Getting Around Qui Nhon
Qui Nhon (also written Quy Nhơn) is a coastal city in Gia Lai province, Vietnam, and one of the region's commercial and tourism centres. It's a fairly spread-out city, so how you choose to move around will shape your trip. The good news is that options are simple and inexpensive: ride-hailing, rented motorbikes, and a handful of local bus routes do most of the work, and the beachfront is genuinely pleasant on foot.
On Foot
Qui Nhon is a wonderful city for walking. People are friendly and constantly greet foreigners with "Hello", street vendors line every block, and the well-maintained beach promenade is beautiful for a stroll and often nearly empty of other people.
The catch is distance. The city is quite spread out: even at a brisk pace it can take 20–30 minutes to walk from the central areas to the beach, and a walk from the far southwest end all the way to the eastern tip takes about 90 minutes. If you're mainly here for an ocean holiday and stay at a hotel close to the beach, you can definitely get by on foot with the occasional taxi. Archaeological sites in the surrounding countryside, however, are too far to reach on foot — except perhaps the "Twin Towers".
Motorbikes
Nowhere within the city is more than 15 minutes away by motorbike, and parking is free everywhere. For exploring the surrounding area a motorbike is even more ideal: the kilometres of empty beaches north and south of the centre, the mountains on both sides of the bay, and the surrounding countryside and archaeological sites can all be reached easily as day trips.
- You can rent motorbikes from all hotels in the city; hotels that don't rent them out themselves usually have connections with a renter.
- You can choose between automatic transmission or semi-automatic (left-foot gear shift, no clutch needed).
- Expect to pay around 100,000 dong per day.
Bicycles
Bicycles are also great for day trips to explore beaches and archaeological sites in the surrounding area that are too far for walking. Bike rentals aren't common, though, and most hotels won't be able to help. One option is Cafe Ô Mê Ly, a slightly shady karaoke club on the west side of the Coopmart shopping complex on Lê Duẩn street, which has a small street-side business renting out a few bicycles, including tandem (two-person) bicycles. Prices are negotiable; locals pay 20,000 dong for an hour and 100,000 for a day.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
As of 2023, Grab dominates the taxi market, including motorbike taxis, and it's a convenient way to get around. A trip inside the city should cost 20,000–50,000 dong.
Taxis can also be ordered by phone, but the most effective way is to ask your hotel or hostel to make the call on your behalf. You can try hailing a taxi on the street, but unless you speak Vietnamese this is pointless — so either way, it's best to rely on Grab.
Buses and Public Transport
An inner-city bus network is almost non-existent — just route T5 runs from the port and then south through the city. However, many buses serve the surrounding areas, towns, sights and beaches, and they're great for exploring the region.
Useful central stops and routes:
- Central Bus Stop (CoopMart), in front of CoopMart on the other side of the road, serves routes T3, T4, T5 (southwards), T6, T6B, T7, T21 and T22. The stop on the CoopMart side is for buses terminating in Qui Nhon, except for T5, which heads northeast to the harbour.
- At the two central bus stops there are overview maps, lists of bus lines, and timetables for T4 and T6, which run regularly between 05:30 and 17:30.
More information, including several timetables, is available on the Quy Nhon tourism bus website and the local government bus summary.
Rail
Qui Nhon's own railway station could once be reached by a branch off the main North–South line, but that branch was suspended in May 2016, and the much smaller station in the city centre just off Lý Thường Kiệt street near the Quang Trung roundabout is no longer served. Reunification Express trains now stop only at Diêu Trì Railway Station, about 13 km northwest of the city.
To connect from Diêu Trì into town:
- Local bus: buses run between the railway station and Qui Nhon centre or the bus station once or twice per hour for 8,000–12,000 dong. The bus probably won't run directly from the station — walk about 300 m east to Highway No. 1 and ask locals for the bus stop to Qui Nhon. Take bus T4, T7 or T12 south, or T3 north; all end up in the centre (Coop Market), but only T12 goes by the bus station in the south.
- Grab: a Grab motorbike taxi is around 60,000 dong and a Grab taxi around 150,000 dong.
