The Caravelle in the heart of Saigon

The Caravelle in the heart of Saigon is well-located as a base from which to explore all Ho Chi Minh City attractions. But once you know a bit about the history of this iconic hotel, you may just want to stay put and soak up the historic atmosphere.

There are many hotels around the world that are synonymous with the city they are located in – The Raffles in Singapore, The Waldorf-Astoria or The Plaza in New York City, The Ritz in Paris, The Eastern & Oriental in Penang, or even The Windsor here in Melbourne.

Just the mention of each of those hotel’s names conjures up images of an era in that place’s history, or a style and culture particular to that city.

In Saigon, that hotel is The Caravelle.

Located right in the heart of Saigon on the corner of Dong Khoi and Lam Son (Theatre) Square, The Caravelle’s construction was planned in 1954 by two French entrepreneurs who were keen to build the most modern and luxurious hotel the Indochina colony had ever seen. Four years of construction later, The Caravelle opened on Christmas Eve 1959 with a glitzy party that showcased the hotel’s contemporary style, elegant setting and superlative service.

To spread the risk of the venture, the developers had brokered ownership deals of various parts of the building during construction. Air France signed on as a co-owner and as the major ground-floor occupant (there is still an Air France office on the ground floor today), the Catholic Church bought a share (and later used the revenue from it to fund the University at Dalat) and, of particular interest to this Australian, our Government bought the seventh floor of the hotel outright to be used as offices and two staff residences for the Australian Legation.

(What’s a legation, you ask? Good question…I had to check it out myself. ‘Legation’ was a word to describe a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. The term was gradually phased out after World War II, but was obviously still in use in Saigon in the 1950s.)

The building was the height of luxury and technologically innovative – with lifts, hot and cold running water, air-conditioning throughout, electricity with back-up generators, and at the time, it was the tallest building in Saigon, with its crowning glory being a 10th floor rooftop terrace that offered 360 degree views over the city.

This rooftop terrace was to play an important role just a few years later when it played host to many of the foreign press covering the conflict in Vietnam (the Vietnam War or the American War, depending on your perspective). By then the rooftop bar at The Caravelle had become legendary as the preferred drinking place, and news gathering place, of the city’s foreign correspondents.

Many of the media organisations and networks set up their news bureaus in The Caravelle itself. The roll-call of journalists and writers who lived, stayed or drank at The Caravelle at various points during the war is impressive: John Steinbeck, Marlene Sanders, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, David Halberstam, Walter Cronkite, Jon Swain, Rose Ingalls Wilder, John Pilger, just to name a few.

As more and more young journalists poured into Saigon to cover the conflict, Malcolm Browne (the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who took that iconic photo of the burning monk) wrote A Short Guide to News Coverage in Vietnam as a kind of ‘dummies guide-to’ being a foreign correspondent in Vietnam. In it he wrote:

“Hotels in Saigon are comfortable and fairly expensive, about $17 a day for a room at the Caravelle, the best hotel in town…There is a foreign correspondents’ association in Saigon…but no press club. Transient correspondents often gather at Jerome’s Bar on the 8th floor of the Caravelle.”

The rooftop was a big attraction of The Caravelle. From that high vantage point, and with drinks in hand, the correspondents could observe the air strikes and bombing runs that occurred after dusk.

When they were not out in the field, the luxury and comfort of The Caravelle was a stark contrast to the realities the correspondents were witness to out on the frontlines. Syndicated newspaper columnist, Ann Landers described the experience of visiting a field hospital where she met soldiers who had lost limbs and were not expected to live, then later that evening dining at The Caravelle on frogs’ legs and chocolate eclairs.

And the tape which criss-crossed the windows of the hotel to prevent them shattering in the event of shelling, was a constant reminder of the reality of the war.

As Saigon fell on 30 April 1975, The Caravelle emptied rapidly, the Australian flag at the hotel was lowered by the diplomatic staff, and there was a scramble for evacuation via helicopters from the American embassy.

The following day the flag of the National Liberation Front flew above The Caravelle and the guest profile changed dramatically. Gone were the Aussie and US journalists, diplomats and the Saigon intelligentsia, and in came the Russians. The Caravelle—which was now owned by the new government- was renamed the Hotel Doc Lap (Independence) and that was the start of a whole new era in the hotel’s history.

But that’s a story for another post, other than to reflect that the history of this hotel is so entwined with the story of post-1954 Saigon that you can view it as a microcosm of that era. It’s impossible to stay there without absorbing some knowledge of the history of the hotel and its role during the period. As I was particularly interested, I read the book Caravelle – Saigon. A History which was published in 2009. Most of the information in this post is drawn from that book.

And the point of all this for today’s travelers to Vietnam is that one of the best places to imagine the experience of those foreign correspondents during the war, is the Saigon Saigon bar on the roof of The Caravelle.

In 1998, the hotel was extensively renovated, and a new 24-story tower was built next to, and adjoining the original building. Saigon Saigon Bar was rejuvenated, but retains the original charm and atmosphere of the wartime rooftop bar.

It is the perfect place for a sunset drink overlooking the (now much higher) city of Saigon. As we enjoyed our half-price cocktails (happy ‘hour’ is each day from 4pm to 7pm!) I tried to imagine what it must have been like for those members of the press to sit there, watching and listening as over 1,000 rounds of heavy artillery pounded the fringes of Saigon each night; and trying to make sense of what was going on around them.

The details

Saigon Saigon Bar

Does an iconic, historic hotel appeal to you…or do you prefer brand spanking new?

Disclosure: We booked and paid for our Caravelle rooms ourselves. The Caravelle did, however, very kindly upgrade our rooms to the Executive Floors, and we dined as guests of the hotel at the fine dining restaurant, Reflections. As always, all opinions, views and observations are entirely my own.

This post is linked to:

#WeekendWanderlust series hosted by Carmen’s Luxury Travel

#SundayTraveler series hosted by Chasing the Donkey

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