Chi Minh City's dry season runs from December to April. The rainy season usually lasts from May to November, bringing about 1,800 mm of rain over roughly 150 days, so in those months the city zoo, a short walk from the metro, is the easier bet than a long trip out to an open-air safari.

Saigon Zoo opens at 7am every day, including weekends, public holidays and Tết, and stops selling tickets at 5:30pm; its pages give the closing time as 6pm or 6:30pm. The mornings bring the animal sessions. From 8:30 to 9:30am, Tuesday to Saturday, the elephants Bô and Ny have their teeth checked, and from 9:00 to 9:15am every day you can watch, feed and photograph Diễng Diễng, a yellow-cheeked gibbon.

If you want the train or electric car on a weekday, board before 4:30pm, when the service stops. It is the obvious answer if anyone in your group cannot walk far, because you can get off whenever you want a longer look and then get back on.

My Quynh opens at 8am from Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays; its pages give the closing time as 5pm or 6pm, so plan on the earlier one.

Other wildlife nearby

Two protected areas within reach of the city show you wildlife outside a zoo. Cần Giờ, a UNESCO-listed mangrove biosphere reserve about 40 km south-east of the city centre, has the Sac Forest tourism area and the monkey islands. Cát Tiên National Park, about 150 km north, is home to the golden-cheeked gibbon, Nomascus gabriellae: the same species as Diễng Diễng at Saigon Zoo, so the feeding session is your chance to see one up close before you look for them in the forest. Cát Tiên once held one of only two Javan rhino populations in the world, until poachers killed the last one there in 2010.