A 7km ride in a Vietnamese city in 2026 typically costs 38,000-55,000 VND by GrabBike, 95,000-140,000 VND by GrabCar, around 100,000-120,000 VND on a metered Xanh SM, and 115,000-130,000 VND in a street-flagged Vinasun or Mai Linh. Payment method adds 0-8% on top.
Seven kilometres is roughly Ben Thanh Market to Thao Dien in Ho Chi Minh City, or Hanoi's Old Quarter out to Times City. That single distance costs anywhere from 38,000 VND to 180,000 VND depending on which app you open, what time it is, and whether it is raining.
The fare is only part of the number. How you pay the driver can add another 3-8% before you have gone anywhere, and most visitors never see that cost because it was charged at a cash machine three days earlier.
The 7km Baseline: GrabBike at Around 40,000 VND, GrabCar at Triple
GrabBike in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi prices at roughly 12,500 VND for the first 2km and about 4,300 VND per kilometre after that. A 7km hop therefore quotes around 34,000-40,000 VND off-peak, rising to 50,000-55,000 VND at 5pm on a weekday.
GrabCar on the same route is a different order of magnitude. Expect roughly 29,000 VND for the first 2km and 9,500-11,000 VND per kilometre after, which puts the standard 4-seat quote at 95,000-140,000 VND depending on demand.
Grab shows a fixed price before you confirm, which is the app's single biggest advantage over a meter. In heavy rain that fixed price can double, and during Tet it can do worse than double.
Foreign Visa and Mastercard credit cards can be linked directly to the Grab app for in-app payment, and this genuinely works for most travellers. Your own bank's foreign transaction fee, usually 2-3%, is the only markup, which on a 120,000 VND fare is around 3,600 VND.
Xanh SM: The Meter That Does Not Surge
Xanh SM, the VinFast electric taxi fleet, runs on a published meter rather than dynamic pricing. The 4-seat cars typically open at around 20,000 VND and charge roughly 14,000-15,000 VND per kilometre, which lands a 7km trip near 100,000-120,000 VND.
That makes Xanh SM slightly dearer than GrabCar on a quiet Tuesday morning and considerably cheaper during a downpour, when Grab's multiplier takes a 100,000 VND trip to 200,000 VND and Xanh SM still charges you the meter.
The catch is supply. Xanh SM coverage is excellent in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, thinner in Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang, and effectively absent in the far north. Xanh SM cars accept cash and cards, and drivers will almost always point at a QR sticker if you ask.
Be: Cheaper Fares, Harder Wallet
Be undercuts Grab on bike fares fairly reliably, often by 5,000-10,000 VND on a mid-length trip, and runs airport transfer products at fixed prices below Grab's surge. On fares alone it is frequently the best value app in Vietnam.
For a short-stay visitor the wallet is the obstacle. Be's in-app balance expects a Vietnamese bank card or e-wallet behind it, and the app experience assumes a Vietnamese phone number. If you are paying cash anyway, Be is worth having installed for the fare comparison alone.
Flagging a Vinasun or Mai Linh on the Street
Metered taxis still make sense outside app coverage, at train stations and late at night. A Vinasun 4-seat typically opens at around 12,000 VND and runs 16,000-17,000 VND per kilometre, so 7km comes to roughly 115,000-130,000 VND if the route is honest.
The route is the variable. An app fare is locked before you sit down; a meter is not, and a scenic detour across the river adds 2km that you cannot dispute afterwards. Open Google Maps on your own phone for anything over a few kilometres.
Nearly every branded taxi in Vietnam now carries a VietQR sticker on the back of the headrest or on the dashboard. Scanning it settles the exact metered amount, which removes the single most common end-of-ride argument: nobody has change for a 500,000 VND note at 11pm.
Airport Runs and the Surcharges the App Quotes Separately
Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City applies a terminal entry fee to cars, usually 10,000-15,000 VND, and ride-hailing pickups happen from a designated floor of the car park rather than the arrivals kerb. Budget around 150,000-220,000 VND by GrabCar into District 1, or 70,000-90,000 VND by bike if you are travelling light.
Noi Bai to the Hanoi Old Quarter is the expensive one: 25km or so, typically 280,000-380,000 VND by car once the airport fee and bridge tolls are included. Da Nang is the bargain, with the airport to My Khe beach rarely exceeding 90,000 VND.
Airport taxi counters quote fixed prices that are usually 20-40% above the app, and some will only take cash. If you arrive at 2am with no dong, that counter is the moment you discover what your payment setup actually costs.
What Each Payment Rail Adds to the Fare
Cash looks free and is not. Vietnamese bank ATM fees run 22,000-55,000 VND per withdrawal, and your home bank adds its own fee and currency margin on top. Withdraw 1,000,000 VND and pay 55,000 VND for the privilege and you have spent 5.5% before buying anything.
