Budget · 3-hour walk · Ho Chi Minh City
District One in three hours
The French cathedral and post office, the book street, the reunification palace and the central market.
Saigon's centre is a compact grid of French colonial civic buildings and 1960s modernism, all within a kilometre. The Reunification Palace is the one stop that genuinely needs the time: it was left exactly as it was on the day in 1975 that a tank came through the gates, down to the maps on the wall.
The route, stop by stop
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Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon
Built from bricks shipped from Marseille in the 1880s. Under long restoration, so the interior may be closed.
25 min here Walk here → -
Saigon Central Post Office
A working post office under a vaulted iron roof, with two painted colonial-era maps still on the walls.
20 min here Walk here → -
Nguyen Van Binh Book Street
A shaded pedestrian lane of bookshops and coffee beside the cathedral, opened in 2016 and immediately beloved.
20 min here Walk here → -
Independence Palace
Preserved as it was on 30 April 1975, war room and all. The 1960s interiors are extraordinary in their own right.
40 min here Walk here → -
Ben Thanh Market
The city's landmark market since 1914. Haggle hard inside; the street food stalls outside after 18:00 are better value.
30 min here Walk here →
More in Ho Chi Minh City
Every walking route in Ho Chi Minh City, or the full Ho Chi Minh City guide for where to stay and what a day costs.