How do I get from the airport into the city?
Short answer
Metered taxi or a city bus, and the answer scales with the city: Hanoi's airport is far, Saigon's is close but slow, Danang's is practically downtown.
Hanoi — the long ride
Noi Bai sits about 27km out, and the tourism board budgets about an hour between airport and centre. A metered taxi runs around 300,000–400,000 dong, and the driver may add a small airport toll on top — that extra is normal, not a scam.
The cheap alternative is the bright orange 86 Express bus, running from morning until 11pm through central Hanoi to the train station for a fraction of the taxi fare. Ride-hailing apps price the same trip somewhat under the taxi meter.
Ho Chi Minh City — close but slow
Tan Son Nhat is only about 8km from the centre, and still the tourism board's estimate is 50 minutes or more, because the distance is short and the traffic is not. A taxi into town runs roughly 120,000–180,000 dong plus a small airport toll.
Two yellow city buses link the airport with the centre cheaply. The pattern to internalise: in this city you budget by time, not kilometres.
Danang — barely a trip
The airport is about 5km from the city — half an hour covers it comfortably, and a taxi downtown is the cheapest airport ride in the country. Shuttle vans run hourly through the day to the city and onward to Hoi An.
Whichever city you land in, the taxi advice from earlier pages holds at the airport too: use the reputable metered firms, and treat the toll added to the meter as part of the fare.
Good to know
- The small airport toll added to the meter is normal, not a scam
- In Ho Chi Minh City, budget by time — 8km can take 50 minutes
- Danang's shuttles continue to Hoi An
By train, nearly always. Which train depends on the airport and on which side of the city you are sleeping.
Rail, in every case. Each major airport has a dedicated line, and the ordinary metro is always the cheap way in.
From Suvarnabhumi, the Airport Rail Link on floor B1 — or a metered taxi, which adds a THB 50 airport surcharge on top of the meter.
Train, bus or taxi. The airport railroad runs from both terminals into central Seoul and is the cheapest of the three.
The Airport MRT. One line, two kinds of train — take the Express, not the Commuter, and it runs straight to Taipei Main Station.