Ho Chi Minh City

The currency is the dong (VND), with polymer notes from 10,000 to 500,000; in 2026 the dollar is worth about 26,000 VND and the Brazilian real about 4,800 VND. Since the zeros get confusing, memorize the everyday ranges: sidewalk coffee 15,000–35,000 VND, café coffee 45,000–70,000, phở or cơm tấm 45,000–90,000, a meal at an air-conditioned restaurant 150,000–350,000 and a beer at a bar 40,000–90,000. For transport, a motorbike-taxi ride costs 15,000–40,000 and an app car ride within the center 60,000–120,000; a hostel bed costs 150,000–350,000, and a three-star hotel 700,000–1,500,000 a night. Cards work at hotels, supermarkets and sit-down restaurants, but the street and markets run on cash or QR code (VietQR), now the most common payment method among locals, to the point that even sugarcane-juice vendors ride around with the code stuck to their handlebars. ATM withdrawals cost 22,000–66,000 VND per transaction, with low limits per withdrawal; TPBank and Citibank tend to release higher amounts than most local banks. Tipping isn't required or customary: rounding up the bill or leaving 10,000–20,000 VND for a delivery rider is enough, and larger restaurants already add a 5–10% service charge to the bill.

From Tân Sơn Nhất airport to the center, 7 km away

Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) is only 7 km from the center, which sounds lucky and is also the explanation for the chronic congestion around it. Terminal 3, opened in 2025, handles domestic flights and sits about a 10-minute walk from T1. From the airport to District 1 there are three options: bus 109 (about 15,000–20,000 VND, about 45 min, stops at Bến Thành), bus 152 (cheaper and slower), and ride-hailing (Grab, Be, or Xanh SM, the electric taxis) for 150,000–250,000 VND depending on the time. Avoid unmarked street taxis at arrivals; the trusted brands are Vinasun and Mai Linh, and the official ride-hailing pickup point is on the upper platform, away from the door where everyone waits. Long Thành Airport, about 40 km to the east, is set to open commercially on December 1, 2026, and is expected to take over long-haul international flights in phases through 2027.

Line 1 opened in December 2024

Metro Line 1 (Bến Thành–Suối Tiên) opened on December 22, 2024: 19.7 km, 14 stations, three underground, running 5am to 10pm, with fares of about 7,000 to 20,000 VND per ride and a day pass for about 40,000 VND. It serves the center–Thảo Điền–Thủ Đức axis well and almost nothing else, so don't build your trip around it; Line 2 broke ground on January 15, 2026, and won't open before 2030. Buses cover the rest, and in 2026, 134 lines have a 100%-subsidized fare through December 31, validated by ID card, VNeID, bank card, or the MultiGo app; the unified MultiPass card launched on July 1, 2026. In practice, almost everyone gets around by motorbike: an app-hailed motorbike taxi costs 15,000–40,000 VND for a short ride, and there's the Saigon Waterbus (Bạch Đằng–Linh Đông, about 15,000 VND) for crossing the river. Walking works within a neighborhood and not between them: sidewalks are motorbike parking, and you'll spend part of the time walking in the gutter, along with everyone else.

Compared with Brazilian cities, Ho Chi Minh City is safe when it comes to violent crime, and the real, everyday risk is something else: bag and phone snatching from motorbikes. A phone in your hand near the curb, a bag hanging from your street-side shoulder and an open backpack are the three classic targets. Wear your bag cross-body, on the sidewalk side, step back from the road before you check your phone, and never leave your phone on the table at a sidewalk bar. The more concrete danger is traffic: Vietnam records thousands of road deaths a year, helmets are mandatory, and most accidents involving foreigners involve a rented motorbike. The four most common scams are unmarked taxis with rigged meters (use Grab, Be, Xanh SM, Vinasun or Mai Linh), the xích lô rider who agrees on one price and then charges another “per person, per hour,” the shoeshiner who starts repairing your shoe without being asked, and padded bills at some Bùi Viện bars after midnight, where vendors can also be pushy. At night, Bùi Viện and the area around Bến Thành Market call for an eye on your pockets and your drink; the rest of downtown stays calm until late. In the rainy season dengue is a real concern, so put on repellent at dusk, which is when people eat dinner on the sidewalks.

Address people by their age pronoun

There's no neutral “you”: use “em ơi” for someone younger, “anh ơi” for a man older than you, “chị ơi” for an older woman, “cô/chú ơi” for someone your parents' age. That's how you call a waiter, and that's how a conversation starts politely.

Give and receive with both hands

Money, business cards, gifts, and change are passed with both hands, or with the right hand while the left touches the forearm. Receiving with one hand and without looking reads as dismissive haste.

Take your shoes off

Remove your shoes when entering homes, many temples, some small shops, and restaurants with a raised platform. If there are shoes at the door, the rule applies, and nobody will remind you.

In temples, cover shoulders and knees, and mind your feet

Step over the threshold, never on it, don't point your feet at the altar, and don't turn your back on the main image when leaving. Incense is lit in odd numbers, usually three sticks.

Haggle only where haggling is expected

Tourist markets like Bến Thành and street shops without posted prices expect negotiation. Start near half and settle around 60–70%. Cafés, restaurants with a menu, supermarkets, and food stalls have fixed prices, and haggling there is rude.

Drink with the group and never stick your chopsticks in the rice

Every sip of beer is collective, announced with “một, hai, ba, dô”; drinking alone the whole time looks odd. Chopsticks stuck upright in a bowl mimic funeral incense. Leave them lying on the rim or on the rest.

