Fine Arts Museum of Vietnam

The excellent Fine Arts Museum is housed in two buildings that were once the French Ministry of Information. Treasures abound, including ancient Champa stone carvings and some astonishing effigies of Quan Am, the thousand-eyed, thousand-armed Goddess of Compassion, worshipped across the Far East. Look out for the lacquered statues of Buddhist monks from the Tay Son dynasty and the collection of contemporary art and folk-naive paintings. Most pieces have English explanations, but guided tours (150,000d) are useful (they don't run between 11.30am and 1.30pm).