We'll be in HCMC in Dec 2007 and are interested in suggestions for sightseeing/local attractions, shopping, etc...

First time in this city, but have travelled throughout Asia fairly extensively and were in Hanoi last autumn and loved it!

Staying at the Majestic if anyone has comments about this hotel.

The Majestic is an older hotel which I liked very much. It is very near the Saigon River,but in walking distance of major things of Saigon. Good restaurants nearby. I found they had a good breakfast and very helpful staff.
I suggested the hotel to someone on Fodors a year of so ago and they wrote how much they enjoyed this hotel.

We are booked into the Majestic for 5 nights in February. I did a lot of research and am very confident about this hotel. There are excellent reviews at :

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Minh_City.html

It's in a great location and has all sorts of character. Have a good trip.

A must do is the War Remmants Museum (bring your Kleenex!!!) - about two hours. The History Museum is quite good too (about 1 to 2 hours).

Cu Chi tunnels is a MUST SEE...one of the main reasons for going to Saigon

I'm sitting in my room at the Majestic HCMC right now.

Relax - it's fine.

Get a waterfront room and check out their 'executive priveleges' add on - that'll ease your way - early check-in, late check-out etc.

I've got a great art deco suite [401] in the old wing with a great bathroom, with its own stained glass window and balcony overlooking the river - foyer is fun, vast and buzzing. Service is very attentive. About $198 ++ booked direct on the hotel web site.

I'm very happy here. You've made a great choice.

We were in Saigon three days ago. Stayed at the Park Hyatt, which I can absolutely recommend. BUT, I don't think there is a really a lot to do in Saigon. We were there just for a day for nostalgia (my wife left Saigon in 1975 and hadn't been back). But there weren't any great sights.

We then flew to Danang and stayed in Hoi An, which Fodor's guide calls "perhaps the most charming city in Vietnam". Based on my limited experience so far, I agree (stayed at Victoria Hotel...nice). I am now in Hue. Also nice, so, my advice is to minimize time in crazy crowded HCMC, with 8 million population and 2 million motorbikes.

There's plenty to see in HCMC. Buy a guide book and read up on the details. Easy to spend 2 full days seeing the sights.

Wow, the Majestic is charging $198++/night? Hotel prices in HCMC are crazy now. The Majestic can be noisy and you will probably hear hear a lot of truck traffic (horns) in the evenings there (after 9pm) as it's the main road going to/from the container terminal port. Location otherwise is good.

nhulberg, are you doing Hue on your own or do you have a guide? If with a guide, can you reccommend? How did you find a guide? How much are you paying per day? We will be in Hue two full days in Jan.

To MSheinberg:

When you are in Hue you will be approached all the time by blokes with bikes offering their services. You can't keep saying "No" unless you have an alternative, so eventually I said yes. I had a fabulous day out. We went to two of the royal tombs. My driver (Bach) was happy for me to spend an hour or more at each site. Sure we stopped at a roadside incense making stall; we stopped for lunch at an eatery clearly run by a friend. This is to be expected.

What was not, and what was a real bonus, was his suggestion that we visit a working pagoda first thing for prayers. He was not a "guide" in the sense that he accompanied me round the sites (I wouldn't want that), or had a sufficient command of English to give a proper spiel. But he was a good companion and volunteered plenty of information.

The cost?

Feel free to ask if you are interested.

And to Lia - I'm not sure I'd use the word "attraction" but the one thing you must do in HCMC is visit the War Remnants Museum. And try and walk a little - you never know what you might come across.

Cheers.

Chimani I hope you are having a wonderful trip. How much did you pay the guy with the bike who took you around...?

Chimani, are we talking motor bike? What other options for a guide did you see?

Yes, I'm talking a guy with a motorbike.

I didn't see any other options, or to be more precise I didn't go looking or even asking. I suspect you could hire a car and driver from one of the many tour agents (or your hotel). Which agent? don't know.

I met my driver on a street corner. Like I said I was fed up with saying no and had no other way of getting where I wanted to go. So when Bach offered to take me to the Citadel for $1 I accepted. A classic sales pitch. $1 to the citadel. Once you are there, it's $2 return and I will wait.

This is such a small amount of money that you acquiesce, and then back in town there's the pitch for the following day. Bach suggested "what you will" but I'm not comfortable with that. I want to know what's fair. So he quoted 100,000 vnd to take me to the tombs, etc. He'd was a good driver - it's sort of scary being on the back of a bike even in Hue!! - so I thought why not. We shook hands on $5.

At the end of our day out (9.30am to c. 3.30pm) I added on 50%.

I'm as sure as sure can be that this was OK with him.

It's hard isn't it, finding the line between local rate and tourist rate? And you have to remember that a middle ranking civil servant or a teacher may earn less than $2 a day.

When all's said and done it is natural to be cautious but sometimes you just need to say "what the hell" and go for it.

I loved Hue, in part due to Bach, and also because on my last day I rented a pushbike and went out to the Thien Mu Pagoda.

It's a lovely city.

And, Eks, I'm back home now. I had a great time, and got to a performance at the HOH too!

Happy travels, all.

When I was in Hue back in 2002 you could book a boat tour to visit the tombs - but you still had to ride a motorbike to actually get to each tomb. I don't remember now how I arranged it - either through my hotel, or just walking down to the river.

Just left Saigon this morning and I have to say we were really disappointed.

Getting into the city cost US$10, twice what other Fodorites estimated. Since there seemed to be no other option and it was not a lot of money, we didn't quibble.

