Chele

Oops. I'm trying to book the flights myself & I messed up... Long story, short, we ended up with a 9 hour layover in HCMC. Is there anything to do at the airport? If not, would it be worth it to try to go into the city for 7 hours?

Other option is to pay an extra $$$ to change the flight to avoid the layover.

What would you do?

MichaelBKK

The new international terminal is a big improvement over the old one, but there's still not much to do - and if you're not checked through on your connecting flight, you won't be able to check-in until 2 hours before departure - in most cases.

With the airport so close to the city, I would probably opt to pop into town; head some place like Dong Khoi street, where you can window shop and eat. Start back to the airport about 3 hours before your departure, to be on the safe side.

Bisbee

Do you have a Vietnam Visa? You can't just "pop into town". I would either spend the money to get a Visa or spend the extra money to change the tickets. 9 hours at that boring airport will seem like an eternity.

ekscrunchy

If you can go into the city, you could walk around Dong Khoi as suggested and, if it is very hot, pay a small fee to relax at one of the hotels with swimming pools..

Personally I would use the opportunity to visit the city if at all possible. You could have a wonderful lunch someplace, too.

Chele

Thanks for the replies. I envisioned an airport like Singapore, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So, we decided to change our flights.

Thanks for your help!

Femi

There's a small day spa there (at the airport) that offers foot massages and the like, that was one way to kill time.