Getting around Ho Chi Minh City: the basics
Ho Chi Minh City is big, hot and busy, and getting around it is not quite like anywhere in the West. There is no dense metro network, the buses are hard to use without Vietnamese, and the traffic is a constant, dense flow of motorbikes that takes some getting used to. The good news is that getting around is cheap and easy once you know how, and for most visitors it comes down to one thing: a ride-hailing app on your phone.
By far the simplest way to get around Ho Chi Minh City is with Grab, the app that does for Vietnam what Uber does elsewhere. It is cheap, it is everywhere, and it removes almost every problem a visitor runs into, since the price is fixed in advance, there is no haggling, and there are no meter tricks or scams. Regular taxis still have their place, and you can flag one off the street in a minute, but you need to know which companies to trust. The rest of this guide walks through both, plus the other apps and options worth knowing about.
Grab in Ho Chi Minh City
What Grab is
Grab is the main ride-hailing app in Vietnam, and the single most useful thing you can download before a trip to Ho Chi Minh City. It works just like Uber: you open the app, set where you are going, and a driver comes to you at a price agreed upfront. If you have used a ride app anywhere in the world, you already know how it works.
What makes Grab so handy is that it is not just for cars. It is a super-app, and within it you can book a motorbike taxi (GrabBike), a car (GrabCar), or a regular metered taxi (GrabTaxi), as well as order food, hire a driver by the hour, or book a larger seven-seater for a group. For a visitor, GrabBike and GrabCar are the two you will use most: GrabBike is the cheapest and quickest way to dart across the city on the back of a motorbike, while GrabCar gets you an air-conditioned car for not much more.
What you need to use it
Very little, and this is exactly why Grab suits visitors so well. You need a smartphone, the app, and mobile data, which means picking up a local SIM card or an eSIM when you arrive, or before you fly.
Two things are worth knowing. First, set the app up before you travel, because Grab sends an SMS verification code that works internationally, and it takes two minutes while you still have a stable connection at home. Second, and importantly, Grab does not require a Vietnamese phone number to use, unlike some of the other apps, and you do not need a local bank card either, because you can simply choose to pay in cash. That combination, no local number and no local card needed, is what makes Grab the natural first choice for a foreign visitor.
How it works
Using Grab in Ho Chi Minh City is straightforward. You drop a pin or type where you are, set your destination, and the app shows you a fixed price before you book. That price is the price. It does not change with traffic or route, so there are no nasty surprises and nothing to argue about.
Once you book, the driver contacts you through the app rather than by calling, so a language barrier is rarely a problem, and you can track them coming to you on the map. On a GrabBike, the driver will have a spare helmet for you, which you are legally required to wear. You pay at the end in cash or, if you added one, by card.
One honest thing to expect is surge pricing. When it rains in Ho Chi Minh City, during the morning and evening rush hours, and around holidays, prices rise, sometimes to double the normal fare. Because Grab shows you the full price upfront, you will never be caught out mid-ride, but if a quote looks unusually high, waiting fifteen or twenty minutes for the rain or the rush to pass usually brings it back down. It is also worth knowing that off the street you will see freelance motorbike-taxi drivers, often older men on corners calling out to you, and while they are part of the fabric of the city, a GrabBike is cheaper, safer and needs no negotiating.
Other taxi apps in Ho Chi Minh City
Grab is the most famous taxi app in Ho Chi Minh City, but it is not the only one, and these days it is not always the cheapest. A few local rivals have grown fast and are worth knowing about, especially if you are staying a while.
There is one catch that matters for visitors, though. Most of the other apps need a Vietnamese phone number to register and work properly, which makes them easy for expats and longer-stay travellers but awkward for someone on a short trip with only an eSIM. For that reason, Grab remains the simplest option for most visitors, and the apps below are more of a money-saving bonus if you are set up with a local number. One quick note to clear up old advice: Gojek, which used to be a major option here, has now left Vietnam entirely, so you can ignore any guide still recommending it.
Xanh SM
The big rival to Grab, and the one you will notice on the streets, with its fleet of bright blue electric vehicles. Xanh SM is a Vietnamese company running an all-electric fleet of VinFast cars and bikes, and it has grown enormously in a short time. It works much like Grab, with a car and a bike option, and it is often a little cheaper, with clean, newer vehicles and a good reputation for polite drivers. The main drawback for visitors is that it works best with a Vietnamese phone number, and it can be difficult to register on an eSIM.
Be
Another home-grown Vietnamese app, and often the cheapest of the lot. Be offers the same core services, a bike and a car option, and locals use it heavily to compare prices against Grab. As with Xanh SM, the sticking point is that it needs a local phone number to sign up, so it suits expats and longer stays rather than a quick visit.
Mai Linh and Vinasun apps
The two big traditional taxi companies, Mai Linh and Vinasun, both have their own booking apps. They are less slick than Grab and the others, but they are reliable and meter-based, and they are a reasonable option if you already trust these firms from taking their taxis off the street. For most visitors, though, booking one of their cars through Grab’s GrabTaxi option is easier than downloading a separate app.
