If you are planning to live and teach in Vietnam, then knowing about transportation is a necessary thing to consider. Not known for modern conveniences, Vietnam actually has a variety of transportation methods. There are a lot of Vietnamese transportation that you can choose to explore this country in your way such as taxi, motorbike, train, bus, bicycles, car, airplane and cyclos. In this article, VTj will show you a list of most popular transportation in Vietnam and some funny facts while participating in traffic here.
Most common transportation in Vietnam
Motorbikes/scooters
Motorbike or scooter is the most commonly used means. There are more than about 45 milions motorbikes/scooters are available to operate in Vietnam. Normally, the best and also the cheapest option for transportation in Vietnam is buying or renting a motorbike/scooter. The rent cost is from 5 to 15 USD per day depends on the type of this transportation. Buying a motorbike in Vietnam can be as cheap as $175, that doesn’t mean though the bike is of the greatest quality.
Once you buy a motorbike it is completely yours, you can paint it, pimp it, take it apart, fix it…. Whatever you desire. You do not have to take into account that you have to bring the motorbike back on a certain day, you are free to roam wherever and for as long as you feel like. Hanging out with your friends on a motorbike is the best way to enjoy the day-life in Vietnam!
Motorbikes are the most popular transportations which used by expats in Vietnam.
However, traffic in Vietnam is quite troublesome so you need to know the laws clearly and the country’s flow of traffic, specially in two big cities – Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh city. When you are new to Vietnam, remember to get some help from the local people.
Car
Cars are being used more and more in Vietnam. However, not many foreigners own a car because of the high import tax and that is considered as a luxury good. Traffic in Vietnam is notoriously dangerous and congested almost all day long, with cars and motorcycles constantly overtaking each other even on the narrowest of roads. Foreigners are permitted to purchase a car in Vietnam if they:
- Are living and working in Vietnam
- Possess a valid passport
- Have a visa that is longer than three months
- Have a valid work permit and a Vietnamese driver’s licence
Renting a car in Vietnam is quiet easy, you need to provide your driving license and your passport. Normally, agencies for car rental will ask you for international driving licenses in case you do not have a Vietnamese driving license. The fee for car rental is from 500,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND each day (from $25-500), basing on the kind of car you option for and how luxurious and facilitate it is. Besides, spending time on coming to agencies’ showroom in order to find the best car that matches your demand is a good idea.
Public transportation in Vietnam- Bus
In Vietnam, there are a lot of amazing moutains, ocean view destinations in small cities/ villages. People do not know much about them cause there are still not any group tours to go there everyday. So bus is one of the most affordable transportation in Vietnam to choose to enjoy the real beauty of this tropical country.
Bus is the most popular way for travelers on a tight budget to choose from. Traveling by bus allows traveler to stop in any destination and stay as long as they like at reasonable prices. Although, compared with train, bus hardly can give passengers a comfortable trip, it’s still a hard-to-beat means of transportation in Vietnam.
If you want to discover thoroughly a certain place and gain more local experiences, public buses are an option worth considering. They run many of the same routes everyday and also additional routes throughout Vietnam. Though, there are areas in which public buses can’t get access to. For examples: District 1 and 3 in Ho Chi Minh City, Dragon bridge in Danang or the Old Quarter in Hanoi…. So, for the sake of yourself, you should get a map of the main routes of each city’s public buses on sale at bookstores. You can purchase tickets directly at the bus stations or on buses at low prices. However, you should acknowledge the discomfort when having to take bus or taxi go and back to the bus station to book tickets in advance incase it will be full.
You can buy a bus ticket online and offline.
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Online:
Busmap.vn
Busmap.vn is built for users to take advantage of the 100 plus bus routes and 2,000 bus stops scattered around HCM City. With the app, you will be able to find all bus stops on the map, view waiting time for the next bus to arrive at the station, based on real-time GPS trackers placed on the buses at each bus stop and navigations route between 2 locations. Using Taxi and Grabcar for travel can make you waste a lot of money, so buses is a affordable type of transportation in Vietnam if you are not in a hurry.
Note: Busmap.vn is only useful for those travelling within Ho Chi Minh City.
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Offline (For tourist buses)
Lists of good Open Bus Ticket Vietnam Company
Sinh Cafe Open Bus
Travel stories with cups of coffee had inspired the foundation of Sinh Cafe in 1993, and has given birth to TheSinhTourist in 2009. TheSinhTourist will keep on developing sustainably “The travel stories with cups of coffee” from now on to satisfy all travel needs of the world people
- Add: 64 Tran Nhat Duat St., Ha Noi Capital
- Tel: +84.24.39290394
- Opening Hours: 06:00 – 20:30
Phuong Trang Bus Company
Phuong Trang was established on November 15, 2002. It focuses in the field of buying and selling cars, passenger transport, real estate and business services.
- Add: 80 Tran Hung Dao, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
- Tel: +84.28 3838 6852
- Opening Hours: 06:00 – 20:30
Hanh Cafe Open Bus Company
- Add: 10 Hung Vuong Str, Nha Trang City
- Hotline: + 84905395368
- Opening Hours: 06:00 – 20:30
Hey Travel Tour Bus Company
- 282 Tran Khat Tran Str, Hai Ba Trung Dist, Hanoi
- Tel: + 8498 212 22 22
- Opening Hours: 06:00 – 20:30
Hung Thanh Bus Travel Company
The HUNG THANH company Co., LTD has served tens of millions of customers across the route stretches from North to South.
- Add: No.8, Tam Trinh, Minh Khai, Hai Ba Trung Dist, Ha Noi
- Tel : + 84 4.36337575 – + 84 36337614
- Opening Hours: 06:00 – 20:30
The safest means of transportation in Vietnam- Train
Railway in Vietnam has been developed by the French but has not had a significant development since then. The most important railway is the Reunification Express, runs between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. You can go to most cities of Vietnam by train such as: Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Quang Ngai, Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh city,etc
You can can buy tickets in advance from the Vietnam Railways bookings site (http://dsvn.vn); however, at the time of writing only Vietnamese credit cards were accepted. You can also book online using the travel agency Bao Lau (www.baolau.vn), which has an efficient website, details seat and sleeper-berth availability. They also accept international cards. E-tickets are emailed to you; there’s a 40,000d commission per ticket. Train schedules change frequently. To check the departure times, go on the Vietnam Railways website (www.vr.com.vn), Bao Lau’s website (www.baolau.vn) or www.seat61.com.
A bare-bones train schedule operates during the Tet festival, when most trains are suspended for nine days. It usually starts running four days before Tet and continues for four days afterwards.
Airplane
At present there are 8 registered airlines in Vietnam. Those are Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, Air Mekong, Bamboo Airways, VASCO, Indochina Airlines, VietJetStar and Viet Star Airlines. The first 4 airlines are currently operating both domestic and international flights. Vietnam Airlines is still the main operator on most routes both within Vietnam and from Vietnam to other international destinations. The company operates flights on most cities in Vietnam and offer quite good services for its size.
You can book cheap flight ticket online on Traveloka which has established partnerships with more than 70 domestic and international airlines. It has served more than 100,000 different routes throughout Asia Pacific and Europe. The online booking platform has also listed more than 100,000 hotels worldwide and 10,000,000+ verified reviews from real hotel guests. This will, as a matter of fact, help visitors make their right decisions. Because Traveloka have office in Vietnam so users can enjoy the booking service that is available 24/7 to answer and solve any problems with just a call or an email text.
We hope you have got some clear ideas on the most common types of transportation in Vietnam. To read other articles from us about the life of expats in Vietnam, simply scroll down to see more!
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