How do you get a taxi?
Short answer
By brand, not by chance: the tourism board names the reputable metered firms — Mai Linh in green, Vinasun in white, Taxi Group in Hanoi — and the apps work if you have a local SIM.
The official shortlist
Vietnam's tourism board does something few do: it names companies. Use reputable taxi firms such as Taxi Group in Hanoi — red and blue horizontal stripes — Vinasun in Ho Chi Minh City in white, and Mai Linh in both cities in green.
The colour-coding is the practical part. In a queue of look-alike cabs, you are matching paint and logos to a short mental list, and anything not on it can simply be skipped.
Apps, with one dependency
Grab and the other ride-hailing apps operate in the major cities, and they solve the meter question by pricing the trip up front. The tourism board's caveat: they work if you have a Vietnamese SIM card, since the account and driver contact run on a local number.
That makes the choice sequential — with a local SIM the app is the easy route; without one, the branded meter cabs are the dependable fallback.
At the airport, and on the meter
Airport ranks funnel you to the taxi bays, and the tourism board's airport guide publishes the honest arithmetic: a fixed range into town plus a small airport toll on top of the meter — the toll is normal, not an invention for your benefit.
In town, the meter is the deal. If a driver quotes a flat price for a routine trip, treat it as a signal to take the next car on your shortlist.
Good to know
- Green Mai Linh, white Vinasun, striped Taxi Group — match the paint
- Ride-hailing apps need a Vietnamese SIM to work properly
- The small airport toll on top of the meter is normal
Raise a hand at any vacant taxi, or queue at a station rank. A red sign in the windscreen means it is free.
Through an app. Beijing's own guidance says waving at the kerb is so obsolete it barely works — DiDi, with an English interface, is how rides happen.
Insist on the meter — switching it off for a fixed price is illegal, and 1584 is the government hotline for reporting it. Tuk-tuks have no meter, so that price is negotiated before you get in.
Apps do most of the work. Street hailing works, but a driver may pass on a destination they do not fancy.
Flag a yellow cab on the street — the meter does the rest. There is even an English-language hotline, 0800-055-850, that orders one for you.