Whether it’s the roar of motorbikes, the near constant opening of bars and restaurants, the chatty nature of its inhabitants or the abundance of great coffee, there’s just something invigorating about Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis. It’s no surprise that Saigon, as most locals call it, exudes a youthful, inventive energy – after all, more than half of its eight million dwellers are younger than 35. This dynamic spirit shines through in quirky cafes, innovative cuisine and boutiques selling homegrown fashion. And when you need a breather from all that’s new and fabulous, it’s easy to steal quiet moments in crumbling colonial buildings and contemplative art spaces.
Friday
3pm
Who crashed the Party?
The entrepreneurial Saigonese may seem unstoppable, but it wasn't always this way. The Reunification Palace (entry 30,000 Vietnamese dong, or €1.04), the former headquarters of the South Vietnamese government, looks just as it did on April 30th, 1975, the day a North Vietnamese tank crashed through its gates, marking the end of the brutal 20-year war.
History buffs and fans of modernism will appreciate its opulent, well-preserved interiors, which range from official rooms adorned with heavy silk upholstery and intricate lacquerware to the Gambling Room with its low-slung olive-green armchairs, where it’s easy to imagine officials plotting the war over booze and cards.
A labyrinth of underground concrete rooms dedicated to the war effort is filled with maps, pastel rotary phones and humorously large radios.
5.30pm
Served up
Rise above the din of Friday rush hour by heading to one of the city's rooftop bars, built atop sparkling skyscrapers that provide a mesmerising view of the city's broad boulevards and chaotic traffic circles.
Eon Heli Bar, on the 52nd floor of the city’s tallest building, Bitexco Financial Tower, offers the highest perch for a sunset tipple. Luckily, happy hour prices aren’t too steep, with drinks such as a basil gimlet (gin, Cointreau, fresh basil) half-priced at 145,000 dong (€4.99). The nouveau riche gather at Chill Sky Bar, where cocktails conceived by mixologist Le Thanh Tung are shaken at an illuminated outdoor bar, while 23rd-floor Shri is stylishly subdued. Intimate tables on the terrace are surrounded by potted frangipani and the occasional songbird. Book ahead and leave the flip-flops behind.
7pm
Country kitchen
With its chipped vintage dishware, bookshelves stuffed with tattered novels and vinyl records, and recycled wood tables, Cuc Gach Quan is a breath of fresh air in the city's sleek facade.
Tran Binh, the architect-owner, opened the restaurant in a French colonial building as an ode to his grandmother’s country home, blending nostalgia and Vietnamese home cooking with eco-flair.
The menu is expansive (there are 35 vegetables alone to choose from) with highlights such as deep-fried tofu with lemon grass and chilli and crispy sea bass in passion fruit sauce (both 90,000 dong/€3.10).
A few streets away is a sister property, Cuc Gach Café, a mid-century-inspired space with a daily menu (100,000 dong/€3.44) and fruit smoothies.
10.30pm
Celestial vibes
A popular cafe by day, La Fenêtre Soleil turns into a chic house party at the weekends, when live bands and DJs play everything from dancehall ska to psychedelic 1960s Asian pop.
Hipsters, artists and 20- and 30-somethings flock to the romantic space – huge windows, mismatched armchairs, gilded mirrors and framed antlers on the walls – to sip red wine and dance the night away.
The newly-opened Observatory is positioning itself as a hub for the city’s alternative cultural scene, hosting live music and DJs in the evenings and art openings and readings during the day. Weekend parties continue into the wee hours.
Saturday
8am
Vroom vroom
Join the sea of motorbikes on a tour with Vietnam Vespa Adventures, whose beautifully restored vintage Vespas will transport you to the city's less-trodden spots (guests ride pillion). Led by a local guide, the half-day Insider's Saigon option (€47) putters along to stops such as the intersection where the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death in 1963 to protest the persecution of monks under the South Vietnamese government, coupled with intimate views of city life.
12.30pm
Simple pleasures
In Saigon, you can spend €1 or €100 on a meal and enjoy them equally – sidewalks, markets and small stores are home to many of the city's best cooks.
At Quan Hoa Dong, a fan-cooled eating spot one block north of the Ben Thanh Market, a mother-daughter team grill skewered pork to perfection for the bun thit nuong (60,000 dong/€2.08), a dish of rice noodles, fried spring rolls and fresh herbs.
Nearby Thanh Binh is known for its crab claws – try them with the tapioca noodle soup (70,000 dong/€2.39) or smothered in tamarind sauce (220,000 dong/€7.53) – and offers a large menu of classic southern dishes. Save room for a tall glass of sweet che thap cam (16,000 dong/54c) – chipped ice, coconut milk and layers of tapioca pearls and soft beans – at Che My 2, a 15-minute walk.
