Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine
The Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, also known as FITO Museum, displays over 3,000 artifacts related to Vietnam’s traditional medicine, spanning from the Stone Age to the present.
Planning your visit
The FITO Museum occupies a purpose-built house in District 10 constructed in traditional style, with carved timber, tiled roofs and a staircase brought from a northern village, and the building is half the visit.
Over 3,000 objects trace Vietnamese medicine from the Stone Age onward: mortars and grinders, scales, knives, jars, prescription cabinets, distillation equipment, and the texts of Tuệ Tĩnh and Hải Thượng Lãn Ông, the physicians whose systems still underpin practice.
Vietnamese traditional medicine is distinct from Chinese, using largely local flora, and remains in widespread everyday use rather than surviving as heritage.
Guided visits include a film and, usually, tea and a demonstration of pill-rolling, and the shop sells remedies.
It is somewhat outside the tourist centre and easiest by taxi.
Allow ninety minutes. The main booking is a guided tour. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine?
Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine is in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
How long should I allow for Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine?
Allow ninety minutes. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine in advance?
Guided tours run to a fixed schedule and small group sizes, so they are usually booked ahead.
