Luxury hotel The Reverie Saigon is offering a package designed to explore the history of the Vietnam through art. "Pearls of Saigon" offers guests a full day of exploring museums, galleries, artists’ homes, and studios that provides an inside look at the country’s history.
The eight-hour tour is tailored for guests and can range from general overviews to specific topics. Throughout the tour, guests will discover important 20 and 21st century history, and how art was used during wartime as a tool of resistance, revolution, and reconstruction as well as how art is being used today.
Stops along the way include a walk through the Duc Minh private gallery, which has a collection of modern and post-modern works by artists from the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de L'Indochine (EBAI) and more, as well as a visit to Salon Saigon, a space housing a fine arts library and salon dedicated to presenting contemporary works and showcasing Vietnamese heritage as well as other Asian cultures through performances, screenings and educational programs.
Nguyen Manh Hung // Photo by Salon Saigon
Guests will also eat lunch at Salon Saigon. The private, five-course lunch will include traditional Vietnamese cuisine. A piano accompaniment during the prix-fixe meal or a 15-minute live performance of traditional Vietnamese dance can be requested for an additional fee.
Guests may also visit the grand halls of the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum.
The tour will be led by Sophie Hughes and Stu Palmer, who have lived in Vietnam since 2009 and have worked as a gallery manager and a film festival director as well as artistic collaborators. In 2011, Hughes founded Sophie’s Art Tour, which is hailed as the country’s connection between international visitors and Vietnamese art.
The "Pearls of Saigon" package includes a two night stay at The Reverie Saigon, roundtrip airport transfers, daily breakfast, private car and chauffeur, a selection of snacks and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the tour, and the five-course lunch at Salon Saigon. Rates start at $1,422 for rooms and $1,782 for suites.
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