Flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Ho Chi Minh City → Hanoi
A short flight within Vietnam. Your watch stays put on arrival.
The southern hub
Ho Chi Minh City, still widely called Saigon, is Vietnam's largest city and commercial engine, a dense grid along the Saigon River where motorbikes outnumber cars by a wide margin. Tan Son Nhat sits unusually close to downtown for a major international airport, only about 7 km (4 mi) out, though there's no rail link yet and traffic can still make that short distance slow. It's hot and humid year-round, with a wet season from roughly May to November. The city's first metro line opened in 2024, with more under construction, but for now buses, taxis, and motorbikes carry most daily trips.
Nearby airports
| 198 km / 123 mi |
Surrounding hubs
| 1,050 km / 652 mi | |
| 1,093 km / 679 mi | |
| 1,493 km / 928 mi |
The thousand-year capital
Hanoi is built around a cluster of lakes and a dense, narrow-streeted Old Quarter that has been continuously inhabited as a capital for over a thousand years. Motorbikes, not cars, dominate the streets, weaving through traffic in numbers that define the city's rhythm and soundtrack. The airport sits about 25 km (15 mi) north of the center, with buses and taxis covering the route since there is no rail link. Winters are cool and damp by Southeast Asian standards, while summers are hot and humid with heavy rain.
Surrounding hubs
| 846 km / 526 mi | |
| 995 km / 618 mi | |
| 1,101 km / 684 mi |
Find out which side of the plane to sit on.
Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.
We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.
Enter your flight
Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.
We track the sun along your route
Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.
You get a recommendation
Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.
Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →
Notes from the product.
Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.
Type less, wait less, wonder more
Airport search now understands metro codes and old city names, FlightSide loads noticeably faster, and a new Feeling lucky button chooses a flight for anyone without one in mind.
A closer look at the route, not just the seat
FlightSide now shows the two cities and key details about the flight alongside the seat recommendation: confirm you picked the right airports, read the time change off two clocks, and check the return leg.
It's all about the sun (after all)
Not all sunlight reaches the side windows. FlightSide now weighs the sun’s angle to the cabin and shows twilight along the route.