Free Walking Tour Ho Chi Minh City: Palace to Market

Ho Chi Minh City Walking Tour: Nine Stops Through Old Saigon

1. 1

   Independence Palace

   

   Begin at the gates where the Vietnam War ended. On 30 April 1975 a tank of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam crashed through them, and the Fall of Saigon was sealed on the lawn in front of you. The building behind, officially also called Reunification Hall, was the home and workplace of the president of the Republic of Vietnam. Today it is a museum and also a hall the state still uses for official events.

   The palace you see is the second on this spot. The first was badly damaged when two dissident pilots of South Vietnam's own air force bombed it, and in 1962 President Ngô Đình Diệm ordered a replacement. Work began on 1 July 1962 while his family moved to Gia Long Palace, now the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City. Diệm never moved in: in November 1963 he and his brother and chief adviser, Ngô Đình Nhu, were killed after a coup led by General Dương Văn Minh. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, then head of a military junta, opened the finished hall on 31 October 1966.

   Look at it as the work of one Vietnamese architect. Ngô Viết Thụ had won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1955, the highest honour of the Beaux-Arts school in Paris, and here he designed the seat of power for a Vietnamese head of state. After reunification the building kept serving as a government office until 1976, when those functions moved to Hanoi.

   Going inside is worth it for anyone curious about how South Vietnam was governed and how the war ended; allow about an hour and a quarter. It makes an easy first stop of the day.

   From the palace it is 880 m, about 12 minutes on foot, to the War Remnants Museum, which tells the same war from a very different angle.

   Local name

   Dinh Độc Lập

   Hours

   Daily 07:00–18:00

   Price

   80,000 VND standard combo (Palace + Exhibition), 40,000 VND palace only

   Website

   dinhdoclap.gov.vn ↗

   Location

   Independence Palace on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   War Remnants Museum

   

   This is the war as remembered by the side that won it, and the museum does not soften its subject. Exhibits cover the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War, arranged in themed rooms across several buildings around a walled yard at 28 Võ Văn Tần Street.

   Its names trace postwar politics. It opened on 4 September 1975 as the Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes, in the former United States Information Agency building, continuing a tradition of exhibitions that exposed first French and then American war crimes. In 1990 it became the Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression, dropping “U.S.” and “Puppet”. In 1995, a year after the US embargo ended and as diplomatic relations were normalised, “war crimes” and “aggression” went as well, leaving the War Remnants Museum.

   In the yard stand a Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, a Northrop F-5A fighter, an M48 Patton tank, a Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a Cessna A-37 Dragonfly and a BLU-82 “Daisy Cutter” bomb. Look closely at the aircraft: several with “U.S. Air Force” markings actually belonged to the South Vietnamese Air Force and were relabelled for display. In one corner lie pieces of unexploded ordnance, their charges or fuses removed.

   Inside, one building reproduces the “tiger cages” in which the South Vietnamese government held political prisoners. It is heavy going and worth it for anyone who wants to understand how Vietnam remembers the war; give it an hour and a half. The museum charges admission.

   Next comes the longest leg of the walk: 1030 m, about 14 minutes, to the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, where colonial Saigon begins.

   Local name

   Bảo tàng Chứng tích chiến tranh

   Hours

   Daily 07:30–17:30

   Price

   40,000 VND general admission, 20,000 VND reduced

   Website

   baotangchungtichchientranh.vn ↗

   Location

   War Remnants Museum on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

   

   Two bell towers, 58 metres high, announce the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, built by the French between 1877 and 1880. Look at the brick of the outer walls: it came from Toulouse, and every building material was shipped from France. In the forecourt stands the statue of Our Lady of Peace, installed in 1959; only since then has the church been called Notre-Dame. Its official name is the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

   The French first called it simply the Church of Saigon, and it had predecessors. After the conquest of Cochinchina the first church stood on today's Ngô Đức Kế Street and soon proved too small. On 28 March 1863 Bishop Lefevre laid the first stone of a wooden church on the bank of the Charner canal, finished two years later. When termites damaged it, services moved into a reception room of the French Governor's Palace until the present cathedral was ready.

   Even the site was debated. Three plots were considered: today's corner of Lê Duẩn Boulevard and Hai Bà Trưng Street, the bank of the Kinh Lớn canal, and the spot where the cathedral now stands. J. Bourard won the construction contract and supervised the work. Keep that canal in mind: later on this walk you stroll along the boulevard that replaced it.

   A visit costs nothing, and the façade and forecourt alone make the stop worthwhile even on a tight schedule. The Saigon Central Post Office is right next door, 80 m and about a minute away.

   Local name

   Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Saigon Central Post Office

   

   Beside the cathedral, the Saigon Central Post Office still works as a post office, and walking in is free. The French built it between 1886 and 1891 to a design by Marie-Alfred Foulhoux, an eclectic Western building trimmed with Eastern decoration.

