Saigon Central Post Office

The Saigon Central Post Office is one of the few colonial landmarks in the city that you can walk into freely and that still does the job it was built for. Completed between 1886 and 1891, it was designed by the French architect Alfred Foulhoux, although it is often wrongly credited to Gustave Eiffel. The style mixes Gothic, Renaissance and French influences, and the long yellow facade, with its arched windows and clock, is one of the most recognisable in Ho Chi Minh City.

Look at the facade for the plaques honouring pioneers of electricity and communication, including Morse, Ampere, Volta, Ohm and Faraday. Inside, the large foyer has rows of old wooden telephone booths, and two large painted maps from 1892 decorate the walls, one showing the telegraph lines of southern Vietnam and Cambodia. A large portrait of Ho Chi Minh looks down from the far end of the hall. For more than thirty years, until 2021, the hall was also the workplace of Duong Van Ngo, known as the last public letter writer in Vietnam.

The building is still run by Vietnam Post, so you can buy stamps and send postcards home from a building that was renovated in 2014. Entry is free, and the hall is a welcome break from the midday heat. Most people spend 20 to 30 minutes here, longer if they write postcards.

It is busiest in the middle of the day, when tour groups arrive from the cathedral next door, so come early or later in the afternoon for a calmer visit and better photographs of the interior. The hall is on the ground floor and easy to move around. Please remember that it is a working building, so keep counters clear for people doing their post.

The post office is also a good reminder of how much of District 1's colonial fabric survives. The building was renovated in 2014, and the combination of its vaulted interior, old telephone booths and historic maps makes it one of the most rewarding free stops in the centre. If you plan to send mail, bring the addresses with you, and allow a little time for queues at the counters at busy times of day.

The post office faces Notre-Dame Cathedral across Paris Commune Square. Independence Palace and the Opera House are within a ten-minute walk, which makes the post office an easy stop on any walking route around District 1.