Nguyen Hue Walking Street is a free, 670-metre pedestrian boulevard in Sài Gòn Ward (the old District 1), running from City Hall down to the Saigon River, and it is open at all hours. Go after dark, at the weekend if you want it full, and take Metro Line 1 to Opera House station, which sits under Lê Lợi at the top end of the boulevard.
This guide is desk research, re-checked on 14 November 2026 against the city’s own plans, the metro operator’s timetable as reported by the city broadcaster, the venues’ own websites and named Vietnamese newspapers. Nobody from Saigon Scene has walked it for this guide yet. Where the sources disagree, on the weekend closure hours, the metro exit and the Café Apartment lift fee, we say what each one says rather than pick a winner.
| Nguyen Hue Walking Street | Checked 14 November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Where | Nguyễn Huệ, Sài Gòn Ward (formerly Bến Nghé, District 1), from City Hall at 86 Lê Thánh Tôn to Tôn Đức Thắng by the river. In a ride-hailing app, search “Phố đi bộ Nguyễn Huệ” |
| Cost | Free |
| Open | All hours. The central plaza is pedestrian all the time; a 2019 city rule closes the whole road to vehicles from 19:00 to 23:00 on Saturdays and Sundays |
| Size | 670 m long and 64 m wide, opened as a pedestrian square in April 2015 |
| Nearest metro | Opera House station (Ga Nhà hát Thành phố), Line 1. Follow the signs for Nguyễn Huệ: sources number the exits differently |
| Metro hours and fare | 2026 timetable: 05:00 to 22:00 Monday to Thursday, 05:00 to 23:00 Friday to Sunday. 7,000₫ to 20,000₫ cash, 6,000₫ to 19,000₫ cashless |
| By river | Bạch Đằng water bus wharf, 10B Tôn Đức Thắng, 15,000₫ a trip |
| Best time | After dark, and at the weekend for the crowd |
Saigon Boat Company gives Scene Pass members 10% off, outside happy hours. Join by 30 Nov for 399,000₫ a year, kept for as long as you stay. Get Scene Pass
Where it is and how to get there
The boulevard runs from the yellow City Hall on Lê Thánh Tôn down to Tôn Đức Thắng and the river, with the Hồ Chí Minh statue at the top and Lê Lợi crossing it near the Rex. Since districts were abolished on 1 July 2025 the address is Sài Gòn Ward, which took in all of the old Bến Nghé ward. Signs and taxi apps still often say District 1.
By metro
Metro Line 1, open since 22 December 2024, runs from Bến Thành to Suối Tiên. The second station, Opera House (Ga Nhà hát Thành phố), is underground beneath Lê Lợi, with gates along Lê Lợi between Pasteur and Đồng Khởi, so it comes up beside the boulevard.
Under the 2026 timetable, trains run from 05:00 to 22:00 Monday to Thursday and from 05:00 to 23:00 Friday to Sunday (VOH, 24 December 2025). A single trip costs 7,000₫ to 20,000₫ in cash by distance, or 6,000₫ to 19,000₫ paid cashless (VnEconomy, reporting the city’s fare decision, 23 November 2024).
The exits are where the sources part ways. The rail enthusiast site Ho Chi Minh City Metro lists five gates: gate 1 on Lê Lợi in front of the Rex’s shops, which is exit only with an up escalator, and gate 4 at the Lê Lợi and Đồng Khởi corner, the only gate with a lift, beside an underground passage into the Union Square mall. Tiền Phong photographed a sign in July 2025 pointing to exit 5 for the walking street and Lê Lợi, while a mia.vn guide from April 2026 recommends exit 2. Until we have walked it, follow the signs for phố đi bộ Nguyễn Huệ rather than a number.
Coming from Bến Thành Market, the station there is one stop west on the same line. Ba Son, one stop east, is the next station towards the river.
