Getting around Ho Chi Minh City: the new Metro, the airport bus, and Grab

Short answer: Ho Chi Minh City runs on two-wheelers and ride-hailing apps, but it just gained a proper spine — Metro Line 1 opened in December 2024, so the old advice that "Saigon has no metro" is out of date. For a first trip you'll ride the metro along its one line, take a cheap bus in from the airport, and open Grab for nearly everything else. All of it can be set up before you land.

The Metro: one line, and it's brand new

Line 1 runs Ben Thanh → Suoi Tien: 14 stations along 19.7 km, the first three underground (Ben Thanh, Opera House, Ba Son) and the rest elevated out to the east. It's clean, air-conditioned and signed in English, and it's the easy way between the centre and the Thao Dien café district (the sixth stop) or the theme parks and long-distance bus terminal at the far end.

• Fares run 7,000–20,000 VND (~US$0.28–0.80) by distance — the full Ben Thanh–Suoi Tien ride is 20,000 VND (~US$0.80), a little cheaper if you pay cashless.
• A day pass is 40,000 VND (~US$1.60), three days 90,000 VND (~US$3.60).
• Pay by cash at the machines, a contactless Visa / Mastercard / NAPAS card, or the MoMo, ZaloPay or HURC apps — tap in, tap out.

The catch is in the name: it's one line. It's genuinely useful for the centre-to-Thao Dien run and a couple of landmarks, but it doesn't web the city yet — most of your hops will still be by Grab.

From the airport (Tan Son Nhat)

Tan Son Nhat (SGN) sits about 7 km from District 1, and there's no metro link to it. Three ways in:

• Bus 152 — 7,000 VND (~US$0.28) (14,000, ~US$0.55, with a large suitcase), roughly every 15–20 minutes from about 05:15 to early evening, 50–65 minutes to the centre. The cheapest way in by far, and handy for the Ben Thanh / Ham Nghi area.
• Bus 109 — 15,000–20,000 VND (~US$0.60–0.80), running later (until around 23:45), 45–55 minutes.
• Grab / Be / Xanh SM (the ride-hail apps) — door to door in 30–40 minutes for a fare you book in the app. Check the live price there rather than trusting a quote, and prefer a booked ride to a curbside taxi.

Grab is the everyday tool

For everything the metro doesn't reach — which is most places — you'll use Grab. It does cars and motorbike taxis (GrabBike): you ride pillion, they hand you a helmet, and it's the fastest, cheapest way across a traffic-thick city. Booking in the app fixes the price and the route, which takes the haggling and the wrong-turns out of it. Xanh SM (electric) and Be are the same idea for when Grab is busy.

A few local notes

• Crossing the road is the real skill here: step off steadily, hold a constant pace, and let the scooters flow around you — don't freeze and don't sprint.
• District 1 is the walkable core — Ben Thanh, the cathedral, the Opera House and the Nguyen Hue promenade all link up on foot between rides.
• Carry cash for small stalls and buses; cards and QR are common in cafés and shops, but the street runs on notes.

Don't overthink it

One new metro line, a cheap airport bus, and Grab for the rest — that's the whole system, and the apps go on your phone before you fly. Then spend your energy on the days, not the logistics: we do about 80% of that research for you, in roughly a minute. Tell us your dates and we'll build your Saigon plan on the real routes, each day kept near one district so you're not criss-crossing the traffic. A solid first cut you can run with.