Cost in Vietnam

My advice is to budget $40 - $80 USD per day for your time in Vietnam. This budget is for those people (like me) that enjoy a little comfort. You could easily get by on $30 - $50 USD per day if you wanted to stay in shared dorm accommodations and don’t need to drink a few cold beers each evening. You also enjoy Vietnam on $100+ per day budget and enjoy higher levels of accommodations and food.

For me I always need my own room. I am not comfortable sharing a room with 4 - 8 strangers with the amount of gear and cash I carry. Dorm rooms typically rate around $5 - $15 USD per night, but private double rooms typically cost $20 - $30 USD per night.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner will cost you $3 - $20 per meal depending on what you want. $3 for a simple Banh Mi with a coke, or $20 for pizza and three beers.

Typically however you will find you average $10 - $15 per day on food and beers.

Beers cost around $1 - $2 so you can budget at least 1 or 2 a day after a long travel day without breaking the bank! In fact beer is much cheaper than coffee. A good coffee will cost you $3 - $5.

Water bottles are again $1 for 1 liter and you will need to drink 2 or 3 liters a day to stay hydrated and energized!

Gas is around $5 dollars per fill (4 liter tank). You will fill up twice a day most days.

Here is my typical breakdown of a day in Vietnam;

Hotel 600,000 VND (Double Room, Air Con)

Gas 150,000 VND (Two tanks per day)

Food 350,000 VND (three meals)

Water 80,000 VND (three Liters)

Beers 60,000 VND (three cans)

Total = 1,240,000 VND per day which equals $53 USD / 52 Euro / 54 GBP

Clearly there is room to spend less, and opportunity to spend much more. For example a day you eat local street food all day you will drop your food spending by 60% and a day with no beers that’s 80K saved right there too. However there are days you will go on a tour, a cruise, a boat trip or visit a popular attraction and spend $20 - $300 entrance depending on the activity. (I spent $300 on a Halong Bay cruise).

So like I said, budget $40 - $80 USD per person, per day, this will get you a clean, comfy, and active trip to Vietnam.