By water bus
Near the river end is the Bạch Đằng wharf at 10B Tôn Đức Thắng, the city terminus of the Saigon Waterbus. The operator charges 15,000₫ a person a trip, and our Saigon Waterbus timetable and fares page puts the walking street about 500 m from the wharf.
By Grab or taxi
Search “Phố đi bộ Nguyễn Huệ” and expect the app to show District 1. On weekend evenings the road itself is closed to vehicles, so expect to be dropped on a side street or at either end.
Motorbike parking
The published prices conflict. Vivu Việt Nam (March 2026) lists parking on the ground floor of 42 Nguyễn Huệ at 3,000₫ a ticket, 08:00 to 22:00, and a lot at Nguyễn Huệ and Tôn Thất Thiệp open around the clock. Vietnam Coracle (October 2024) says the building’s parking is for residents and sends riders to Lucky Plaza next door at 15,000₫. Origin Vietnam (November 2024) gives 5,000₫ to 50,000₫ depending on vehicle and time. Ask the price before you hand over the bike.
When to go: weekday nights, weekend nights and the heat
The boulevard draws people every day, most of all at night, at weekends and on festival days, as Pháp Luật TP.HCM described it after it opened in 2015. Daytime is hot work on open granite: the city’s average daily high is 31.6°C or more in every month of the year, which our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Ho Chi Minh City sets out with the rainy season, May to November.
The weekend closure is the detail every guide gets vague about. The central plaza is always pedestrian, and from 1 March 2019 the city’s transport department banned all vehicles from the whole of Nguyễn Huệ, Lê Thánh Tôn to Tôn Đức Thắng, from 19:00 to 23:00 every Saturday and Sunday (VOH, 22 February 2019). Origin Vietnam’s guide (November 2024) says 18:00 to 22:00 instead. In December 2023 the transport department backed a plan to close six side streets off the boulevard to vehicles on weekend evenings too, 19:00 to 23:00 (Tiền Phong, 17 December 2023), but we found no notice saying it took effect. We will photograph the signs and print what they say.
The road also closes for the Tết flower street, the New Year countdown and other big events. Since March 2026 events on Nguyễn Huệ and Lê Lợi have had to follow a yearly calendar approved by the city, after complaints about traffic, noise and light (Viet Nam News, 5 March 2026).
If you spend the day out of town, at the Cu Chi Tunnels or on one of the other day trips from Saigon, the boulevard makes an easy evening once you are back in the centre.
Nguyễn Huệ or Bùi Viện?
Bùi Viện became a walking street on 20 August 2017, the city’s second after Nguyễn Huệ. Nguyễn Huệ is a wide open square with fountains, families and street snacks. Bùi Viện is the narrow backpacker bar street with music from every door: read what Bùi Viện is really like before you choose.
What to see, from City Hall to the river
City Hall and the Hồ Chí Minh statue
City Hall, the People’s Committee building, stands at 86 Lê Thánh Tôn, Sài Gòn Ward. It was built between 1898 and 1909 and was ranked a national architectural and artistic relic in 2020 (Lao Động, 18 April 2026). It opened to the public for the first time over the 30 April holiday in 2023 and then ran monthly weekend tours, but Lao Động reported that visits had been suspended since early 2025, so plan to see it from the plaza. The bigger change is coming: in April 2026 the city council approved a new administrative centre in Thủ Thiêm, planned for 2026 to 2028, after which the building is to be kept for sightseeing and tourism.
The Hồ Chí Minh statue in front of it was inaugurated on 17 May 2015, for the 125th anniversary of his birth (Pháp Luật TP.HCM).
The Rex
The Rex Hotel is at 141 Nguyễn Huệ, on the corner of Lê Lợi. It has a Rooftop Garden Bar, which the hotel ties to the “Five O’Clock Follies”, the US military’s daily press briefings for war correspondents in the 1960s.
The fountains and the plaza
The square was laid in granite with two fountains and an underground control room for water music and lighting, at a cost of 430 billion ₫ (Pháp Luật TP.HCM, October 2015). The boulevard itself began as a canal, the Kinh Lớn, which the French filled in during the 19th century, and it took the name Nguyễn Huệ in the 1950s. We have not yet checked when the fountains run, or what the snack sellers charge.
