you can get a day pass for the fitness area at caravelle hotel, cost is $23/day. you get the pool, sauna, steam, and gym for that. it is alot of money for one day and the equipment is a little bit old for an upscale hotel.

i paid twice. each day i went three times. bicycle in the am, pool in afternoon, and weights in early evening. i'm not a big workout guy, spent less than an hour each time. felt i got my money's worth with that schedule.

usually they offer extra, in Hotel fitness area`s in Vietnam.

i returned to saigon for a few days and checked out the fitness/pool at the marriott renaissance that fronts on the road along the river. they have a rooftop pool with a real nice view (no view from caravelle pool). fitness area equal to caravelle. day pass is $12usd versus $23usd at caravelle.

so best to go for the marriott.

did a weekly rate for the caravelle fitness and pool area, $70usd. marriott is cheaper but my hotel is very close to caravelle so i stuck with that one.

one side note:

i went to the atm before i went to caravelle fitness area. pulled out 4,000,000vnd (200usd), six 500,000vnd and ten 100,000vnd. put this in my day locker. when i got back to my room, three 500,000vnd were missing. i didn't check the money before i left the caravelle and i did leave the money right in the open - assuming someone opened the locker, it was right there for the taking. now i had the key to the locker but that means nothing to me. i'm sure they have duplicates. i noticed the shortfall right after i got back to my room (at A&EM hotel nearby).

i figure if my pocket was picked on the walk btwn the caravelle and my hotel, all the money would be gone. since only about half was gone, my thought is the locker room boys had their way with my cash filled locker and hoped i wouldn't notice. i talked to the hotel about it, knowing i wasn't getting any money back, but just to make them aware of a possible issue with the locker room boys. of course, the person i talked to probably got a cut of the ripped off cash.

i did win $100 playing roulette at the caravelle later that day. although i'd lost $100 in each of the previous two days (playing at the sheraton). so i'm even at the caravelle but still down $200 at the sheraton.