This guide is built from the live tour page of Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour on A Chef’s Tour — price, start time, group size, tastings and dietary notes come straight from the operator, never invented.

What the Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour Is

A Chef’s Tour runs small-group food walks in around 80 cities, and its Ho Chi Minh City tours stay deliberately away from the tourist centre of District 1. Instead they work through the backstreets of District 3, an area the operator describes as one for locals-in-the-know, visiting family kitchens that have been feeding the neighbourhood for decades. Groups are limited to eight guests, and the page promises 15+ food tastings over 3.5 to 4 hours, depending on the pace of the group.

There are two departures with the same price. The morning tour starts at 10:00 AM and the evening tour at 4:00 PM, both at US$45 per person. The two routes share a lot of ground, including the neighbourhood, a visit to a secret weapons bunker and a stroll through the Nguyen Thien Thuat apartment complex, a former home for American soldiers that is now a warren of street food stalls.

A note on how we wrote this. We are Joona and Alla, a family who live in Rovaniemi, Finland, and we research food tours for readers who travel with children. We have not taken this tour, so everything below comes from A Chef’s Tour’s own pages and we say plainly where the pages are silent.

Child Prices, Infants and What a Family Pays

The child policy is the same on both Ho Chi Minh City departures: children aged 3–12 pay half the adult price, and infants aged 0–2 are free. That gives these example totals at the listed US$45 per adult:

These are our own sums from the listed prices, so treat the booking page as the final word. Teenagers aged 13 and over are not covered by the child rate on the page, so expect to pay the full adult price for them.

Is half price good value? A child who eats a good share of 15+ tastings is getting a meal and an introduction to Vietnamese food for US$22.50. A child who nibbles one taste and asks for plain rice is paying for a guided walk. We would book it for children who already eat noodles, grilled meat and rice dishes without fuss.

Morning or Evening: Which Departure Suits Children

Both tours cost US$45 per person and include 15+ food tastings, so the choice is about your child’s day. These are the facts from the pages, followed by our reading of them.

A 10:00 AM start finishes at roughly 1:30 to 2:00 PM, which makes the walk a long, late lunch. That fits naturally with a nap or pool afternoon for younger children. Ho Chi Minh City is hot and humid, and a midday walk does mean the warmest hours, so hats, sun cream and a water bottle matter even though bottled water is included.

A 4:00 PM start finishes at roughly 7:30 to 8:00 PM. The heat is gentler and the streets feel more alive, but it is a dinner-time finish that can tip tired five-year-olds into meltdown. For children aged about eight and over who enjoy the buzz of an evening street, we would choose the evening. For under-sevens, we would choose the morning, and the Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour (morning) ends with an interactive coffee workshop that the page describes, so check with the operator what a child can do there.

What Children Actually Eat on the Route

A Chef’s Tour keeps most of the menu secret, but the live pages name enough dishes to judge what a child might like. We have sorted them by how easy they look for children, based on the descriptions rather than any first-hand experience.

• Likely easy: a pâté banh mi from a 40-year-old joint (morning), crispy khoai môn chiên taro cakes (evening), grilled pork with rice noodles, sticky rice, grilled bananas and pumpkin custard.
• Medium: bánh canh cua crab noodle soup with Chinese crullers for dunking, bò kho beef stew, red banh cua crab soup (morning), white shredded pork and coconut cream.
• Adventurous: beef wrapped in wild betel leaves, charcoal-grilled Babylon snails (with a salted egg sauce on the evening tour) and razor clams tossed with morning glory.

That mix is friendlier than it sounds. Children who like noodles and anything grilled have plenty to eat, and the shellfish stops are optional tastings, not a test. We would tell older children before the tour that they can say no to the snails without anyone minding.

One thing the pages do not say is how spicy the dishes are or whether a milder version is possible. Vietnamese food in the south is usually seasoned at the table with chilli and herbs, but we can’t say how this route handles it, so ask A Chef’s Tour at info@achefstour.com before you book.

Dietary Notes for Families, Straight From the Page

Both Ho Chi Minh City tours carry the same dietary lines. We quote them closely because “possible” never means “suitable”.