   Its story begins with conquest. Right after taking Gia Định, the French hurried to set up communications, and the Saigon post office opened on 13 January 1863 with Admiral Bonard presiding. At first it served only the administration; ordinary residents could use it from 1 January 1864. That same year the first stamp was issued, which the people of Saigon nicknamed “con cò”, the stork.

   The building in front of you is the larger second version, opened in 1891. The network grew fast around it: on 22 March 1888 a 2,000 km telegraph line linked Saigon with Quy Nhơn, Đà Nẵng, Huế, Vinh and Hanoi, in 1889 a telegraph link to Bangkok followed for traders, and on 1 July 1894 Saigon began using telephones.

   Go in for a few minutes even if you have nothing to post; the hall is the point of the visit. From here it is 570 m, about 8 minutes, to the Saigon Opera House.

   Local name

   Bưu điện trung tâm Sài Gòn

   Hours

   Mon–Sat: 07:30–18:00 | Sun: 08:00–17:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Saigon Central Post Office on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Saigon Opera House

   

   The Saigon Opera House was completed in 1900 as the Opéra de Saïgon, its façade shaped like the Petit Palais, built the same year in France. Architect Félix Olivier gave it its character, while Ernest Guichard and Eugène Ferret supervised construction. All inscriptions, décor and furnishings were drawn by a French artist and sent from France.

   Look at the reliefs on the front. Critics found the original decoration too ornate, and some of it was removed in 1943; the city restored a portion in 1998 for Saigon's 300th anniversary, when the façade was renovated. The theatre once held 1,800 people on a main floor and two levels above it; today it seats 500.

   For two decades it was not a theatre at all. From 1956 it housed South Vietnam's National Assembly, from 1967 its Lower House and Senate, and in 1975 the People's Congress of Deputies of the Republic of South Vietnam. Only in 1976 did performances return. French theatre in Saigon is older than the building: in 1863 the colonists invited a company to play for the French legion in the admiral's villa on the Clock Square, today the corner of Nguyễn Du and Đồng Khởi streets.

   You can admire the exterior at any hour. The interior opens only during performances, so if you want to see it, buy a show ticket at the HBSO box office. Dong Khoi Street is just 60 m away, about a minute's walk.

   Local name

   Nhà hát Sài Gòn

   Hours

   Exterior viewable at any time; interior only during performances (HBSO box office Mon–Fri 08:30–16:30, Sat–Sun 09:00–12:00)

   Price

   Free (exterior); performance tickets vary

   Website

   hbso.org.vn ↗

   Location

   Saigon Opera House on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Dong Khoi Street

   

   Dong Khoi Street has been Saigon's smartest shopping address since French times, lined with luxury shops and hotels. It runs one way from opposite the cathedral down to the riverside at Bạch Đằng, and the road itself is older than the French arrival.

   Its names read like a history lesson. The French first gave it the number 16, then on 1 February 1865 named it rue Catinat, after Marshal Nicolas de Catinat, who served Louis XIV, and after the warship Catinat that reached Đà Nẵng in 1856 and attacked Saigon in 1859. In 1897 the section behind the cathedral was cut off and given other names.

   In colonial days rue Catinat was considered the face of all Saigon. Government offices stood here alongside the city's first upmarket restaurants, hotels and shops. In 1955 the Saigon government renamed it Tự Do, and in 1975 the authorities of the Republic of South Vietnam gave it today's name, Đồng Khởi: three names for one street, each from a different regime.

   Walk a stretch of it at your own pace; looking costs nothing and the street is open around the clock. Nguyen Hue Walking Street lies 400 m away, about 5 minutes on foot.

   Local name

   Đường Đồng Khởi

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Dong Khoi Street on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   Nguyen Hue Walking Street

   

   Nguyen Hue Walking Street was water before it was a street. Here ran the Kinh Lớn, the Grand Canal, linking the old Citadel of Saigon to the Saigon River, and in the first decades of French rule the central market stood on its bank. In 1865 its two quays were named Quai Charner and Quai Rigault de Genouilly.

   The canal smelled so foul that residents soon asked for it to be filled in. Even so, it took eighteen years of discussion before the work was done in 1886 and 1887, creating boulevard Charner. From 1926 mayor Rouelle had it laid out as two wide avenues split by a thin strip of grass, and in 1955 the South Vietnamese government renamed it after Nguyễn Huệ.

   The pedestrian square is recent: the city decided in October 2014 to turn the central lanes over to walkers, and the project was finished on 29 April 2015. The boulevard runs from Lê Thánh Tôn Street, facing Ho Chi Minh City Hall, down to the river at Tôn Đức Thắng Boulevard. On weekend evenings the whole boulevard is closed to vehicles, and at lunar new year it turns into the Nguyen Hue Flower Street.

