The Jade Emperor Pagoda in the Đa Kao ward is defined by a multi-tiered roof adorned with ceramic figures of dragons, phoenixes, and other mythological creatures. Built in nineteen oh nine by a Cantonese immigrant named Lưu Minh, the…
Best of Ho Chi Minh City
This walk introduces you to the historic core of Saigon, highlighting French colonial structures, war history landmarks, and modern towers. It covers the city's essential sights in a continuous, easy-to-follow route.
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1. Jade Emperor Pagoda
2. War Remnants Museum
The War Remnants Museum is recognizable by the heavy military hardware staged in its walled outdoor yard, including a Bell UH-one Huey helicopter and an M-forty-eight Patton tank. Housed in the former United States Information Agency…
3. Independence Palace
Independence Palace is a broad, angular modernist structure located at one hundred thirty-five Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. It stands on the former site of the French colonial Norodom Palace, which was demolished after a nineteen sixty-two…
4. Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon
The Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon is defined by its exterior of bright red bricks imported from Toulouse, which have remained vibrant since the structure was completed in eighteen eighty. You can recognize it by its two soaring…
5. Saigon Central Post Office
The Saigon Central Post Office displays a mustard-yellow facade, trimmed in white and green, with a large clock mounted above the arched main entrance. It was built between eighteen eighty-six and eighteen ninety-one during the period of…
6. People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City
The People’s Committee Building is identifiable by its pale yellow and white facade, anchored by a prominent central clock tower at the northern end of Nguyen Hue Walking Street. Designed by French architect Fernand Gardès and constructed…
7. Ho Chi Minh City Opera House
The Ho Chi Minh City Opera House is identifiable by its ornate, cream-colored façade, which features a pair of stone-carved caryatids at the entrance and sweeping architectural lines inspired by the Petit Palais in Paris. Designed by…
8. Bitexco Financial Tower
The Bitexco Financial Tower is identifiable by a helipad that juts out from the fifty-second floor, appearing to hover away from the building’s main glass body. This sixty-eight-story skyscraper reaches two hundred and sixty-two meters…
9. Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is defined by the prominent, three-faced clock tower rising above its main southern entrance. The building itself, completed in nineteen fourteen, sits at the heart of District One as a sprawling, rectangular structure…