Saigon Taxis update
Vinataxi 382 72727 - have GPS

Mailinh 38.383838 - one or two have GPS but usually good

Saigon tourist 38118118 - usually slighlty more expensive - had one that got lost

Vinataxi 38111111 - had bad experience a few years ago but good experience this year - slightly cheaper
Things have changed a bit in the Taxi Scene in Saigon since my last
visit - there is now a fixed rate taxi service being advertised in the
Tan Son Nhat airport so if you know your suburb and your address you
pay a fixed fee upfront and then the taxi takes you there - its a little
more expensive but the cars were new and clean and there is no worrying
about being taken for the long ride. You will need to be able to pay in
VND proabably less than 200 000 dong to get to the city (District 1) but you may only need to change $50 or $100 so you have some
spending money and taxi money and there are a few money exchange
services in the terminal.
Of course if you have
booked into a hotel prior to your departure you should always check to
see if hotel transfers are built into the offer or can be added for a
small or no fee
The other taxi options are
changed a bit as well
Vinasun now have a screen
in the car connected to GPS so you can see where you are going on a
moving map. Useful to monitor the long way round but best supported by a
little local knowledge (more about that later)Mailinh, Airport taxis, and Vinataxi don't have this service so
this strengthens our recommendation to go Vinasun
We have always said we prefer Vinasun, and Mailinh and Saigon Tourist and SAVICO
airport taxis are ok but the GPS tracker really pushes us towards using
only Vinasun,
Airport Taxis are also more expensive and on the topic of
expense a smaller taxi is marginally cheaper than a larger taxi.
Our taxi experiences this time have reinforced our
recommendation . We caught an Airport Taxi to a party on the other side
of the airport and he got lost so the fare was nearly 100000 Dong more
on the way than the way back with another taxi
There are some quirks to catching taxis as with the increasing
motorbike and car population local councils are making some areas no go
for Taxis so you have to go a longer route - We are based in Nguyen Van
Nghi Ward 7District Go Vap and this street has been made one way for
taxis so this has added about 20000 dong to our trips to town.
With Transport times always allow much more time than
you think, there is a morning rush hour and afternoon rush hour but
then there is the Friday, Saturday PM rush that must go from about 4.00
to 900 pm - a sea of motorcycles surrounding islands of cars. There are
also lots of weddings on the week end - so what you say? Most weddings
would attract a minimum of 200 guests and with there being a lot of them
you soon have a traffic jam.
We had cause to
catch a small Mailinh taxi from District 3 to home late in the evening and Van had to give
him directions there and how to get back to his home - poor chap had
only been driving for a month but this is a problem for you if you don't
speak the native tongue - I suggest a good solution is either a map of
your own or get a smart phone with a local sim and a data pack as google
maps works ok for general direction even if they don't have the
subtleties of one way for taxis built in.
We
don't usually take Vinataxi now after we took one from the airport to home
and he drove like a mad man possessed as he thought he was going to get a
big fare and didn't
Then there is the bus - this
is incredibly good value but you need very small notes as the fare is
5000 to 6000 Dong - there is a number 50 bus from the Airport to the Ben
Thanh markets in town so if you are traveling reasonably light this is a
very economical option. They are air-conditioned but in the afternoon
the A/C is a bit tired and it can get a bit warm. Buses are also not
very good at stopping properly so you need to get ready early to get
off.
There is quite a good map of bus services
available on line - I suggest you print it out at home and laminate it
and take it with you as we went to get on and the glass shed at the bus
terminal had run out - end of conversation!
So in
summary - go Vinasun, have the address written down, have a map or
smartphone on local data plan get the taxi number
Sorry site was down for about 2 hours Wednesday afternoon 27 January - all good now
Hugh and Van in Vietnam back very soon