Hotel Continental, Saigon/HoChiMinh City

Very near the Saigon Opera House is the Hotel Continental, the oldest hotel in all of Vietnam. It is named for the Hotel Continental in Paris, an ode to the city's French colonial past.

The hotel was built in 1880 and has operated continuously to this day. When it was conceived, the Hotel Continental's goal was to provide traveling French businesspeople a taste of home after their long journey. During this period, many French-colonial buildings were constructed. The Notre Dame Cathedral, the Postal and Telecom Service building, and the Hotel de Ville are all built in the same style.

During the Colonial period and the First Indochina War, the hotel was a meeting place for journalists and politicians. More recently, during the Vietnam War in the 1970s, the same became true again. Time and Newsweek both kept their Saigon bureaux at the Hotel Continental. Hunter S. Thompson worked as a war correspondent here, based in room 37.

The hotel was renovated in the late 1980s and is presently owned and run by the city government.

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Create Your Own Self-Guided Walk to Visit This Sight

Sight Name: Hotel Continental
Sight Location: Saigon/HoChiMinh City, Vietnam (See walking tours in Saigon/HoChiMinh City)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Saigon/HoChiMinh City Introduction Walking Tour

Walking Tours in Saigon/HoChiMinh City, Vietnam

Create Your Own Walk in Saigon/HoChiMinh City

Creating your own self-guided walk in Saigon/HoChiMinh City is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Saigon/HoChiMinh City Introduction Walking Tour

While many still refer to the city as Saigon, it was renamed Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in 1976 after the reunification of North and South Vietnam. The name honors the first leader of communist North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. But many still call the inner business district Saigon, while the larger metropolitan area is known as HCMC.

For most of its early history, this was a scarcely populated area... view more

Tour Duration: 3 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.9 Km or 3 Miles

Chinatown Walking Tour

The relationship between Vietnam and China traces back over 2,000 years. Over this time, Vietnamese culture, customs, administrative system, and even the language have been heavily influenced by the great northern neighbor. So much so, in fact, that although Vietnam had its own spoken language, until the late 1800s its official written language was Chinese.

Chinatown in Ho Chi Minh City,... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.0 Km or 1.9 Miles

Shopping Tour

Among other accolades, Ho Chi Minh City is known as a great shopping destination. Attesting to its reputation are a plethora of street markets scattered throughout the city, selling all sorts of fresh local produce, including coffee beans, and other delights, not to mention street food and souvenirs 鈥� all at extremely competitive prices. There are also designated markets specialized in niche... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.5 Km or 1.6 Miles

Historical Religious Sites

For centuries, Vietnamese people have practiced Confucianism and Buddhism brought over from neighboring China. Added to these Eastern teachings, in the 16th century, was Christianity 鈥� introduced to Vietnam by Western missionaries. The result of this variety of faiths has become a mixture of gorgeous Confucian and Buddhist temples and Catholic churches in Ho Chi Minh City. Some of these... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 5.9 Km or 3.7 Miles

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