A rail proposal to directly link Long Thanh International Airport, whose opening this autumn is nearing in southern Vietnam, with the beach resort of Vung Tau by metro surfaced in July 2026 from Ho Chi Minh City's urban rail management authority. If realized, the estimate is as little as 30 minutes from airport to shore.Long Thanh Airport, Whose Construction Has Entered Its Final Stage Toward This Year's Opening<\/a>sits about 40 km east of central Ho Chi Minh City. That a line was drawn for arriving travelers to head straight south to the beaches is something southern-bound Japanese travelers can't overlook either. That said, you need to note first that it's only a \"concept\" at this point, at a stage where even a feasibility study hasn't begun.<\/p>\n What the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Authority (MAUR) presented is a plan to extend the planned Metro Line 3 to Long Thanh Airport. Line 3 was originally conceived as a roughly 40km line starting from central Vung Tau and linking Ba Ria and Phu My, designed to reach the border with Dong Nai Province along National Highway 51. The new proposal extends the route further from that terminus toward the airport, with a path traced along 3\/2 Street, the Chi Linh tourist area, the Vung Tau\u2013Binh Chau road, the coastal road, and Route 55 to connect into the airport area.<\/p>\n With the former Ba Ria\u2013Vung Tau Province and Binh Duong Province merged into Ho Chi Minh City in 2025, this wide-area railway shifted to being 'a line running within a single city.' The redrawing of administrative boundaries is helping drive the idea of linking airport and beach on one track.<\/p>\n Behind it is the imminent opening of Long Thanh Airport. The airport wrapped up a ceremony with a technical flight in December 2025, commercial operations are expected to begin in the latter half of this year, and the lead role for Ho Chi Minh City's international flights is shifting from Tan Son Nhat to here.Which routes will move to Long Thanh<\/a>is a point worth checking before you travel; if the arrival airport changes, the routes to your lodging and the beach have to be rebuilt from scratch.<\/p>\n Vung Tau, for its part, is a seaside town about 96 km southeast of central Ho Chi Minh City. A go-to resort that residents flock to on weekends, it has had no rail service, so travel has relied on buses, cars, or hydrofoils. Linking the two crowd-drawing points\u2014airport and beach\u2014by rail would create a new, transfer-free tourist route. That's the aim of the proposal.<\/p>\n The planners' preliminary estimates give concrete travel times when using the extension section. It's designed so that express services with fewer stops differ from all-stop services that stop frequently. Lined up against current means of travel, the impact once the rail line is in place comes into view.<\/p>\nWhat was proposed is an extension of \u201cMetro Line 3\u201d from Vung Tau<\/h2>\n
Why Now: The Distance Between the Soon-to-Open Long Thanh and Vung Tau<\/h2>\n
Travel Time by the Numbers: 30 Minutes if Direct<\/h2>\n