A drink at the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel is a rite of passage while visiting Ho Chi Minh. It is one of the lowest rooftop bars in the city at only five storeys high, but far from hindering the view the modest height is actually one of the Rex Hotel’s redeeming features. Laid out on the streets below are several of Vietnam’s most beautiful and cherished period buildings, including the Saigon Opera House and People’s Committee Hall – two of the finest examples of French colonial architecture – and the relatively short distance between the bar and the sights of old world Ho Chi Minh makes the scene more inclusive. This is one of the best places in the city to relax with a cool cocktail in hand as day turns to night and the beep and screech of scooters can be faintly heard on the breeze.