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1 Old financial district

Situated on the north side of the  Ben Nghe Channel, Ho Chi Minh City's old financial district is most obviously recalled by the two imposing bank buildings that dominate what was once known as the Quai de Belgique. The larger of the two is now the Government Bank of Vietnam, but was  opened in the late 1920s as the Bank of Indochina. An austere exterior belies its breathtaking art deco interior.  The original wooden counterwork is intact, as are the twin-bladed fans set around the main hall  like the propellers of an early airship. The Government Bank building's smaller  neighbour was once the regional headquarters of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

2 Cercle Sportif

In the northern corner of Vien Van Hoa Park,  next to the Reunification Palace, stands the Workers' Sports  Club, formerly known as the Cercle Sportif. Once the playground of French colonials, its eight tennis courts and colonnaded pool are overlooked by  an orange-tiled clubhouse, which is worth a peep inside through shuttered French windows at the back of a broad verandah. Take the outer staircase to  the first floor for the best views of the grounds.  A legacy of the French period

is the sight of  men  playing boules among the trees.

3 Post Office

Opened in 1891, the city's General Post Office is still the largest in Vietnam. Its tan and white facade gives way to a large, barrel-vaulted interior not unlike an old European railway station. Close to the entrance are two  map-murals. The one on the left shows 'Lignes telegraphiques du Vietnam du Sud et du Cambodge', or Telegraph lines of South Vietnam and of Cambodia, as they were in 1936. The older one to the right is a map of Saigon and its environs, which dates  from 1892. The Post Office was designed by Gustave Eiffel,  whose  Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.

4 Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Completed in 1890, this attractive building - once known as Gia Long Palace - was originally intended to  be used as an exhibition centre, but  became the residence of the governor of Cochinchina and has since then served many functions. Established in 1999, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum (formerly the Revolutionary Museum) houses a wide selection of exhibits, from archaeological finds to colonial-era items such as a hand-pump fire wagon, maps and photographs. The upper floor is home  to revolutionary artefacts dating from the 1930s to the Vietnam war. There  are homemade weapons, propaganda material, radios, cameras and a section dedicated to former Vietnamese movie stars and singers.

5 Notre Dame Cathedral

The striking neo-Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral  is a useful landmark for visitors. Its spires offered the first glimpse of the city to many a traveller arriving  by the Saigon  River. After the Protestant  and Catholic churches drew lots for  the site, work began on the building's construction, on behalf of the Catholics, in October 1877, with an extravagantly Gallic combination of stained glass from Chartres and Marseille red brick. Today, the cathedral is well preserved, although more austerely furnished than it once was. The stained-glass windows were destroyed during the second world war,  but from the outside it remains one of the most remarkable of the city's 19th-century structures.

6 Opera House

The Municipal Theatre - or Opera House, as it's commonly known - is one of the city's most recognisable buildings. Construction took place from 1897 to 1900, and the first public performance was held in January of that year. In 1944,  the building was damaged by bombs and it remained neglected until 1955, when the government of South Vietnam took it over to use as the National Assembly building. It was restored to its original function in 1975 and in 1998 was renovated to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city. Step inside to see colourful granite-tiled floors, chandeliers, bronze statues in front of the staircase, an auditorium with an arch engraved with decorative designs and rows of statues on either side.

7 Reunification Palace

This was the site of the residence of the governor of Indochina during the colonial era, and then of president Ngo Dinh Diem  from 1954 until early 1962, when it was bombed by a rebel member of his own air force in an assassination attempt. The original building was demolished and what is now the Reunification Palace  opened in October 1966 as the Independence Palace. Guided tours are available, but visitors may also wander around the 100-room building alone, which makes for an unusual experience. The hallways and rooms echo with more than just the visitor's footsteps because much has remained unchanged since 1975. It's easy to imagine the palace as it was when panic reigned during the closing days of the Vietnam war, with the North Vietnamese army closing in on the city.

8 Fine Art Museum

The city's palatial Fine Art Museum is a  pleasure to explore, with its grand lemon-and-white facade, terracotta-tiled roof, wrought-iron balconies and old wooden elevator waiting patiently and long unused on the ground floor, like an antique telephone kiosk. Art nouveau stained glass and neoclassical-style pillars give the interior an unusual atmosphere and make it the ideal place  for displaying the work of some of the country's best artists. The ground floor hosts a wide selection of contemporary Vietnamese art. Upstairs are ancient Cham and Oc Eo relics, Chinese and Indian Buddhist pieces and more recent Vietnamese sculptures.

9 Ben Thanh Market

Officially opened in March 1914,  the indoor Ben Thanh Market,  or Les Halles Centrales as the French knew  it, underwent extensive renovation  and expansion during the mid-1980s. However, several architectural features were left intact: the clock tower, which remains a city landmark, and the four original entrances, one in each market wall. Around these four portals are still to be found old ceramic-tiled images  of cow's heads, pigs, bananas, fish  and other seafood. Stalls are grouped according to what they sell, with the livestock traders thankfully outside at the rear. Whether it's tourist souvenirs, strawberries, coffee,  locally made basketware and hats or pink plastic shoes on your shopping list, you'll find them all here in good time.

10 Colonial hotels

Opened in 1925, the Majestic was once Saigon's premier luxury hotel,  with a prime location on the corner of

rue Catinat and the waterfront Quai  de Belgique. Its large marble-floored, pillared lobby, featuring art deco stained glass and other elaborate details, still evokes something of the property's heyday, as does the impressive exterior. Diagonally opposite, on Dong Khoi Street (formerly rue Catinat), is the Grand Hotel, called the palace when it opened in 1930. Rather better renovated and maintained than its neighbour,  the Grand has a more sedate, genteel feeling, and is the better furnished of the two properties. The Continental on Lam Son Square is the city's oldest hotel. Its exterior is its most attractive feature. Rooms are furnished in the old Soviet style, with green refrigerators, dark wooden fittings and hot water flasks,  but the interior courtyard cafe is a pleasant retreat.



Ho Chi Minh City