Hotel Majestic

Rooms

The Majestic makes the most of its colonial pedigree, so expect lots of dark wood, polished to within an inch of its life, stained glass, curvy mirrors, brass, and trompe l’oeil ceilings. All rooms are individually styled, but suites typically have their own sitting room, a grand bedroom, a dressing area and a bright bathroom with raised-platform baths. If you want a river view (and we’d say it’s a must if you want to see Vietnam unfolding before your very eyes), choose a Majestic Suite (perfect for parents with a small child), or go for a Colonial Saigon River Deluxe, which has a sitting and desk area within a large bedroom, and a lofty, 1930’s style bathroom. All river-view rooms have wrought-iron Juliet balconies from which you can watch scooters riding eleven abreast, buses, and life on the Saigon River.

If a river view doesn’t matter so much, opt for a Colonial City Deluxe, or spread out in a Colonial Suite. (Apart from a rather soulless view of mirrored skyscrapers, we found them rather smart: good lighting, parquet flooring, warm colours and crisp linen. Colonial Deluxe rooms are the cheapest option; they share the dull views and are slightly smaller, but fixtures and fittings remain the same, and if all you need is a base in town you’ll be happy enough.) The final option, the Colonial Pool Deluxe, looks out onto the courtyard swimming pool, but can be a bit echoey during the day. It is worth noting that there is not that much difference in price between a City Deluxe and a Colonial Saigon River Deluxe, and the latter is very popular.

Wherever you choose you’ll find WiFi, pretty armchairs, flatscreen TVs with uniquely Asian-flavoured carved, wooden frames, minibars, coffee machines, fresh flowers, colourful art, air-conditioning, bath robes and slippers. Striking bathrooms come in black and gold marble and add a dollop of glamour. Mineral water and bowls of fruit are replenished daily and there’s an evening turndown service.

Features include:

• Air conditioning
• Minibar/fridge
• WiFi

Eating

This is not a hotel in which to go hungry. There are cafes, restaurants and bars in the hotel specialising in traditional Vietnamese food, and Asian, Western and International dishes, and you can get snacks at the pool or in the bars. There’s even a sinful patisserie in the lounge so you don’t have to miss out on a violin-serenaded afternoon tea.

A huge buffet breakfast is served on the terrace of the 5th-floor Breeze Sky Bar (unless the weather fails to cooperate, in which case you eat in the ground-floor Cyclo Restaurant). With so many rooms to feed, it can get quite busy up here, especially early on, as people are often racing off to catch morning flights or trips out to the countryside. Despite this, you still manage to get a really good breakfast; you just have to occasionally elbow someone out of the way to get to the croissants. You’ll find endless jugs of freshly-squeezed tropical juices, huge platters of freshly-sliced fruit, yoghurts and cereals, jams and honey, towering cakes stands filled with patisserie, freshly-baked rolls, toasters for the English and a long buffet of cooked delights offering European and Asian dishes.

Authentic Vietnamese food is served for lunch and dinner in the Cyclo Restaurant; views give onto the street, and meals are sometimes accompanied by live Vietnamese music and dance performances. The 7th-floor chintzy Serenade Restaurant is for when you’re craving something more Western. During the day, lighter meals are available at the pool bar, Breeze Sky Bar and M Bar, located on a roof terrace, where - once you’ve recovered from your first sight of the amazing view - you can grab a Croque Monsieur, a Russian salad, a club sandwich, noodle soup, pizza or a plate of French cheeses.

Saigon has a growing number of excellent eateries: Propaganda Café and The Temple Club are firm favourites and offer great Vietnamese, bistro-style food in a cool setting. If you want to eat the best Vietnamese food in town head to the Mandarin; for the best European food try the Park Hyatt. La Camargue serves up really good French dishes in stylish surroundings.

Features include:

• Minibar/fridge
• Restaurant
• Restaurants nearby

Activities

• Saigon is a French colonial town; stroll down its central streets to see the architectural legacy. Make sure you go into the Post Office, a grand place to send off your postcards. Bang opposite is Notre Dame Cathedral. Head west and you’ll find Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theatre, better known as the Opera House. City Hall is close, too
  
• Fill your suitcases with designer labels from the shopping malls and boutiques (though you will often find parity with western prices), or shop for decent lacquer-ware, bags and presents from the friendly traders at the biggest market in town, Ben Than, a kilometre from the hotel.
  
• Visit Reunification Palace, the taking of which by North Vietnamese tanks on 30 April, 1975, marked the fall of Saigon and the end of the war. The park around it is Saigon’s equivalent to Lover’s Lane and is crammed with doting couples at night
  
• If you want to know more about the Vietnamese War, go to the War Remnants Museum, once known as the Museum of American War Crimes. Its name changed in 1997, the first condition the American government imposed on the Vietnamese in exchange for granting ‘Most Favoured Nation Trading Status’. Here you'll find shocking memorabilia, pictures and personal accounts of the war
  
• If you can squeeze into them, the Cu Chi tunnels are well worth a visit and one of the highlights of a trip to Vietnam. Ask reception to help you organise a day trip
  
• Head south and discover the Mekong Delta as it prepares to pour into the South China Sea. Find friendly locals working their paddy fields and a seemingly infinite web of tiny canals that brings water from river to field. Day trips can be arranged
  
• Chill out in the hotel: have a cooking lesson, sit by the pool or treat yourself at the spa

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Cooking classes
• Nightlife
• Shopping / markets

Kids

The hotel is child-friendly, but the pool is not supervised. Under 6 year olds stay for free in parents' room; 6 and over in extra bed in parents' room at an extra cost.

Best for:

Teens (over 12)

Family friendly accommodation:

Cots Available, Extra Beds Available

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Hotel Majestic is situated on Dong Khoi Street in District 1 of Saigon. It's 10km from the airport and close to all the main attractions.

By Air:
Ho Chi Minh, Tan Son Nhat International (10km). Many international airlines fly into Saigon. For routes from the rest of Europe and Asia, click on the link below.

From the Airport
We'd recommend arranging a transfer with the hotel - see Rates for more details. Taxis operate from the airport, but they are not as safe, much gets lost in translation and suddenly the fee has doubled; if you try, expect to pay from around $15.

Detailed directions will be sent to you when you book through i-escape.com.

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