Ho Chi Minh City airport hotels
 

We have a three day stay in Ho Chi Minh City after a river cruise. Our flight home leaves at 6:15am on the fourth day. Does anyone have any input on airport hotels and the plusses and minuses of using them for the last night?

There is a Movenpick which is about 10 minutes from the airport. I don't know the rates but you can find them on their website.

With a 6:15 am departure time, you would have NO traffic when going by taxi to the airport from a hotel in downtown HCM. It should take about 20 minutes, give or take depending on where your hotel is located (my estimate is that it is 20 minutes or less from a hotel on or near the river in District 1, the main tourist area). So I don’t see the point packing up and of moving bag and baggage for one night (most likely in daytime or early evening in traffic) just to save 20 minutes or so. If your flight was later in the day, then staying at an airport hotel might make sense, but with that early a departure, I don’t see the need.

With regard to taxis generally in Vietnam, in HCM and Hanoi I would recommend that you go with the green and white Mai Linh taxis if possible. They are the most reliable in my experience. Some other taxi companies have a reputation of taking the “long way” around to get to your destination.

Just to throw my two cents in, HCM is my least favourite place in Vietnam. Three days seems like a long time there.

I agree, no reason to stay near the airport. There will be zero traffic at 3.30am. I usually just stay up all night on the last night and sleep on the plane the whole way. Then when you wake up, it is morning.

We stayed in a hotel near the airport for our last night and were very sorry we did. We arrived in the evening hungry and the very few restaurants in the area were extremely unappealing -- so much so that we ended up taking a cab back to the city at around 9PM. Many of the restaurants stop serving by 10PM so we were rushed and it was kind of a depressing vibe for our last evening. I think you will be much happier enjoying the city for your final night.

Might be too late but we stayed at the Parkroyal and thoroughly enjoyed it. We got in really late and then had a relatively early flight to Hanoi the following morning.

Breakfast was a buffet and very substantial and pleasant and then we spent an hour in the large pool before showering and checking out. About $120.00 but highly recommend.

This last trip we stayed in the city and if I was flying out early I would not bother staying anywhere but near the airport as the extra sleep time is too important.