The motorbikes calculate your path

Waiting for traffic to clear before crossing. The local technique is to step into the lane at a slow, steady pace, without stopping and without running, watching the motorbikes coming toward you: they calculate your path and steer around you. Stopping suddenly in the middle is what causes accidents.

Thinking the end of the districts changed the address

Thinking the abolition of the districts, on July 1, 2025, changed how addresses work. Officially “District 1” became the wards of Sài Gòn, Bến Thành, Tân Định, and Cầu Ông Lãnh, but drivers, hotels, and apps still use the numbers. Carry both names written down and confirm the street number, which is what actually locates a place.

Mixing up the 500,000 note with the 20,000

Mixing up the 500,000 VND note with the 20,000. It's easy to pay with the wrong one: both are blue polymer and roughly the same size, and the difference is in the zeros. Keep the large notes in a separate pocket and check the number before paying, especially at night.

Eight kilometers turn into 40 minutes

Underestimating distances. Eight kilometers on the map become 40 minutes between 7am and 9am and between 4:30pm and 7pm, and downtown sidewalks are taken over by parked motorbikes. Plan one neighborhood per half day, not four points scattered across the city.

Without the IDP, insurance is void

Renting a motorbike without a license valid in Vietnam. A foreign license without an International Driving Permit or without conversion to category A1 voids your insurance and earns a fine. For most visitors, an app-hailed motorbike taxi is cheap and does the job.

Xin chào (sin tcháo)

Hello

Cảm ơn (cám ơn)

Thank you

Bao nhiêu tiền? (bao nhiêu tiên)

How much does it cost?

Tính tiền (tính tiên)

The check, please

Không cay (khôm cai)

No chili

Em ơi / Anh ơi / Chị ơi (em ơi / anh ơi / tchi ơi)

Excuse me: calling someone younger, an older man, or an older woman

The site between two rivers and the tide

The city sits on a low platform between the Saigon River and the Đồng Nai River, in the transition between the red-earth hills of the Southeast and the alluvial plain of the Mekong Delta. Elevation runs from about 20–25 m in the north (Củ Chi) down to 0.5–2 m in the south (Nhà Bè, Cần Giờ), which explains why half the territory floods when high tide meets heavy rain.

Tropical climate: dry and wet seasons

The climate is tropical savanna (Aw): two seasons, dry from December to April and wet from May to November, with about 1,900 mm of rain a year concentrated in 30- to 60-minute late-afternoon downpours, and temperatures ranging from lows of 22 °C early in the year to highs of 38 °C in April.

Urban grid: three overlapping layers and a tunnel

The urban fabric has three overlapping logics: the French grid layout with boulevards in the historic center, the organic tangle of hẻm (numbered alleys behind the avenues, where most of the population lives), and the planned cities of the late 20th and 21st centuries, Phú Mỹ Hưng to the south, Thủ Thiêm on the opposite bend of the river, Thủ Đức to the east along the metro line. A tunnel under the Saigon River, opened in 2011 at 1.49 km, links the center to Thủ Thiêm.

Đờn ca tài tử came from the delta

The South's musical tradition is đờn ca tài tử, amateur chamber music born in the delta at the end of the 19th century and recognized by UNESCO in 2013, and its theatrical offshoot, cải lương: a reformed opera that emerged in the 1910s and peaked in the 1960s, when Saigon had dozens of companies. The Trần Hữu Trang Theater still runs seasons, and it helps to know that the audience responds to the scenes out loud. Alongside this, the city is the capital of Vietnamese entertainment: V-pop, film studios, TV and advertising are concentrated here, not in Hanoi.

The cinema that travels abroad is from here

The Vietnamese cinema that travels abroad is largely Saigon cinema: Trần Anh Hùng shot “Xích lô” (Cyclo), winner of the Golden Lion in Venice in 1995, on the city's streets. Contemporary art has a small, resilient scene: The Factory closed in 2023, but Galerie Quynh has been open since 2003. The region's literature revolves around the delta, with Nguyễn Ngọc Tư as a leading voice. In religion, most people follow Mahayana Buddhism blended with ancestor worship, with a large Catholic minority (a colonial legacy, about 10% in the South) and Caodaism about 100 km away, in Tây Ninh.

Eating, working, and fixing things on the sidewalk

Saigon's most visible culture is sidewalk culture: the sidewalk serves as dining room, office and workshop. Before 7am the city has already had coffee and breakfast, and after 9pm the plan is to eat again, seated on a 30 cm stool facing the traffic. Soccer is watched in groups: the national team empties the streets during a match and fills the avenues after a win, with motorbikes and flags, in a ritual called “đi bão.” The motorbike, in fact, is the central cultural object: there are about 8 million of them, serving as transport, shop window, table and storage, and their engine drone is the background to every conversation.

The Quiet American, Graham Greene (1955)

A novel written partly at the Hotel Continental, on what was then rue Catinat, which anticipates American involvement by almost ten years. It gives a street-by-street mental map of the colonial center that is still standing.

The Lover, Marguerite Duras (1984)

A fictionalized memoir of 1920s French Indochina, with Chợ Lớn and a ferry crossing on the Mekong at the heart of the story. It explains the colonial layer and the relationships among the Vietnamese, Chinese and French communities.

Cyclo (Xích lô), Trần Anh Hùng (1995)

Winner of the Golden Lion in Venice, shot on the city's streets in the 1990s, it follows a xích lô driver dragged into crime. It's the most direct portrait of Saigon right after the Đổi Mới economic opening.