Fodor's Expert Review White Palace

Built in 1898, the White Palace has variously served as the French governor's residence, a retreat of Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam, and the president of South Vietnam's summer house. The villa is now a slightly worn museum with a ground-floor exhibition of late-17th- and early-18th-century Chinese artifacts recovered from a shipwreck near the Con Dao Islands. On the upper floors there's the now-shopworn living quarters of the last resident. Despite its tired air, the White Palace is worth visiting for the views of the East Sea and the lush tropical grounds.