Does it matter which airport I fly into?
Short answer
More here than almost anywhere. The three international gateways are not alternatives to one another — they are the north, the centre and the south of a country the train needs 36 hours to cross.
Three gateways, not one choice
Most international flights come in through one of Vietnam's three main airports, in Hanoi, Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City. Elsewhere in the region this question means picking between two airports serving one city; here it means picking which third of the country you land in.
The tourism board's own yardstick for the distance involved: staying on the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City train for the whole route takes 36 hours. Landing at the wrong end is not a taxi ride to fix.
Matching the gateway to the trip
Da Nang is the one most visitors underestimate. The airport sits about 5km from the city, 29km from Hoi An and 98km from Hue, and the tourism board describes it as modern and rarely overcrowded — a short, calm arrival into the centre of the country.
Hanoi's Noi Bai and Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat are the larger two, and they anchor the north and the south respectively. Their rides into town are very different from each other, which the next page covers.
Using two of them
The move that saves the most time is flying into one gateway and out of another, so the length of the country is covered once instead of twice. The domestic network supports it: the tourism board says flying is usually the most convenient way to reach distant destinations, with a national carrier reaching 21 domestic destinations and budget competitors alongside it.
There are also direct international flights to Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, which are worth knowing about if the trip is built around the coast rather than the cities.
Good to know
- Three gateways covering three regions — not two airports sharing one city
- Da Nang lands you 29km from Hoi An and 98km from Hue
- Flying in and out of different cities avoids covering the country twice
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Gimpo is far closer to Seoul, but almost every long-haul flight uses Incheon, so you rarely get to choose.
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