Taxis in Ho Chi Minh City
Which taxis to trust
If you would rather flag a taxi off the street than use an app, the golden rule in Ho Chi Minh City is simple: only take a Vinasun or a Mai Linh. Vinasun cars are white with red and green markings, and Mai Linh cars are green, and both are the reputable, metered companies that locals trust. You will find them everywhere, and you can usually flag one down within a minute.
The reason to stick to these two is honest and important. The independent and unbranded taxis that hang around tourist spots and the airport are where the trouble happens, with rigged meters, invented flat fares and general overcharging. A genuine Vinasun or Mai Linh runs an honest meter. If a taxi does not clearly carry one of those two names, let it go and wait for one that does.
How it works
Flag the taxi down, get in, and make sure the driver starts the meter. This is the one thing to watch: a driver may ask where you are going and offer a fixed price instead of using the meter, and while the quote is sometimes fair, you have no way of knowing without experience, so it is safer to insist on the meter. Most trips are paid in cash, and while some taxis take cards, the process is slower, so it is easier to carry small notes.
There is a neat trick that gives you the best of both worlds. Inside the Grab app, the GrabTaxi option books you an official Vinasun or Mai Linh taxi but shows you a fixed price upfront, so you get a trusted company with no meter to worry about and no haggling. If you like the reliability of the traditional firms but want the certainty of an app, this is the way to do it.
How much it costs
Taxis are affordable, though generally around 25 to 35 percent more expensive than the same trip on Grab. Most rides around the city centre cost only a dollar or two, and even a long cross-town journey rarely runs high.
The trip most people want a figure for is the airport. A metered taxi from Tan Son Nhat into District 1 should cost somewhere around 200,000 dong, or up to about 300,000 for a larger van, and anything much above that is inflated. At the airport taxi stand you may be quoted a fixed rate well above the meter fare, which can be worth paying if you are exhausted and want no hassle, but it is good to know it is a premium. There is also a small airport exit fee of around 10,000 dong, which is normal, and not the 50,000 or 100,000 some drivers try to add. Our guide on getting from the airport to the city centre covers all the options in detail.
Hiring a private car with driver
For some trips, a single ride from A to B is not what you want, and this is where hiring a private car with a driver makes sense. Rather than booking ride after ride, you have a car and driver for a set period who takes you where you want and waits while you explore.
It is worth the money in two situations. The first is a full day of sightseeing around the city, when you want to see several places that are spread out and would otherwise mean ordering a new ride at every stop. The second, and the more common one, is a day trip out of the city. The big draws around Ho Chi Minh City, the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Mekong Delta, and Tay Ninh with its Cao Dai Temple and Ba Den mountain, are all too far for a quick Grab, and having a car and driver for the day is far more comfortable and flexible than any other option.
For a lighter version of this, the Grab app lets you hire a car or motorbike by the hour, which works well for a few hours of city sightseeing. For full days and out-of-town trips, a proper private car or a car rental with driver is the better choice, and our guide to car rental in Vietnam explains how it works and what to expect.
Other ways of getting around Ho Chi Minh City
Grab and taxis will cover most of your trips, but there are a few other ways of getting around Ho Chi Minh City worth knowing about, whether for a change of pace or simply because they suit a particular journey.
Walking
For the central sights, walking is often the easiest option. If you are staying in District 1, many of the main attractions are close together, and places like the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, Book Street and the Opera House are all within a short stroll of one another.
Two honest caveats. The heat and humidity make longer walks hard going, so it is worth keeping walks to fifteen or twenty minutes and taking a Grab when it is hot. And crossing the road takes some nerve at first: move at a slow, steady pace, do not stop suddenly or run, and let the motorbikes flow around you, which they will. Keep your phone and bag held securely rather than loose, since snatch-and-grab from passing bikes does happen, and there is more on that in our guide to staying safe and avoiding scams.
The metro
Ho Chi Minh City finally has a metro. Line 1 opened at the end of 2024, running from Ben Thanh in the centre out to Suoi Tien and the Binh Duong border, and it is cheap, clean and air-conditioned. For most tourist trips around District 1 it is not especially useful yet, but it is handy for reaching Thao Dien, and it will grow as more lines open. Our guide to the Saigon metro has the details.
The waterbus
The Saigon Waterbus runs along the river and is more of a pleasant novelty than a practical way to get around, but it is a nice change from the traffic. It is cheap, breezy, and a good way to see the city from the water, and it links a few points along the river including the centre and Thao Dien. Our guide to the Saigon Waterbus covers the route and stops.
Renting a motorbike
Renting a motorbike is the most fun and flexible way to get around the city, but it comes with a serious honest warning. Ho Chi Minh City traffic is intense, dense and unpredictable, and it is genuinely not the place to learn. For an experienced rider it is a great way to explore, but for a beginner it is dangerous, and most visitors are far better off sticking to GrabBike for the same experience without the risk. If you want to learn to ride, somewhere quieter like Da Nang is a much better place to start.
By tour
If you would rather see the city and its surroundings without thinking about logistics at all, a tour takes care of the transport, the route and a guide in one. It is an easy option for day trips out of the city in particular, where the driving and planning are done for you.
Tip: Explore Ho Chi Minh City with Local Vietnam
We run private tours in and around Ho Chi Minh City with local guides and drivers, so you can see the city and its day trips without the hassle of arranging transport yourself. Take a look at our Ho Chi Minh City tours to start planning.
