Ho Chi Minh City
For astonishing city vistas Towa can't be matched from its perch on the 28th floor. One of HCMC's best Japanese restaurants, this is the natural habitat for the city's elite and high rollers from Tokyo. Prices are as eye-watering as the views but lunchtime deals (two/three courses are 189,000/219,000d) offer fine value. Sushi and sashimi platters and cocktails are simply sublime.
Book ahead. Alfresco tables are also available.
0.74 MILES
To understand the US invasion of Vietnam, and contextualize its devastating impact on the country's civilians, this remarkable and deeply moving museum is…
1.32 MILES
Built in 1909 in honour of the supreme Taoist god (the Jade Emperor or King of Heaven, Ngoc Hoang), this is one of the most atmospheric temples in Ho Chi…
0.5 MILES
Built between 1877 and 1883, Notre Dame Cathedral enlivens the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's government quarter, facing Ð Dong Khoi. A red-brick, neo…
3.57 MILES
Believed to be the oldest temple in HCMC (1744), Giac Lam is a fantastically atmospheric place set in peaceful, garden-like grounds. The Chinese…
0.47 MILES
Surrounded by royal palm trees, the dissonant 1960s architecture of this landmark government building and the eerie ambience of its deserted halls make it…
0.23 MILES
A grand neoclassical structure built in 1885 and once known as Gia Long Palace (and later the Revolutionary Museum), HCMC’s city museum is a singularly…
3.08 MILES
Delightfully fronted by greenery and opening to an interior blaze of red, gold, green and yellow, this is one of the most beautifully ornamented temples…
3.76 MILES
Cholon’s main market has a great clock tower and a central courtyard with gardens. Much of the business here is wholesale but it’s popular with tour…
0.21 MILES
With its airy corridors and verandas, this elegant 1929 colonial-era, yellow-and-white building is stuffed with period details; it is exuberantly tiled…
0.23 MILES
A grand neoclassical structure built in 1885 and once known as Gia Long Palace (and later the Revolutionary Museum), HCMC’s city museum is a singularly…
0.26 MILES
This elegant 68-storey, 262m-high Carlos Zapata–designed skyscraper dwarfs all around it. It's reportedly shaped like a lotus bulb, but it also resembles…
4. People’s Committee Building
0.28 MILES
One of the city’s most prominent landmarks is home to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. Built between 1901 and 1908, the former Hôtel de Ville…
0.33 MILES
Gracing the intersection of Ð Dong Khoi and ÐL Le Loi, this grand colonial edifice with a sweeping staircase was built in 1897 and is one of the city's…
0.33 MILES
The only surviving structure from the original Norodom Palace (which was bombed in 1962 and replaced with today's Reunification Palace) is this impressive…
0.35 MILES
Built by South Indian Muslims in 1935 on the site of an earlier mosque, lime-green Saigon Central Mosque is an immaculately clean and well-tended island…
0.35 MILES
Only a small number of Hindus live in HCMC, but this colourful slice of southern India is also considered sacred by many ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese…