Saigon Central Post Office

Grand French colonial post office designed by the Eiffel firm, still operating as a post office

The Central Post Office next to Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of the finest colonial buildings in Vietnam — a grand vaulted hall designed in the 1880s by architects from the firm of Gustave Eiffel, with iron-and-glass architecture that recalls the Eiffel Tower's structural language. The scale is impressive: a single barrel-vaulted nave over 60 metres long, lined with telephone booths and postal counters still in operation.

It is not a museum — this is a functioning post office, and Vietnamese people come here to send packages and make calls. Two large historical maps are painted on the end walls; a large portrait of Ho Chi Minh hangs at the back. The building is free to enter and air-conditioned, making it a welcome stop on a hot afternoon.

things to do sight architecture landmark district 1
A story
The enormous map of Cochinchine et Cambodge (southern Vietnam and Cambodia) painted on the interior wall of the post office dates from the 1890s and was originally intended as a practical reference for postal routes. It survived intact through the French colonial period, the American War, and reunification — 130 years of history on a post office wall.