Where to live

Where the good part of the city is

Live in the strip between Võ Nguyên Giáp, the beach road, and the main road running inland. It starts around An Hải and runs south through An Thượng, getting busier with cafes, bars and gyms the further south you go.

Almost everything a newcomer wants is in that band. You can walk to the sea, walk to breakfast, and walk home.

Do not overthink the neighbourhood. Think about the street.

Other guides sort you by type: young people here, couples there, families somewhere else. That is not how this city works. Nomads, couples, families, people here for business and people here alone nearly all live in the same strip.

The choice that actually affects your life is which street you end up on.

The one rule: stay off the big roads

Avoid anywhere on a main road or a busy traffic street. This is the mistake almost every newcomer makes, because places on the big roads are the easiest to find.

• Noise, all day and half the night. The traffic does not stop, and the horn is part of how people drive here, not a sign of anger.
• Dust and fumes, which get into everything, including the room where you dry your clothes.
• Crossing the road becomes a small event every time you want breakfast.
• It is more dangerous coming home at night, and worse in the rain.

Go one or two streets back instead. The small side streets and numbered alleys inside the block are quieter, cleaner, safer and usually cheaper than the loud road fifty metres away. You are still two minutes from everything.

When you view a place, stand still on the balcony and listen for a minute. Then come back in the evening. Daytime quiet and evening quiet are different things.

How to actually find a place

The best way is the one nobody tells you: walk the area you like and knock on doors.

Not a website. Not an agent. Pick the streets you want to live on, walk them, and go into the buildings you like the look of. Ask if anything is free. Most of these buildings never appear on any website in any language, and the person who answers the door is usually the owner.

It feels strange the first time. Do it anyway. An afternoon of walking will show you more real apartments at real prices than a week of scrolling. Photograph everything and write down what you were told, because after six buildings they blur together.

Use the internet for the other things

• To learn the going rate before you negotiate. Read a week of posts in the local Facebook groups and you will know what a place like yours costs.
• To post what you want and let places come to you, instead of scrolling forever.
• To find places too far away to walk to.

The rental groups are also where the agents live. Some show you photos of a lovely place, then walk you to a worse one. Use the groups for information. Use your feet for the deal.

What you will actually pay

Checked 2026-08-02

The very bottom of the market, around 7 to 9 million, is what Vietnamese renters pay. As a foreigner you will probably not hit it, and any guide promising you will is setting you up. What you can control is how you found the place, and that alone moves the price by about a third.

Electricity, the bill nobody budgets for

Nothing else in your apartment matters much. The fridge, the lights, the laptop, all of it is nothing next to the aircon. Sleep with it on every night in July and August and you are at the top of that range. Use it in the evenings and open the windows the rest of the time and you are near the bottom.

Budget for the top in the hot months. A rent that looked fine in March feels different in July with another two million on it.

• Ask whether electricity is included in the rent. Usually it is not.
• Ask what rate you are charged per unit. Some places charge the state rate and some charge their own.

The viewing checklist

Use this in every single place you look at.

• Black mould. Look at the ceiling, the corners, and inside the aircon vents. This is the thing people most regret ignoring.
• Water pressure. Turn the shower on. Turn the taps on.
• Internet. Run a speed test standing in the room where you would work, not at the door.
• Aircon. Turn every unit on. Listen to it. Does it actually get cold?
• Photograph the electricity and water meters on the day you move in, with the date visible.
• Which way the windows face. Afternoon sun through glass in this climate is brutal.
• Noise. Is there building work next door? Come back in the evening.

Doing the deal

Always negotiate. The first price is not the price. Ask politely and they will usually come down. Nobody is offended and everybody expects it.

Bring someone who speaks Vietnamese if you possibly can. This is the single biggest thing you can do. A landlord gives a different price when a Vietnamese person is asking. That gap is most of the five million a month above. If you do not know anyone yet, ask in the community. People help with this.

You will get about a day to decide. Enough to sleep on it, not enough to keep looking for a week and expect it to still be there. So do your looking first, see several places, then decide.

Before you sign, ask this exact question. If the aircon, fridge or water heater breaks through normal use, who pays to fix it? Then listen carefully. If the answer is you, walk away. That is not normal here and it tells you what the next twelve months will be like.

Agree everything before any money moves. Once the deposit is paid your leverage is gone.

Filling in the gaps: buy second hand

Most places come with the big things. What they do not come with is the kettle, the rice cooker, the fan, a decent pan, a drying rack.

Buy those second hand. There is a steady trade in used household things here, mostly from people leaving, and it costs a fraction of new.

Message them on Zalo, not by phone or email. Zalo is the messaging app the whole country runs on. For a lot of small businesses here, it is the only way to reach them. Download it in your first week even if you never use it socially. You will need it for landlords, shops and deliveries.

Do not buy everything in your first week. Live in the place for a fortnight and you will find out what you actually need, which is usually less than you thought.