A 45,000 VND bike ride paid out of a 1,000,000 VND withdrawal that cost 55,000 VND in fees is not a 45,000 VND ride.
Cash also leaks in smaller ways. Bike drivers rarely carry change for 200,000 and 500,000 VND notes, so a 38,000 VND fare settles at 40,000 or 50,000, and nobody argues over 2,000 VND at a junction in the rain.
The third rail is QR, and it is the one foreigners assume is shut to them. Vietnam's national QR standard runs on domestic bank accounts and apps, which is why Apple Pay, Google Pay and a foreign Visa cannot scan a code directly, and why MoMo needs a Vietnamese phone number and ZaloPay a Vietnamese ID document. LocalPay exists for exactly that gap: it is a non-custodial wallet you top up with the Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay or Google Pay you already carry, and it pays any VietQR merchant in Vietnam without a Vietnamese bank account, SIM card or residency card. For the metered taxi, the hotel car, the negotiated xe om and everything else that happens outside an app, it replaces the cash machine entirely.
A Worked Day in Da Nang: Four Rides, 265,000 VND
Hotel in Hai Chau to a cafe in An Thuong by GrabBike at 9am: 28,000 VND. An Thuong to the Marble Mountains by GrabCar at noon: 95,000 VND. Marble Mountains back to My Khe by Xanh SM bike mid-afternoon: 32,000 VND. Dinner in Son Tra and a metered taxi home at 10pm because the rain has pushed Grab to a 2.1x multiplier: 110,000 VND.
Total fares: 265,000 VND, about 10 US dollars for a full day of moving around a coastal city. Pay all four in notes drawn from one 2,000,000 VND withdrawal with a 55,000 VND machine fee and you have added roughly 7,300 VND to the day. Pay two in-app on a card with a 3% foreign transaction fee and scan the taxi's code for the rest, and the extra drops to a few thousand dong.
The difference across a two-week trip is not life-changing. It is also not nothing, and the real saving is in the queueing, the hunting for a machine that will accept your card, and the 50,000 VND notes you never manage to spend before the flight home.
“A 45,000 VND bike ride paid out of a 1,000,000 VND withdrawal that cost 55,000 VND in fees is not a 45,000 VND ride.”
Five Fare Checks That Save Real Money
- Open Grab, Be and Xanh SM side by side before a journey over 5km. The spread between the cheapest and dearest quote on an identical route is routinely 30,000-40,000 VND.
- In rain or at 5pm, skip the surge entirely and take a metered Xanh SM or Vinasun. Meters do not multiply; apps do, and 2x on a 120,000 VND car fare is 240,000 VND.
- Break large notes at a supermarket or a chain cafe early in the day. A bike driver with a 38,000 VND fare and a 500,000 VND note in his hand will round up, not down.
- Screenshot the quoted price before you confirm an airport ride. If the driver asks for more at the terminal, the screenshot ends the conversation in about four seconds.
- Check the headrest for a QR sticker as you get in, not as you get out. Knowing you can scan removes any pressure to accept a bad rounding on a 115,000 VND meter.
Across every option, the fare itself is modest: 38,000 VND for a bike, somewhere near 120,000 VND for a car, for a distance that would cost twenty times as much in London. What varies more than the fare is the cost of handing the money over.
Keep a linked card in Grab for in-app rides, because that is where it works well, and sort out the other half before you land. Install LocalPay from the App Store or Google Play, top it up with the card in your pocket, and the metered taxi, the airport car and the driver with no change all get paid by scanning the code on the dashboard. No Vietnamese bank account, no local SIM, no 55,000 VND cash machine fee attached to a 45,000 VND ride.
Frequently asked questions
Grab's in-app payment options in Vietnam are cash, a linked Visa or Mastercard, and the Moca wallet, which requires a Vietnamese bank account. Many drivers who take a cash-selected fare will also display a personal VietQR code and accept a scan for the exact amount, which avoids the change problem, but it is the driver's choice rather than an app feature.
A GrabCar from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City typically quotes 150,000-220,000 VND in 2026, including the airport's car entry fee of roughly 10,000-15,000 VND. A GrabBike on the same route runs 70,000-90,000 VND, and the official airport taxi counter is usually 20-40% above the app price.
Xanh SM charges a published meter of roughly 20,000 VND flagfall plus 14,000-15,000 VND per kilometre, so it is slightly more expensive than GrabCar at quiet times and noticeably cheaper whenever Grab applies a surge multiplier. During rain or rush hour in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, Xanh SM frequently comes in at half the Grab quote for the same trip.