Approximate train trip lengths from Diêu Trì include Đà Nẵng (about 6 hours), Nha Trang (about 4 hours) and Ho Chi Minh City (about 13 hours). Sample fares to nearby destinations include Tuy Hòa from 60,000 dong, Hoi An (Trà Kiệu) from 170,000 dong, and Đà Nẵng from about 180,000 dong.
Long-Distance Buses
Qui Nhon Bus Station sits at the base of the mountains on the southwest edge of the city, with its entrance on the west side of Tây Sơn street between Cần Vương and Vô Liêu streets. Tickets can be bought in advance or on the day of travel from the several bus company offices in the covered area of the ramshackle station.
- In the week before and several weeks after the Tết holiday, advance bookings are essential — and even then buses might be fully sold out or cancelled.
- Unlike in some other Vietnamese cities, you won't be charged more for being a foreigner, as long as you buy directly from the bus company ticket window at the station.
- The bus company Son Tung, right on the corner of Tay Son, runs buses to Da Nang throughout the day.
As a rough guide to trip lengths and a few prices: Huế 8–11 hours; Đà Nẵng 6–9 hours (350,000 dong); Hoi An 6–8 hours (330,000 dong); Tuy Hòa 2 hours (110,000 dong); Nha Trang 5–7 hours; Đà Lạt 9–12 hours; Saigon 12–15 hours; Vinh 16–20 hours.
Arriving by Air: Phù Cát Airport
Phù Cát Airport (UIH) is the main civilian airport serving Qui Nhon and the Bình Định area. It's served by Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air and Bamboo Airways, with return flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Note that as of April 2026 there is no ATM at the airport and no SIM cards for sale; to get cash you'll need to travel about 2 km south into town along the main road leaving the airport, where there's an ATM on the left side of the highway in a small kiosk on the outskirts.
Your options for getting into the city:
- Shuttle bus: runs between the airport and the city centre (the parking lot in front of the Air Service Center building, 1 Nguyễn Tất Thành street, at the corner of Phạm Hùng and Mai Xuân Thưởng) whenever there are flights. It takes about 45 minutes and costs 100,000 dong per person. The shuttle waits just outside the airport on the right-hand side when you exit the terminal. There's only one shuttle per flight and it's small (nine comfortable seats), filling up quickly once passengers collect their luggage from the tiny baggage carousel — so head outside immediately after landing to claim a seat. Taxis and motorbikes are available where the shuttle arrives in Qui Nhon; if not, hail one using Grab. For the return journey to the airport, ask about bus times on the hotline (+84 2563826435) or let your accommodation arrange it.
- Public bus: you can catch bus T4, which runs from near the airport (the stop is called Gò Găng) to Qui Nhon — ask locals where to catch it. Alternatively, walk about 3½ km to highway AH1 and catch bus T12 to Qui Nhon. Both are public buses and reach the Qui Nhon centre for around 22,000 dong. As a last resort, any larger bus along the highway should be willing to take you for 30,000–40,000 dong, but make sure it actually goes into the city (or to the bus station).
- Taxi: a few taxis wait in front of the airport after each flight. If you know you'll need one, it's safest to call in advance and have a taxi waiting on arrival. The trip from Phù Cát airport to Qui Nhon takes about 30 minutes and costs 350,000–450,000 dong, depending on your final destination within the city.
Arriving by Road
As the biggest city between Hội An and Nha Trang, Qui Nhon is often used by Vietnamese and local travellers as a convenient overnight stop on coastal trips. The scenic Highway 1D connects Qui Nhon to Nha Trang to the south, with stunning views of the coast and beaches as it wraps around mountain passes; traffic is light. Hội An lies to the north on Highway 1 — the road is well maintained in most areas, but traffic is heavier, the views are less impressive, and it often passes through small villages where locals dry seeds on the highway, which can slow the journey considerably.
A Note on Cyclos
Cyclos have fallen out of favour and are barely anywhere to be found in Qui Nhon — and they never catered for tourists in the first place, so don't count on them as a way to get around.