The Best Rooftop Bars in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City's skyline has grown fast, and the bars on top of it are one of the few things in Vietnam priced internationally. They are worth it once, at the right hour, in the right place. Here is how to choose.

What you are paying for

The view, and nothing else. The drinks are competent rather than remarkable at most of them, the food is secondary, and a cocktail will cost several times what the same drink costs at street level. What justifies it is the city from above at the moment the lights come on.

Which means the single most important choice is the hour, not the bar. Arrive thirty to forty-five minutes before sunset, get a table at the rail, and watch the change. Arriving at ten at night buys you an expensive drink in the dark.

The landmark towers

Bitexco Financial Tower has the Saigon Skydeck observation level and a bar above it. The building's helipad disc makes it the most recognisable thing on the skyline, and the view from it covers the river and the centre. It is the most touristed option and it is priced accordingly.

Landmark 81, in Binh Thanh, is the tallest building in the city by a distance, with observation levels and bars near the top. It is further from the historic centre, so the view is of the river and the new city rather than the colonial core. The height is the draw.

The hotel rooftops

The Rex Hotel rooftop is the one with the history — it was where the daily American press briefings of the war were held, and the terrace overlooks the Nguyen Hue walking street and the People's Committee building. It is lower than the towers, which puts you in the city rather than above it. The crown and the topiary are unchanged and faintly absurd, in a good way.

The Caravelle's Saigon Saigon bar is the other wartime correspondents' rooftop, on the Opera House square, with live music most nights and a similar mid-height view across the old centre.

Chill Skybar, on the AB Tower, is the loud end of the category: a large open deck, DJs, a dress code, and a wide view over District 1. It is as much a club as a bar after dark.

The mid-height terraces

Below the headline names there is a tier of smaller rooftops on boutique hotels around District 1 — less view, far lower prices, no dress code, and often a better evening. The Nguyen Hue walking street and the streets around the Opera House have several.

Which to choose

For the classic skyline photograph and the river: Bitexco. For the sheer height: Landmark 81. For the history and the walking street below you: the Rex. For music and a crowd: Chill. For a quiet drink without an international bill: one of the smaller hotel terraces.

If you only do one, the Rex at sunset is the one that gives you the city rather than a panorama of it — you can see the street.

The riverside alternative

Not every elevated view in the city is a tower. The Thu Thiem side of the river and the bridges across it give you the District 1 skyline from the outside rather than from inside it, at no cost at all, and the walking street at Nguyen Hue is itself a good place to see the buildings lit.

If the photograph is the point, consider that the best picture of the skyline is taken from outside it, not from on top of it.

Practical notes

Dress codes at the larger venues generally rule out shorts, vests and open shoes for men; the smaller terraces do not care. Reservations are worth making at weekends and are essential if you want a rail table at sunset.

Many of the bars have a minimum spend or a cover at peak times rather than an entry fee. Ask when you book. And check the forecast — the rooftops close or move inside in heavy rain, which in the May-to-November wet season is a daily possibility in the late afternoon.

The cheaper version

The observation decks at Bitexco and Landmark 81 charge admission but no drinks minimum, and some bars let you spend the equivalent of the deck ticket on a drink instead and skip the deck. Doing the maths on that is worth two minutes before you buy either.

Going with children or not drinking

The observation decks work for both. They have no dress code, no minimum spend and no age restriction, and the view is the same one the bar above is charging for. The bars themselves vary — the hotel terraces are relaxed about it, the club-style rooftops are not.

When to go

Sunset, year round. In the dry months from December to April the air is clearer and the view goes further. In the wet season the late afternoon storms often clear just before dusk, which produces the better skies of the two.