District 1 (Dong Khoi)

A look around

What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.

1/5

Where it sits

The circle is District 1 and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.

How far is everything?

From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.

• Ben Thanh Market7 min walk592 m
• War Remnants Museum12 min walk990 m
• Saigon street food17 min walk1.4 km
• Bui Vien walking street17 min walk1.4 km
• Jade Emperor Pagoda22 min walk1.8 km
• Vietnamese coffee culture25 min walk2.1 km
• Thien Hau Temple15 min taxi5.1 km
• Binh Tay Market19 min taxi6.3 km

On your doorstep

What you’re living next to if you stay here.

• 2.Reunification Palace — The eerie, perfectly preserved 1960s presidential palace where the war ended when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through its gates in 1975 — a time-capsule of retro state rooms, war bunkers and rooftop helipad. Fascinating modernist architecture and pivotal history in one; wander the war command rooms in the basement, and picture the fall of Saigon on the lawn out front.
• 3.Notre-Dame Cathedral — The twin red-brick spires of Saigon's Notre-Dame, built by the French from materials shipped out from Toulouse, are the emblem of the colonial old centre. Set on a square beside the grand old post office, it's the classic Saigon photo (note it may be under restoration). Together they're the heart of French Indochina in the city — start a downtown wander here.
• 4.Saigon Central Post Office — A gorgeous 19th-century post office beside the cathedral, often credited to the Eiffel workshops — a soaring, ochre-and-green vaulted hall of old maps, wooden phone booths and a giant portrait of Ho Chi Minh, still a working post office. Free, beautiful and delightfully atmospheric; buy a postcard, admire the ironwork, and step straight into colonial Saigon.
• 8.Nguyen Hue walking street — A wide pedestrian boulevard running from the ornate old People's Committee building (city hall) down to the river — where Saigon comes out in the evening to stroll, skateboard, snack and pose, with a Ho Chi Minh statue at the top and the famous graffiti 'Apartment Café' block halfway down. The city's living room after dark; join the crowds and feel the buzz.
• 11.A rooftop bar over the city — Saigon's skyline has exploded, and its rooftop bars are the glamorous way to take it in — cocktails high above the neon and the endless streams of motorbike headlights, from historic hotel terraces to sleek sky-lounges. Dress up, ride the lift and toast the city; it's the perfect sundowner before diving into the street-level nightlife below. The high-rise flip side of Saigon's street energy.