Vietnam trip cost: daily budget by travel style, with sample trips

How much does Vietnam cost per day?

The table below is per person, with two people sharing a room, on ordinary dates. It holds for most of the main route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Travel between cities is left out on purpose, because it depends on your route more than your style; it has its own table further down.

Traveling alone, you pay the whole room: a solo mid-range traveler is closer to VND1.6-2.6 million a day. The city matters too. For the same standard, rooms cost more in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, central Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Phu Quoc, and less in Hue, Ninh Binh and Da Lat. Street food costs about the same everywhere. What pushes food costs up is how often you eat in restaurants with English menus and prices marked “++”, meaning service charge and VAT are added to the bill, usually about 15% more.

Everyday prices

• A bowl of pho (beef or chicken noodle soup) or bun cha (grilled pork with noodles) at a local shop: VND40,000-70,000
• Banh mi, the Vietnamese filled baguette: VND20,000-40,000
• Iced coffee at a street cafe: VND20,000-35,000; at a chain or a stylish cafe: VND45,000-80,000
• A bottle of local beer at a street restaurant: VND20,000-35,000
• A bottle of water at a convenience store: VND5,000-10,000
• Dinner at a mid-range restaurant: VND150,000-300,000 per person
• A 60-minute massage at a mid-range spa: VND300,000-500,000
• A Grab ride across town: VND20,000-50,000 by motorbike, VND60,000-150,000 by car

Flights, trains and sleeper buses: what the main legs cost

Between cities, the choice is usually a one-hour flight or a long ride on the ground. Prices are one way, per person.

Flight fares climb as the date gets closer, so book the long legs first. On a low-cost fare, compare the price with a checked bag added. On the trains, a lower berth costs a little more than an upper one, and fares differ by train, so look up your date on dsvn.vn, the Vietnam Railways site, before you build a plan around a number.

Three sample trips, per person

Each trip takes the daily budget from the first table times the number of days, minus your room share for nights you don’t spend in a hotel (the last day, a night on the train), then adds the legs from the fare table above. For big tickets and long car rides within a region, such as Ba Na Hills or Da Nang to Hoi An, the actual cost replaces that day’s ticket and transport money instead of being added on top. Your flight into Vietnam is extra.

10 days, Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

This is the faster 10-day version of our Vietnam itinerary: three days in Hanoi with a Ninh Binh day trip, three in Hoi An, two in Da Lat and two in Ho Chi Minh City, so nine nights. All three versions take a bus or van to Ninh Binh and back. The backpacker takes the night train from Hanoi to Da Nang in a six- or four-berth cabin, which also saves a night’s room, flies Da Nang to Da Lat and rides a sleeper bus down to Saigon. The other two fly all three legs. Between Da Nang and Hoi An, all three take a car, about VND300,000-400,000 each way, split between two.

In rupees, the mid-range version comes to about ₹56,000-95,000 before flights. Price Delhi to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Delhi together, usually about ₹29,000-36,000, and the trip comes to about ₹85,000 to ₹1.31 lakh per person. If you book a Hanoi return, add the flight back from Ho Chi Minh City. If you add more nights in Da Lat, the Da Lat trip cost calculator works out rooms, food and buses there for your own group and dates.

5 days in Da Nang and Hoi An

Five days and four nights at mid-range, flying in and out of Da Nang, with two nights in Da Nang and two in Hoi An. The daily budget gives a base of VND5.6-9.4 million. On the Ba Na Hills day, for the Golden Bridge, the VND1 million adult ticket (for anyone who isn’t a Da Nang resident) and a car from central Da Nang (about VND350,000-420,000 each way, split between two) take the place of that day’s ticket and transport money. On the two days you move between Da Nang and Hoi An, your half of a VND300,000-400,000 car ride takes the place of that day’s transport money. That comes to about VND6.6-9.9 million per person (US$255-390). Hoi An itself is cheap to see: each site in the old town costs VND20,000.

5 days on Phu Quoc

For the same style of travel, Phu Quoc costs more per day than the mainland. Beach resort rooms start higher, and the island is about 50 km (31 miles) long, so rides are longer. The two big tickets are the Hon Thom cable car at VND850,000 for adults, which includes the water park on Hon Thom island, and VinWonders at about VND950,000. Mid-range, plan on VND1.5-2.8 million a day before tickets, of which your share of the room is about VND600,000-1.2 million. Five days and four nights with both parks come to about VND8.7-14.6 million per person (US$340-570), plus the flight from Ho Chi Minh City.

