Cafeography
Chỗ ngồi ngoài trời · Ho Chi Minh City

Outdoor seating cafés in Ho Chi Minh City

Gardens, courtyards and pavement tables, best in the dry months and after the afternoon storm.

Photo: Valeria Drozdova, Pexels License

Pavement coffee has a long history in Saigon. After reunification in 1975, street-side coffee came back with men on small chairs along the pavement, and in the 1990s young people made cà phê bệt, coffee drunk sitting on the ground or a mat, a ritual of their own.12

District 1 has the most cafés with seats outdoors, followed by Thảo Điền, then Phú Nhuận and Tân Phú. More than a quarter of them also have an air-conditioned room, a useful fallback when the heat or the rain wins.

Local tip: From May to November, pick an outdoor café that also has an air-conditioned room, such as Missing Garden on Lê Văn Sỹ, and sit outside in the morning or after the afternoon storm has passed.

Where these cafés are: District 1 (10), Thảo Điền & District 2 (8), Phú Nhuận (7), Tân Phú & Bình Tân (6), District 7 (5), Thủ Đức (4), Tân Bình (4), Bình Thạnh (4), District 3 (3), Đa Kao & Tân Định (3), District 8 (3), District 10 (2), District 4 (2), Gò Vấp (2), District 5 & Chợ Lớn (1).

At a glance

64Cafés listed
40With opening hours
06:00Earliest opening
23:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: B&B Coffee, from 06:00 (Daily 06:00–22:00).
  • Closes latest: Cà Phê Sân Vườn Cá Koi, until 23:00 (Daily 06:00–23:00).
  • Most listed streets: Nguyễn Du (2), Xuân Thủy (2), Hùng Vương (2).
  • Most common features: wi-fi (80%), open late (36%), air-con (28%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Ho Chi Minh City.

Choosing a month to sit outside

The calendar splits cleanly. The dry season runs from December to April, and from January to March Tân Sơn Nhất averages under 20 mm of rain a month.3 The rainy season lasts from May to November, and each month from June to October brings more than 200 mm.3 Vietnam Tourism names December to February as the best time to visit and March and April as the hottest months; the city's record high, 40.0 °C, was set in April.43

Wet-season rain is usually short. Storms tend to arrive at 15:00 or 16:00 and last 30 to 60 minutes, though September and October can bring rain that goes on for hours.4

Gardens and courtyards

Several garden cafés sit in alleys off the main roads. Missing Garden, at 221/9 Lê Văn Sỹ in District 3, has both a garden and an air-conditioned room and is open 08:00–22:00; Barista Collective, in an alley at 264 Lê Văn Sỹ, runs 07:30–22:00. Dế Garden is in an alley at 104 Hẻm 53 Trần Khánh Dư in Tân Định.

In District 7, Cà Phê Hochi sits in Công viên hoa anh đào (the cherry blossom park) and opens 07:00–20:00. In Thảo Điền, Cái Tổ Chim, the bird's nest, is at 141P Võ Nguyên Giáp, open 07:00–22:00, and Ristreet at 36 Thái Ly serves brunch from 07:00 until 17:00.

The pavement and its rules

Saigon's sidewalks are contested ground. From January to October 2017, District 1 ran a high-profile campaign against sidewalk encroachment by parking, restaurants, hotels and shopfronts, and its leader, Đoàn Ngọc Hải, submitted his resignation in January 2018 for failing to finish the job.5

Since 1 January 2024 the city has charged temporary fees for using sidewalks: 20,000–100,000₫ per square meter per month for businesses, events and retail.6 By August 2025 it had collected about 8.5 billion₫ this way.6 Informal coffee vendors mostly have no permit, and urban management officers still move cà phê bệt drinkers on behind Notre-Dame Cathedral.2

Where Saigon's outdoor cafés are

In District 1, Cà Phê Donna is at 18A Nguyễn Huệ, Cà Phê Mùa Hè at 115 Hai Bà Trưng until 22:00 and Tonkin Speciality Coffee at 91 Lý Tự Trọng. On Nguyễn Du, SOBO Coffee & Matcha at 135 closes at 19:00, while LOWKEY COFFEE LC at 159 never does.

Phú Nhuận has Cafe Lafam at 199 Hoa Lan, Chanchamayo Coffee at 1 Ngô Thời Nhiệm and Kofuku Coffee at 1162 Trường Sa, all with indoor air-conditioning too. In Tân Phú, Xưởng T Coffee at 29 Bùi Tư Toàn runs 06:00–23:00 and Mako Coffee on Vành Đai Trong 06:30–23:00. Thảo Điền adds Aramour Coffee Roasters on Lê Văn Miến and TAO Banh Mi Cafe on Xuân Thủy.

Sources

  1. Coffee Styles in Saigon Then and Now, Saigoneer (June 26, 2014), accessed October 2026
  2. Cà Phê Bệt: Sidewalks As Saigon's Living Room, Vietcetera (October 2, 2025), accessed October 2026
  3. Ho Chi Minh City (Climate), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Ho Chi Minh City: when to visit around heat and rain, Vietnam Tourism (updated August 29, 2026), accessed October 2026
  5. Đoàn Ngọc Hải Resigns, Effectively Ending Saigon's Sidewalk Clearing Campaign, Saigoneer (January 8, 2018), accessed October 2026
  6. TP.HCM vẫn tiếp tục thu phí vỉa hè, lòng lề đường, VCCI, from Báo Đầu Tư (August 22, 2025), accessed October 2026
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By area: District 1 Đa Kao & Tân Định District 3 Phú Nhuận Bình Thạnh Thảo Điền & District 2 District 5 & Chợ Lớn District 7

FAQ

Outdoor seating in Ho Chi Minh City: questions

When is the best time of year to sit outside at a café in Ho Chi Minh City?

The dry season, December to April, is the most reliable, and December to February is the best time to visit; March and April are the hottest months. From May to November storms usually come at 15:00 or 16:00 and last 30 to 60 minutes, while September and October can bring rain for hours.

Where are the garden cafés in Ho Chi Minh City?

Missing Garden on Lê Văn Sỹ in District 3, open 08:00–22:00, has a garden and an air-conditioned room, and Barista Collective is in an alley on the same street. Dế Garden is in Tân Định, Cà Phê Hochi inside the cherry blossom park in District 7, and Cái Tổ Chim on Võ Nguyên Giáp in Thảo Điền.

Are cafés in Ho Chi Minh City allowed to put seats on the sidewalk?

Since 1 January 2024 the city has charged temporary sidewalk-use fees of 20,000–100,000₫ per square meter per month for business use, and it had collected about 8.5 billion₫ by August 2025. District 1 ran a high-profile sidewalk-clearing campaign in 2017, and informal vendors without permits can still be moved on.

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