Hi all here,

 I've been in Thailand for a little while and thinking of having a break and spending some time in Vietnam and primarily in Ho Chi Minh city. Sometimes immigration system gets to me. 

I'd appreciate doom suggestions on where to live in HCM.

In BKK I lived in Sukhumvit and in OZ in Melbourne's more up market inner city areas and just seeking some advice on, for say 3 months ++++, like areas in HCM. 

Thankyou

most anywhere in district 1 in HCMC is nice but it also has the highest rent in town...nice leafy boulevards with plenty to do and see... good restaurants, etc...I had a 2 bed serviced apartment on Mac Dinh Chi near Le Duan for 4 months paid for by my employers and it was very nice...japanese, korean, german brew pubs and 5 places across the street for pho noodles fer breakfast, ladies with push carts lined up selling banh mi sarnies, always got a couple to take to work...

 

depends on yer budget, I suppose...other times when I was just passin' thru there were the cheap and basic hotels just up the street from the famous Apocalypse Now! bar on Thi Sach street, my fave was the Hosen Hotel, about USD 30 with breakfast, just a few blocks from the opera house...these days popular with chinese, japs and koreans...

 

 

Bui Vien area. It's like a Khao San road but funner. 

19 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

most anywhere in district 1 in HCMC is nice but it also has the highest rent in town...nice leafy boulevards with plenty to do and see... good restaurants, etc...I had a 2 bed serviced apartment on Mac Dinh Chi near Le Duan for 4 months paid for by my employers and it was very nice...japanese, korean, german brew pubs and 5 places across the street for pho noodles fer breakfast, ladies with push carts lined up selling banh mi sarnies, always got a couple to take to work...

 

depends on yer budget, I suppose...other times when I was just passin' thru there were the cheap and basic hotels just up the street from the famous Apocalypse Now! bar on Thi Sach street, my fave was the Hosen Hotel, about USD 30 with breakfast, just a few blocks from the opera house...these days popular with chinese, japs and koreans...

 

 

Thank you so much for this excellent response. I really appreciate it and the effort put in. Its most helpful

District 3 by the Saigon river is popular with expats. The soon to be opened Skytrain will make it even more popular.

If you are not locked into Saigon I would choose Hanoi any day. Cooler, much nicer city, more to do in the north like Halon Bay etc, good food with western restaurants, a walking city with lakes and boulevards, the French influence, and the fun water puppets.

25 minutes ago, Mansell said:

If you are not locked into Saigon I would choose Hanoi any day. Cooler, much nicer city, more to do in the north like Halon Bay etc, good food with western restaurants, a walking city with lakes and boulevards, the French influence, and the fun water puppets.

Agree. HCMC is hot and dirty. Hanoi is far better. Other potential sites are Danang and Dalat, although AFAIK there are no direct international flights to there.

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Agree. HCMC is hot and dirty. Hanoi is far better. Other potential sites are Danang and Dalat, although AFAIK there are no direct international flights to there.

 

I also lived in Ha Noi for awhile and it can get hot and sticky there as well as well as uncomfortably cold...my son has some pals there who said that the weather is not very nice now...I was there in Feb once during TET and it was freeze ass, didn't have the right clothes and stayed under the covers at the hotel...

 

 

Lived in Saigon for 10 years until moving to BKK in 2012. Great place to work & do business, not so nice a place to live. The people are friendlier but less polite than the Thais. A LOT of noise & antisocial behaviour, with people doing karaoke til 3am & building work 24 hours a day. Much, much noisier than Bangkok, and the traffic is far worse. Burglary & petty crime are much bigger issues there too. 

 

But it's a fun place, food/beer a lot cheaper, the girls are great and it has an edge to it that Thailand doesn't have.

 

Wealthier expats tend to live in D2/Thao Dien district near the river. But there are condo buildings springing up all over now - rents generally comparable to Bangkok though build quality isn't usually as good and balconies are rare, and landlords can be very dodgy indeed. 

 

I have friends who've left HCMC for Danang and speak very highly of it; personally I'd avoid Hanoi - nice for a visit but it's even noisier than Saigon and the damp weather, especially in winter, is a drag. 

 

How about 1 month HCMC 1 month DaNang 1 Month Hanoi?

District 2 is better than District 1. 

 

Thank you very much to all of you for your kind responses to this naive somewhat traveller to Vietnam, although being a "senior" traveller very many years ago the OZ Government was close to offering me an all expenses, free travel, free accomodation, clothing provided and free meals, job there ( with AK47 thrown in as well)!!  Hmm. A birthday lottery I was happy to loose.

To those who mentioned Hanoi can I please impose and ask if you might be so kind as to suggest places to live there because I'm very seriously considering a month or two in both now after your comments so it will really be apprecaited.

AirBNB is worth checking out, private apartment in RiverGate for $20/night.

Swimming pool and gym included, better price for monthly.