Grand interiors of Reunification Palace, Ho Chi Minh City

Reunification Palace, also known as Independence Palace is one of the important buildings in Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam.  The palace has its origin in mid 19th century, during French colonization of Vietnam. Since then, the palace has been destroyed partially during various wars and rebuilt. The complete history is available on Wikipedia. My post focuses on sharing photos and observations of the current day Reunification Palace, as accessible to the tourists.

There is an entry fee of 40000 VND (INR 120 approx) for visiors. The campus is 12 hectares (30 acres) in size, includes the Palace building and a green garden all around it.

Inside the Independence palace are mostly highly decorated/luxury rooms- used for various purposes such as President’s Office, President’s visitor’s waiting rooms, Conference rooms, a theatre/projection rooms, First Lady’s private reception and so on.

English guided tours are available at regular intervals, audio guides are also available. I had limited time, so did a quick walk through of the palace, clicking some pictures. Below are the pictures for your quick reference. Visitors can only view/click from outside the boundary- can’t go very close.

Conference Rooms- many large rooms with luxury chairs and sofas- used as meeting rooms or conference rooms

 President's bedroom

President's office (desk)


Above: Ambassador's reception
Below: First lady's reception room

Above: A chandelier
Below: Circular carped with dragon

 A movie hall

There's also a command centre that tracks solider's positions, manages radio communication etc. Called security council's room.

Main staircase (visitors are not allowed on these)

View of the garden outside from the balcony of Independence Palace

Reflection from the walls

On the outside, huge garden greets visitors. In between artifacts of historic importance. What you see below is a F5E fighter aircraft. Its predecessor, F5A were used extensively by South Vietnamese army. The planes were made by US firms. A north Vietnamese Lieutenant infiltrated South Vietnam airforce, managed to take off in disguise of routine mission and then conducted bombing runs on the Independence Palace on 8th April 1975. The bombing destroyed a portion of the building.

 The position where bomb was dropped is displayed on the roof top.
On 30th April 1975, the Vietnam war formally ended with North Vietnam tanks barging through the front gate of the Independence Palace, marking symbolic take over of Saigon and South Vietnam. Some of those tanks are also on display in the premises today.

Also read: 10 places to explore in Ho Chi Minh City *

Similar: Royal Palace of Brussels * Belleuve Presidential Palace, Berlin * Aga Khan Palace, Pune * Mysuru Palace Illuminated *