District 1

District 1 is the heartbeat of Saigon—the place where every first-time visitor lands and immediately falls under the city's spell. This is where French colonial grandeur meets motorbike mayhem, where rooftop bars overlook centuries-old pagodas, and where you can eat breakfast pho at 6 AM and dance until sunrise.

Walk down Dong Khoi Street and you'll pass the Notre Dame Cathedral, its red bricks shipped from Marseille in the 1880s, standing proud in Paris Square. Turn a corner and you're at the Saigon Opera House, a Belle Époque beauty that hosts everything from classical ballet to A O Shows celebrating Vietnamese culture.

But District 1 isn't just a postcard. Venture into the alleys off Nguyen Hue Walking Street and you'll find the Cafe Apartments—a Soviet-era residential block reborn as a vertical village of boutique coffee shops, each one more Instagram-worthy than the last. At street level, Ben Thanh Market hums from dawn to midnight, the scent of lemongrass and fresh herbs mixing with motorbike exhaust.

This district works hard and plays harder. By day, it's all business—offices, banks, embassies, and tourists ticking off landmarks. By night, Bui Vien transforms into a neon-lit carnival of backpacker bars, street food stalls, and that uniquely Vietnamese energy that never, ever sleeps.