Ho Chi Minh City Transport, How to Get Around the City

Overview of Transport and Ways to Get Around Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City has a well-developed public transport system, there is inexpensive modern taxis, motorbike and bicycle rentals. There is even special tourist transport: Hop-On-Hop-Off buses and electric car taxis. Since 2025, the long-awaited metro has also started operating here, although so far only one line, not very useful for tourists.

If you master the local transport, you can literally get to know all the interesting places in Ho Chi Minh City for pennies, get from the airport to the center and back, and generally go almost anywhere within the city and its suburbs. Well, how to use it, we'll tell you everything now:

On Foot in Ho Chi Minh City

• 🕑 Working Hours: round the clock.
• 💵 Cost: free.

Ho Chi Minh City cannot be called pedestrian-friendly. Unfortunately, as everywhere in Vietnam, pedestrians are not respected here. There are very few sidewalks, and where there are, they are occupied by food carts, advertising stands, motorbike parking, and so on. While walking, you will often have to go out onto the roadway to bypass obstacles. There are very few pedestrian crossings and traffic lights. Even the presence of a pedestrian crossing does not guarantee a safe road crossing, watch our video of how it happens:

But we are not scaring you at all, just stating a fact. We ourselves most often move around Ho Chi Minh City on foot with pleasure, especially since only this way you can feel the whole cool 'vibe' of this city. What's good is that you can walk almost everywhere here, because almost all attractions, shops, and markets are within walking distance from the tourist district. So download points from our Ho Chi Minh City attractions map, and go 'conquer' the city, it's great.

Taxi in Ho Chi Minh City

• 🕑 Working Hours: round the clock.
• 💵 Cost: from 20,000 dong per trip.

There are a lot of taxis in Ho Chi Minh City. Here, really a lot!!! There are taxis by meter, by negotiated price, or via apps:

• Taxi by negotiated (fixed) price makes sense to use only for long trips, or from the airport to the hotel, if you have not yet bought a local SIM card and have not oriented yourself on the spot. A fixed trip around the city will always be more expensive than via apps or by meter. But if you need to go out of town, for example to the Cu Chi Tunnels without a tour, then it's better to hire a car for the whole day, because that will be more profitable than by meter or apps.

• Taxi by meter. The price of a trip by meter: 20,000 dong (0.76 USD) for the first kilometer, this price will be on the meter immediately); 16,000 dong (0.61 USD) for each subsequent kilometer. There are other prices in different companies, but all are approximately plus or minus. Thus, a short trip in the center will cost from 40,000 (1.52 USD), from the airport to the tourist district you can get for 140,000 (5.32 USD). All official taxis must have fares listed on the car door. If they are not there, then you are dealing with an unofficial private driver, it's better not to deal with them. Taxis by meter can be ordered by phone, through the hotel reception, or simply on the street or at the airport parking. Before starting the trip, make sure the driver will take you by meter, to do this, just say: "Taxi meter?". And make sure the driver resets the meter.

• Taxi via Grab, Maxim, InDrive, Xanh SM apps. The trip price is from 30,000 dong (1.14 USD). This is the most convenient and reliable way. You see the price immediately in the app, you pay at the end of the trip in cash or you can link a card (Russian cards do not work, even UnionPay). Grab and Maxim apps work. Uber and YandexGo do not work. More about the Grab app and how to use it. And in general, it's better to install both apps and compare prices.

  For ordering, it is advisable to have a local SIM card with internet, you can buy it at the airport or in mobile shops (how and where to buy a SIM card in Vietnam here). In extreme cases, you can order via hotel or airport WiFi.

And now a couple of points to be wary of in taxis and what to be prepared for when traveling at a fixed price or hiring a taxi on the street/parking lot:

• Do not get into non-branded taxis without prices indicated on the car body.
• Watch your luggage carefully, whether it is inside the car or in the trunk. There have been cases where taxi drivers drove off with the luggage both at the beginning of the trip and after.
• If you decide to use a taxi without the meter turned on, be sure to agree on the price in advance, before the trip. Ask the driver "how much?" and bargain to your price, which you can estimate at least roughly by distance (prices above). Just be sure to agree on the trip price on paper or a calculator and show the driver so that he confirms exactly this price.

