Description: The Caravelle is one of Ho Chi Minh City's iconic hotels - a place where it seems that everyone ends up sooner or later. I’ve been to the city several times and every single time without fail, and each time with different people, we’ve ended up in the roof-top bar of the Caravelle. Some things in life are certain - the sun comes up, the sun goes down, everyone goes to the Caravelle. It was once the place where foreign correspondents hung out during what the locals call the American War. I’ve only stayed there the once but it’s like a magnet drawing foreigners in from all over the city.
The hotel sits close to the Opera House and really near the shopping street that I can never pronounce but it sounds something like 'Donkey'. It’s close to the place where the bomb goes off in the film of Graham Greene’s ‘The Quiet American’. The lower floors of the hotel are older and the central tower was added much later and brings the total number of floors to a giant twenty four. The main impact of this is that it makes the rooftop a great place for looking out over the city.
The lobby is grand and the staff are lovely and very welcoming. Lots of tiny exquisitely dressed ladies wander around the lobby smiling broadly. There are lots of different restaurants to choose from but I’ve only eaten breakfast there so I can’t comment on the quality although the reputation of many of the restaurants is very good. However there is no shortage of great restaurants in the area so I prefer to go out. The rooms are modern, comfortable and very well equipped with free broadband, satellite television, room safes, iron and board, hair-dryer, coffee and tea maker and so on. If you leave your shoes outside the door they’ll be returned sparkling and shiny (it’s tempting to take a suitcase full of shoes just to make the most of it!).
The bar on the rooftop is called 'Saigon Saigon' and is so loud that you’ll worry about your ears bursting. They have live music every night performed by really good Philippino bands. My colleague who worked in HCMC for several years spent almost every evening at Saigon Saigon and was quite a hit with the local ladies who seem to like rather chubby European men. I prefer to sit outside where the music is a bit less aggressive but then I worry about mosquitoes so it’s a tough choice.
Close