• Lactose intolerance: “Suitable for lactose intolerances, only 1-2 tastings have lactose”.
• Gluten: “Possible, though gluten is used in 1-2 tastings”. The page does not mention soy sauce here, so ask if you cook for a coeliac child.
• Pork: “Possible, though pork is used in 2-3 dishes. Unsuitable for halal diets”.
• Halal: “Unsuitable, as there are no vendors on the tour route that hold halal certification”.
• Pescatarian: “Possible, though meat is used in 3-4 tastings”.

The page lists nothing for vegetarian, vegan, egg, nut or seafood allergies. For those, A Chef’s Tour doesn’t list it, so ask them before booking at info@achefstour.com. Street-food stalls share woks and oil, so no operator can guarantee an allergen-free dish, and with a severe allergy we would not book without a written answer first.

Walking, Heat and Other Practical Points With Children

The page describes a food walk of 3.5 to 4 hours and does not give a stop count or a distance, so practical planning matters more than usual with young children.

• Pace: the tour moves at the pace of the group. With a group of up to eight, a slower child is easier to accommodate than on a large tour, but say so when you book.
• Buggies: the page does not describe pavements, steps or the bunker visit, and Saigon pavements are often crowded with parked motorbikes. We would bring a carrier for a baby and leave the buggy at the hotel.
• Heat and water: bottled water is included. Add a hat, light clothes and closed shoes.
• Toilets: the page doesn’t list them. Visit before you meet, and bring wet wipes.
• Meeting point: the exact meeting point comes with your booking confirmation. The page places the walk in District 3.
• Getting there: pick-up is not listed, so allow time for a taxi or ride-hailing car from your hotel.

For a child who flags easily, a good pattern is a decent breakfast, the 10:00 AM tour as lunch, then a rest in air conditioning.

Is It Worth It for a Family?

A family of four pays about US$135 for the walk, which includes 15+ tastings each for the adults and generous tasting for the children, bottled water and a local host. That is likely to replace a meal for everyone, so the real extra cost is smaller than it looks. You also gain a guide who explains how to order and what to try in a city where many menus are in Vietnamese only.

The tour is a worse fit for picky eaters, children who dislike noodles or rice, and anyone who needs a guaranteed allergen-free meal. It is also a poor idea for a jet-lagged toddler. If your children are happiest with predictable food, a relaxed lunch near your hotel may be the kinder choice, and you could try one tasting at a time on your own.

For a wider look, we have a first-visit review in Is the Ho Chi Minh City food tour by A Chef’s Tour worth it? and a comparison of both departures. If you also visit Hanoi, the Hanoi Food Tour (lunchtime) has the same child policy and starts at 10:00AM. Heading down the coast, the Da Nang Food Tour works the same way at the same US$45 price.

How to Book the Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour for a Family

You book directly with A Chef’s Tour on achefstour.com, and we never take payment. Open the tour page through our link, pick a date on the live calendar, add adults and children, and pay. Confirmation is instant, and the meeting-point details arrive with your booking confirmation.

• Choose the departure: Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour (morning) at 10:00 AM or Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour at 4:00 PM.
• Enter children’s ages correctly: the half-price rate is for ages 3–12 and infants 0–2 are free.
• Flag diets and allergies when you book and email info@achefstour.com for anything not listed above.
• Larger group or private tour: contact A Chef’s Tour, since the standard group cap is eight.

Cancellation, from the tour page: you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

We are an A Chef’s Tour affiliate and earn a commission on bookings made through our links — it does not change the price you pay.

FAQ

Our Honest Final Word

Is the Ho Chi Minh City food tour with kids a good idea? For curious eaters aged roughly six and up who can walk for about four hours, we think so: half price for ages 3–12, 15+ tastings, a group of no more than eight and a route through District 3 that is far from the tourist centre. The trade-offs are plain. The pages do not say how spicy the food is, shellfish and betel-leaf dishes will be a leap for some children, there is heat in the morning and a late finish in the evening, and the dietary lines are limited. We haven’t walked this route ourselves, so we send readers to it because the facts on the live pages add up, not because of a first-hand story.

Our choice for most families is the Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour (morning) with a nap afterwards. If your children are night owls, the Ho Chi Minh City Food Tour at 4:00 PM is the livelier option. Heading north, the Hanoi Food Tour has the same price and child policy.