The river end: Bạch Đằng
At the bottom of the boulevard, across Tôn Đức Thắng, is the Bạch Đằng riverside park, with the water bus wharf along it. From the wharf our water bus guide measures 1.2 km to Notre-Dame and Book Street, beside the Saigon Central Post Office, and 1.8 km to the Independence Palace.
For time on the river without the commuter boat, Saigon Boat Company, at 15B/24 Lê Thánh Tôn, runs Saigon River cruises and private charters on open wooden boats with a bar on board. It is a Saigon Scene partner, which means it gives Scene Pass members a discount in return for being featured.
The Café Apartment at 42 Nguyễn Huệ
The nine-storey block at No. 42 has cafés and small shops behind many of its old apartment doors. It is more than 60 years old and was repainted bright white before Tết 2026, keeping its original lines (Thanh Niên, 13 February 2026), so older photos show the old paintwork.
The entrance is on the ground floor, to the left of the Fahasa bookshop, according to the guides we read. The stairs are free. The lift is not: the most recent Vietnamese source, Vivu Việt Nam (March 2026), gives 5,000₫ a person a ride, often refunded by the café or shop you buy from, while several English blogs still say 3,000₫. Refunds are up to each venue. Three 2026 guides agree that weekday mornings are the quiet time and Saturday afternoon and evening the busiest.
When No. 42 is full: 14 Tôn Thất Đạm
Vietnam Coracle (2018) calls the old block at 14 Tôn Thất Đạm, a few streets west, the other café apartment, and puts it about a 10-minute stroll from No. 42. Three Saigon Scene partners trade there. As partners they give Scene Pass members a discount in return for being featured, and that is why they come first here.
Bazzarilli Coffee is the daytime café, Italian espresso and cappuccino, turning to Spritz and aperitivo as the sun goes down. After dark the same space becomes Snuffbox Speakeasy, a candlelit cocktail bar whose menu uses Vietnamese ingredients.
10% off regular prices at both, outside happy hour, for Scene Pass members.
Refined Coffee & Cocktails, in the same building, is a coffee shop by day and a cocktail bar by night; its page with us singles out the house Negroni.
10% off regular prices, outside happy hour, for Scene Pass members.
The Saigon Opera House, by the metro station
The Opera House (Nhà hát Thành phố) is at 7 Công Trường Lam Sơn, Sài Gòn Ward, where Lê Lợi meets Đồng Khởi, and the metro station under Lê Lợi beside it is named after it. Building started in 1898 and it was completed in 1900.
The simple way to see inside is to buy a ticket. The A O Show, Lune Production’s music and acrobatics show, starts from 800,000₫ on the company’s booking page, and the calendar for the second half of November 2026 lists 18:00 performances on most weekdays and only two weekend dates (Sunday 15 and Saturday 28), so check the date before you plan around it. Our guide to things to do in Ho Chi Minh City has more on the show.
Across Lam Sơn Square, 2 Lam Son Bar is the cocktail bar inside the Park Hyatt, at 2 Lam Sơn Square, with DJs from Wednesday to Saturday. Our happy-hour listing shows 50% off the drink bill from 17:00 to 20:00 daily. It is a Saigon Scene partner.
10% off regular prices, outside happy hour, for Scene Pass members.
Tết, New Year’s Eve and big nights on Nguyễn Huệ
The Tết flower street
Nguyễn Huệ has hosted the Tết flower street since 2004 (Pháp Luật TP.HCM). In 2026 it ran from 19:00 on 15 February to 21:00 on 22 February, from Lê Lợi to Tôn Đức Thắng, with the whole road closed to vehicles (city Plan 173/KH-UBND, reported by Đại Biểu Nhân Dân on 25 November 2025). It drew more than 1.8 million visits to Nguyễn Huệ, and more than 2.2 million across the three sites now that the event, billed as the “Đường hoa thành phố” (city flower street), also runs in Bình Dương and Vũng Tàu wards (Tuổi Trẻ, 26 February 2026). The Tết Book Street on Lê Lợi, the same week, drew more than 1 million.
