Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden — Attraction in Ho Chi Minh City

Review of Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Ho Chi Minh City

The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, nestled in the heart of bustling Ho Chi Minh City, is a fascinating blend of colonial history, botanical beauty, and family-friendly wildlife encounters. Established in 1864, it’s one of the oldest zoos in the world, and its age shows both in its charm and in certain areas that could benefit from modernization.

The Gardens: The botanical side of the zoo is surprisingly lush and peaceful. Towering tropical trees provide shade, and the layout invites leisurely walks. The gardens include hundreds of species of flora native to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. If you’re a plant lover or photographer, the diversity and size of the trees are impressive, and the paths winding around them create lovely vignettes. Several rare plant species are labeled, although signage could be more informative.

The Zoo: The animal enclosures vary greatly in quality. Some, especially those housing elephants, tigers, and bears, feel outdated and a bit cramped by modern standards. However, newer areas — such as those for birds and reptiles — show improvements in habitat design and animal care. The zoo is making gradual strides toward better welfare, though animal lovers may find some exhibits concerning.

Atmosphere and Activities: What the Saigon Zoo offers that many others do not is an unmistakable local flavor. Families gather here on weekends for picnics, school trips fill the paths with chatter, and street vendors sell Vietnamese snacks and toys. There’s even a small amusement park section with rides for kids, making this more of a cultural community space than just a zoological attraction.

Educational Value: There are opportunities for learning, particularly for children, with simple signs and interactive displays, but the zoo could benefit from improved educational materials in both Vietnamese and English. That said, the historical aspect of the site — with its French colonial architecture and century-old trees — adds a dimension of significance.

Final Thoughts: Visiting the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens is more than just a wildlife experience; it's a journey through time and culture. While the zoo's animal facilities are in need of modernization, the overall experience remains enjoyable, especially if you approach it as a window into Vietnamese life rather than comparing it to Western or more modern zoos. For travelers with an afternoon to spare — especially those with children — it’s a...

2 stars due to skinny looking animals. I understand that we cannot compare them to the zoo back home but this is animal cruelty on a certain level. Did not completely hate it as I noticed the zoo keepers being gentle with the animals.

Butterfly park had a measly amount of Butterflies flapping around. They were all either eaten by the salamanders we saw or, they died from kids plucking out their wings whilst their parents watched proudly.

Tiger, lion, leopard enclosures were a joke. You could clearly see they were agitated. Most of them were pacing up and down, a white tiger pounced onto the glass after prowling towards us.

Hippo had nowhere to move. He had two options, stand still in the water or out of the water.

Bird cages were disgusting, toucans stuffed into cages no wider than their wing span. I refused to take a photo of them. Macaws were packed into cages with other birds.

The Gazelles were beautiful. Even though they looked starved their enclosure was the right size for them. Defeats the purpose.

The only enclosure we approved of was the deer enclosure. It was huge and deers looked fed. Surprised to see some wildebeests in there.

Hyenas were curled up into a ball. Neither of them looked healthy. Clearly most of the animals were sleeping off their starvation.

The worst part of this whole experience were the locals. They were throwing rubbish into the enclosures, screaming and banging the cages. Children and adults were petting the goats a little too hard, feeding paper from the bin to the goats. They were banging on the glass of all the enclosures and the zoo keepers did nothing. Hippo and Crocodiles were hit with one or two plastic bottles. They threw random leaves into the elephant enclosure which the Elephants scurried to eat. It was truly a pathetic sight. And to make things even more ridiculous, there was a show going in the middle of the zoo blasting loud techno music, which kept startling the monkeys driving them into a screaming frenzy.

I hope this review gives you a perspective of what your experience would be like. Best not to patronise this zoo. There are many other things to look at in...

Went here today as we had a day spare in HCM. We read the reviews 1st but decided to give it a go as the reviews were mixed. THIS PLACE NEEDS CLOSING DOWN IMMEDIATELY. As per other reviews we noted the animals look depressed & undernourished. Many enclosures had little to no water. Those that did, had swamp like cess pits with litter floating. We witnessed people feeding animals with human grade food. Not a keeper anywhere to be seen to tell them off. The reptile enclosures were small, overcrowded & devoid of any greenery, again with no water. If there was greenery it was the occadional weed that was managing to survive. We passed several reptile enclosures with upto 30 large Water Dragons in them. These reptiles usually laze around, you will hardly ever see them move in other parks we've been to. Here they were climbing the glass, fighting each other & head shaking in a space big enough for perhaps 3 or 4 lizards in other zoo's. The big cats are a sad sight to behold, again they were pacing & undernourished without any greenery in their enclosures. Their hip bones were all but showing. There was one lonely Chimpanzee lay in a hamock. He had nothing to keep him entertained. Again he/she had no live plants or vegetaion in the enclosure. My dog has more enrichment toys than that poor thing. The animals in this zoo were very active, but not in a good way. They were pacing, fighting & head shaking. Im no expert, but I have kept all maner of livestock. These animals could & should be kept better, which obviously this company is struggling to do. The grounds are full of litter & neither pass well for a zoo nor botanic garden. The management should decide if this is a theme park, zoo or botanic garden, instead of trying to do it all. (Badly may I add). I appreciate that all zoo's are different world wide, but this is definitely the WORST we have ever been to. Don't think this is a Vietnamese thing as we visited Phu Quoc Zoo & Safari Park & it was immaculate. The animals their looked very well looked after & the enclosures were spotlessly clean. As you would expect. Find...