Transport in Vung Tau, what to use to get around the city

An overview of the ways, how and on what tourists move around Vung Tau

Vung Tau is a large city, its attractions and beaches are located in different parts and districts, and sometimes at great distances from each other. In addition, some places will also have to be reached with a height difference, because several particularly interesting sights are located on high hills within the city. Therefore, without transport, it will not be easy to fully get acquainted with all the interesting places in the city. We will tell you in detail how and on what to move around Vung Tau and what kind of urban transport there is from personal experience:

On foot

We walked around almost the whole of Vung Tau on foot, and did not use taxis or city buses at all. You can also do the same, but you need to be prepared to walk a lot, 10-20 kilometers a day, and even in the merciless heat. Therefore, we will definitely not recommend hiking in Vung Tau.

Nevertheless, if you still decide to take a walk here, then in our opinion this is one of the most comfortable cities in Vietnam for walking. There are sidewalks almost everywhere here, and they are not even busy with trade and motorcycle parking lots, you can safely walk along them. There is even a long walking path along the beaches, which in some sense can claim to be a promenade. It's safe to walk around Vung Tau, at least we walked day and night, and we didn't even see a hint of danger or aggression.

Perhaps the only thing that can be dangerous here is traffic. As you probably know, in Vietnam it is not customary to let pedestrians pass, we will accept even at pedestrian crossings with traffic lights. Watch our video on how to cross the road in Vietnam:

Taxi

In Vung Tau, ordering an auto taxi and a motorcycle taxi works perfectly through the Grab and Xanh SM applications, and we recommend using them.

Grab is already a classic application that works throughout Southeast Asia, replacing Uber. There is an order for an auto taxi, a motorcycle taxi, food and shopping delivery, sending parcels and even booking hotels.
• Xanh SM is a new modern taxi, local. The park has electric cars and motorbikes of local production, and it is positioned as ecological, but it costs a little more than a Grab for the same distance.

A trip around the city will cost from 30,000 to 80,000 thousand (1.14-3.04 USD), mototaxi is twice as cheap. You can see the price immediately when ordering, payment by linked card (Russian cards do not work) or in cash at the end of the trip. Grab and Xanh SM can be installed at home and registered on a home SIM card, preferably connected to a WhatsApp account. If you do not receive a confirmation, try to specify the country Kazakhstan (code +7). Of course, for ordering you need a local mobile Internet ( how to buy a local SIM card told here), or in some cases you can use a hotel or restaurant WiFi. Read more about Grab application and how to use it here.

Even in Vietnam, the Maxim taxi app works well, but so far only at selected resorts. At least we didn't manage to call a taxi in Vung Tau, but maybe try to show up in the future. InDrive also works in theory, but, again, the delivery of the machine is not guaranteed. The Uber app doesn't work at all!

There is also a private taxi at a contract price at the bus station and in other tourist places, but it is not particularly common here. A fixed trip will always cost more in the city than using apps or a counter. But if you need to go out of town, for example to Ho Chi Minh City or the airport, then a private taxi can be hired cheaper.

Finally, you can simply catch an official taxi on the street or call by phone or through the hotel reception. But in this case, taxi drivers may not turn on the meter and will demand payment at a fixed price. Check this in advance, and if anything, the fare prices for boarding and each kilometer are indicated on the side on board the taxi.

There are also many golf carts cruising along Vung Tau, such small electric vehicles as in the photo. They work specifically for tourists, but in our opinion it is more interesting as a walking tour rather than as a transport to get from point A to point B. They do not have counters, so you need to negotiate a price before each trip. For a reference point, when bidding, you can calculate their price no more expensive than for a car taxi, and this is no more than 16,000 VND per kilometer.

Rent a motorcycle or car

The normal price for renting an old motorcycle in Vung Tau is from 130,000 VND (4.94 USD), new from 150,000(5.7 USD). The price includes 1 or 2 helmets.

But motorcycle rental in Vung Tau is not as developed as in the popular resorts of Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Phu Quoc, etc. There are few foreign tourists here, and therefore there are still rentals to look for. Ie, it's not like in Nha Trang, for example, when rentals come across at every turn. During our walks around the city, we met literally a couple of places with rental signs, so we advise you to take care of this issue in advance and find rentals on the Google map for "Motorcycle for rent" queries. Then you can contact the owner via contacts via WhatsApp messenger or local Zalo, and arrange a rental. Some owners offer delivery to the hotel or bus station.

Renting a car is even more difficult. Car rental is not developed here, there are no international network rentals and aggregators with their low competing prices, and therefore you will have to pay from $ 50 per day for renting a car. What's more inconvenient, you'll have to search for a car through social networks or on the spot, but you won't be able to find and book through aggregators.

However, just in case, here are international aggregators for searching for cars, check them out:

Bicycle rental

Renting a bike is a good option, because there is relatively quiet traffic and free sidewalks. But it's not easy to find rentals, it's better search on Google map or ask at the hotel. We met only one rental in the lake area, they offered prices of 50,000 VND per day (1.9 USD).

Also in Vung Tau there is a TNGo bicycle rental system with parking and rental through applications. But to work, you need to replenish the balance, which cannot be done with Russian bank cards. But if you're interested in figuring it out, here's the site - https://tngo.vn/en/price

City buses

In Vung Tau there is a system of city buses from several routes. The fare costs 5000 VND(0.19 USD), payment in cash to the conductor. Buses run frequently, at least during daylight hours until 18 o'clock, and in the evening we hardly saw them.

But, unfortunately, no information about their routes could be found. So if you decide to use them, you will have to find out on the spot: ask drivers or other passengers at bus stops. Just keep in mind that they don't speak much English here, it's best to show a point on a map with a name in English.