Nguyen Hue, the Opera House and the riverfront

A slow evening walk down Saigon’s grand boulevard, past the City Hall and the Opera House, to the river breeze as the lights come on.

Area

Saigon centre

Start from

District 1

Distance

walking distance, about 3 km

Time needed

2–3 hours, late afternoon into evening

Best season

All year; dry-season evenings from December to April are best

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot; optional Saigon Waterbus from Bach Dang pier

Tickets & rules

None; small fare for the waterbus

Why go

Nguyen Hue is the city’s living room. Once a canal and later a traffic-choked boulevard, it was turned into a wide pedestrian street, and in the evenings it fills with families, teenagers on roller skates, couples taking photos and children chasing bubbles. At its top stands the old City Hall, now the People’s Committee building, lit up like a wedding cake, with a statue of Ho Chi Minh in front.

Around the corner is the Opera House, a white Belle Époque theatre at the end of Le Loi, and next to it the Hotel Continental, one of the oldest hotels in the city. Walk down towards the river and you reach the Saigon River promenade, with views across to the towers of Thu Thiem and the Ba Son bridge glowing at night.

It is not a quiet walk, but it is a joyful one, and it shows Saigon at its most sociable.

The story

Nguyen Hue was once a canal, the Grand Canal or Kinh Lon, filled in by the French in the 1880s to make a boulevard. For a century it was lined with flower stalls before Tet, and older residents still talk about the flower market that used to fill it in the days before the lunar new year. Today a flower street is still set up nearby for the holiday, along with huge decorative displays.

The City Hall was built between 1902 and 1908 in a lavish French style. It is not open to visitors, but at night its facade becomes the backdrop of the whole street.

The Opera House opened in 1900 and was modelled on the Petit Palais in Paris. For a while in the 1950s and 1960s it served as the seat of the southern assembly, before returning to music and theatre. Today it hosts concerts and a contemporary circus show inspired by southern rural life that many travellers love.

Look out for the apartment building at number 42 Nguyen Hue: a tired sixties block whose flats have been taken over by cafés and small shops, stacked floor upon floor. It has become one of the most photographed facades in the city.

Getting there

Start at the People’s Committee building at the top of Nguyen Hue, a short walk from the cathedral or from Ben Thanh Market. The river end of the street is about one kilometre further. Bach Dang pier, for the waterbus, is a few minutes along the riverbank.

A suggested plan

1. 5:00 pmBegin at the City Hall as the afternoon heat breaks; walk down Nguyen Hue.
2. 5:30 pmDetour to the Opera House and the Hotel Continental on Dong Khoi.
3. 6:00 pmClimb the stairs of the 42 Nguyen Hue apartment building for a café with a view.
4. SunsetWalk to the riverfront and watch the lights come on across the water.
5. OptionalTake the waterbus a few stops upriver and back, or catch a show at the Opera House.

Where to stay

Hotels along Dong Khoi and Nguyen Hue are central but pricier; the side streets of District 1 have plenty of smaller options. The riverfront is a ten-minute walk from most of them.

Good to know

• Weekend evenings are busiest and liveliest; weekdays are calmer.
• The elevator at the 42 Nguyen Hue building may charge a small fee; the stairs are free.
• Look up: the best details on the old buildings are above the shop signs.
• For the Opera House shows, book a day or two ahead.