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On November 2018, I traveled to Vietnam, to Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Touring the World of Heineken was not originally in the agenda. However, I was looking for the Saigon Skydeck Ticket in Bitexco Financial Tower and the reviews online got me very excited to book the optional additional session in the World of Heineken Tour. As always, I rely on Klook because they offer plenty of attraction tickets at friendlier prices. The normal prices for Saigon Skydeck admission fee is USD 8.7 and the combo package with Heineken is around USD 10.9. At Klook, the prices are lower to USD 8.6 and USD 10.7.
I like ordering with Klook because they have price guarantee, where they would give you double prices difference if we can find cheaper prices anywhere else. And trust me, I have been looking at so many other options, but so far there’s no cheaper providers than Klook. Other than that, I also like to plan ahead my trip, and by paying to Klook, I don’t need to bring extra cash to Vietnam. I can confirm my itinerary and budget as soon as possible – to reduce hassles during the trip.
That’s always been one of my tricks: to do full preparation, research everything, plan the budget and the itinerary – but of course, leave some spare time for free activities depending on our mood at that time. If we do all the preparation ahead, we would significantly minimize headaches on deciding where to eat, the transportation route, or running out of money in the middle of a trip. It’s so much easier!
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Saigon Skydeck – 360 Degree View of Ho Chi Minh City
View from Saigon Skydeck
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Bitexco Financial Tower is one of the highest skyscrapers in Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam. It is located near Ben Thanh and is surrounded by vibrant cafes, shopping centers, and restaurants. Unfortunately, when I visited Ho Chi Minh, there was an Usagi Storm coming, so there was a heavy downpour for the whole day. The sunny day only came at the last day, so I did not get the chance to visit all the spots in my itinerary 🙁
The observatory Saigon Skydeck is located at the 49th floor of Bitexco Tower. We can buy or show our tickets to the building receptionist and they will give us a wrist-band. I was told that we can only tour the Skydeck for around 10 minutes, and must proceed directly to the 58th floor to start joining the World of Heineken Tour.
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When we reached the 49th floor, I was so excited! It truly offers 360 degree view of the Ho Chi Minh City. From up above, they look very pretty, with the combination of traditional and modern buildings. There are telescopes to take a closer look to the streets. However, the building glass is reflective, thus it was difficult to take pretty pictures without getting lights from the building.
Since we only had 10 minutes to look around, it was a little bit rushed. I still wanted to take my time and see the sunset (since we arrived at around 5 PM). But anyway, I remember many people say that the World of Heineken Tour is more interesting than the Skydeck, so I had high expectation on it!
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Welcome to the World of Heineken!
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On the 58th floor, the view is much more amazing. We got to the waiting room for the World of Heineken – the tour usually starts every half an hour. There are around 10-12 people for one batch. Before it begins, we were required to fill in some personal data. More importantly we had to write our name that will be engraved to a custom exclusive Heineken bottle. Yup, we got a beer bottle with our names on it as a souvenir!
The tour began with the brief history of Heineken as a prominent beer company. We got a very cheerful tour guide who have us quiz, invited us to taste the barley for beer, etc. As a Public Relations consultant, I couldn’t help but admire Heineken in its effort of company branding. They rented three floors on Bitexco to make the World of Heineken. This is not only for tourism or financial purposes. More than that, Heineken offers everyone to know their company profiles, history and the making of beer, Heineken’s commitments in sports industry, all in a fun way! Opting out from the traditional boring company profile video, Heineken offers a brief yet sought out experience that will be memorable to all of its visitors.
We tried the Virtual Reality and 4D facility, to learn the process of creating a Heineken beer. It’s only 4-5 minutes but honestly, I still quite remember it until now. There are also plenty of entertainment and games that we could try at the World of Heineken. As we probably know, Heineken has been a prominent sponsor in sports, especially UEFA Champions League and F1 Race. So we could try all that and it was so engaging!
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Pour the Beer
Aside from the entertainment, there was also a bartender that teach us how to properly pour a Heineken beer to get the maximum balance between the beer and the foam. And…it was NOT as easy as I thought 😀
But after the the tour was over, we could take the stairs to the 60th floor and enjoyed our beers in the high altitude. It was already dark so we could see the beautiful city lights of Saigon. Each of tour participant could have up to 2 bottle of beers. I didn’t drink, though. But I really enjoyed the view and the snack from the bar. Heineken really put themselves out there and I really salute them for it. Not many companies willing to invest that much for a customer experiential tour.
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The Verdict
I would say, “Do it!”
When I travel, I aim to learn as many new things as possible and experience something that I couldn’t find in my country. The World of Heineken tour did just that. You’ll get very interesting knowledge (especially if you’re regular beer drinker) and an exciting experience in one package! You can have fun, enjoy your drink with a Saigon view from the 60th floor. As a cherry on top, you’ll also get a cute one-and-only-edition of Heineken bottle beer with your name on it. So worth it, right?
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