Motorbike Taxi

• 🕑 Working Hours: round the clock.
• 💵 Cost: from 12,000 dong per trip.

Motorbike taxi rides around Ho Chi Minh City are fast, thrilling, full of adrenaline and a bit dangerous. But if you need to get somewhere quickly and inexpensively, then there is no better option than a motorbike taxi. But be sure to wear a helmet, and you can ask the driver to go a bit slower. Of course, you won't ride a motorbike taxi with a couple of large suitcases, but with a backpack or a small suitcase, easily. They carry strictly one passenger, they may not take children.

A short-distance trip in the center will cost about 20,000 dong, and to Ho Chi Minh City Airport you can get for 60,000 dong.

It's better to order a motorbike taxi, like a car one, via apps. They are available in both Grab and Maxim. Payment in cash at the end of the trip.

Tourist Electric Cars

• 🕑 Working Hours: from 06:00 to 24:00.
• 💵 Cost: from 60,000 per trip or from 120,000 dong for 30 minutes.

Such electric cars, or even micro-buses, since 6 people can easily fit in them, circulate around the tourist center of Ho Chi Minh City. They move along a certain route that covers the most interesting tourist places. They can also be hired by agreement to get to the desired place, but there is no point in doing this, it will be more expensive than a car taxi.

Payment is for the entire micro-bus, not per person. Prices and routes are indicated on the side of the vehicle, there is also the MexBus app with all the information. At the time of writing, the fare is as follows:

• 30 minutes of travel until 18:00 – 120,000 dong, after 18:00 – 250,000 dong.
• Every next 10 minutes of travel until 18:00 – 40,000 dong, after 18:00 – 80,000 dong.
• Trip from one point to another on the established route until 18:00 – 60,000 dong, after 18:00 – 120,000 dong.

As you can see, the price even for a trip from point to point is higher than for a car taxi. But the good thing is that you can ride in a large group. Well, in general, this is more of a sightseeing ride than a way to get somewhere.

Hop-On-Hop-Off Tourist Bus

• 🕑 Working Hours: day tour from 08:00 to 15:30, night tour from 16:00 – 23:00. Runs every 30 minutes.
• 💵 Cost: from 7 dollars for 1 round on the route; from 33 dollars for a 24-hour ticket

All information and ticket booking are available on the website https://hopon-hopoff.vn/tours/hcm-citysightseeing-tour, as well as at each bus stop and on the bus itself.

Hop-on-Hop-off is a system of tourist buses where you buy a ticket valid for some time (from a few hours to several days), and with this ticket you freely move on special double-decker buses, getting off and on at designated stops located near attractions. The route is designed so that you can easily walk to interesting places from the stops.

In Ho Chi Minh City, you can see all the attractions in the center on it, and that's most of all the interesting places in the city. We compared Hop-On-Hop-Off and Mexbus electric car routes, they are almost identical, so you can choose one or the other. Important! The day and night routes have different stops.

But still, Hop-On-Hop-Off buses are different in that tickets for them here are valid for a whole day, and plus during the trip you can listen to information in an audio guide in several languages, including Russian.

Car or Motorcycle Rental in Ho Chi Minh City

• 🕑 Working Hours: round the clock.
• 💵 Cost: motorbike from 130,000 dong/day, car from 50 dollars.

If you feel confident behind the wheel, you can rent a vehicle to travel around Ho Chi Minh City. However, be very careful, traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is simply insane. You can rent a low-power motorcycle (scooter) in the Ho Chi Minh City tourist district on Pham Ngu Lao Street, the real rental price is from 130,000 dong/day. But before renting a vehicle, watch our video:

In Vietnam, it is completely legal to drive a rented vehicle with an international driving permit (IDP) that complies with the requirements of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. These are the ones issued in the Russian Federation, and previously it was necessary to obtain temporary local licenses, and no others were recognized in the country. Now you can safely drive with a driver's license issued in Russia. Just don't forget that the IDP is only valid together with your national license, so you need to bring both types of licenses to Vietnam. You can obtain an IDP from the traffic police (GIBDD), its cost/state fee is 3200 rubles. No exams are required to obtain an IDP. What licenses are needed in Vietnam here.

