To Vietnam on your own: how much it costs

Let's calculate how much an independent trip to Vietnam costs in 2021: prices for flights, accommodation, food, excursions, and more. Exploring the cost of living in Vietnam.

In this article, I will talk about how much an independent trip to Vietnam will cost, as well as living in Vietnam for a longer period (several months).

But the information will also be useful to those who travel to Vietnam for a vacation on a voucher - if this is about you, then you simply can not pay attention to the cost of air tickets and hotels (you have already paid for this as part of the tour package), and read only about how much food, drinks, excursions, massage, transportation and much more cost in Vietnam. In general, it does not matter how you go to Vietnam - on your own or not - the cost of goods in this country will be the same for everyone (although you can make one reservation: something in popular tourist places will cost a little more than in other regions of the country - for example, food).

Exchange rate: 10,000 Vietnamese dong (VND) ≈ 32 RUB.

How much does a flight to Vietnam cost?

In general, on this topic, we have a large and extremely detailed article "How to fly to Vietnam: 7 solutions" - in it I analyzed all the options on how to fly to Vietnam inexpensively on your own, and I highly recommend it to all those who have not yet purchased air tickets.

In a nutshell, how much a flight to Vietnam costs, the prices are usually as follows (round trip with all fees):

• 20-22 thousand rubles for a flight to Ho Chi Minh City with transfers;
• 25-30 thousand - for direct flights;
• 17-18 thousand rubles. there are tickets during promotions and sales (which I always write about on our website);
• 15-17 thousand rubles can cost tickets, if you're lucky to find a loophole when booking multiple flights (read more about this in the article I mentioned above).

If you are interested, you can read the article on how long to fly to Vietnam from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and other major cities of Russia (figures are given for all the key airlines that fly to Vietnam).

There are two more useful articles for those who are flying to Vietnam: how to get from the airports of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the city center and vice versa - all the methods are discussed there and the prices are indicated, take note!

How much does food cost in Vietnam

1. The cost of food in cafes, restaurants and eateries

• The famous Vietnamese Pho soup - a soup with noodles, as well as beef (pho bo), chicken (pho ga) or fish (fo ka) - costs 1-2 dollars (40-80 rubles).
• Ban Mi (Vietnamese sandwich - a roll with vegetables and meat) is sold in street stalls for half a dollar, and in a cafe it will cost 2-3 times more.
• A portion of fish fried in ginger sauce with a plate of rice and a cup of soup at local diners - $ 1.
• A serving of rice with chicken and broth at a local eatery will only cost you $ 1. The same dish in more presentable establishments costs $ 3-4.
• Dinner for two in a good restaurant will cost from $ 20-30.
• Vegetable soup - from 14 thousand dongs (30 rubles).
• Seafood soup - 20-30 thousand dongs (40-60 rubles)
• Eel in an inexpensive establishment for locals will cost 80 thousand dong (160 rubles). Lobster costs about 270 thousand dong (550 rubles). Squid - 90-120 thousand dong (from 200 rubles).
• Cobra, which will be cooked with you - $ 25 (all parts of the snake go to the diet: soup with herbs is cooked from meat, the heart and gallbladder are eaten (or rather even swallowed) raw, and the snake's blood is mixed with vodka and drunk).

2. Prices for some products

• A kilogram of bananas or mangoes costs about $ 1-1.5.
• Pineapple - $ 0.5.
• Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots - about $ 0.5 per kg.
• Coconut juice (1 serving, on the market) - from 8 to 20,000 VND.
• A bottle of local wine - from $ 4. Imported wine - from $ 10.
• Freshly squeezed sugarcane juice - 7-10 thousand dong per glass (12-20 rubles).
• Juice or fruit shake - 10-20 thousand dongs (depending on the type of juice).
• Shrimps on the market start at $ 5 depending on their size - note that in Vietnam they are sold fresh, and not diluted 50% with ice, as in Russia.
• Frog legs in shops and on the market - 140 thousand dongs (300 rubles) per kg.
• A can of beer - from 12 thousand dongs (25 rubles).
• Baking - 5-25 thousand VND.
• A bottle of mineral water - 8 thousand dongs (16 rubles).

