Binh Tay market

Binh Tay Market is the Central Market of Cho Lon in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Local Vietnamese refer to it as "New Chợ Lớn".

An over view of Binh Tay Market

Binh Tay Market is located on Thap Muoi Street, it is the largest marketplace in Ho Chi Minh city. Despite wars and over the years, Cho Lon Market has always been a major business hub not only for the local Vietnamese and Chinese vendors but also for the Vietnamese farmers trading daily goods coming from the Southern farms of Vietnam.

Binh Tay market

Saigon’s Binh Tay Market – What to Do and Eat

Unlike Chinatown in Bangkok or Manila, Hongkong,... Chinatown in Saigon isn’t recognized as a real attraction to tourists in Saigon.

One of the reasons is because Cho Lon is actually so huge, that it covers half of District 5 – it’s not even glittering and condensed with flashing lights and Chinese signs, words like in some others – and it doesn’t even have a “Chinatown looking”. Instead,  Binh Tay Market is a sprawling section of Saigon, where life rapidly flows, and because all of Saigon has so much Chinese influence already, it really blends into other parts of the city.

The market, along with a few scattered temples, is the main draws for visiting Saigon.

The market only opens in the morning, from 5 am or so until around 8 or 9 am. It is filled with all fresh ingredients that are used to cook Vietnamese and Chinese food.

Other than sitting down to eat, there’s nothing better than visiting wet fresh markets – it’s not only an opportunity to see what ingredients go into cooking but also to observe the local culture.

The market included hundreds of kiosks that offer meat and seafood of all kinds, in addition to plenty of fruit and vegetable vendors scattered in the street. Along with an assortment of fresh colorful ingredients, there are dozens of stalls selling pre-cooked food, most of which was for takeaway eating.

Inside the Binh Tay market, compared to the outside, the inside was calm and a bit sleepy. You’ll find everything you can imagine within the market, but mostly the dried and grocery ingredients, rather than the fresh stuff.

Binh Tay market

Cha Tam Church 

Located near Binh Tay market is Cha Tam Church, and it takes about 15 minutes to walk there from the market.

The Catholic church is known as the place where Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of Southern Vietnam Public, was arrested.

Phuoc An Hoi Quan

Moving on is Phuoc An Hoi Quan, a Chinese Taoist temple, located right along Hong Bang street.

The view from the street made it looks like just other temples with the old entrance, and it actually looks almost like a home. But as soon as stepped inside is an incredibly ornate and decorated hall, with red and gold Chinese characters filling on the pillars and walls.