2pm
Buy local
Tempted as you might be to don the classic mandarin-collared ao dai tunic, why not take home a souvenir that's a little more au courant? A good place to start is Ginkgo Concept Store, which focuses on sustainably made items, from clothing by local designers (check out Linda Mai Phung's organic cotton and silk line) to gorgeously packaged bars of Marou chocolate, Vietnam's first single-origin, handmade chocolate using local cacao beans.
Boho-chic Mai Lam offers avant-garde interpretations of traditional Vietnamese styles in intricately sewn, eco-friendly materials, on the city’s stylish shopping street, Dong Khoi. Anna Vo is stocked with houndstooth cropped tops and lace mini-dresses designed by a Milan-trained Saigonese fashionista.
4pm
Art on the rise
Though Hanoi is considered Vietnam's cultural hub, Ho Chi Minh City's more open-minded atmosphere is now fostering its own creative scene. Galerie Quynh is a contemporary gallery, putting on several shows a year that examine the Vietnamese psyche. The non-profit San Art supports experimental work, while the Craig Thomas Gallery is run by an American who has been involved in the local art scene for more than 10 years.
7pm
Global tastes
The city's progress has brought with it a new wave in taste, evident in the booming restaurant scene that spans a global palate. At Pizza 4P's, down an alley off the main street, four friends from Tokyo bring the precision of Japanese cooking to thin-crusted margheritas topped with homemade mozzarella, and pizzas inspired by their homeland, such as the calamari-seaweed one (from 95,000 dong/€3.25), baked in a wood-fired oven.
On the former grounds of an opium refinery, Blanchy Street is run by two Nobu London-trained chefs, Martin Brito and Yogo Oba. In an intimate space with pretty tile flooring and wooden tables, the pair fuse Japanese and South American flavours, serving such dishes as octopus carpaccio with jalapeño sauce (180,000 dong/€6.16), along with a sushi and sake menu.
10.30am
Beautiful people
At the Park Hyatt's 2 Lam Son bar, a stunning example of old-meets-new with its latticed screens and glass bauble light fixtures, unwind with a ginger martini (210,000 dong/€7.19) in one of the romantic, fabric-draped nooks or grab a street-facing cocktail table, to watch the city's youth zip by on mopeds. DJs perform on Fridays and Saturdays.
Xu, which also houses a modern Vietnamese restaurant, attracts the see-and-be-seen set, who don high heels, short skirts and flat-ironed locks while sipping drinks prepared with ingredients such as sugarcane juice and kumquats (from 120,000 dong/€4.11) accompanied by thumping music.
Sunday
10.30am
Colonial cuppa
Among the influences French culture has had on this former colony, two enduring examples are great coffee and architecture, which come together at L'Usine, down an alley lined with art stalls off Dong Khoi. Opened by a group of 30-something expats, the cafe-boutique is in a grand 1890s building that was once the Hotel de Saigon. It is now restored to much of its original glory, with cast-iron pillars and arched windows punctuating the light-filled space. With a Vietnamese coffee in hand – dripped through a sieve and mixed with condensed milk – and eye-catching housewares and clothing by local designers in view, it's the perfect place to ponder Ho Chi Minh City's storied past and bright future.
THE DETAILS
The Reunification Palace, 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia; dinhdoclap.gov.vn.
Eon Heli Bar, Bitexco Financial Tower, 2 Hai Trieu; eon51.com. Chill Sky Bar, 76A Le Lai; Shri, 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai; shri.vn.
Cuc Gach Quan, 10 Dang Tat; cucgachquan.com.vn. Cuc Gach Café, 79 Phan Ke Binh; cucgachcafe.com.vn.
La Fenêtre Soleil, 44 Ly Tu Trong; 84-8-3824-5994. Observatory, Corner of Le Lai and Ton That Tung.
Vietnam Vespa Adventures, 169a De Tham; vietnamvespaadventures. com.
Quan Hoa Dong, 121 Ly Tu Trong. Thanh Binh, 140 Le Thanh Ton; quananthanhbinh.com.
Che My 2, 119 Nguyen Thai Hoc; chemy2.com.
Ginkgo Concept Store, 254 De Tham, ginkgo-vietnam.com.
Mai Lam, 132-134 Dong Khoi; mailam.com.vn.
Anna Vo, 21 Vo Thi Sau; annavo.vn.
Galerie Quynh, 65 De Tham; galeriequynh.com.
San Art, 3 Me Linh; san-art.org. Craig Thomas Gallery, 27i Tran Nhat Duat; cthomasgallery.com.
Pizza 4P's, 8/15 Le Thanh Ton; pizza4ps.com.
Blanchy Street, 74 Hai Ba Trung; blanchystreet.com.
2 Lam Son, Park Hyatt, 2 Lam Son Square; saigon.park.hyatt.com.
Xu, 71-75 Hai Ba Trung; xusaigon.com.
L'Usine, 151/1 Dong Khoi; lusinespace.com.
© The New York Times 2014, distributed by The New York Times Syndicate