Bong Sen Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City.
Michael Gebicki shares his tips for enjoying this fast-paced city on the banks of the Saigon River.
STAY
Budget
In a crowded and atmospheric alleyway, Bich Duyen Hotel is a backpacker favourite close to the sprawling Ben Thanh market. Rooms are clean, simple and pared down to the basics but at prices starting from about $17 there's a lot to like (283/4 Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, 3837 4588, bichduyenhotel@yahoo.com). Small, friendly, tidy and well-located, The Spring Hotel is a budget traveller's dream. Go for one of the quieter rooms on the upper floors. Double rooms start at $38 (44-46 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, 3829 7362, www.springhotelvietnam.com). Ngoc Minh Hotel is possibly the best choice in the backpacker area. Decor is no-frills but this hotel has everything the budget traveller needs. Rooms start at $23, including breakfast. (283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, 3837 6407, www.ngocminh-hotel.com).
Mid-range
The three-star Bong Sen Hotel is great value and, while charm is in short supply, the facilities are impressive. Request a non-smoking room and ignore the published room rate, which starts about $75/double; special deals are usually available (117-123 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3829 1516, www.hotelbongsen.com). A makeover at the Oscar Saigon Hotel has brought it to the brink of cool. Facilities include a health club but the location on one of Ho Chi Minh's busiest thoroughfares means it's noisy. Double rooms start about $95 (68A Nguyen Hue Avenue, District 1, 3829 2959, www.oscar-saigonhotel.com).
Luxe
With an illustrious history that includes Graham Greene and Catherine Deneuve as guests, the Hotel Continental has all the right credentials yet only the star-struck can ignore its shortcomings. Rooms are clean but dated and without character. Rates are of reasonable value, starting about $120 (132-134 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3829 9201, www.continentalhotel.com.vn). A favourite with business travellers, the Caravelle Hotel (pictured below) is a sleek, bustling, international-style hotel and it's hard to fault the rooms, service or facilities, or the room rate, which starts about $165 (19 Lam Son Square, District 1, 3823 4999, www.caravellehotel.com).
Splash out
Statuesque, crisp and cool, the all-white Park Hyatt Saigon is the ritziest act in town. All is slick, satisfying and well tailored. Rooms are luxuriously appointed and the decor is accented with Vietnamese motifs. Rooms start at $275 (2 Lam Son Square, District 1, 3824 1234, saigon.park.hyatt.com). The Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers is everything you would expect from a big American chain. The 470-room hotel is comforting and professional yet, apart from the staff, it could be anywhere. Rates start at $210 (88 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3827 2828, www.sheraton.com/saigon).
SHOP + PLAY
To market
Ben Thanh Market is the biggie and you'll either love it or loathe it. The specialty here is cheap and cheerful everything — T-shirts, handbags, suitcases, jewellery, footwear and pirated DVDs. Bargain hard, with a starting price about a quarter of what the merchant asks and beware pickpockets (daily, 7am-7pm, intersection of Le Loi, Ham Nghi, Tran Hung Dao and Le Lai streets, District 1). Saigon Square is a budget-priced shopping complex crammed with knockoffs of familiar fashion and sporting labels. Quality varies hugely according to price and if you bargain, you can strike some solid-gold deals (daily 9am-9pm, corner Le Duan Boulevard and Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1).
Go shop
Mai Lam is a former boat person who returned to Vietnam from Australia to become one of the city's hottest avant-garde designers. Her store, Mai's, which is decorated with vintage motorcycles, showcases her chic urban street wear, including embroidered garments for the bold and beautiful (132-134 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3827 2733, www.mailam.com.vn). Saigon Crafts sells gorgeous laquer bowls, pots, boxes and decorative pieces in eye-popping colours, from burnished gold to sunset reds (74 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3829 5758, www.saigoncrafts.com). Despite several cut-price competitors, Khai Silk is still the place to go for slinky shirts, jackets, ties and nightwear that clings in all the right places (107 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3829 1146, www.khaisilkcorp.com).
