Presidential Palace, Hanoi Palace

Address: Presidential Palace area, Ba Đình, Hanoi (near Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum)

The Presidential Palace in Hanoi is a French colonial-era building in Ba Dinh District originally constructed by the colonial administration for the Governor-General in the early 20th century. The palace today is used for official receptions and state functions and is set within formal grounds near major national monuments.

The complex includes the main colonial-style reception building and surrounding gardens, and it sits close to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the One Pillar Pagoda. While the palace itself is reserved for official use, the modest stilt house that Ho Chi Minh occupied on the grounds has been preserved as a point of visitor interest.

Erected during the French colonial period, the palace was part of the colonial administration’s ensemble of public buildings; after independence it became part of the institutions of the modern Vietnamese state and is used for formal presidential duties.

The Presidential Palace stands in central Hanoi’s Ba Dinh district, a short walk from Ba Dinh Square and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex.

• Ho Chi Minh’s residence: Ho Chi Minh chose not to live in the palace and instead used a modest stilt house elsewhere on the grounds; that stilt house is preserved and accessible as part of the site’s interpretation.

The Presidential Palace in Hanoi (the Governor-General’s former palace) is in the Ba Dinh district near Ba Dinh Square and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. It is within walking distance of the mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square, so many visitors walk between these sites.

From Hanoi’s Old Quarter or Hoan Kiem Lake you can take a short taxi or motorbike taxi ride (a couple of kilometres) to Ba Dinh; local buses also serve the area around the mausoleum and presidential compound.

• The Presidential Palace (the former French Governor's residence) is best appreciated from the outside as the building itself and many of the inner rooms are not open to general visitors; combine your stop with the nearby Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum for a complete Ba Dinh Square visit.
• Visit early in the morning to avoid the large guided-tour groups that arrive later in the day and to photograph the palace façade and surrounding French-colonial gardens with fewer people in the frame.
• Check nearby attractions and security notices before you go - access to the palace frontage and some adjacent areas is occasionally restricted for official events, whereas the Ho Chi Minh stilt house and mausoleum complex have separate opening times and rules.