From India, if there is no direct flight to Phu Quoc on your dates, fly to Ho Chi Minh City and connect. Price the whole route together, because the domestic leg can add VND730,000-2.9 million each way.

Flights to Vietnam from India, Australia and the UK

The flight in is often the biggest single cost. For the 10-day route above, price the flight into Hanoi and the flight home from Ho Chi Minh City together, as one open-jaw ticket or two one-way fares. Typical economy fares for that pair:

• India: nonstop flights connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and other cities with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Delhi to Hanoi plus Ho Chi Minh City to Delhi usually comes to about ₹29,000-36,000. November and December are the most expensive months, February the cheapest. Low-cost fares often leave out checked bags and meals.
• Australia: Sydney to Hanoi plus Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney is usually about A$700-1,100; December costs the most.
• UK: London to Hanoi plus Ho Chi Minh City to London, with one stop each way, is usually about £500-800. Nonstop flights with Vietnam Airlines cost more.

If you book a return to Hanoi instead, add the domestic flight back from Ho Chi Minh City, often VND1.5-2.5 million.

Where the costs jump

Tet

Tet, the Lunar New Year, is when the budgets above stop working. In 2027, Lunar New Year’s Day falls on Saturday, February 6, and the public-sector holiday runs from February 4 to 10. Vietnamese families travel home, so flights, trains and buses around those dates often sell out weeks ahead. Some Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi flights two days before Tet are selling at about VND3.3 million one way, against VND1.5-2.5 million in a normal week. Many family-run restaurants and shops close for several days, and places that stay open may add a holiday surcharge. If your dates touch Tet, book the long legs and rooms early. The April 30-May 1 and September 2 holidays and the June-August school break push up beach town prices too. Beyond that, each region has its own best time to visit, and prices follow it: the central coast beaches are busiest from May to August, Phu Quoc from December to March.

Ha Long Bay cruises

One night on a Ha Long Bay cruise costs about VND2-4 million per person, as much as one to three mid-range days on land, and VND3-6 million on Lan Ha Bay. Before comparing boats, ask whether the bay fee, the transfer from Hanoi, kayaking and drinks are included. On a tight budget, day tours from Hanoi start around US$60, and Ninh Binh shows you the same kind of limestone scenery for a VND300,000 boat ticket at Trang An.

Theme parks, cable cars and tours

One ticket at the big parks costs as much as a backpacker’s whole day: VND1 million for Ba Na Hills, VND850,000 return for the Fansipan cable car in Sapa, and VND850,000-950,000 for Hon Thom or VinWonders on Phu Quoc. For comparison, Hue’s Imperial City is VND200,000. On a day with one of these, use the real ticket price in place of that day’s “extras” money, because the daily allowance won’t cover a big ticket. Before booking a tour, add up the tickets and transport yourself; for places with easy access, such as Ninh Binh or the Hue tombs, the difference is often the guide and lunch.

Tipping and small change

Tipping isn’t expected at street stalls, cafes or in taxis; leaving the small change is a kind gesture, not an obligation. If the bill already has a service charge, you don’t need to add more. Guides, private drivers and spa staff are the people travelers most often tip. In Ninh Binh, many people give the rower VND50,000-100,000 per boat as thanks, and it is fine not to. If you plan to tip guides and drivers, add a small line for it to your daily budget.

Small notes matter more than tips. Street vendors and motorbike drivers paid in cash often can’t break a VND500,000 note, so keep VND10,000-50,000 notes on you, and count your change: some Vietnamese banknotes look alike.

What isn’t worth paying for

• The train the whole way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. A berth in a four-berth cabin costs VND1.67-1.76 million for 32 hours or more, about the same as a two-hour flight. Ride the train on short or scenic legs, such as Hue to Da Nang or the night train from Hanoi to Hue, and fly the rest.
• A private car for every airport run. Grab works in all the main cities, and Hanoi’s airport bus 86 into the Old Quarter costs VND50,000.
• Visa agents. First check whether your passport needs a visa at all in our Vietnam visa and entry guide. If it does, the e-visa costs US$25 for a single entry on the official evisa.gov.vn site; agent sites charge more for the same form.
• Expensive roaming. A local tourist plan with plenty of data costs VND150,000-250,000 for 10-30 days; compare it with your home carrier’s pass before you go, using our guide to a Vietnam eSIM or SIM card.
• One stop too many. Dropping a stop that requires another flight saves both the airfare and much of a travel day.