Vietnam’s popular mega city in the south isn’t only famous for banh mi sandwiches and excursions to the Mekong river delta, but of course also for its notorious nightlife and various places to meet girls.
Now of course you can either go out to the bars and clubs and hope you’ll meet a nice Vietnamese lady who is not a freelancer, use a dating site to arrange a coffee or dinner date with regular women – or if you just feel like you want to get the “maximum” of your limited time in the city then you can also go to one of the red light districts and simply pay for girls.
- There are 2 main red light districts in Saigon: Bui Vien Street and Little Japan.
It really depends on what kind of nightlife and “entertainment” you usually enjoy, as both areas have quite a different atmosphere, crowd and types of establishments:
Bui Vien Street
Bui Vien Street is by far the most popular nightlife area in all of Saigon, and it really couldn’t be more diverse:
On this 500m long strip you can find countless of great value hotels, foreign restaurants, amazing rooftop bars, cheap and busy street bars (they get so full after like 10pm that they start putting out plastic chairs right on the street), but at the same time it’s also the big red light district of Ho Chi Minh City.
There are 3 different types of prostitutes in the Bui Vien area: hostess girls in bars like Crazy Girls and Blue Sky Bar (photo), massage ladies all over the street who are smiling and waving at you with their service menu, and freelancing girls (both in the clubs as well as on the street late at night).
I personally think the hookers on Bui Vien Street are too pushing and money oriented. You’ll have a very hard time to find a “girlfriend experience” here.
Little Japan
Yes, like the name suggests, Little Japan is oriented towards Japanese men (there are even lots of Japanese restaurants), but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to enjoy yourself as a westerner here.
Especially the many, many massage parlors are popular among guys from all over the world – you’ll find some of the youngest and hottest Vietnamese ladies standing in front of these salons and trying to attract you to take their service. Apart from that, there are also several girly bars where you can have a few drinks with a lady of your choice (and of course also take her out to your hotel if you pay the right amount of money) as well as street prostitutes (photo) who are just waiting for their next customer.
Little Japan is conveniently located in District 1 – the most modern and developed area of Saigon. So even if you don’t find a girl you like here while walking around the red light district, you can just go and have a beer in one of the many nice expat bars in the area.
Prices for Girls in Saigon’s Red Light Districts
With so many different types of hookers in the red light areas, you’ll also find that the prices for drinks and sex vary greatly depending on each type of venue. I have written a full overview guide to the sex prices in Vietnam, but to give you a quick round up here:
- Hostess Girls: 120-150k per drink, 300-500k for the bar fine & 1,000-1,500k for sex (negotiable)
- Massage Girls: 250-400k for the massage, 300-400k for a hand job, 700-1,000k for sex
- Street Freelancers: 500-1,000k
- Club Freelancers: 500-1,500k (however note that there are some “high-end” prostitutes in Apocalypse Now who won’t “go with you” for less than 2 million)
Map of Red Light Districts in Saigon
Video of Bui Vien Street in Saigon
Apart from the red light districts, there are also plenty of erotic massages and “blow job salons” which are spread all around the city – see my corresponding posts here:
