Travel Happy

  • Bangkok
  • Thailand
  • Myanmar
  • Vietnam
  • Cambodia
  • Indonesia
  • Laos
  • Travel Tips

Taking The Foodie Motorbike Tour In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Get a unique view of night time Saigon from the back of a motorbike with XO Tours’ elegant female guides. Bob James heads out on a whistlestop run through six of Ho Chi Minh City’s districts with three spectacular pitstops for Vietnamese food.

One of the XO Tours foodie feasts with the tour guides and fellow travellers

There’s a reason why many visitors to Ho Chi Minh City think Vietnam’s former capital is just another crowded, polluted and traffic-clogged Southeast Asian metropolis: They simply haven’t seen it all.

While the former Saigon certainly is all of the above, it’s also big. HCMC spreads out over 2,095 sq. kilometers (809 sq. miles) divided into 16 districts. Virtually all of the beaten-path tourist attractions lie in over-crowded, polluted and traffic clogged District 1. Hence, that’s all most people ever see.

Tung Do, a native Vietnamese raised in Texas, returned to his home country in 2009 and created a unique way to see – and taste – more of what Saigon has to offer. He created XO Tours, which puts young, attractive Vietnamese women dressed in traditional “bao dai” dresses on motorbikes to shuttle tourists – men and women alike – around to tourist sites, shops and restaurants.

Vietnam Holiday Essentials

  • Where To Stay In Vietnam: See our guides for the best areas and the best hotels to stay in capital city Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
  • Things To Do In Vietnam: Book online from huge lists of activities in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang, and more.
  • Flights To Vietnam: Find the cheapest tickets and check times to Ho Chi Minh City or the capital Hanoi from dozens of airlines.
  • Vietnam Airport Transfers: Book a convenient airport transfer for hassle-free arrival at your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi.
  • Vietnam Itineraries: Make the most of your trip with our 1-week and 2-week Vietnam itineraries, and our extensive guides for how to spend 2 weeks in Thailand and Vietnam and 2 weeks in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
  • Vietnam Packing List: Don’t forget any of the essentials with our comprehensive Packing List For Vietnam.

Vietnamese Food Tour Most Popular

By far, the most popular tour is “The Foodie,” an all-inclusive, 4-and-a-half-hours evening trip through six city districts with three food stops and all-you-can-drink beer.

Tung notes The Foodie is not so much a gastronomic tour as it is a chance to see how “real” Vietnamese live, work and eat. However, because it’s after-dark, the sightseeing is restricted to the back of the bike. The only stops are to eat, so there’s no browsing through night markets or checking out nightclubs.

The views, however, are surprisingly good. You’ll set out through District 1 just before sunset, moving north into District 2 where you’ll stop for Hue-style pho, known as “bun bo hue.” The setting is nothing special: plastic stools at aluminum tables. It’s an environment as authentic as the food, a mix of pork sausage, beef, noodles and lots of lemongrass.

Two of the XO Tours guides in traditional Bi Dai dresses

Buy Tickets To Ho Chi Minh

Use the search box below to find out departure times and prices on your selected travel dates to Ho Chi Minh.

Powered by 12Go system

Touring Saigon’s Districts

An hour or so of touring follows, passing through a night-time food market on the side streets of District 5’s Chinatown, past the Bin Tay Market, through the retail-shopping spots District 6 and into District 8.

It’s there, at an outdoor barbeque restaurant, where the tour makes it next stop and the guides’ service really shines. Each of the ladies serves her individual customer personally, grilling the meat, peeling the shrimp and filling the bowl. Most men naturally would swoon at such traditional doting by an Asian female, but the women serve their women customers with the same care and attention.

The meal here is a real mix: shrimp, frog, okra and even goat, with cold bottles of Saigon Red beer to wash it down. And it’s not a tourist trap: Around you sit regular Vietnamese families out for an informal meal.

Check Hotel Availability And Pricing

Destination

Check-in date

Thu 29 May 2025

Check-out date

Fri 30 May 2025
Booking.com

HCMC: A City of Haves and Have-Nots

Full and not-quite-tipsy – the guides threaten to tie any drunks to the back of the bike – the tour heads out again, this time past the nightclubs and karaoke joints of District 8 and into the posh District 7, an oddity among Ho Chi Minh’s zones.

Here Tung provides a short socio-economic lesson, noting how Vietnam is increasingly a country of haves and have-nots; where families of 10 are crowded into single-floor shophouse apartments while the rich pay 300% import duties on Bentleys and put all their money into District 7 condominiums to protect against the increasingly devaluation of the Vietnamese Dong.

The streets here are wide, well-light and oddly vacant. Most of the high-rises are dark, as the units are bought for investment. Those who actually live here are foreign expatriates who pay private security to patrol the streets as the corruption-filled police department cannot be trusted.

