Ask ten people what a Vietnam trip costs and you'll get ten numbers, most of them five years old or quietly wrong. The honest version has a shape: daily spending in Vietnam is low and predictable, and everything that wrecks a budget here is a big one-off decision made in a hurry. A bowl of pho is a dollar. A cave expedition is three thousand. This guide gives you current prices for the things you'll actually buy, three worked two-week budgets, the regional differences that matter, and the honest arithmetic on the visa.
What a Vietnam Trip Costs: The Headline Numbers
Every figure in this guide converts at 26,100 dong to the US dollar, the rate observed on 14 August 2026, when the State Bank of Vietnam's reference rate sat at 25,561 and Vietcombank and BIDV were selling dollars at 26,270 (VietnamPlus). The dong is a managed float and moves daily, so treat every dollar figure below as an approximation rather than a price. Check a live rate before you convert anything that matters, and read our guide to converting USD to Vietnamese dong for the arithmetic shortcuts.
The direction of travel is worth knowing too. The dong has weakened against the dollar by roughly 14% over five years, so an old blog post's numbers will overstate your costs rather than understate them. That is the one way stale advice about Vietnam errs in your favor.
Is Vietnam cheap? Yes, on the ground, and by a wide margin against Western Europe or Japan. But it is not as cheap as it was. Vietnam took about 12.25 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026, up nearly 15% year on year (VietnamPlus), and prices in tourist districts have moved with that demand. A five-year-old budget guide will read low.
Daily Budgets: Three Bands That Hold Up in 2026
Three bands cover almost everyone. They exclude your international flight and the visa, both one-off costs handled further down.
| Travel Style | Per Day in VND | Per Day in USD | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | 525,000 to 1,300,000 ₫ | $20 to $50 | Dorm bed or cheapest private room, street food, buses and sleeper seats, a paid sight every few days, Grab bikes |
| Mid-range | 1,300,000 to 2,600,000 ₫ | $50 to $100 | 3-star double, mix of street food and restaurants, domestic flights or soft sleepers, Grab cars, sights most days |
| Comfortable | 3,900,000 ₫ and up | $150 and up | 4- and 5-star hotels, private drivers, a good Ha Long cabin, fine dining, guided experiences |
One honest caveat first: no institution publishes a per-day visitor spend figure for Vietnam. The national tourism authority and the General Statistics Office count arrivals, not wallets. These bands are market consensus, which is why the next section rebuilds them from individually sourced component prices.
They are also national averages, and Vietnam is not one price. The bottom of the backpacker band is genuinely achievable in Hue, Da Lat, Ninh Binh and the Mekong towns. In central Hanoi, District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An old town or Phu Quoc, $20 a day is not a budget, it's a rumor.
⚠️ The gap between the bands is mostly the bed. Food, coffee, buses and entry tickets barely move between a backpacker trip and a mid-range one. Accommodation moves by a factor of four or five, so it is the line worth deciding first. Our guide to where to stay in Vietnam sets out how the regions compare.
The Price List: What Individual Things Cost
This is the table to screenshot. Prices are current as of August 2026, at 26,100 dong to the dollar.
