A hotel near the Saigon River and Nguyễn Huệ: one evening on foot

By five o’clock the sun has started to ease off Hồ Huấn Nghiệp. It is a minute’s walk to Đồng Khởi, and that street runs straight to the water; you feel the river breeze before you see the river. A few minutes more and you are on the bank. The Myst Dong Khoi, at 6-8 Hồ Huấn Nghiệp, is about five minutes on foot from the Bạch Đằng waterfront and about four from Nguyễn Huệ walking street, often written Nguyen Hue in English. So a whole evening, from sunset beside the Saigon River to the boulevard after dark and a last drink on the 15th floor, never needs a taxi.

At a glance. The Myst Dong Khoi is about five minutes’ walk from the Bạch Đằng waterfront and about four from Nguyễn Huệ walking street. Sunset in Saigon comes as early as 5:30 pm in November and as late as 6:20 pm in early July. Nguyễn Huệ began as a canal, filled in by 1887, and has been a 670-metre pedestrian boulevard since 2015. ROOTY Bar on the hotel’s 15th floor stays open until 1:00 am.

Before sunset: down to the Bạch Đằng waterfront

Sunset by the river is easy to miss by five minutes, so do not cut it fine. In Saigon the sun sets earliest in November, at around 5:30 pm, and latest in early July, at about 6:20 pm. Less than an hour between them. Still enough to catch you out. The simplest plan is to leave the hotel half an hour before sunset, wander down, and arrive with time to choose your spot. The Bạch Đằng quay looks east across to Thủ Thiêm, so the sun goes down behind the city at your back; what you watch is the water and the sky over the far bank taking on its colour.

The Saigon River is 251 km long: it rises in south-eastern Cambodia, flows south and south-east for about 230 km, leaves the Dầu Tiếng reservoir behind and meets the Đồng Nai River south-east of downtown. Within the city it ranges from roughly 50 to 1,000 metres wide, with stretches as deep as 20 metres. Its lower reaches are tidal, rising and falling twice a day, so the waterline at the quay depends on when you turn up. Wikipedia’s page on the Saigon River from source to confluence has more detail.

The Bạch Đằng park reopened after a renovation on 17 March 2022, with granite paths and new planting. For a stretch-by-stretch route along the water, read our local’s guide to the Saigon riverfront; the green spaces on both banks have their own piece, the Bạch Đằng and Thủ Thiêm riverside parks. Tonight we are only passing through.

Why the waterfront is called Bạch Đằng

Under the French, this bank had no Vietnamese name. Its riverside roads carried names such as Quai Francis Garnier and Quai d’Argonne. In 1955 the government of the Republic of Vietnam merged two of those roads into one and called it Bến Bạch Đằng. In 1980 the city joined it to part of Đinh Tiên Hoàng street, and together they became Tôn Đức Thắng, the name on the street signs today.

The old name survives in the park and in the Bạch Đằng water bus station, where a river service has run since 2017 towards Thủ Đức. Stops and fares are covered in our guide to riding the Saigon water bus from Bạch Đằng. One coincidence: 1955 was also the year the boulevard that ends at this very quay took the name Nguyễn Huệ.

Sunset times by month, and when to leave the hotel

The figures below come from sunset tables for Ho Chi Minh City, rounded to the nearest five minutes. The last column gets you to the river about twenty minutes before sunset.

Saigon’s rainy season runs from May to November and brings about 90% of the year’s rain, most of it in June and September. December to April is the dry season, which suits anyone who would prefer not to keep one eye on the clouds.

Nguyễn Huệ was once a canal

Follow the bank a short way to where Nguyễn Huệ meets the river, then turn your back to the water. The whole walking street lies ahead of you, running straight up to City Hall at the far end. It is 64 metres wide. More than a century ago, you would have been looking along a waterway.