Live music
HCM City gets serious when jazz comes on the menu and saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan's Sax N' Art Jazz Club interweaves contemporary jazz with Vietnamese influences. Leave this one until after dinner; the action takes time to find the right gear (28 Le Loi Street, District 1, 822 8472, www.saxnart.com). On the top floor of the Caravelle Hotel, Saigon Saigon (pictured) is one of the city's legendary nightspots, an indoor-outdoor live-music bar that rocks the night away and pulls a smart crowd (ninth floor, Caravelle Hotel, 19 Lam Son Square, District 1, 3823 4999, www.caravellehotel.com). With musical genres from funk to reggae to rap, Yoko Cafe is the place to hear local bands in their pre-discovery phase, belting it out to an appreciative audience of mostly young Saigonese who squeeze in to defy the phone-booth dimensions (22A Nguyen Thi Dieu Street, District 3, 3933 0577).
Nightclubs
Though District 3 has a few good bars and nightclubs, District 1 is where to look. The Apocalypse Bar Club on Thi Sach Street is legendary, while the newer Secrets Bar on Ton That Dam Street has dancing on the top floor and Ginger 60 on Ton That Thep Street has live music.
SEE + DO
Icons
The War Remnants Museum tells the story of Vietnam during the period when the nation was fighting against the French and then the US alliance. The overriding message is a call for peace (15,000 dong, 28 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, 3930 5587). Reunification Palace, also known as the Palace of Independence, is the former home of the South Vietnamese president — left virtually untouched since the day in 1975 when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through the gates in a symbolic end to the Vietnam War (15,000 dong, 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 1, 822 3652).
Culture
Cholon is the city's Chinatown district, where calligraphy, herbalists' shops, restaurants and temples create a distinct ambience separate from the rest of the city. Thien Hau Pagoda is a small but photogenic temple that honours the psychic Thien Hau, the sea goddess (710 Nguyen Trai Street, Cholon). Chua Quan Am is the oldest temple in Cholon, where the clouds of wafting incense smoke, blaring music and kaleidoscope of colours and statues add to sensory overload. The monks are friendly and usually happy to show you around but a donation is appropriate (12 Lao Tu Street, Cholon). The oldest temple in the city, Giac Lam Pagoda, stands on the fringes of Cholon (118 Lac Long Quan Street, Tan Binh, District 5).
Foot work
Dong Khoi Street is one of the city's most atmospheric thoroughfares. Start at the Notre Dame Cathedral (pictured), which dominates the square at the corner of Nguyen Du and Dong Khoi streets. Turn your back on the church and walk down Dong Khoi Street, sparing a glance for the Saigon Post Office. After passing several glossy new shopping centres, Dong Khoi enters Lam Son Square, which is dominated by the gorgeous Opera House. This square was one of the centrepieces of the movie version of The Quiet American, Graham Greene's classic novel of disquiet. Admire the French-style facade of the Hotel Continental before you continue down Dong Khoi. This final section between the square and the Saigon River is where you'll find some of the city's highest-quality shopping, especially lacquerware and silk.
Follow the leader
The Cu Chi Tunnels, about 70 kilometres north-west of Ho Chi Minh City, were built by the Vietcong as an operations base for their attacks on Saigon. This 200-kilometre-plus network was built over multiple levels — with meeting rooms, hospitals and kitchens — and provides a fascinating insight into the resourcefulness, determination and sheer guts with which the Vietnamese communists took on the US military (65,000 dong, www.cuchitunnel.org.vn). Cu Chi is usually combined with a visit to the Cao Dai Holy See Temple. The Cao Dai faith takes the words of Jesus Christ, the prophet Muhammad, Buddha, Victor Hugo and Martin Luther King jnr and stirs them together. The Holy See Temple is a truly arresting sight. Try to be there for the daily prayer sessions, attended by a robed congregation (Tay Ninh township).
