How Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
The short answer
Ho Chi Minh City Pick it for more comfortable months and faster internet.
Bangkok Doesn't win on any measure here. See who it suits, below.
Everyday costsEven
What we have checked of rent, a coworking desk, weekday lunches and getting around comes to $629 to $1,620 (£472 to £1,220) a month in Ho Chi Minh City, against $533 to $1,310 (£400 to £987) in Bangkok. We can't call it: Bangkok has no checked figure for transport, so that total leaves it out.
The visaEven
Vietnam has no remote work visa, so the choice is about more than income. Ho Chi Minh City: no remote work visa. Bangkok: Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), about $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000).
A London 9 to 5Even
A late finish in both: 15:00 to 23:00 in Ho Chi Minh City, 15:00 to 23:00 in Bangkok.
A New York 9 to 5Even
A night shift in both: 20:00 to 04:00 in Ho Chi Minh City, 20:00 to 04:00 in Bangkok.
WeatherHo Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City has more comfortable months. Comfortable months on our best-time rule: 3 in Ho Chi Minh City, 1 in Bangkok. Both are comfortable in December.
InternetHo Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City is faster. Typical download speed: 307 Mbps in Ho Chi Minh City, 237 Mbps in Bangkok, from each guide.
SafetyEven
The US State Department puts both countries at level 1. Watch for motorbike bag-snatching and tidal floods in Ho Chi Minh City; gem and bar-bill scams in Bangkok.
Side by side
Measure
Ho Chi Minh City
Bangkok
Country
Vietnam
Thailand
Language
Vietnamese
Thai
Currency
Vietnamese dong (VND)
Thai baht (THB)
Plugs
Type A, B and C, 230V
—
Time zone
UTC+7 today
UTC+7 today
A month's basics
$629 to $1,620 (£472 to £1,220)
$533 to $1,310 (£400 to £987), with transport missing
Remote work visa
None
Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
Income needed
No remote work visa
About $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000)
Without a visa
British passports: 45 days visa-free, any purpose, until 14 March 2028. The e-visa gives up to 90 days. American: none: you need a visa or the e-visa, up to 90 days. The one exception is 30 days or less on Phu Quoc island
British and American passports: 30 days, down from 60 on 15 September 2026
Tax residency
183 days or more in a calendar year or in the 12 months from arrival, or a rented home on a fixed-term lease
180 days in a calendar year, on foreign income you bring in
Download speed
307 Mbps
237 Mbps
Comfortable months
January, November and December
December
US travel advice
Level 1: normal precautions
Level 1: normal precautions
Meetups
1 regular group still running
4 regular groups still running
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
What a month costs
Rent, a coworking desk, a cheap lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around: the same four costs our budget calculator uses. The rent figures aren't always the same kind of figure (some are furnished one-beds, some are averages across every size of flat), so read the note under each.
Ho Chi Minh City
$629 to $1,620£472 to £1,220 a month
Rent
$503 to $1,310One-bed, District 3, Binh Thanh and District 1, from one blog. Thao Dien runs to VND 47 million. VND 13,000,000 to 34,000,000
A desk
$58 to $155Coworking monthly membership. VND 1,500,000 to 4,000,000
Weekday lunches
$43 to $85Com tam, the broken-rice lunch, VND 50,000 to 100,000 each, 22 working days
Getting around
$26 to $68Grab motorbike at VND 15,000 to 40,000 a ride in the centre, two rides each working day: our estimate over 22 working days. A metro monthly pass is VND 300,000, but Line 1 is a single route. VND 660,000 to 1,760,000
British passports: 45 days visa-free, any purpose, until 14 March 2028. The e-visa gives up to 90 days. American: none: you need a visa or the e-visa, up to 90 days. The one exception is 30 days or less on Phu Quoc island
The catch. There is no remote work visa. Most people use the e-visa: up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, USD 25 or USD 50, with no income test. No official text says you may work on it, and the UK government says to check which visa or work permit you need, so treat remote work on it as unauthorised. It leads to neither residence nor citizenship. The e-visa ties you to the entry and exit ports you named when applying, and you can't extend it from inside Vietnam without a Vietnamese sponsor. So every 90 days you leave and apply again.
Bangkok
Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
Income needed
About $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000); in pounds, about £11,190 in savings
How long
Five years, 180 days a visit, extendable once by 180
What it leads to
Nowhere: no residence and no citizenship
Without a visa
British and American passports: 30 days, down from 60 on 15 September 2026
The catch. Since 31 August 2026 you need a criminal record certificate, and you must apply in a country where you are a citizen or permanent resident, so a border run no longer works.
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
The UK gives no warnings specific to Ho Chi Minh City; it names the city only as the home of the British Consulate General. Its Vietnam-wide advice says bag-snatching by thieves on motorbikes is common.
Bangkok isn't in an area advised against, but the UK warns of severe flooding there. It advises against all but essential travel to the far southern provinces and within 20km of the Cambodian border.
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
Who each one suits
From each city guide, word for word.
Ho Chi Minh City
It suits
Remote workers who want a big, fast city that is cheap to eat in, with plenty of desks: Toong, The Hive, UpGen and others charge from about VND 1.5 million a month. It suits someone who can live in District 3 or Binh Thanh for about VND 13 to 23 million a month, who is happy on a 90-day e-visa and will leave the country every three months. British passports also get 45 days visa-free for a trial. December to April is the window.
It doesn't suit
Anyone who needs to be legal on paper. There is no remote work visa, no route from the e-visa to residence, and no clear official blessing for working for foreign clients while you are there. You leave every 90 days and apply again. Stay 183 days, or sign a fixed-term lease, and you can be taxed as a resident on worldwide income. It has highs of about 32 to 35 degrees all year. From May to October it rains 200 to 490mm a month, and the most expat-friendly district, Thao Dien, floods. Traffic means Grab rides, not walks, and a one-bed in Thao Dien can run to VND 47 million. If you want quiet, walkable streets, cool evenings or a visa you can renew from your sofa, go somewhere else.
You want a genuinely world-class city on a mid-tier budget and you are willing to do paperwork. The DTV gives you five years, unlimited entries and 180 days a visit with one 180-day extension — nothing else in the region is that generous. If your work is asynchronous, your employer is foreign, your income is stable enough to leave half a million baht sitting in a bank for three months, and you are content to leave every six months, Bangkok is close to the best deal available anywhere.
It doesn't suit
You want any of this to be permanent, simple, or as cheap as the internet told you. The DTV leads nowhere — no residence, no citizenship, no accrual, just a renewal treadmill with a discretionary extension at the end of every 180 days. From 31 August 2026 you cannot even apply from Vientiane; you go home for it, with a police certificate. Stay 180 days and you are a Thai tax resident, and the remit-it-a-year-later trick died on 1 January 2024. Your landlord must file a form within 24 hours every time you re-enter the country or your next immigration appointment fails, and nobody will tell you this until it does. Vaping is flatly illegal. A post about the monarchy is a prison sentence.
