Bui Vien, Saigon's loudest street, and how to do it once

Bui Vien walking street is the part of Ho Chi Minh City that sounds like a festival every night. Bars face each other across a narrow road, each with its own sound system, and the crowd sits on plastic stools that reach the middle of the street. Go once, early, and decide how long to stay once you have heard it.

Where is Bui Vien walking street?

Bui Vien walking street runs through the Pham Ngu Lao area of District 1, about a kilometre south-west of Ben Thanh market. The busy stretch is several hundred metres long, between De Tham and Cong Quynh streets, with narrow alleys of guesthouses opening off both sides.

The area has been Saigon's backpacker quarter for decades. Budget hotels, travel agents and bus company offices line the surrounding streets, which is why most people staying there see the street without meaning to.

When is Bui Vien at its busiest?

Bui Vien is at its busiest on Friday and Saturday nights, from about nine until two or three in the morning. The street closes to traffic in the evening and fills with tables, hawkers and crowds, and the volume climbs with the hour.

Weeknights are quieter and close earlier. Early evening, around seven or eight, is the best time for a first look: the stools are out, the food stalls are working, and the sound is loud rather than overwhelming.

What is Bui Vien actually like?

Bui Vien is loud in a way that has to be heard to be believed. Neighbouring bars play different music at full volume, promoters wave menus, and sellers work the crowd with sunglasses, lighters and snacks. Several bars put dancers on platforms at the front.

Bui Vien is not where Vietnamese people go out. The crowd is mostly foreign travellers and young domestic tourists visiting the street as a sight. The nightlife guide explains where the city goes instead, from rooftop bars to the beer halls of District 4.

What does a night on Bui Vien cost?

A night on Bui Vien costs very little at the plastic-stool bars, where a beer runs roughly 20,000 to 40,000 dong. At roughly 26,000 dong to the US dollar the cheap end is about a dollar. The bars with dance floors, promoters and cocktails charge several times that.

Street food on the corners is cheap too. Grilled skewers, fried noodles and fruit cost what they cost anywhere in the city. Ask the price before ordering anything that has no written menu, and count the change.

What should you watch out for on Bui Vien?

Watch out for three things on Bui Vien: phone snatching, pickpockets and inflated bills. Motorbike thieves wait at the ends of the street where traffic resumes, and grab phones held out at the kerb. Pickpockets work the thickest crowds in the middle.

A few bars add items to the bill or charge unmarked prices for drinks brought to the table. Order from a menu with prices, and pay per round. The scams guide covers the common tricks, and the safety guide puts them in proportion.

Nitrous oxide balloons are sold on and around the street. Buying them carries legal risk as well as the obvious health one, and they are best left alone.

Should you stay on Bui Vien?

Stay one or two streets back from Bui Vien rather than on it. The rooms on the street are cheap and the noise runs until the small hours at weekends. A guesthouse in the alleys behind costs about the same and sleeps far better.

The where to stay guide compares Pham Ngu Lao with the rest of District 1 and with District 3. For a first night after a long flight, the quieter streets north of Ben Thanh are the easier choice.

How does Bui Vien fit a night in Saigon?

Bui Vien fits the start or the end of a night in Saigon rather than the whole of it. An early dinner at a street kitchen, a drink on a rooftop, then an hour on Bui Vien to see it at full volume is the order most people enjoy.

The three-day Saigon route builds its evenings that way, and the Ho Chi Minh City things to do page lists what else the city does after dark.