Vietnam is the country where your money lasts longest. A bowl of pho for €1.50, a bed for €5, and a glass of bia hoi in Hanoi for thirty cents: nowhere else on our route is the floor this low. And yet a trip through Vietnam costs more than those prices suggest, because the country is long and you cover a lot of kilometres.
Every one of our destination pages shows what a day there costs: a dorm bed, three meals, a beer and local transport. Below they are side by side, with the places where it creeps up and the things your money really goes on.
For the country as a whole, count on about €25 a day. That is higher than almost every figure below, and that is right: it also covers the sleeper buses and night trains between stops and the activities you came for.
Daily budget per stop
This is what you spend per day in each place, without the transport to get there and without tours:
- Ninh Binh: €17, the cheapest stop on the route
- Da Lat: €18
- Hue: €18
- Mui Ne: €18
- Nha Trang: €18
- Sapa: €18
- Cat Ba: €20
- Da Nang: €20
- Hanoi: €20
- Hoi An: €20
- Phong Nha: €20
- Ho Chi Minh City: €22
- Phu Quoc: €22
- Ha Giang Loop: €25 if you ride yourself, and with an easy rider about €45 a day all-in, food and homestays included
The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive stop is less than ten euros, which makes Vietnam easy to budget. What pushes the cost up is not where you are, it is how you travel.
Our verdict: you can live on around €20 a day anywhere in Vietnam, big cities included
What a bed costs
A dorm bed costs €5 in Da Lat, Hue, Mui Ne, Nha Trang, Ninh Binh, Sapa and on the Ha Giang Loop, and €6 in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Da Nang, Cat Ba and Phong Nha. Phu Quoc is the most expensive at €7, and that is still less than an average Thai island.
Expect prices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to shoot up around public holidays, and book a few days ahead when they do.
What food and drink cost
A meal costs €1.50 in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An and Hue, and between €1.80 and €2.50 in the rest of the country. Cat Ba, Phong Nha, Phu Quoc and the Ha Giang Loop are the most expensive at €2.50, simply because there is less choice there.
Drinking is cheaper here than anywhere. In Hanoi a glass of bia hoi costs about €0.30, in Hoi An, Hue, Nha Trang and Ninh Binh you pay €0.50, and in the rest of the country between €0.60 and €0.80. The price of one beer elsewhere in the region buys you three here. Where to drink them is in food in Vietnam.
Our verdict: eat and drink wherever you like in Vietnam, because nowhere on the route is food this cheap
What local transport costs
In the cities it is next to nothing: a Grab ride is €1.50 in Hanoi and €2 in Ho Chi Minh City, and in Sapa you pay about €1 for a ride in the village. In Hoi An you rent a bicycle for €2 a day, which is exactly enough there.
Everywhere else it is the scooter: €4 a day in Da Nang, Hue, Nha Trang and Ninh Binh, and €5 to €6 on Cat Ba, in Da Lat, Mui Ne and Phong Nha, and on Phu Quoc. One exception stands out: on the Ha Giang Loop an easy rider costs about €45 a day all-in, and riding yourself starts at €10. That is the biggest transport cost of your whole trip and also its highlight, as you will see on our Ha Giang Loop page.
Between places you take the sleeper bus, about €10, or the night train. How they connect is in sleeper bus, night train or flight.
Where the money really goes
Vietnam is long. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is several night buses or night trains, and they stack up. Do the whole coast and you spend more on transport than on sleeping.
The second big cost is the Ha Giang Loop: three or four days with an easy rider adds up, but your meals, homestays and entrance fees are usually included. After that come the boat trips in Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay and the tours in Phong Nha, where the caves are done with a guide.
Our verdict: budget your transport in Vietnam separately, because that is the cost people underestimate here
How much does a month in Vietnam cost?
At about €25 a day you end up at around €750 for a month, including transport between stops, your beds, your food and a normal amount of tours. Doing the Ha Giang Loop with an easy rider? Then you pay €135 to €175 all-in for those three or four days (Tiem Tours and Mama’s prices, September 2026), and that replaces your normal daily budget for those days.
Travel on a tight budget and give the north more weight, and you come in closer to €600. Fly a lot instead of taking the night bus, and you go well over. How a route like that runs from north to south is in our Vietnam itinerary.
How to keep it cheap without ruining your trip
Take the night bus instead of the flight where you can: you save on the journey and a night’s accommodation in one go. Eat on the little plastic stools in the street, because that is not just cheaper, it is better. Drink bia hoi instead of bottled beer in Hanoi. And rent a scooter for a day instead of booking a tour, wherever the place suits it.
Take out cash in big amounts at once, because the fees per withdrawal add up here. What that saves you is on our travel cards page.
How much money do you need for a month in Vietnam?
Count on about €750 for a month, if you sleep in dorms, eat street food and travel by night bus or train. That is €25 a day, including transport between places and a normal amount of tours and boat trips.
Bring €900 if you want to do the Ha Giang Loop with an easy rider and still have some room along the way. It is the one expense in Vietnam that almost nobody regrets afterwards, so set it aside before you go rather than having to cut corners on it once you are there.