   It is free and open around the clock; look up toward City Hall at one end and down to the river at the other. From here it is 730 m, about 10 minutes, to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts.

   Local name

   Đường Nguyễn Huệ

   Hours

   Open 24/7 (pedestrian-only restrictions on weekend evenings)

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Nguyen Hue Walking Street on Google Maps ↗

8. 8

   Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts

   

   The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts is as much about its building as its collection. A French architect named Rivera designed it in 1929, and it was finished in 1934, blending Chinese and French architecture in one grand house at 97 Phó Đức Chính.

   The house belonged to Hui Bon Hoa, in Vietnamese Huỳnh Văn Hoà, one of old Saigon's richest and best-known merchants. He also owned the Majestic Hotel, Từ Dũ Hospital, Saigon General Hospital and Phụng Sơn Pagoda, among other landmarks of the city.

   The city made the house a museum in 1987, but it took several years to gather enough works to open the doors. Today its three floors hold paintings, sculpture and antiquities, among them Nguyễn Gia Trí's lacquer painting “Spring Garden of North, Central and South”.

   Go in if Vietnamese art or colonial interiors interest you; 45 minutes is enough for a first look. The museum charges admission. The final leg is 440 m, about 6 minutes, to Ben Thanh Market.

   Local name

   Bảo tàng Mỹ thuật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

   Hours

   Daily 08:00–17:00

   Price

   30,000 VND per person

   Website

   baotangmythuattphcm.com.vn ↗

   Location

   Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts on Google Maps ↗

9. 9

   Ben Thanh Market

   

   Ben Thanh Market, with its bell tower facing the square, is one of the earliest surviving structures in the city and one of its symbols. The French firm Brossard & Mopin built it, and its French Indochinese design stands out among the modern buildings around it.

   The market is older than its hall. It began near the Saigon River, once called the Bến Nghé, beside the Citadel of Saigon, as a floating market where canals let boats load and unload goods. In 1912 it moved here, next to the Mỹ Tho railway station, today's Saigon bus station.

   Inside, 13,056 m² hold nearly 1,500 booths and more than 6,000 small businesses, selling everything from everyday goods to luxury items to over 10,000 visitors a day. The main entrance is on the south side at Lê Lợi Boulevard and Quách Thị Trang Square; others open onto Lê Thánh Tôn, Phan Bội Châu and Phan Châu Trinh.

   Entry is free. During the day the market stalls trade, and in the evening the night market takes over. Your walk ends here, and if you want to return to the Independence Palace, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back.

   Local name

   Chợ Bến Thành

   Hours

   Daily 07:00–22:00 (fresh food/breakfast from 04:00; core market stalls active until 18:00)

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Ben Thanh Market on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Saigon's Centre

The full walk fills most of a day. These shorter versions keep the same order and pick the part that suits your interest or the hour.

War and reunification morning

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For history readers with a morning to spare: the palace, the War Remnants Museum and on to the cathedral. 1,910 m and 26 minutes of walking. The palace and the museum charge admission; at the palace you can add the exhibition with a combined ticket.

Colonial centre

Stops: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

For architecture lovers or anyone arriving after lunch: cathedral, post office, opera house, the two great streets, the merchant's mansion and the market. 2,280 m and 31 minutes of walking; only the Museum of Fine Arts charges admission.

Evening stroll

Stops: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

For a walk after the museums close: the opera façade, Dong Khoi Street, Nguyen Hue Walking Street, past the Fine Arts mansion and into Ben Thanh's night market. 1,630 m and 22 minutes of walking, no admission; best on a weekend evening, when Nguyen Hue is free of traffic.

How Long the Ho Chi Minh City Tour Takes, Museums Included

The walking itself takes 58 minutes. The real time goes into the stops: about an hour and a quarter in the Independence Palace, an hour and a half in the War Remnants Museum, 45 minutes each in the Museum of Fine Arts and Ben Thanh Market, and shorter stays at the cathedral, the post office, the opera façade and the two streets. That comes to about six and a half hours: leave the palace gates at 08:00 and you reach the market at around 14:30.

The war and reunification morning takes about three hours and ten minutes with both interiors. The colonial centre needs about three hours and twenty minutes including the museum and the market. The evening stroll fits into about two hours.

Before You Set Off in District 1

• Start: The Independence Palace. You can join at any stop, but this order is the recommended one.
• End: Ben Thanh Market. The route runs one way; the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back to the start if you want.
• When to go: Start in the morning so the museums and the post office fit comfortably into your day.
• Admission: The palace (with an optional combo ticket for the exhibition), the War Remnants Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts charge admission; everything else is free.

Common Questions About Walking Ho Chi Minh City