Tan Son Nhat International Airport to Vung Tau

Vung Tau is the closest the sea gets to Saigon: a port-and-beach town about 95 km southeast, reachable in roughly two to two and a half hours by road. This is not a quick city hop but a genuine trip out of town — the Christ of Vung Tau statue on the headland, the lighthouse, the seafood strip and the long promenade all sit at the end of a real drive. For years the romantic option was a passenger hydrofoil that skimmed down the river from a pier in the centre, but that Bach Dang service has stopped running, so getting there now means the highway. Some drivers use the newer expressway sections southeast of the city, others the older CT01 route, and either way you are looking at a long haul rather than a short transfer. From Tan Son Nhat the honest shortlist comes down to two things: the direct 72-1 coach, or a car that takes you the whole distance in one go.

The 72-1 coach that skips the city entirely

The single best-value way to the coast is the 72-1, an airport-to-Vung-Tau coach that leaves from a bay at the terminal itself, signed for the route. You buy on board or at the airport ticket counter, and it runs roughly hourly across a long day, from about 04:00 to 23:00. The fare is 150,000-200,000 VND, which lands around six to eight euros, and it takes you direct to Vung Tau bus station in about two and a half hours with no transfer or change in the city. That last point matters more than it sounds: the alternative on a shoestring would be crossing Saigon to a downtown bus depot first, and the 72-1 removes that entirely. From the Vung Tau bus station a short Grab finishes the job to the beachfront or your hotel. If your bags are light and your schedule is flexible, this is hard to beat.

One car the whole way, no bus-station hop

For a drive of two hours and change, a lot of travellers decide the coach's saving isn't worth the two-stage arrival, and book a private car straight from arrivals to the door. A pre-booked transfer through Welcome Pickups or a local Saigon firm runs about 1,000,000-1,400,000 VND, call it thirty-seven to fifty-two euros for the car regardless of how many of you are in it. The driver waits at arrivals, loads your bags, and heads south on the expressway; because it's the same car and driver the whole way, you can ask for a rest or coffee stop halfway, which a long coastal run tends to invite. For a group or a family splitting the fare, the per-head cost closes right in on the coach anyway, and you skip the bus-station-to-beach leg at the far end. The other quiet advantage is that these firms track your flight, so a delayed landing doesn't leave you scrambling for the next coach.

Why a one-off Grab this far is a gamble

You can, in theory, book a long-distance Grab or private car at the D1-D2 ride-hail lanes for the run to Vung Tau, and the app will quote something in the order of 1,200,000-1,600,000 VND, roughly forty-five to sixty euros. In practice this is the weakest of the three. Few drivers will accept a fare that takes them 95 km out of the city and leaves them to drive back empty, so you may sit cancelling and re-requesting for a while before anyone bites. For a trip this long it's worth agreeing the route with the driver before you set off rather than trusting the app to sort it mid-journey. Given that a pre-booked transfer is both cheaper and confirmed in advance, the intercity Grab really only makes sense if you happen to land one on the spot and don't want to wait on a booking.

Picking your option before you land

Sort this one out before you fly, because the choice depends on your bags and your group more than your budget. Travelling solo or as a pair with carry-on, the 72-1 coach at six to eight euros is the obvious call — reliable, direct, and running most of the day and night. Two couples, a family, or anyone with a pile of suitcases and beach gear should price the private car, since splitting one thousand-odd VND fare four ways often beats four coach tickets plus the Grab from the far bus station. Whatever you pick, don't count on the old hydrofoil showing up in a search — that pier service is gone, and every route to Vung Tau now runs on wheels.