Saigon Central Post Office: The Second Most Beautiful Post Office in the World

Completed in 1891, the post office is often mistakenly attributed to the famous French architect Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). While Eiffel did design the building’s intricate iron framework, the true architect was Marie-Alfred Foulhoux. However, the Eiffel connection is not entirely false; the skeletal, airy ribs of the vaulted ceiling bear the unmistakable industrial aesthetic of the Eiffel school.

The architectural style is a masterclass in syncretism — a marriage of European classicism and tropical function. At first glance, you see a bright yellow facade (the color of French colonialism in Vietnam) trimmed with white plaster reliefs. The arched windows and clock tower are distinctly European. But step inside, and you notice the adaptations: the high, vaulted ceiling doesn’t just look beautiful; it creates a natural convection current that keeps the interior cool without air conditioning.

Walking through the massive iron-framed entrance, the visitor is struck by the cathedral-like scale. The barrel-vaulted roof, supported by two rows of slender iron columns painted a glossy forest green, arches 15 meters above the terrazzo floor. This is where the building earns its “beautiful” moniker.

At the far end of the main hall, a massive, sepia-toned portrait of Ho Chi Minh presides over the room, a respectful addition installed after the Fall of Saigon in 1975. But the real treasures lie on the side walls. Painted on the upper reaches of the concourse are two historic maps: “Lignes télégraphiques du Sud Vietnam et du Cambodge 1892” (Telegraph lines of South Vietnam and Cambodia) and “Saigon et ses environs 1892” (Saigon and its surroundings). These maps, drawn by the postal service’s own cartographers, show the transportation and telegraph routes of the late 19th century. For a student of history, these maps are mesmerizing; they depict a world where the Mekong Delta was still being charted and communication took weeks.

What makes this post office a true marvel is that it is not a mausoleum. It is a fully functional, busy post office. Locals come to pay bills and send money orders. Tourists line up at the antique wooden counters to buy stamps featuring lotus flowers and pho.

Perhaps the most charming feature is the row of old-fashioned wooden phone booths lining the left wall. While they once housed heavy rotary telephones, many now contain refurbished public phones or simply serve as photo ops. To the right, you will find a row of writing desks — dark, worn wood with carved inkwells — where you can sit, compose a letter, and drop it into a slot. Don’t forget to look up at the massive clock hanging over the entrance from the inside. It is antique, mechanical, and still keeps perfect time.

Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon

Paris Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Directly facing the post office across the traffic circle (Paris Square) is the twin-towered Notre-Dame Cathedral. Built between 1863 and 1880, this Romanesque revival cathedral is constructed entirely from bricks imported from Marseille, France. Remarkably, after more than 140 years in the tropical heat and monsoon rains, the bricks have never faded nor needed plastering — they remain a striking, dusty rose red, earning it the local nickname Nhà thờ Đức Bà (The Red Church).

Romanesque revival | 1863-1880 | Marseille bricks

Every brick was shipped across the world, and every stained-glass window (originally crafted in Chartres, France) tells a biblical story. In front of the cathedral stands a serene statue of the Virgin Mary, which, according to local legend, once shed tears in 2005, drawing thousands of pilgrims. As of 2024-2025, the cathedral is undergoing a major restoration, often hidden behind scaffolding, but its sheer scale and the rhythmic chime of its bells (still rung by hand) dominate the square. Standing between the yellow post office and the red cathedral, you feel the ghost of French Indochina — a Europe that never was, transplanted to the Mekong Delta.

Book Street (Đường Sách)

Between Notre-Dame Cathedral and Central Post Office, District 1

If the post office and cathedral represent Saigon’s body and spirit, Book Street represents its mind. Located on a narrow, pedestrian-only alley running between the cathedral’s side wall and the post office’s perimeter, this 200-meter-long literary haven opened in 2016. It is an oasis of calm in a city of eight million motorbikes.

Literary haven | 2016 | Pedestrian-only oasis

Where other streets roar with engines, Book Street whispers with the rustle of pages. The pavement is lined with symmetrical concrete benches shaded by massive, old Sao trees. Dozens of bookstores — housed in sleek, modern glass pavilions — sell everything from Vietnamese literary classics and English bestsellers to antique maps and children’s pop-up books.

But Book Street is more than a retail space. It is a cultural hub. On weekends, the street hosts poetry readings, calligraphy demonstrations (especially during Tết, the Lunar New Year), and art exhibitions. You will see elderly monks reading Buddhist scriptures next to teenagers studying for exams, all sharing the same quiet respect for the written word. Coffee shops on the ground floor of the adjacent buildings spill out onto the pavement, allowing you to sip a cà phê sữa đá while reading a novel. For tourists, it is the perfect place to buy a beautifully illustrated coffee table book about Vietnam or a postcard that you will walk thirty seconds to mail from the famous post office.

The title of “second most beautiful” is subjective but generally refers to rankings by The Guardian or architectural digests. It ranks second not because of a lack of beauty, but because the winner usually holds a more “pure” architectural style or greater historical distinction. However, for the traveler, “second best” is actually a gift. Unlike the world’s number one landmark, which is often a mob scene of selfie sticks, the Saigon Central Post Office is spacious, serene, and functional.