Nguyen Hue walking street

Nguyen Hue walking street

Nguyen Hue walking street was Kinh Lon or Big Canal which is built by Nguyen Anh (1802-1820) who created the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam. Big Canal drew water from Saigon river to Gia Dinh Citadel and it was home to many boats. During French colonial rule, the canal was called Grand Canal. The canal was renamed after admiral Charner. 2 streets along Charner Canal were named Rigault de Genouilly và Charner. There was a crowded material and fabric market near the canal at that time.

Charner Canal had become more and more polluted because of a large number of boats moved down the canal. The French decided to fill up the canal and turn the canal and 2 streets along with it into Charner Boulevard in 1887. Republic of South Vietnam government has renamed the boulevard into Nguyen Hue.

Since the 19th century, Nguyen Hue Street has been one of the most beautiful streets in Saigon. From the end of the 20th century till 1990s, Nguyen Hue Street was place where hundreds of flowers and plants used to decorate houses at Tet are sold. Nguyen Hue flower market has been the biggest flower markets in the city and it was the symbol of Tet in the past. Since the 1990s, the flower market is moved to 23/9 Park for some reason. Since 2004, Ho Chi Minh City decided to organize a spring flower festival along Nguyen Hue Street to commemorate this traditional flower market. Annually Nguyen Hue Street is decorated colorfully and impressively with lots of flowers according to each year’s theme. The flower festival usually occurs from the lunar twenty-eight December of the past year to the lunar fourth January of the new year. Especially, in this year, the festival will have many kinds of nice flowers from many countries in the world.

Flower festival on Nguyen Hue walking street at Tet in 2017 – Year of Rooster

 Since 2015, Nguyen Hue Street has become the walking street where the traffic of vehicles temporarily stops in this busy and crowded city. Nguyen Hue Street with Ho Chi Minh Square and Independence Palace attracts locals as well as tourists coming to relax, enjoy delicious foods at restaurants, or drinks some coffee at cafes along the streets. Nguyen Hue walking street is also home to luxury and expensive hotels in Ho Chi Minh city.

Nguyen Hue walking street with Independence Palace is a favorite place for locals and tourists walking and taking photos in Saigon