| What You Are Buying | Typical Price | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|
| Street food meal (pho, banh mi, com tam) | 25,000 to 70,000 ₫ | $1 to $2.70 |
| Sit-down meal, mid-range restaurant, per person | 150,000 to 600,000 ₫ | $6 to $23 |
| Draught beer, half liter | 15,000 to 55,000 ₫ | $0.57 to $2.10 |
| Ca phe sua da at a neighborhood cafe | 20,000 to 45,000 ₫ | $0.77 to $1.72 |
| Hostel dorm bed, per night | 130,000 to 400,000 ₫ | $5 to $15 |
| 3-star hotel double, per night | 650,000 to 2,600,000 ₫ | $25 to $100 |
| Hanoi to Da Nang flight, one way, economy | 681,600 to 907,181 ₫ | $26 to $35 |
| Hanoi to Hue, 4-berth air-conditioned soft sleeper | 1,096,000 to 1,312,000 ₫ | $42 to $50 |
| Grab car, 3 to 5 km city ride | 28,473 to 58,000 ₫ | $1.09 to $2.22 |
| Grab bike, 3 to 5 km city ride | 15,300 to 30,000 ₫ | $0.59 to $1.15 |
| Tourist SIM or eSIM, 30 days of data | 230,000 to 400,000 ₫ | $9 to $15 |
The flight fares are Vietnam Airlines' own published economy prices on the Hanoi to Da Nang route (Vietnam Airlines), and the sleeper fares come from Vietnam Railways' fare system, insurance and tax included (Vietnam Railways). Rail is often cheaper than the table suggests: flexible pricing arrived on 1 May 2026 with discounts of 15% to 35% on short routes, and a 10% cut ran on many north to south trains through the summer.
Two things the table does not show. Restaurant bills at the mid range and above commonly carry a service charge of around 5%, and menus marked "++" mean the price plus that charge plus VAT. VAT is temporarily 8% rather than 10% on accommodation, catering and transport until the end of 2026, so the same meal will bill slightly higher in early 2027. Alcohol and telecom are excluded and stay at 10%. For how you actually pay for all this, see our guide to cash, cards and ATMs in Vietnam.
Two Weeks in Vietnam: Three Worked Budgets
Fourteen days, thirteen nights, one person, Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with stops. International airfare sits on its own line because it is the one number this guide cannot give you: no authority publishes a fare you can plan against, so the figures below are market estimates to replace with a real quote.
The Backpacker: About $475 on the Ground
- Accommodation, 13 nights in dorms: $110
- Food and drink, 14 days of street food and local cafes: $140
- In-country transport, buses and sleeper seats plus Grab bikes: $120
- Entry tickets and activities: $70
- SIM card: $12
- Visa, applying directly to the government: $25
- Total on the ground: about $477, or $34 a day
- International flight, market estimate: $700 to $1,100
The Mid-Range Traveler: About $1,290 on the Ground
Assumes a couple sharing a double room, costed per person.
- Accommodation, 13 nights in 3-star doubles at roughly $55 a room: $350
- Food and drink, mixing street food with sit-down restaurants: $400
- In-country transport, two domestic flights, one soft sleeper, Grab cars daily: $220
- Entry tickets, plus one overnight Ha Long cruise: $250
- SIM card: $12
- Visa, 1-month single entry through us: $54
- Total on the ground: about $1,286, or $92 a day
- International flight, market estimate: $900 to $1,400
The Comfortable Traveler: About $3,370 on the Ground
Also costed per person on a shared double.
- Accommodation, 13 nights in 4- and 5-star hotels at roughly $170 a room: $1,100
- Food and drink, restaurants throughout with a few standout meals: $1,000
- In-country transport, domestic flights plus private drivers and transfers: $500
- Premium Ha Long cabin, guided days, spa treatments: $700
- SIM card: $15
- Visa, 1-month single entry through us: $54
- Total on the ground: about $3,369, or $241 a day
- International flight, market estimate: $1,400 to $3,000 depending on cabin
Notice what changes between the three. Food roughly triples, accommodation goes up tenfold, and the visa stays exactly where it is. To stretch these to a different trip length, our Vietnam itinerary guide covers how much time the country really needs.
North, Center, and South: Where Your Money Goes Further
Regional variation in Vietnam is real, it is large, and almost nobody plans for it. The same 3-star hotel room that costs $25 to $50 in Hue, Ninh Binh or Da Lat costs $55 to $100 in central Hanoi or District 1. Equivalent properties typically sit 25% to 40% apart between a big city and a small town, and two places break the pattern upward: Phu Quoc and Hoi An old town run 1.5 to 2 times the national midpoint.