EAT + DRINK
Cafe culture
Cafes are an intrinsic part of urban Vietnamese life, thanks in part to a lingering French influence. Highlands Coffee Cafes can be found at a couple of places along Dong Khoi and, although the locations are hectic, the open-air cafes are relaxing and good for people-watching. The Highlands Coffee Cafe at the back of the Hanoi Opera House is particularly satisfying. Ciao Cafe has scrumptious chocolate brownies and apple cakes to go with the Vietnamese-style coffee. The cafe also has free Wi-Fi. (72 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, District 1, 3823 1130). The cafes around the Ho Con Rua fountain at the intersection of Vo Van Tan, Tran Cao Van and Pham Ngoc Thach streets are a popular grazing ground for locals.
Snack attack
When the Vietnamese stomach starts to rumble, its owner reaches for a bowl of pho. This flavoursome broth of rice noodles with beef or chicken is simple, cheap and satisfying. Pho 24 is the city's ubiquitous fast-food outlet, with restaurants at prominent locations. A bowl of pho gai — chicken — should cost about $3 but avoid the lunchtime crush. Pao Restaurant & Cafe is a local hero who dishes out the staples of the Vietnamese kitchen, such as spring rolls, hot pot and, of course, pho (158 Bui Vien Street, District 1). Forgive the name but Fanny Ice Cream is the place to go for a delicious treat. These are French-style glaces, the taste of heaven. Hard to find but every taxi driver knows it (29-31 Ton That Thiep Street, District 1).
Top tables
Just off Dong Khoi, Xu Saigon is one of the slickest acts in town. Upstairs is a more formal restaurant with an East-West fusion food menu, downstairs is a light and casual Vietnamese bistro that becomes one of the city's best cocktail bars at sundown. (71-75 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, 3824 8468 www.xusaigon.com). Glamorous, romantic and very white and twinkly, La Cantine looks like something out of a French film starring Catherine Deneuve. The service, presentation and food are five-star, with prices to match. On the ground floor is a casual cafe with all the Vietnamese favourites (6 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3823 8866, www.lacantine.vn). Vietnamese food in a fine-dining context is the forte at Hoa Tuc at a former opium refinery. There's a choice of dining — in the colonial-style house or out on the terrace (74/7 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, 3825 1676).
By the glass
Ho Chi Minh City has a hallowed reputation for its energetic bar scene. Set in the basement of the Opera House, Q Bar is a long-standing icon, with bars bathed in ultraviolet light. (7 Lam Son Square, District 1, 3823 3479). Smart and sophisticated, Cepage is a restaurant as well as wine bar but it's the bar that pulls in the cool crowd (22 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, 3823 8733, www.cepage.biz). The Catinat Lounge on the ground floor of the colonial-style Majestic Hotel transforms its patrons into movie stars with decor and manners that take it back to the heady days of French colonial rule. Blue Sky Bar has river views from the fifth-floor terrace (1 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, 3829 5517).
Hot tip
Di choi is cruising, Vietnamese style. Every Sunday night, most of the city straddles a motorbike and cruises the streets in a noisy party on wheels that lasts until midnight. Watch or, better still, join in the action from the back seat of a motorcycle taxi.
Getting there
Vietnam Airlines flies from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City five times a week. This is the only direct service between Sydney and Ho Chi Minh City. 1300 888 028, www.vietnamairlines.com.
Getting around
Walk, take a motorcycle taxi, a car-taxi or a bright-green public bus.
Visas and currency
Australian passport holders require a visa to visit Vietnam. Download an application form from vietnamembassy.org.au and send it to the consulate in Edgecliff or the embassy in Canberra.
A one-month, single-entry visa costs $70. The currency is the dong. $1=19,140 dong.
Calling Ho Chi Minh City
The country code for Vietnam is +84 and Ho Chi Minh City is 8. To call any number on this page, add +848 to the numbers listed.
More information
Saigon Tourist, www.etravelvietnam.com.
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