Avoiding dodgy tourist taxis in Saigon and Hanoi

Recently I spent a fantastic four days in Hanoi with a friend, taking lots of taxi rides and quite a few Ubers too. Most of them went well. One went very badly.

Problem is that the one that went badly was from Hanoi’s most popular, and most revered, tourist attraction - Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. 

After so many years, I should have known better.

The time you’re most vulnerable to taxi scamming in Saigon and Hanoi, is when you’re a tourist - when you’re leaving the country’s most popular tourist destinations.

I jumped in the first taxi I saw, near the official entrance to the Mausoleum. I immediately buried myself in my phone - paying no attention to where the driver was taking me.

Photo: Mark Bowyer From the Ho Chi Minh Quarter to a jolting dose of tourism service Hanoi style

Photo: Mark Bowyer From the Ho Chi Minh Quarter to a jolting dose of contemporary Hanoi

Photo: Mark Bowyer Preying on vulnerable tourists - War Remnants Museum

Photo: Mark Bowyer Preying on vulnerable tourists - Ben Thanh Market

Photo: Mark Bowyer Preying on vulnerable tourists - War Remnants Museum

Photo: Mark Bowyer Nailed the concession at War Remnants Museum

Photo: Mark Bowyer Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Hanoi

Photo: Mark Bowyer War Remnants Museum, Saigon. Vietnam's most popular museum.

About 3 minutes into the journey, I looked up and realised I was being taken in the opposite direction to where I was headed. Fortunately for me I knew where I was going. Most tourists don’t. And orienting yourself in Hanoi’s winding, narrow streets is especially challenging.

I also noticed that the meter had already hit 46,000VND, despite the fact we had only travelled around 1km.

This was no innocent error or misunderstanding.

I was in a taxi that specialises in ripping-off tourists. A taxi that through parking concessions, has privileged access to tourists.

I asked the driver to stop and began photographing the meter, checking the precise distance travelled on Google maps, and generally being a belligerent foreigner.

At first he opted for indignantly insisting everything was above board. 

It was 10AM in broad daylight on busy Phung Hung St, and the more photos I took, and the more Vietnamese I spoke, the more he wanted me out of his cab - without any further trouble or charge.

I got out, tried to catch a few more snaps of the cab, and off he went.

These situations don’t always end like this. Many tourists face more nasty confrontations - including threats of violence. Other tourists never realise they’ve been had.

Either way, the fact that a small taxi industry exists expressly to rip off tourists, at the country’s best known tourism destinations, is pretty uncool.

In addition to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, these scammers operate openly at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon and Ben Thanh Market, and around the Pham Ngu Lao, Bui Vien St backpacker area in Saigon. They also operate openly at Saigon airport - offering fake Vinasun taxi cards (Vinasun is a large and reasonably reputable taxi company), before proposing fares 4 and 5 times the norm.

Before writing this I returned to Ben Thanh Market and the War Remnants Museum to see whether anything had changed.

Taxis at the War Remnants Museum told me the standard fare in Saigon was 100,000VND per kilometre, and they would take me to the Continental Hotel for 300,000VND (2kms for around 13USD). This is around 10 times the normal fare.

They showed me fake paperwork carrying the Vinasun Taxi logo. You've gotta pity the Vinasun people - scammers use their name everywhere in Saigon.

I had a similar experience at Ben Thanh Market.

These companies prey on the vulnerability of tourists. And they seem to have a special skill at securing the taxi contracts at major tourist destinations.

Sadly, unsuspecting tourists probably assume the country’s most popular tourist sights are looking after them, and ensuring good taxis are available to their visitors.

Not so in Saigon and Hanoi.

Why is it that the country's abundant reputable taxis are conspicuously absent at major tourist sights?

There’s nothing new about any of this - I’ve been writing about it for years.

Travellers leave the lofty idealism of Hanoi’s Ho Chi Minh quarter, or the gut-wrenching exhibits of the War Remnants Museum, to be given a jolting dose of contemporary Vietnam.

Not a great look.




Taxi tips for Saigon and Hanoi

Saigon

Saigon’s best taxi companies are pretty good. Here’s how to stay out of trouble.
* Use Vinasun, Vina or Mai Linh taxis.
* Beware of dodgy imitations (names like Vinasum) - or dodgy looking guys flashing Vinasun cards.
* Remember you’re most vulnerable to major tourist sites.
* Dodgy cabs usually look dodgy in Saigon - and so do their drivers. Steer clear of older more beat-up cars.
* Use Google maps to check where you’re headed - noting that many well-meaning drivers don’t know their way around and one way streets and traffic snarls may force well-meaning drivers to take a slightly different route.
* Uber operates in Saigon (and Hanoi), is cheap and reasonably good except drivers tend not to speak English (taxi drivers don’t either) and many are new to the job and don’t know their way around.

Hanoi

* Picking a good company in Hanoi is a little more tricky. Taxi Group is fine. There are lots of little dodgy looking taxis around Hanoi that are mostly OK too - problem is working out which is which.
* Use Google maps and work out where you’re going before you get in.
* If you’re out late in Hanoi, expect to come across more dodgy taxis, fixed price demands etc.
* Hanoi has a weird airport taxi thing happening. Prices are fixed from the airport. You can book certain taxis far more cheaply than others when heading to the airport from town. Talk to your hotel - hopefully they’ll be on top of this incomprehensible system. You should be able to get to the airport for around 260K VND. Metered taxis will cost more than 360KVND. (prices as of July 2016).
- Uber operates in Hanoi too and so far has compared well to taxis - and is cheaper too.

Good luck!