Food follows the same curve, more gently. A bowl of pho at a sit-down shop in Hanoi commonly runs 40,000 to 90,000 dong, and the same dish costs less in Hoi An or Da Nang. Mid-range restaurants in Hue, Da Lat and the Mekong towns come in 30% to 40% below Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. And in any city, a tourist-facing street adds 30% to 50% to the identical plate sold two blocks inland.
At the top of the market this stops mattering. Internationally branded flagships in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City run $260 to $650 a night, which is a globally set price rather than a Vietnamese one. Regional arbitrage is a budget and mid-range advantage. So if money is tight, weight your nights toward Hue, Ninh Binh, Da Lat and the Delta, and treat Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Phu Quoc as the expensive days you plan around rather than the default.
Entry Tickets: What the Big Sights Charge
Vietnam's headline sights are cheap by any international standard, and the fees are set by provincial resolutions and management boards rather than by the market, so they are stable and published.
| Site | Ticket | VND | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ha Long Bay, day route VHL1 (Thien Cung, Dau Go) | Per person, per day | 250,000 ₫ | $9.58 |
| Ha Long Bay, overnight bay fee, route 2, one night | Government bay fee only | 550,000 ₫ | $21.07 |
| Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Hanoi | Adult | 100,000 ₫ | $3.83 |
| Hue Imperial Citadel (Dai Noi) | Adult | 200,000 ₫ | $7.66 |
| Hue three-site route (Dai Noi, Minh Mang, Khai Dinh) | Adult | 420,000 ₫ | $16.09 |
| Hoi An Ancient Town, standard tier | Valid your whole stay, up to 3 days | 80,000 ₫ | $3.07 |
| Hoi An Ancient Town, full tier | Valid your whole stay, up to 3 days | 120,000 ₫ | $4.60 |
| Trang An boat tour, Ninh Binh | Adult, hand-rowed sampan | 300,000 ₫ | $11.49 |
| Mua Cave, Ninh Binh | Adult | 150,000 ₫ | $5.75 |
| Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, Ninh Binh | Adult | 20,000 ₫ | $0.77 |
The Ha Long figures are the Management Board's own published schedule (Ha Long Bay Management Board). Hue's prices come from Resolution 55/2025 of the Hue City People's Council, in force since 4 January 2026, and are the same for Vietnamese and foreign visitors. Thang Long's 100,000 dong ticket was set by Hanoi People's Council Resolution 44/2024, so ignore any page still quoting 70,000. Ninh Binh's prices are set by the operating companies and republished by the Trang An Management Board, and several rose in 2026: Trang An from 250,000 to 300,000 on 1 January, Mua Cave from 100,000 to 150,000 on 1 April.
Two useful corrections on Hoi An. The ticket is valid for your entire stay up to three days, not the 24 hours widely repeated online, and it is no longer split by nationality but by inclusion tier. And walking the streets needs no ticket at all; the ticket buys the old houses, assembly halls, museums and the Japanese Bridge.
The Five Things That Blow a Vietnam Budget
Daily spending in Vietnam is forgiving. The damage comes from five decisions, four of them avoidable.
Domestic Flights Booked Late
Vietnam Airlines advertises Hanoi to Da Nang from 681,600 dong, about $26, and was quoting 907,181 dong for dates two months out. That is the calm version. Fares rise sharply around Tet and through the summer peak, and thin routes punish late booking far harder than the Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City trunk. Book internal legs when you book the international one, or take the train and stop worrying about it. Our guide to getting around Vietnam compares the options.
Ha Long Bay Overnight Cruises
Here is the part nobody separates properly. The government bay fee is published and fixed: 500,000 to 750,000 dong per person for overnight routes, depending on route and nights. The cabin fare on top of it is a private market price that no management board publishes and no honest guide can quote you as fact. Budget the bay fee as certain, get real quotes for the cabin, and check whether the operator has folded the bay fee in or is billing it separately.
