Hotels near Nguyen Hue Walking Street and the Cafe Apartments

Nguyen Hue was a canal until 1887 and became a pedestrian boulevard in 2015. The 670-metre strip runs from the People's Committee building down to the Saigon River and closes to traffic from Saturday evening through Sunday night. Skateboarders, street performers and families take it over after dark. The Ho Chi Minh statue at the northern end and the restored Municipal Opera House one block east both sit on the same short walk.

The Cafe Apartments at number 42 is a nine-storey residential block from the 1960s in which nearly every unit has become a cafe, bar, bookshop or boutique. Around forty businesses trade inside. The lift costs 3,000 VND per person per trip, or the stairs cost nothing. Balcony tables on floors four to seven look straight down the boulevard, and a coffee runs 45,000 to 90,000 VND (about 1.60 to 3.20 EUR).

Pro Tip: Take the stairs to the ninth floor and work downwards, stopping wherever a balcony table is free. The lift queue at 42 Nguyen Hue can run twenty minutes on a Saturday evening. For the boulevard itself, arrive after 19:00 on a Saturday once the road has closed and the fountains are lit.