You can rent a car, including at the airport. But, unfortunately, car rental is not developed here, there are no international network rental companies and aggregators with their low competitive prices, so you will have to pay from 50 dollars per day for car rental. What's also inconvenient is that you will have to look for a car through social networks or on the spot, and you won't be able to find and book through aggregators.

Nevertheless, just in case, here are international aggregators for searching for a car, check them:

Ho Chi Minh City Buses

• 🕑 Working Hours: round the clock.
• 💵 Cost: from 5,000 dong per trip.

Ho Chi Minh City has an excellent city bus system. Figuring out the routes is not easy, because more than 30 different companies serve with a total of more than 2500 buses on more than 115 routes in all districts of Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in nearby suburban areas (provinces) Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Long An. But mastering at least the most important things here is easy, we'll tell you everything now:

On city buses you can get to any place in the city, including from Ho Chi Minh City Airport to the tourist district and back. Buses are usually air-conditioned and almost empty. And if you don't ride buses during rush hour, you will feel quite comfortable in them. Interestingly, on some routes, Russian "Gazelles" run.

The fare is paid in cash to the driver or conductor. In some buses, the old payment scheme is even preserved, when the fare money should not be handed over, but dropped into a money box at the entrance (remember how it was in the USSR), but this is already a big rarity.

The fare starts from 5000 dong and depends on the distance, you need to say the place or district you are going to. For example, from the airport to the tourist district you can get on route 152 for only 5000!!! Drivers and conductors practically do not speak or understand English, but you can show the names of the place on the map in Vietnamese, they will understand everything. In general, Vietnamese people are mostly very friendly and patient with tourists, including conductors, so don't worry, they will help you figure everything out.

As already said, there are many routes and many companies. There is no single local public transport app (at least we don't know), each company has something of its own. But Google Maps works great, it has almost all city bus routes. There are, of course, inaccuracies, but in general, it can be used. There is also the Ho Chi Minh City bus website http://buyttphcm.com.vn, but we did not find some routes there, probably it is not yet complete. Well, don't hesitate to ask other passengers, drivers, conductors, they are happy to help.

What's convenient is that near the tourist district there is a large city bus terminal (city bus depot on the map). Another important hub stop is located near Ben Thanh Market (city bus stop near Ben Thanh).

Here are useful routes for tourists:

• №152 – Airport (from/to international terminal T2 and old domestic terminal T1) - Ben Thanh Market and tourist district.
• №109 – Airport (from/to new domestic terminal T3) - Ben Thanh Market and tourist district.
• №1 – Ben Thanh Market - Binh Tay Market and Cholon).
• №11 – Ben Thanh Market - Dam Sen Water Park.

Metro in Ho Chi Minh City

• 🕑 Working Hours: from 05:00 to 22:00.
• 💵 Cost: from 7,000 dong per trip.

Metro website: https://maur.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/

The metro in Ho Chi Minh City was launched only in 2025. Currently, there is only one line L1, but expansion is planned. What exists so far is not interesting for tourists, and in our opinion, further development of the metro network will also not be particularly useful for tourists, unless they launch a metro to the airport. The line to the airport L4 is still only in plans, even the timing is unknown. The thing is that almost all attractions are compactly located in the center, and by metro you can only get to the only interesting place so far – the Landmark 81 skyscraper and observation deck, and Vinhomes park.

If you decide to take the metro, there is a Bến Thành station near Ben Thanh Market and the tourist district. So far it is the terminal, but extension is planned.

The fare depends on the number of stations, minimum 7,000, maximum – 20,000 dong. There are also passes for one day 40,000, for three days 90,000. Smart cards (cards) are used for travel, which must be kept until the end of the trip and dropped into the turnstile when exiting. Contactless payment with foreign Mastercard bank cards is also available.