The canal was called Kinh Lớn, the Great Canal, and it linked the Saigon River with the Bát Quái citadel that Nguyễn Ánh built at Gia Định in 1790. Once the French had taken Cochinchina, the streets along its two banks were named Quai Charner and Quai Rigault de Genouilly, in 1865. The upper section was filled in towards the end of the 1860s. By 1887 the rest had gone as well, and the old canal bed became Boulevard Charner.

The boulevard went on changing. In 1926 it gained two wide central carriageways separated by a thin strip of grass, and in 1955 Boulevard Charner was renamed Nguyễn Huệ. The history of Nguyễn Huệ Boulevard has the rest. Walk up from the river, then, and you are tracing the line of the old canal, except that there is granite underfoot and the only water left is in the fountains.

After dark: 670 metres of walking street

On 29 April 2015 the city opened the Nguyễn Huệ pedestrian square: 670 metres long, 64 metres wide, paved in granite and set with fountains. The middle of the boulevard has belonged to people on foot ever since.

Come once it is properly dark. The sun has gone, the paving has lost some of the day’s heat and the buildings on either side have switched their lights on. Walk slowly from the river end up to City Hall, pause to look back down towards the water, then return along the other side. At 670 metres each way, the round trip is well under two kilometres.

The pleasure of the place is simple: you can amble down the middle of a wide boulevard without once checking over your shoulder for motorbikes. For walking times to the Opera House and Bến Thành Market, see what lies within a 15-minute walk of the hotel.

Tết flowers on Nguyễn Huệ

From 1960, a spring flower market was held on Nguyễn Huệ every Tết, the Lunar New Year. Around 2000 the city moved the market to 23 September Park. In 2004 the flowers came back to Nguyễn Huệ in a different form: a flower street laid out for strolling and photographs, with nothing for sale.

Stay in the centre over Tết and the flower street is a few minutes’ walk away. Back at the hotel, the buffet counter at The Nest on the 12th floor is a nine-metre wooden boat, a nod to the flower boats that used to tie up at Bình Đông market in the days before the New Year.

Back up to the 15th floor

From Nguyễn Huệ it is about four minutes back to Hồ Huấn Nghiệp. The lobby carries a faint note of ngọc lan, the ylang-ylang that is the hotel’s signature scent. On the 15th floor, ROOTY Bar is open from 7:00 am to 1:00 am, with Saigon-inspired cocktails and small Vietnamese dishes. Up here the traffic noise fades, and only once you sit down do your legs tell you how far you have walked. There is more on the menu in our guide to ROOTY, the rooftop bar.

The 24-metre infinity pool on the same floor looks over the city and the river, but it closes at 6:00 pm, so swim before you set out. For a river view without leaving your room, The Myst Suite (70 m²) has an outdoor bathtub on its balcony facing the city and the river.

A suggested evening, step by step

1. Afternoon. A few lengths of the rooftop pool before it closes at 6:00 pm.
2. Half an hour before sunset. Leave the hotel and follow Đồng Khởi to the river.
3. At sunset. Stand on the Bạch Đằng waterfront, then follow the bank to the foot of Nguyễn Huệ.
4. Once it is dark. Walk the length of the walking street and come back down the other side.
5. Later. Dinner at The Nest, the all-day restaurant on the 12th floor, or near Đồng Khởi, then up to ROOTY Bar with no need to rush.

What to bring for an evening by the river

• A folding umbrella from May to November.
• Shoes with grip. The Bạch Đằng quay and park alone run for 1.3 km, and wet paving turns slippery.
• Water. The city averages 28 °C, with humidity around 78 to 82%.
• A bag worn in front in crowded spots.

Cross Tôn Đức Thắng at the lights, and keep small children close near the embankment edge.

Frequently asked questions

Sunset by the river, a nightcap on the 15th floor

From The Myst Dong Khoi, the Saigon River and Nguyễn Huệ walking street are both a few minutes away on foot. Stay a few nights, try a different loop each evening, and end every one with a cocktail at ROOTY Bar.

→ See ROOTY Bar and the hotel’s restaurants

→ Book direct for evenings by the river

Curated by Silverland Hospitality.