Ho Chi Minh City: what to see and whether to move there

What the city runs on and who it suits

Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon by everyone who lives here, is Vietnam's economic capital. It generates a disproportionate share of national GDP, absorbs the bulk of foreign direct investment and hosts the offices of manufacturing, finance and software firms. Since 1 July 2025 the city has been administratively merged with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, pushing the metro population past 14 million. One practical detail: the familiar district system was abolished at the same time in favour of larger wards, yet in daily life, rental listings and conversation everyone still says District 1, District 3 and District 7.

The atmosphere is a tropical megacity running hot. Noise, motorbikes, construction, coffee on every corner, world-class street food and commerce at all hours. It is younger, sharper and more commercial than Hanoi: less talk about tradition, more about money.

Three groups move here. Employees of multinationals, manufacturing and logistics firms - unlike Thailand, Vietnam genuinely hires foreigners. Founders and business owners serving the domestic market or running outsourced development. And remote workers drawn by prices, food and internet speed. It suits you badly if you cope poorly with noise, humidity and polluted air, or if you need transparent, predictable bureaucracy.

Neighbourhoods: where newcomers settle

Thao Dien and An Phu, the old District 2, form the main foreign enclave: greenery, river frontage, international schools, gyms and Western groceries. It is the most expensive area and the easiest with children. The cost is the bubble premium and the bridge traffic into town.

The centre, old District 1, holds the offices, hotels, the Nguyen Hue promenade and Bui Vien with its backpacker nightlife. Convenient for working and living without a vehicle, expensive and loud. Old District 3 next door is quieter and greener, with French villas and better value per square metre.

Binh Thanh and the area around Landmark 81 are the compromise: new towers, ten minutes from the centre, cheaper than Thao Dien. Phu Nhuan and Binh Thanh generally give you more Vietnamese daily life for less money.

Phu My Hung, old District 7, is a planned Korean and Japanese suburb with wide pavements, parks and schools - quiet, clean, dull and far out. Cho Lon is dense, cheap and about as un-English-speaking as the city gets.

On safety, the city is calmer than people expect: violent crime against foreigners is rare. Street theft, though, is a genuine and frequent problem, especially phones and bags snatched from passing motorbikes in the centre, around Ben Thanh and on Bui Vien. The rule is simple - no phone in your hand at the kerb, bag on the shoulder away from the road. The other real risks are traffic and air quality.

Cost of living

Ho Chi Minh City is still cheap by global standards, but the foreign rental segment has climbed sharply, and the gap between local and expat pricing is wider here than in Thailand: the same flat in a Vietnamese building can cost a third of what an English-managed serviced apartment charges. Indicative 2026 figures in dollars, since this segment is usually quoted in dollars anyway:

A realistic single-person budget runs from about 800 dollars living locally to 2,000-2,500 living the expat version. Healthcare is two-tier: public hospitals are cheap but overloaded, while private international clinics such as FV or Vinmec work to European standards at below European prices. Insurance is essential, and serious cases are often evacuated to Bangkok or Singapore.

Practicalities: transport, climate, language, banking

Traffic is the culture shock. The city is built around the motorbike, there are millions of them, and crossing the road feels like an extreme sport for the first fortnight. Grab and Be handle everything: a bike taxi costs a dollar or two, a car three to four times that. The first metro line opened in 2024 and a second is under construction, but coverage is still limited. Owning a car here is mostly a burden.

The climate is monsoon tropical with no winter: 28-35 degrees all year. Dry season runs December to April, wet season May to November, with short violent downpours and regular street flooding. December to February is the best window for a first visit. Air quality is a separate issue - in the dry season it regularly reaches unhealthy readings; nothing like Delhi, but nothing like European limits either.

The language is Vietnamese, tonal and hard. English works reasonably in the centre, in Thao Dien and inside international companies, and rarely beyond them.

Internet is fast and extremely cheap, with good 4G and 5G coverage; periodic undersea cable breaks slow international services for a few days at a time, a known local quirk. Banking: opening an account is possible but normally requires a temporary residence card, or at minimum a long-term visa and proof of address. Cash still matters, though QR payments and e-wallets have taken over most of daily spending.

Moving and legal status

Vietnam is easy to enter and considerably harder to stay in legally for the long run. Rules have changed frequently in recent years, so verify current requirements before making plans.

• E-visa - available to citizens of essentially every country, up to 90 days, multiple entry. It is the main tool for anyone testing the country, and in practice the main way remote workers stay.
• Visa-free entry - applies to a list of nationalities for varying periods; Russian citizens have a separate arrangement allowing up to 45 days, whose duration and validity period are worth checking directly.
• Work visa and temporary residence card (TRC) - the principal legal route: a work permit through a Vietnamese employer, then a card valid up to two years and renewable. It is also the usual basis for bringing family.
• Investor visas in the DT series - DT4 through DT1 depending on the capital committed to a local company, with residence cards of up to five years and longer stays available at the top tier.
• Family and marriage visa (TT) - for spouses and close relatives of Vietnamese citizens.

There is no dedicated digital nomad visa, and the widely discussed ten-year golden visa remains, as of 2026, a proposal with no enacted decree and no application channel - treat marketing offers around it with scepticism. The general logic of residence statuses is in /vnz, and remote-worker options in /nomad_visa.

Tax is the underrated part: 183 days or more in a year makes you a Vietnamese tax resident, and residents are taxed on worldwide income on a progressive scale reaching 35 percent at the top. That is materially stricter than the Thai arrangement, and moving without advice is unwise - context in /all_taxes. Separately, land in Vietnam belongs to the state: foreigners may buy apartments within a building's quota, generally on a fifty-year term that can be extended.

Is Ho Chi Minh City worth considering as a base

It is, if you are coming to work or build something. Of every city on this list, Ho Chi Minh City is the only one where a foreigner has a real hiring market and a growing economy underfoot. The food is superb and cheap, the internet is fast, people are enterprising and welcoming, and what you save buys an hour's flight to anywhere in Southeast Asia.

The drawbacks deserve plain language. The environment first: noise, traffic, humidity and dry-season air that is frankly bad, and it accumulates - after a year you feel it physically. Bureaucracy second: work permits, document legalisation and renewals move slowly, through intermediaries, and not always predictably. Tax third: worldwide income for residents at rates up to 35 percent makes Vietnam a poor choice for anyone optimising taxes. Language and a glass ceiling fourth - without Vietnamese you stay inside the expat circuit. Property fifth: an apartment here is not ownership in the European sense but a time-limited right with conditions attached.

Verdict: a strong city for a five to ten year career or business chapter, a weak one as a final destination. The sensible start is three months on an e-visa, living in old District 3 or Binh Thanh rather than inside the Thao Dien bubble.