The Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum is a bright, butter-yellow mansion topped with red roof tiles and intricate ironwork. Before it held thousands of paintings and sculptures, it belonged to Hui Bon Hoa, a Chinese-born merchant who…
French Colonial Landmarks
This walk takes you through the architectural legacy of French rule in the heart of Saigon. You will visit the city's grandest colonial-era landmarks, from historic hotels and markets to majestic theaters and cathedrals, and see how they shaped modern downtown.
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1. Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum
2. Ben Thanh Market
The clock tower rising above the southern entrance is the signature of Ben Thanh Market. Before the current structure opened in nineteen fourteen, the market sat on the banks of a creek, a collection of informal stalls that served the…
3. Museum of Ho Chi Minh City
The Museum of Ho Chi Minh City features a pale, neoclassical facade adorned with ornate pilasters and a grand double staircase. Designed by French architect Alfred Foulhoux, it originally served as the Gia Long Palace for the governor of…
4. Hotel Continental Saigon
The Hotel Continental Saigon features a stark, white facade with deep, arched windows and wide balconies that overlook the city center. Built in eighteen eighty to provide French travelers a place that reminded them of home, it served as…
5. Ho Chi Minh City Opera House
The Ho Chi Minh City Opera House features a facade decorated with elaborate carvings and statues, designed in the flamboyant style of the French Third Republic. Built in eighteen ninety-eight, the building served as a home for high-society…
6. Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon
The Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon features two massive square bell towers topped with iron spires that reach nearly two hundred feet into the air. French colonists finished this structure in eighteen eighty, sourcing almost every material…
7. Saigon Central Post Office
The Saigon Central Post Office displays a bright yellow facade with arched windows and a portrait of Ho Chi Minh set high above the main entrance. Designed by Alfred Foulhoux and completed in eighteen ninety-one, the building served as the…