Behind the yellow Presidential Palace in Ba Dinh is the house where Ho Chi Minh spent the last 11 years of his life. It is a two-storey wooden house on stilts, built to look like the homes of the ethnic minorities of the northern mountains, with bamboo screens around the upper floor and no walls at ground level. Work began on 15 April 1958 and the house was inaugurated on 17 May 1958. He lived there from May 1958 until August 1969.
The relic site, run as President Ho Chi Minh's Vestige in the Presidential Palace Area, covers more than the stilt house. House 54 is a small former electrician's house that Ho Chi Minh moved into in December 1954, rather than living in the palace. It has three small rooms: an office by the pond, a dining room and a bedroom. Uncle Ho's fish pond, beside the stilt house, covers more than 3,000 m² and is 3 m deep at its deepest point. The site says he clapped his hands to call the fish before feeding them.
The Presidential Palace itself was built between 1900 and 1906 for the French Governor-General of Indochina. It is still used for state ceremonies and is not open to the public, but you can walk around the grounds for a fee.
Getting there
The site's official address is No. 1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street (the Red Gate), Ba Dinh. Measured in a straight line on map coordinates, the stilt house is about 0.2 km from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, about 1.8 km from Hanoi railway station and about 2.3 km from Hoan Kiem Lake. Noi Bai International Airport is about 21 km away in a straight line; the road is longer.
Hours and fees
| When | Hours |
|---|---|
| Summer | 7:30 to 11:00 AM, then 1:30 to 4:00 PM |
| Winter | 8:00 to 11:00 AM, then 1:30 to 4:00 PM |
| Monday | Morning only; closed in the afternoon |
The site does not give the dates where summer ends and winter begins.
The official website does not publish a ticket price. Vietnamese Wikipedia and a Hanoi tour operator's guide both put it at VND 40,000. One other travel site lists VND 25,000, so check at the gate.
Our take
This is the part of the Ba Dinh complex we'd plan the day around, because it has the widest hours. It opens every day, Friday included, and except on Mondays it reopens after lunch, when the mausoleum has already closed for the day. On a Monday, go in the morning.
Nearby
- Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: about 0.2 km in a straight line.
- Ho Chi Minh Museum: about 0.3 km in a straight line.
- Imperial Citadel of Thang Long: about 0.9 km in a straight line.
Questions travelers ask
Is it included with the mausoleum? A traveler who walked the Ba Dinh complex wrote:
"Inside the square, the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the Stilt House are two separate and paid attractions."
u/AltogetherAnthony on r/hanoi
