If travellers want something a little wilder, Bui Vien – formerly known as the backpacker area – is where spruikers lure you with cheap beer and massive menus offering burgers, pizzas and American breakfasts, just a couple of streets from restaurants and street food stalls preparing one of the world’s great cuisines.
The city is awash with trendy bars.Credit: iStock
A few blocks from Bui Vien there’s the chic little wine bar Terroir. Its proprietor directs me to an innovative cocktail bar and diner called Summer Experiment, run by Jay Moir, an emigre from Adelaide. Jay, whose business card describes him as an “alcohol pharmacist”, also runs a newer, more central bar called Layla, opposite the Sheraton in the city centre. In both, the vibe is chic and cool rather than the manic hedonism of Bui Vien.
Saigon is awash with trendy bars, many of the most popular on rooftops dotted around the city centre, others part of the growing “hidden bar” scene. And this is another area where the contrasts come into stark relief.
You often need to climb several flights of steps in unprepossessing sweaty stairwells to emerge in venues that would not be out of place in New York or, indeed, Sydney or Melbourne.
In one highly-rated venue, Drinking And Healing, I am the only Caucasian in the place, although you have to bear in mind that the biggest source of visitors by far is South Korea, which last year sent 3.6 million people.
While overall tourism to Vietnam only reached 70 per cent of its benchmark of pre-pandemic figures last year, visitors from Australia have already surpassed previous levels, with 390,000 arrivals making us the 10th-highest source of travellers.
Spruikers lure visitors with cheap beer and massive menus on Bui Vien Walking Street.Credit: iStock
Occasionally, ambition outstrips the capacity to weather financial storms – the most prominent example being the shell of a massive, unfinished and apparently abandoned hotel in a super-prime spot opposite Ben Thanh Metro station.
But the country, closer than Thailand, and known for being inexpensive, culturally rich and endlessly welcoming, is already booming. And now we know it’s a lot of fun too.
THE DETAILS
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FLY
Vietnam Airlines flies non-stop daily to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) from Sydney and Melbourne, with direct Jetstar flights on alternate days. See vietnamairlines.com and jetstar.com
STAY
Silverland Hotel Ben Thanh, rooms from $140 a night, see silverlandhotels.com
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