Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) Airport to the City Center: Bus 109, Grab or Taxi

Immigration, the carousel, then the glass doors to arrivals, where the warm air hits and someone is already asking "Taxi? District 1?" The ride itself is short. What trips people up is the airport layout: Tan Son Nhat now has three terminals, and each one handles buses and app cars a little differently.

Bus fares are per person per ride; taxi, app and hotel fares are per car, one way to the center. Times cover the airport-to-center leg only, not immigration, baggage claim or waiting. App fares change with demand and may not include the airport access fee or tolls.

T1, T2 or T3, and what to sort out first #

Every international flight arrives at Terminal 2 (T2). Domestic flights split by airline: Vietjet is the only carrier left at the old domestic Terminal 1 (T1), now in Hall A, while Vietnam Airlines, Bamboo Airways, Vietravel Airlines, Pacific Airlines, Vasco and Sun PhuQuoc Airways use Terminal 3 (T3), the newest of the three.

Photo: Hwi.padam

T1 and T2 stand side by side on Truong Son (Trường Sơn) Street and you can walk between them. T3 is a separate complex reached mainly from Cong Hoa (Cộng Hòa) Street, so if a friend or hotel driver is meeting you, tell them the terminal, not just "Tan Son Nhat". A free electric shuttle links all three, picking up at columns B12-B16 at T2, B17-B20 at T1 and columns 17-20 on the ground floor of T3. It loops out along public roads, so dragging a suitcase to T3 on foot is not a good idea.

Before you walk out, sort data and a little cash. If your phone takes an eSIM, set one up before you fly so you can book a car as soon as you clear customs, and keep a few VND10,000 and VND20,000 bills.

Bus 109 and bus 152: where to catch them, where to get off #

Bus 109 from Terminal 3

Route 109, run by the bus company Phuong Trang (Phương Trang) with electric buses, now serves only T3; older guides that send you to T1 or T2 for it are out of date. From T2, take the free shuttle to T3 first. The bus runs along Cong Hoa, Nguyen Van Troi (Nguyễn Văn Trỗi), Nam Ky Khoi Nghia (Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa) and Ham Nghi (Hàm Nghi) to Saigon Bus Station on Pham Ngu Lao (Phạm Ngũ Lão) Street, beside 23/9 Park (Công viên 23/9). At rush hour the ride takes noticeably longer than the time in the table.

Staying around Pham Ngu Lao or Bui Vien (Bùi Viện) Street? Ride to the end of the line and walk a few hundred meters. For the Nguyen Hue and Opera House (Nhà hát Thành phố) side, get off on Ham Nghi; show the driver or attendant your hotel address when you board.

Bus 152 from T1 or T2

Route 152 runs down Truong Son and Nguyen Van Troi into the center and passes Ben Thanh Market before heading south to the Trung Son (Trung Sơn) residential area. The advantage is boarding at T1 or T2 without transferring to T3. The bus stops often, though, and space is tight with large suitcases. It also finishes much earlier than the 109.

Photo: S5A-0043

Both the 109 and the 152 are on the city's list of 134 fare-free bus routes, open to visitors as well as residents. You still record each ride on the reader on board, and you do not need a Vietnamese ID: tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard, or Apple Pay, Google Wallet or Samsung Pay. Nothing is charged. If the reader will not take your card, tell the attendant, who can log the ride for you.

Grab and Green SM: go to the right pick-up point #

Cars may stop for only 3 minutes at the curb, so collect your bags and walk to the pick-up point before you book. At T2, leave the arrivals exit, turn right and follow the Grab signs to the Grab zone in the car park opposite the terminal. At T1, GrabCar uses lane D1. At T3, go out through arrivals doors A1-A2, turn left to the lifts, take them down to the ground floor and follow the signs to the PNA parking building. Green SM has its own bays in the ride-hailing lane at T3, and the app shows its spot at the other terminals.

App fares rise at busy times and in heavy rain, sometimes well above the range in the table. For GrabCar pickups, the airport access fees are: VND30,000 at T1; at T2, VND9,000 if the car leaves the car park within 10 minutes and VND14,000 if it takes longer; and nothing at T3 if the driver follows the marked route through the parking building. Green SM builds its airport surcharges differently. With either app, these may be included in the quote or added on top, so read the confirmation screen before you tap.

If the app finds no car, wait a few minutes and try again, or head for the taxi rank. Ignore anyone in the hall who says they are a Grab driver and you can skip the booking: only get into the car whose plate matches the one in your app.

Taxis: the official rank, meter on #

Licensed taxis queue in their own lane outside arrivals; follow the Taxi signs, not the people offering rides. You will find familiar companies such as Vinasun and Mai Linh there. The range in the table is a metered fare in light traffic, before the airport access fee; in a jam the meter keeps climbing.

Before you get in, check the app fare for the same ride, so a fixed-price offer has a number to be measured against. Once inside, show the address, check the meter is running and photograph the plate. One local quirk: District 1 (Quận 1) no longer exists on paper. Since July 2025 the center falls under Ben Thanh ward (phường Bến Thành) and Saigon ward (phường Sài Gòn), though many maps and hotels still say District 1. Give the driver the street number and street name.

The airport scams to walk past #

The most common one starts at the arrivals door: a friendly "taxi?", a hand on your suitcase and a walk to a car parked away from the official rank. Some cars copy the colors and logo of a big taxi brand with a slightly different name. Some have a hidden switch that makes the meter run fast, which can turn the ride into town into several times the fare in the table.

To reduce the risk: keep hold of your own bags, do not follow anyone away from the official rank or pick-up point, pay at your destination and count the notes in front of the driver. If you are overcharged, keep the plate number and receipt and report it to the taxi company and to the city's 1022 hotline. In town, agreeing a price first and booking through an app also protect you from the most common overcharging tricks.

Late arrivals and hotel pickups #

Bus times in the table are departures from the airport, not landing times. We suggest booking a car if your international flight lands at T2 after about 8:30 pm (you still have immigration and the shuttle to T3), if a domestic flight lands at T3 after about 9:30 pm, or if you planned on the 152 and land after about 5:30 pm. These are our own buffer times for formalities, bags and the walk to the stop, not last-bus times, and a long immigration line or slow bags can still make you miss the bus. Taxis and app cars run through the night.

A hotel pickup earns its price when you land after midnight, travel with small children or are bringing older relatives on their first trip. When you book, ask for the driver's name, the plate number, your terminal and where they will wait.

Going back to the airport #

Pick the right terminal when you book: T2 for any international flight, T1 for Vietjet domestic, T3 for other domestic airlines. Bus 109 toward the airport leaves Saigon Bus Station from about 5:45 am to 10:30 pm (check on the day) and goes straight to T3; the ride takes about 45 minutes, longer in rush hour, so for a late flight work back from the time you need to be at the airport rather than aiming for the last bus. For T2 you would still need the shuttle, so a car is simpler with luggage.

Photo: Biodin

Truong Son, Cong Hoa and Bach Dang (Bạch Đằng) streets around the airport often jam in the late afternoon and before public holidays. For a Friday or early-evening flight, we suggest leaving the center at least half an hour earlier than usual. In peak seasons such as Tet (Tết), the airport advises arriving 2-3 hours before domestic flights and about 3 hours before international ones.

FAQ: Ho Chi Minh City airport to the city center #