For 2027, Tết is Saturday 6 February and the public-sector holiday runs from Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February. The city approved the flower street’s design in late October 2026: three chapters titled Kết Nối, Hội Tụ, and Chuyển Mình và Bứt Phá (connection, convergence, transformation and breakthrough), with golden apricot blossom (mai vàng) around the Hồ Chí Minh statue, to be built by Saigontourist (Dân Trí and VOH, 29 October 2026). The opening and closing dates had not been published on 14 November 2026; the city portal said in September that the organisation plan must be approved in November at the latest. In both 2025 and 2026 it opened on the 28th day of the last lunar month, which in 2027 falls on 4 February, but treat that as a pattern until the plan is out.
New Year’s Eve 2026
The countdown is on Nguyễn Huệ again. The city has approved a four-day New Year festival on the walking street from Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December 2026, between Tôn Đức Thắng and Lê Lợi, with set-up starting at midnight on 24 December (VnExpress International, 11 November 2026). Road closures will be announced by the police and the culture department.
Before that, on Saturday 26 December, the Say Hi 2027 New Year concert, approved in principle by the city, includes a 30-minute performance on Nguyễn Huệ as part of the Ho Do International Music Festival, with ten minutes of fireworks from 23:20 launched from the riverfront in An Khánh Ward, across the river (VietNamNet, 12 November 2026).
Midnight fireworks for 1 January 2027 had not been announced when we checked. Last year none were planned for Nguyễn Huệ: the city’s plan for 00:00 to 00:15 on 1 January 2026 put the high-altitude displays at the Saigon River tunnel entrance in An Khánh, the new city centre in Bình Dương Ward and Tam Thắng Square in Vũng Tàu, with a low-altitude one at Đầm Sen (Luật sư Việt Nam, 9 December 2025). The 2025 countdown was planned for 27 to 31 December with the main stage between Tôn Đức Thắng and Mạc Thị Bưởi, 19:00 to midnight on the 31st, and the culture department proposed keeping it on Nguyễn Huệ every year to 2030 (VOH, 26 December 2025).
Football and other big nights
For the ASEAN Cup 2026 semi-finals against Malaysia in August, the city put up five LED screens, each 7 m high and 12 m wide, along the walking street from Lê Lợi to Tôn Đức Thắng (VnExpress, 16 August 2026).
Where to eat and drink nearby
Partners come first in our guides, and each is labelled. They give Scene Pass members a discount in return for being featured, and the discount comes off regular prices only, never on top of a happy hour or another offer.
Luli’s Skyview Restaurant is on the sixth floor of 40E Ngô Đức Kế, a side street off the boulevard, and is the closest Saigon Scene partner to it. It is a family-run Vietnamese restaurant serving dishes to share, with a view down over Nguyễn Huệ, open 10:00 to 23:00 every day. Our listing shows buy one get one free on cocktails and craft beers from 17:00 to 21:00 daily. Olly’s review on its partner page recommends the chicken dishes, or the bánh mì with chips for something quick with a beer.
10% off regular prices, outside happy hour, for Scene Pass members with the Saigon Scene app.
Somtam ZAAP, at 136 Pasteur, is a Thai restaurant built around the food of Isan, northeast Thailand: papaya salad, fried chicken wings, pad Thai. It is a Saigon Scene partner.
10% off regular prices, never on top of another offer, for Scene Pass members.
2 Lam Son Bar at the Park Hyatt, and the Bazzarilli, Snuffbox and Refined trio at 14 Tôn Thất Đạm, are covered above. Plenty of bars within a few minutes of the boulevard run a happy hour, and our map shows the happy hours on right now. For a full restaurant list, use our District 1 guide: where to stay and eat, and for a drink higher up, our list of rooftop bars with prices and hours.