The Hotel Majestic was very nice. The room was lovely with pale yellow walls, crown moulding, wood floors and modern amenities, even though the hotel was built in 1925. No view as we faced a wall, but at least it was quiet. The breakfast buffet offered a good selection, but the food wasn't too good.

The rest of our trip was a combination of torn-up streets under construction, being overcharged at a restaurant, bad food, unbearable heat, street beggars and touts.

Upon leaving, I inquired with the front desk the night before about "taxi vs. pre-arranged car" since we were leaving at 4:30am. They offered a car for US$25 but said there would be no problem getting a taxi and it should cost no more than US$8-10 plus maybe a few dollars extra because of the early hour. OK, so I'm prepared to pay about US$10-12. When we got into the taxi, the driver started the meter at 150,000VND (nearly US$20). He drove very slowly and seemed to be "taking the long way". When the meter topped 300,000, I asked how much longer it would be and how much it would cost. He said another 15 minutes and about 1,000,000VND! Shocked, I immediately told him to pull over and negotiated a flat charge of US$10 to which he quickly agreed. He was at the airport within five minutes. We made sure he took the luggage out of the trunk before getting out and paying him. I'm sure if I had not made a big stink, he would have tried to get us to pay the metered amount.

The only bright spots were one shop (Anna Bui Gallery at 156 Dong Khoi). The salesperson was helpful, honest and didn't push. The prices were fair and clearly marked. I bought three silk scarves and would have bought more if they had more selection.

Also, it was quite reasonable to buy groceries at local supermarkets. We bought fresh pineapple, Babybel cheese, Ritz crackers, lemonade, cookies and noodles for about US$8 at the Parkson market.

Almost everyone spoke English and we never even changed money since they accepted US dollars and/or VISA.

All in all, IMO, Saigon was a bust. Although it was just as underdeveloped, Hanoi has charm and much more to see. With the right investment, Hanoi has the potential to be an interesting and prosperous city. Saigon was boring and frustrating.

My advice to travellers is to pre-arrange transportation and tours or be prepared to negotiate every little thing, every time and double-check each charge.

Sorry you didn't like HCMC. It's definitely not for everyone. But I do find the people more friendly than in Hanoi.

It only costs 70,000VND (just over $4) from the airport to the Majestic. Did the driver use the meter? Never had a problem taking a taxi from the official que out front of the terminal. Most taxi's around the major tourist areas are honest and always use the meter. I usually just walk to the Sheraton or Caravelle and have them flag me a taxi.

What do you mean by negotiate every little thing? Are you talking about bargaining at stores or eating in restaurants or?

The weather for the last 3 weeks in HCMC has been quite cool by HCMC standards. Best weather since last January. December-February are the best months with little/no rain and temperatures in the mid-upper 80's and lower humidity.

I agree that HCMC is one giant construction project right now. Traffic is worse than ever with the addition of more cars on the roads. But for the most part, District 1 doesn't have much in the way of road construction right now, except down by the Pham Ngu Lao area.

Did you visit any of the tourist attractions or take any tours? And what restaurants did you eat at so that others can avoid them. I find the food in HCMC to be excellent, with an incredible variety of places to chose from.

Welcome back home to the USA!

Lia - sorry you didn't enjoy Saigon. I agree its very hot and humid, but I still found plenty to do there.

For your taxi from the airport, did you use the fixed-price taxis arranged inside the terminal, or organize one outside?

I used the fixed price taxi booth inside the terminal. They gave me a receipt for 150,000VND that says the company name is "Saigon Air Corporation" and "SGAir Tours". I didn't see the driver use the meter, but since we prepaid I wasn't watching.

When we left, the doorman at the Majestic got the taxi so I thought it would be ok.

I went to Jaspas to get food to take away and ordered an appetizer, entree and dessert that should have totaled 240,000VND. I knew there would be tax added and signed the credit card slip but it was really dark and I must have misread the amount because when I got back to the hotel, my husband asked what else I ordered since the receipt was for 363,000VND. We ate a little of each dish but it was practically inedible. The duck rolls were cold and soggy. The lamb stirfry was more like stew, swimming in gravy and we had to search hard to find a blueberry in the blueberry/apple crumble. Maybe we should have stuck with Vietnamese dishes.

We were going to take a city tour but it was so hot/humid that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up. I'm from Chicago and have a tough time in warm weather - there was a heat wave in Hanoi so it was hard for me there too.

We're on a trip around the world and have been to Latin America, Europe and now a month in Asia (now in HK). I travel a lot for business and have worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea so I was really looking forward to seeing more of Vietnam.

What a classic. Here we have someone who is willing to spend $200us a night (or thereabouts) for a room at a swanky hotel and then whinges about the fare to the airport being $10 instead of $5.

I realise it could have been much more and good on ya for exercising those negotiating skills.

But, you see, people who stay in expensive hotels are even greater targets than the rest of us.

Surprise, surprise!

I would like to know what you mean by your comment that:

"With the right investment, Hanoi has the potential to be an interesting and prosperous city."

Yeh - let's knock it all down and rebuild complete with faceless malls, hotels, Macdonalds, Starbucks and all the crap that passes for American culture.

Would you be happy then?

Thanks for the taxi reply. Looks like the fare has gone up. Sounds like hotels have gone up too, although I paid $18/night in '02 and '04, so I couldn't complain too much if the price has gone up.

"Maybe we should have stuck with Vietnamese dishes." In a word, yes. Vietnam has a remarkable cuisine of its own, why eat western? And if you're feeling homesick enough to want to eat western in an eastern country, you shouldn't be surprised if the food isn't what you expect.

And I agree with chimani that Hanoi is just fine the way it is. Well, the way it was before so many people started riding motorbikes round the old city, perhaps!