Son Doong, Which Is a Different Universe
The world's largest cave is not a day out, it's a capital expense. Vietnam's state news agency has reported the expedition at about 72 million dong, roughly $3,000 a person, for a multi-day trip with a support team larger than the group (VietnamPlus). Access is capped at around 1,000 people a year and places sell out more than a year ahead (Vietnam.vn). It is not a line in your Vietnam budget. It is a separate budget with a Vietnam trip attached.
Guided Tours Versus Doing It Yourself
The Cu Chi Tunnels show the gap. The historical site admission is 35,000 dong; the commonly quoted foreign-visitor total of 135,000 dong is that admission plus a 100,000 dong service and guide fee. Neither is expensive, but the ratio repeats everywhere, and on a full-day excursion it stops being trivial. Vietnam is easy to do independently: Grab works, the trains are reliable, and ticket offices sell to walk-ups. Pay for a guide where the guiding is the point.
Imported Alcohol
Local bottled beer costs 12,000 to 30,000 dong from a shop. Imported beer runs 25,000 to 80,000 dong, typically around 40,000, and imported wine and spirits in a District 1 bar are priced like a European city. Alcohol is also excluded from the temporary 8% VAT rate. Drink what Vietnam makes and this line disappears from your budget.
⚠️ Watch the zeros, not the colors. The 20,000 and 500,000 dong notes are both dark blue polymer and the same width, and handing over the wrong one is the most expensive banknote mistake in Vietnam, worth about $19. The 10,000 and 200,000 are the other dangerous pair. Say the amount out loud and keep 500,000s in a separate pocket. Our Vietnamese dong currency guide covers what each note looks like.
The Visa Line: The Honest Arithmetic
The visa belongs in your budget, and since this is a page about money, here is the arithmetic without the sales gloss.
You can apply for a Vietnam eVisa yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay the government stamp fee only: $25 for single entry, $50 for multiple entry. That route is open to you, it works, and plenty of people use it successfully.
Our fee for a 1-month single entry eVisa is $54 per applicant, and that includes the $25 stamp fee. The difference is $29, and $29 is what our service costs. It buys a review of your form before it goes to Immigration, correction of errors at no extra charge, submission, follow-up, and a person to email if something goes sideways. Whether that is worth it depends on how you value not getting your own form wrong, which is a judgment only you can make. Multiple entry and 3-month options run $84, $94 and $104, and faster processing tiers cost more again; the full schedule sits on our pricing page.
Either way, the visa is a rounding error next to your flight and your hotels: 4% of the mid-range on-the-ground total above. What it is not is optional, and what it should not be is late, because processing time is Vietnam Immigration's decision rather than ours.
⚠️ Book the visa before the non-refundable things. Passports need at least six months of validity beyond your planned exit, and your eVisa names the entry point you'll arrive at. A mismatch between the airport on your visa and the airport on your ticket is a small clerical problem that becomes an expensive one at the check-in desk.
A Few Parting Notes on Building Your Own Number
Start with the bed, because it is the line that decides your band. Pick your standard, count your nights, multiply, and you have between half and two thirds of your on-the-ground budget in one calculation. Everything else here is small enough to absorb.
Then add roughly $12 to $20 a day for food if you're eating locally, $30 to $50 if you want restaurants most evenings, and be honest about which one you'll actually do on night nine. Add your intercity legs at real quoted prices. Add $5 to $15 a day for tickets and taxis. Add the visa. Then add 15% and call it the buffer, because you will book something on impulse.
Two last things. Cash is still the default for street food, markets, small guesthouses and most of the countryside, so a budget that assumes cards everywhere will produce an uncomfortable afternoon in Ninh Binh. And tipping is not a built-in cost here the way it is in the United States. Private guides and drivers are the genuine exception, and a tip in dong is more useful than one in dollars.
Vietnam rewards the traveler who plans the big numbers and stops worrying about the small ones. Get the flights, the beds and the visa right, and the rest of it is a dollar for lunch.