Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
The embalmed body of the country's founder, watched over by a guard of honour in white.
Duration
45 min – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
Before 9am
Open
Mornings, closed Monday and Friday
Entry price
Free
The mausoleum was finished in 1975, in grey granite, on Ba Dinh square where Ho Chi Minh declared independence in 1945. He lies there embalmed, against his will: he had asked to be cremated.
The visit takes a few minutes. You move in single file, in silence, without stopping, between two guards in white uniform. The body goes to Russia for maintenance for several weeks each year, and the mausoleum closes completely then.
Getting there
Ba Dinh square, three kilometres from the old quarter. The entry queue forms on Ngoc Ha street, not in front of the building.
Hours
Closed in the afternoon, and for several weeks a year while the body is maintained
What to bring
- Covering clothes
- Cap
Rules on site
Legs and shoulders covered, no hat and no phone in hand, no photographs inside. Bags and cameras go to the cloakroom before the queue. It closes entirely for several weeks a year while the body is maintained.
Other places in Hanoi
- Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son templeThe lake at the heart of the old town, its legendary turtle and the red bridge to the temple.
- The 36 streets of the old quarterOne street per guild since the fifteenth century: tin street, silk street, toy street.
- Temple of LiteratureVietnam's first university, founded in 1070, and its stelae carried on stone tortoises.
- Train StreetA train that grazes the housefronts twice a day, in a lane three metres wide.