XO Tour guide

Seafood Dining

The bikes move out and back into society, passing upscale storefronts offering designer goods and back into District 4, one of the poorest zones in the city, for a seafood meal. Here the menu includes crab legs, clams, shrimp and “so diep”, scallops with peanut and onion on a half-shell.

Just the food alone would have been worth the $65 price of admission. But he chance to get out and see the city and the way its residents live their daily lives – dining, shopping, making out in the bushes at a public park because home is too crowded – was priceless.

Accept No Imitations

As for XO, Tung was first in the market with the women-on-motorbike guided tours, but he’s been so successful, he’s been copied a couple times. The rivals try to compete on price, but don’t do it. XO is the only one with full accident insurance, runs all his own bikes, offers head-cam video for an extra fee and has polished his service to meet his Americanized standards.

Information on all XO Tours’ offerings and prices can be found at XOTours.vn

Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more.

Start Planning Your Vietnam Trip Now!

:: Find available Vietnam hotels on Booking.com and Agoda.com – usually you can reserve a room with no upfront payment. Pay when you check out. Free cancellations too.

:: Browse a huge list of Things To Do In Ho Chi Minh City - there are loads of activities and tours you can quickly book online or simply use as inspiration for your trip.

:: Find the cheapest flights to Vietnam with Skyscanner - one search will show you the prices and times from scores of airlines for your trip. A real timesaver.

:: Book an airport transfer to take you hassle-free direct from the airport to your hotel with the driver meeting you in Arrivals.

:: You can buy a Vietnam SIM card online to pick up on arrival at the airport in Vietnam - make sure you're connected as soon as you arrive. Or, get a Pocket Wifi router delivered to your hotel - you can connect up to 6 devices.

:: Make sure you don't forget to bring any of the essentials with our comprehensive Packing List For Vietnam

:: World Nomads offers simple and flexible travel insurance. Buy at home or while traveling and claim online from anywhere in the world.

:: Book bus, train and ferry tickets in Vietnam with 12Go - easy to use website that lets you check timetables and buy tickets online.

:: Need inspiration? Check our Vietnam Itineraries for ideas of where to go and what to do.

:: Explore our Vietnam Travel Guide for more Vietnam must-see destinations.


Vietnam Map: Plan Your Trip

Vietnam mapClick For Vietnam Highlights

Vietnam Itineraries

  • Vietnam Itinerary: 7 Days (1 Week)
  • Vietnam Itinerary: 14 Days (2 Weeks)
  • 2 Weeks In Thailand And Vietnam Itinerary
  • 3 Weeks In Thailand, Cambodia And Vietnam Itinerary 2025

Vietnam Tips

  • Can I Travel To Vietnam? May 2025 Update
  • How Much Money Do I Need For Vietnam
  • Do I Need Travel Insurance For Vietnam?
  • Packing List For Vietnam 2025
  • Where To Stay In Hanoi
  • Where To Stay In Ho Chi Minh City
  • How To Get A Vietnam Visa In Bangkok
  • Saigon Quick Guide
  • Hanoi Quick Guide
  • Halong Bay, Vietnam: A Quick Guide
  • Sapa Quick Guide
  • Hue Quick Guide
  • Hoi An Quick Guide
  • Da Nang Quick Guide
  • Vietnam: 10 Not So Obvious Places To Visit
  • Vietnam On A Motorbike Part 1: Why You Should Go Biking
  • How Are American Tourists Treated In Vietnam?
  • How To Bargain In Vietnam
  • Don’t Miss: Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Hoi An, Vietnam: Tailor Made Travel Plans
  • Nha Trang, Vietnam: Sun, Sand And Scuba Diving
  • Mui Ne Beaches
  • Mui Ne Dunes
  • Can Tho: Travelling The Mekong Delta
  • Ben Tre – An Oasis For Vietnam Travellers
  • Phan Rang-Thap Cham
  • Phu Quoc Island – Vietnam’s Isle Of Empty Beaches
  • The Old Propaganda Poster Shop, Hanoi

Travelhappy Travel Guides

  • Myanmar Travel Guide
  • Singapore Travel Guide
  • Thailand Travel Guide
  • Vietnam Travel Guide
  • Travel Tips

Travelhappy Travel Guides

  • Bangkok Travel Guide
  • Living In Bangkok Guide
  • Cambodia Travel Guide
  • Hong Kong Travel Guide
  • Indonesia Travel Guide
  • Laos Travel Guide

Disclosure

travelhappy.info is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Travelhappy may be compensated for any bookings made through Agoda.com, Booking.com, Skyscanner.com, WorldNomads.com, GAdventures.com and any other commercial travel organisation featured on this website.

World Nomads provides travel insurance for travellers in over 100 countries. As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is information only and not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.

© 2005–2025 travelhappy.info. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy