Getting around Vietnam — what to take and what it costs
Renting a bike from 150K ₫/day, Grab, intercity sleeper buses, trains and domestic flights from $25. Traffic rules, fines and the IDP. Updated 2026.
What to take
In Vietnam the distance picks the transport, not habit: what makes sense over a hundred kilometres turns into a full day on the road over eight hundred. Two answers and you will see what to book.
Motorbikes: licence, money, handover
Seventy million motorbikes for a hundred million people — this is the country’s main transport, not a tourist activity. And the first question is not about the rental price.
Not every IDP counts here
Vietnam recognises the International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention — and only that one. The USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand issue 1949-convention permits, which carry no legal weight in Vietnam: hand one to a police officer and you are treated as riding unlicensed. Whichever permit you hold, it must show category A and be carried together with your home licence — on its own it is not valid. Rental shops increasingly check.
What riding unlicensed costs
Decree 168/2024 took effect on 1 January 2025: fines multiplied, and both cameras and checkpoints have grown noticeably denser. The full breakdown is in Vietnam road rules.
- Riding unlicensed, up to 125 cc2–4M ₫ ($80–160)
- Riding unlicensed, over 125 cc6–8M ₫ ($240–320)
- No helmet — per person on the bike400–600k ₫ ($16–24)
- Drink riding6–8M ₫ and the bike held for 7 days
- Running a red light800k–1M ₫ ($32–40)
The rental shop’s insurance will not cover you. Whatever it offers rarely pays out for foreigners. Real cover is your own travel policy with an explicit motorbike option — SafetyWing, World Nomads and Genki all sell one. Even that can be refused if you rode without a recognised licence: riding unlicensed is an exclusion in almost every policy. A day in an international clinic runs $240–800.
What to rent and for how much
| Type | Models | Engine | Per day | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-automatic | Honda Wave, Future | 110–125 cc | 100–180k ₫ | 1.5–2M ₫ |
| Automatic scooter | Honda Vision, Lead, Yamaha Janus | 110–125 cc | 150–250k ₫ | 2–2.5M ₫ |
| Sport automatic | Honda Airblade, Yamaha NVX | 125–155 cc | 200–300k ₫ | 2.5–3.5M ₫ |
| Motorcycle | Honda Winner, XR150 | 150–400 cc | 250–800k ₫ | from 3.5M ₫ |
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Leave money as a deposit, never your passport. The usual amount is 1–3M ₫ for a scooter, 5–10M ₫ for a motorcycle. Without your passport you cannot check into a hotel, change money or file a police report. A photocopy is enough, and reputable shops accept one. RON 95 petrol costs 17.5–22k ₫ a litre; a scooter uses 2–2.5 l per 100 km, so a full tank lasts 150–200 km.
Handover: eight checks beside a stranger’s scooter
Tick them off right here — the list is needed at the moment the bike is in front of you and the owner is waiting. How to pick the shop itself is in the rental guide.
Around town: Grab and the alternatives
The fare is locked in before you ride, so there is nothing to haggle over and no meter to be cheated on. Sign-up, booking and payment step by step are in the Grab guide.
| Distance | By bike | By car |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 km | 15–25k ₫ | 50–70k ₫ |
| 5–7 km | 25–35k ₫ | 70–90k ₫ |
| 10 km | 30–45k ₫ | 80–120k ₫ |
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From the airport into town
The first ride in the country is the one people overpay for most: at the terminal exit they will ask two to three times what the app shows. Grab works at every major airport, but you collect the car from the marked pick-up bay rather than at the doors. Flying in at night, with children or with heavy bags, book a car ahead through your hotel: the price is fixed before you fly and the driver meets you with a sign. Our own transfer service exists but is Russian-language only.
How to pay in the app. A foreign Visa or Mastercard usually links fine, but keep cash dong as a fallback — cards get declined and every service takes cash. Watch the surge, too: rush hour adds 20–50%, rain up to 80%, and late night 10–20%.
Five apps, not one
- GrabThe default app. Bikes, cars, seven-seaters, and cars with a driver by the hourBaseline
- Xanh SMVinFast electric cars — quieter, and no petrol smell in the cabinlike Grab
- BeThe Vietnamese rival to Grab, with food delivery built inlike Grab
- MaximWidest motorbike coverage in smaller towns20–40% cheaper
- inDriveYou name your price and the driver takes it or leaves ityou bid
Between cities
Bus, train and plane each win on a different leg. Three real routes show where the boundaries fall — and why the short leg has no flight at all, while the long one has no point in a bus.
| Leg | Bus | Train | Plane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nha Trang — Da Lat130 km | 3–4 h · 120–180k ₫ | No line | No flights |
| Ho Chi Minh — Nha Trang430 km | 8–10 h · 200–350k ₫ | 7.5–9 h · from 305k ₫ | 1 h · from $25 |
| Hanoi — Ho Chi Minh1,730 km | ~30 h · 450–800k ₫ | 30–34 h · from 600k ₫ | 2 h · from $30 |
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Buses
A sleeper bus has two tiers of flat berths instead of seats and is the cheapest way to cover distance. Operators: Futa, TheSinh, Hanh Cafe, Hoang Long. Book on vexere.com (widest choice, lowest prices), baolau.com or 12go.asia, which is easier to read in English and adds about 10%. City buses start at 5k ₫; routes live in the BusMap app.
| Route | Time | Price | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ho Chi Minh — Nha Trang | 8–10 h | 200–350k ₫ | Futa, TheSinh |
| Nha Trang — Da Lat | 3–4 h | 120–180k ₫ | Futa, Hanh Cafe |
| Ho Chi Minh — Da Lat | 6–7 h | from 180k ₫ | Futa, TheSinh |
| Hanoi — Sapa | 5–6 h | 200–350k ₫ | Futa, Hoang Long |
| Hanoi — Ho Chi Minh | ~30 h | 450–800k ₫ | Hoang Long, TheSinh |
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Trains
The Reunification Express covers the 1,729 km from Hanoi to Saigon in 30–34 hours; the prices below are for that whole run. The Da Nang — Hue stretch over the Hai Van pass is considered one of the finest rail rides anywhere: 2.5–4 hours, tickets from 83k ₫, nine departures a day, and the tourist services stop at the Lang Co viewpoint. Hanoi — Lao Cai for Sapa runs overnight in eight hours from 500k ₫; Violette Express and Sapaly add premium carriages at $40–70. Soft berths sell out about a week ahead.
| Class | What it is | Hanoi — Saigon |
|---|---|---|
| Hard seat | Bench seat, no berth | ~600k ₫ |
| Soft seat | Padded seat, air conditioning | ~850k ₫ |
| Hard berth | Six to a compartment, firm bunks | ~1.1M ₫ |
| Soft berth | Four to a compartment, soft bunks | 1.5–2M ₫ |
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Flights
There are 22 airports in the country, and on the long legs there is no alternative. Count door to door rather than time in the air: getting to the airport, checking in and waiting for bags adds roughly three hours. How to search for fares is in domestic flights.
| Airline | Type | Baggage | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnam Airlines | Full service | 23 kg included | from $35 |
| VietJet Air | Low cost | Extra, from $5 | from $25 |
| Bamboo Airways | Few routes left | Included | from $30 |
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A $25 fare turns into $60 easily. Low-cost carriers pre-tick insurance, meals and priority boarding — untick them at every step of the booking. And do not take a taxi from directly outside the terminal: they ask two to three times what the app would have shown.
How transport works in your city
Where to rent a bike, whether Grab covers it, whether there is an airport bus — city by city.
Short answers
Yes — an IDP is required for any bike from 50cc. Vietnam recognises the 1968 Vienna Convention IDP, so get it in your home country before you fly (AAA in the US, the Post Office/AA in the UK). Without a valid IDP the fine is 2–8 million VND and your insurance can refuse a claim.
An automatic scooter (Honda Vision, Lead) is 150,000–250,000 ₫/day or 2–2.5M ₫/month; a semi-automatic (Wave) from 100,000 ₫/day. Deposit is 1–3M VND — never leave your original passport, only a copy or cash.
Download Grab and add a card (Western Visa/Mastercard works fine) or pay cash in VND. GrabBike starts around 12,000 ₫ and GrabCar around 30,000 ₫. Alternatives: Be, Xanh SM and Maxim.
HCMC → Nha Trang: 200–350K ₫ (8–10h); Nha Trang → Da Lat: 120–180K ₫ (3–4h); Hanoi → Sapa: 200–350K ₫ (5–6h). Operators include Futa Bus and The Sinh Tourist. Book on 12go.asia or vexere.com.
Around 400–600K ₫. Since 2025 (Decree 168/2024) fines have risen sharply — drink-driving is 6–8M ₫ plus confiscation, and running a red light is 800K–1M ₫.
If you need more depth
Timetables straight from the operators, the motorbike PDF and the reads that take each option apart.