Navigating Ho Chi Minh City for a short 24hr layover (and how bad is getting through immigration really)
Ho Chi Minh City isn’t known as a major layover destination – unlike Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong. However, when we planned our initial 3 week holiday (before committing to a 9-month long trip) we used points to fly business class from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City before catching a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia the next day. As both of us had already been to Vietnam before, a quick refresher and some great Pho was all we needed!
Click here to read more about using points and other tools for planning a trip
In this article, we’ll walk through our top tips for a smooth layover in Ho Chi Minh City.
Visas and Arrivals
Before you leave for Vietnam, make sure you have your visa approved first! This will save you a lot of time and money once you arrive in Vietnam.
Also double check whether you are required to apply for a visa – as I also held a British passport I was able to enter the country visa free. Just make sure you enter and exit the country on the same passport!
Pro Tip: Make sure you include your full name as it is on your passport – including any middle names. If your visa does not match your passport you may have to get an emergency visa on arrival which can be very expensive!
As we were in business class, we were able to disembark the aircraft first which meant that we were some of the first people in line at immigration. However, it was also 10pm at night, so the queues were not massive anyway. I could imagine that during peak hours it could get very busy though based on the number of barricades.
Once we got through immigration, we picked up our bags and walked through customs as we did not have anything to declare.
The best thing we did was arrange transport to our accommodation before arriving. Coming off a long flight and arriving late at night to the chaos that is Ho Chi Minh, we were not prepared for the blast of heat and crowds that were awaiting us outside the airport.
We arranged this through Booking.com which made it super convenient and also very affordable.
Exploring the City
Seeing as we had a short amount of time in Ho Chi Minh City, we made sure to have a plan going into the day. Our hostel had provided breakfast which included a generous fruit platter and a big bowl of pork pho which set us up nicely.
We then set off on our self-guided walking tour around the city. It was so much fun getting reacquainted with the city just over 10 years since being there last! Getting used to the traffic again was also a throwback!
We spent about 2 hours walking around, taking in the sights and sounds and also falling so easily for a tourist trap (right after talking about tourist traps!). I blame the jet lag (that we definitely didn’t have haha).
Departures
Once we got back to our hostel and packed up our bags, we ordered a Grab (the South-East Asian Uber) to the airport – arriving there around 3.5 hours before our flight.
After we arrived– we realised our check-in booth hadn’t opened yet. After 45 minutes of double checking our flight number and the check in gate – our airline finally opened up. Luckily as we got there early we were some of the first in line and got checked in fairly quickly.
But then we got to the immigration line – and we were very glad that we got here early. The lines were so full that they extended out past the end of the roped section. Airline representatives were walking around holding up signs displaying flights that were boarding to get people through quicker.
Unfortunately I think we chose the slowest line – taking nearly 1.5 hours to make it through. When we thought we had finally finished with the lines, we got to the customs line – which was another 45 minutes in line. We also had to unpack all our electronics, metal objects and big jackets as well having to take our shoes off to get through the security screening which took up a lot of time.
I never thought I would say it was lucky that our flight was delayed by 3 hours, but if it wasn’t – we would have been running to make our flight!
Once we were through customs, thanks to our delayed flight we had a couple of hours to decompress in the lounge before waving goodbye to Vietnam.
So to finish up, here are our top five tips:
Double check your visa requirements and personal details before arriving in Vietnam to avoid paying for an emergency visa!
Pre-book transport from the airport to your accommodation. Check with your accommodation to see if they provide complimentary accommodation or offer it at a discounted rate.
Make a plan before you arrive – you don’t want to waste precious time coming up with something to do!
Download and sign up for Grab for convenient transport options. It is also a helpful app to check the average prices if you plan on getting a taxi.
Get to the airport at least 3 hours early to ensure that you can clear immigration and customs in time for your flight! (and try and choose a quick line!)
Bonus tip: if you want a touristy photo like this one, expect to pay for an overpriced coconut! (ps it was very refreshing in the heat)