Five-star Lam Son Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Caravelle Saigon
A tower of 335 rooms on Lam Son Square, the Opera House across the way, and on top the bar where the war correspondents of the 1960s drank and filed.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Opened
- 24 December 1959
- Rooms
- 335
- Tower
- 24 storeys, added in 1998
- From the airport
- About 7 km from Tan Son Nhat
The hotel
The correspondents' hotel.
The Caravelle opened on Christmas Eve 1959, named after the French jet airliner of the day. Its architect, Nguyen Van Hoa, trained at the Beaux-Arts school in Hanoi, and his modernist block was among the tallest in the country. Through the 1960s it held the Australian and New Zealand embassies and the Saigon bureaus of NBC, ABC and CBS. A bomb went off on the fifth floor in August 1964; nobody died.
After 1975 the state took it over and called it Doc Lap, the Independence Hotel. The Caravelle name came back in 1998, together with a 24-storey tower beside the original ten floors. The rooftop bar, Saigon Saigon, has just been made over around its old checkered tiles, and a typewriter from the press years now sits on display. Below, the Opera House still fills the view across Lam Son Square.
- Saigon Saigon Rooftop Bar Made over in 2026, with its checkered floor kept and the Miss Saigon cocktail still on the list.
- Lam Son Square The Opera House is opposite, and Notre-Dame, Dong Khoi and Nguyen Hue are a short walk away.
- Kara Spa The hotel's spa, alongside a pool and a fitness centre.
Good to know
Before you go.
- History The 1990s works removed most visible traces of the 1959 building. The past now shows mostly in the rooftop bar.
- Airports Long Thanh, east of the city, is due to open to commercial flights on 1 December 2026; Tan Son Nhat stays the closer airport.
Getting there
Flying to Ho Chi Minh City.
Tan Son Nhat International is about 7 kilometres north-west, roughly 20 to 30 minutes by car by our estimate, depending on traffic. Private jets use the same airport, through an appointed agent.
- Bangkok 1 h 20
- Singapore 1 h 45
- Hong Kong 2 h 20
- Bali 3 h 25
- Tokyo 6 h 00
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Is the Caravelle near the Opera House?
- Yes. The hotel stands on Lam Son Square, directly across from the Opera House at the head of Dong Khoi.
- Is the Saigon Saigon rooftop bar open?
- Yes. The hotel says the bar is back, and VnExpress reported its makeover in October 2026. The checkered floor and the old cocktails stayed.
- How far is the Caravelle from the airport?
- About 7 kilometres from Tan Son Nhat International, roughly 20 to 30 minutes by car by our estimate.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Ho Chi Minh City?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Ho Chi Minh City, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Ho Chi Minh City
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Park Hyatt Saigon A colonnaded front facing the Opera House, opened in 2005, with 245 rooms and a MICHELIN Key.
- Hôtel des Arts Saigon – MGallery Opened in 2015 with 168 rooms, a 1930s French mood and the Social Club bar on the 24th floor.
- Mia Saigon A boutique hotel east of the river in the old District 2, given its first MICHELIN Key in 2026.
- The Reverie Saigon Italian furniture by Visionnaire, Colombostile and Giorgetti in 286 rooms high in the Times Square tower.
- Mai House Saigon Hotel French Indochinese rooms, 224 of them, a rooftop bar over the skyline, and a first MICHELIN Key in 2026.
- Hotel Majestic Saigon At the river end of Dong Khoi since 1925, with 175 rooms and M Bar on the roof.
- Sofitel Saigon Plaza On Le Duan Boulevard, with a pool on the roof and ST25 by KOTO among its kitchens.
- Rex Hotel Saigon Its Rooftop Garden Bar above Nguyen Hue was named by Newsweek in 1996 among the best bars in South East Asia.
- Vinpearl Landmark 81, Autograph Collection Inside the 81-storey Landmark 81 tower, with 223 rooms and an infinity pool on the 47th floor.
Staying at Caravelle Saigon?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Ho Chi Minh City, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.