How we checked
We re-checked every time-sensitive fact on 14 November 2026, starting from a brief researched on 27 October 2026.
The weekend vehicle rule comes from the transport department’s 2019 announcement as reported by VOH, the side-street proposal from Tiền Phong (2023), and the events directive from Viet Nam News (2026). Metro hours come from VOH’s report of the operator’s 2026 timetable, fares from VnEconomy’s report of the city’s fare decision, and the station gates from Tiền Phong, mia.vn and the Ho Chi Minh City Metro enthusiast site, which disagree. The water bus fare is from the operator’s own site. Event dates come from Đại Biểu Nhân Dân, Tuổi Trẻ, Dân Trí, VOH, VnExpress, VietNamNet and Luật sư Việt Nam; City Hall’s history from Lao Động; the boulevard’s size, cost and statue from Pháp Luật TP.HCM. The Café Apartment details are from a September 2026 survey of more than 15 published guides, with the lift fee re-checked against its most recent Vietnamese source. Show times and prices are from the venues’ own websites and our own partner pages.
Partner venues are labelled and listed first because they give our members a discount, which is how Saigon Scene stays free to read. What we say about them comes from their pages with us. The 2027 flower street dates, New Year’s Day fireworks and the countdown road closures had not been announced on 14 November 2026. We will update this page when they are.
Nguyen Hue Walking Street: questions answered
Is Nguyen Hue Walking Street free, and when is it open?
It is free and open at all hours: it is a public square, not a ticketed attraction. It is busiest after dark and at weekends, when, under a 2019 city rule, the whole road closes to vehicles from 19:00 to 23:00.
When is Nguyễn Huệ closed to cars and motorbikes?
The central plaza is pedestrian all the time. From 1 March 2019 the city banned all vehicles from the whole road, Lê Thánh Tôn to Tôn Đức Thắng, from 19:00 to 23:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Some travel guides say 18:00 to 22:00, and we have not yet checked the signs on the ground. The whole road also closes for the Tết flower street and the New Year countdown.
What is the nearest metro station to Nguyen Hue Walking Street?
Opera House (Nhà hát Thành phố) on Metro Line 1, under Lê Lợi at the top of the boulevard. Published guides give different exit numbers, so follow the signs for phố đi bộ Nguyễn Huệ. Gate 4, by Union Square, has the station’s only lift.
How much is the lift at the Café Apartment, 42 Nguyễn Huệ?
The most recent Vietnamese source, from March 2026, gives 5,000₫ a person a ride, and many cafés in the building refund it when you buy something. Some English guides still say 3,000₫. The stairs are free.
When is the Nguyen Hue flower street for Tết 2027?
The dates had not been announced on 14 November 2026, although the design was approved in late October. Tết 2027 is Saturday 6 February. In 2026 the flower street opened at 19:00 on 15 February and closed at 21:00 on 22 February, from the 28th day of the last lunar month to the sixth day of Tết.
Is there a New Year’s Eve countdown on Nguyen Hue?
Yes. The city has approved a four-day countdown festival on the walking street from Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December 2026, between Tôn Đức Thắng and Lê Lợi. Midnight fireworks for 2027 had not been announced on 14 November 2026; for 1 January 2026 the city planned them elsewhere, the nearest at the Saigon River tunnel entrance in An Khánh.
Which ward is Nguyen Hue Walking Street in?
Sài Gòn Ward. Vietnam abolished districts on 1 July 2025, and the old Bến Nghé ward of District 1 became part of Sài Gòn Ward. Taxi apps and many signs still say District 1.
Nguyen Hue or Bùi Viện at night?
Nguyễn Huệ is the open square: fountains, families, street snacks and space to walk. Bùi Viện, the city’s second walking street, is the loud backpacker bar strip. Plenty of people do Nguyễn Huệ in the early evening and Bùi Viện later.
