Handpicked experience · Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
A ticket counted from first boarding rather than by calendar day, on a bus that covers the boulevards while the city itself goes on down alleys the route cannot enter.
A ticket clock that starts when you first board
One ticket spanning an evening and the following morning
An open upper deck above the traffic stream
Recorded narration you listen to at your own pace
A route that maps the districts for walking later
A way to cross the city while still learning how to cross the road
A twenty-four hour hop-on hop-off bus ticket for Ho Chi Minh City, running an open-top loop of the central district with commentary on board.
A day ticket of this kind is usually counted from first boarding rather than from midnight, which makes an afternoon start worth considering: board at three and the ticket is still valid at three the following afternoon, covering two sets of daylight rather than one.
That matters here because the two halves of the day are genuinely different. The colonial buildings and the boulevards suit the morning; the riverfront and the lit facades belong to the evening, and one ticket used across an overnight gets both without paying twice.
Addresses in this city are a map in themselves. A number with a slash in it — twelve stroke three — does not mean a floor or an apartment. It means house three inside alley twelve, and a second slash means an alley off that alley.
The consequence is that a great deal of what happens in this city happens somewhere a bus cannot go. Whole neighbourhoods of houses, workshops, kitchens and cafés sit down passages a metre and a half wide, entered through a gap in a wall of shopfronts that gives no clue what is behind it.
So use the bus for what it is good for: covering distance between districts, staying above the traffic, and identifying the alley mouths worth walking into later. It is a way of reading the layout rather than a substitute for being in it.
Traffic here does not stop for pedestrians, and it is not supposed to. The technique is to walk out at a slow, absolutely constant pace and let the riders steer around you, which they will, provided you do nothing sudden.
Most visitors take a day or two to trust that. A bus pass buys the time to acclimatise while still getting across the city, which is worth more on a first day than the commentary is.
The upper deck is open and unshaded. Between about eleven and three the sun on it is punishing, and that is precisely when the traffic is lightest and the loop runs quickest.
Rain arrives fast in the wet season and passes fast. The lower saloon exists for that, and the top fills again ten minutes later.
Frequencies drop in the evening, so check the last departure at the stop rather than assuming the loop runs late. The commentary is delivered through earphones handed out on boarding, and it is worth asking for a fresh set.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Usually at first boarding rather than at midnight, so the ticket runs to the same time the following day.
Because it covers two sets of daylight on one ticket: the boulevards in the morning and the riverfront and lit facades in the evening.
Not a floor. Twelve stroke three is house three inside alley twelve, and a further slash means an alley leading off that one.
Because much of the city is down passages a metre and a half wide that no bus route reaches. The bus shows you the alley mouths rather than what is inside them.
Distance between districts, height above the traffic, and working out the layout well enough to walk it properly afterwards.
At a slow, constant pace, letting riders steer around you. Sudden movement is the only thing that makes it dangerous.
Not in the middle of the day. It is open and unshaded, and between late morning and mid-afternoon the sun is punishing.
Service thins out once it gets dark, so it is worth reading the timetable posted at the stop before relying on a late return.