Caravelle Saigon

Good breakfast and good location!

This hotel is amazing. Firstly it was my birthday and I was upgraded to a suite. Of course this helps with a beautiful room. Nothing was too much trouble. The concierge will get a special mention as we booked a tour to Cu Chi Tunnels (and this is recommended), early one morning. We were in a mini bus in one hour, and what luck we had. $38 and the we had the tour guide and bus to ourselves. Just like a private tour. The location at this hotel is outstanding. Close to everything. Notre Dame, International Palace, the place where the tanks rolled in smashing the gates down during the end of the war) and the Opera House next door. Now if you want noodles (Pho Beef Soup) pronounced 'forr borr', then go behind the hotel and look for 'Pho Hung' restaurant. Yeah unfortunate name and a dark looking entrance but don't let this deter you. Noodles are superb and cheap. Tote next door will try and get you to go for a massage, good luck on that one. Circle (711) store next door to massage place is ideal for snacks. To get to the shopping centre walk past the front of the Opera House which is next door to the hotels entrance and up the street and left of the Hotel Continental. The next block is the shopping centre (i.e. veer right at next crossing). Multi floors, modern and lots of restaurants. We ate here as well and basically used coins in our currency to pay for it in dong. Yep dong is their currency. You get a gazillion dong for $1 so try and get used to it rather than do a conversion. Oh and watch out for the 50,000 and 5,000 notes, colored similar. If you are heading to Hanoi go there to the Tha Long Puppet theatre instead, not the one in HCMC. Remnants War Museum is a must. Its air-conditioned upstairs and the captured relics outside is outstanding. Some of the exhibits and stories are first class. Not for the faint hearted though.

The hotel is fine but the new subway (underground) is being constructed outside. They apologized for the noise but never had an issue. The problem is the construction barriers look ugly and prevents easy navigation perpendicular to the hotel. I would give HCM a miss actually until next year when it will be completed. (say September 2020).

I loved my two nights here. I was put in to one of the outstanding, newly renovated rooms, which felt super luxurious. The hotels staff are all a pleasure to engage with. You felt with every interaction they genuinely cared. The hotels facilities from the pool to the bars are also fantastic. The hotel is superbly located right in the heart of District 1. Do yourself a favour and book in for a few nights of pampering.

Nothing.

Breakfast could have been better. Not enough alternative meat options. Not many options for non pork eaters

Newly renovated rooms are fantastic. A great place to stay.