How much does coffee cost in Vietnam?

Legendary Vietnamese coffee! Many travelers argue that just for the sake of him alone it is worth flying to this distant country. This drink is completely different from the one we are used to - Vietnamese coffee is quite thick and resembles melted chocolate. A cup of this coffee costs about $ 1 in Vietnam... You can read our impression of coffee in Vietnam here - the drink is truly divine.

One of the best companies producing Vietnamese coffee is considered Trung nguyen (especially praise # 4 and # 5).

Coffee in Vietnam is grown mainly in two places - Dalat and Buon Ma Thuot - these cities are considered the coffee capitals of Vietnam.

Accommodation cost in Vietnam

The cost of hotels and guesthouses in Vietnam, as in any other place, it can be very different - it all depends on your requirements for the place where you want to stay. In the tourist cities of Vietnam (for example, in Nha Trang) you can find a very good hotel, a double room in which (with shower, toilet and air conditioning) will cost only 6-10 dollars per day.

You can find out and compare prices for hotels in Vietnam on the popular service Rumguru - there you can find both hotels and private accommodation.

People who travel to Vietnam on their own have two different points of view on how to solve the issue of accommodation: some prefer to book hotels in advance through online services, others book a hotel via the Internet only for the first few days, and then on the spot. looking for housing. Do what is more convenient for you - there is no universal advice here. But the overall picture is as follows:

1. The first option is more suitable for active travelers who have decided to travel around the whole country as part of their independent trip to Vietnam and constantly move from city to city without staying in one place for a long time.
2. The second option is more suitable for those people who came to Vietnam with the aim of living here for some time (to spend the winter or just one or two months). In this case, it is really better to look for housing for a long period (from a month to a year) on the spot - it is obvious that these will not be hotels, but rented apartments or houses.

However, with the advent and development of private accommodation and hotel booking services Airbnb.ru and Rumguru, you can easily find an apartment, house or any other option online. I highly recommend these sites to all independent travelers and from now on I always use them in my travels (in Crimea, for example, I rented all accommodation only through Airbnb). Here, on the website, you can read my detailed review about Airbnb - it will help you understand this service.

Airbnb.ru is very convenient, personally my friends and I used this service during our trip to Amsterdam. By the way, I once wrote about others. Airbnb coupons (some of them are still working and give good discounts!).

The cost of excursions in Vietnam

Wherever you travel, in whatever country you are, it is better to organize the cultural, entertainment and excursion program yourself, without resorting to the services of intermediaries - this will be cheaper and you will not need to depend on anyone in terms of the schedule and route. If you organize your own cultural program in Vietnam on your own, then it will require very little expenses.There is nothing difficult in going to the right place on your own on a rented bike, taxi or bus, buying an entrance ticket yourself, finding and reading the necessary information about the place where you are going - and there will be no need to wait for anyone, walk in a crowd with others tourists and listen to the dull, thousand-fold repeated lectures of the guides.

But if you want someone else to take over the organization of the cultural program, then you should contact the agencies. The cost of excursions in Vietnam starts from $ 30 (for the simplest and shortest) to $ 150 (for large ones). Consider also that excursions in Vietnam with a Russian-speaking guide are several times more expensive than excursions as part of international groups in which the guide speaks English.

Small boat excursions start at $ 7.

An average independent trip to a nature reserve will cost about $ 20-40 for two, including travel and admission fees. An excursion to the same reserve as part of a tourist group (bus, guide, all things) will cost $ 40-100.

Entrance card to Vinpearl amusement park, which is located on a small island near Nha Trang (the price includes all the entertainment and games in the park, entrance to the aquarium and water park, as well as travel to the island on the longest cable car in the world or by boat) costs 450 000 VND ($ 22.5).

How much does massage cost in Vietnam

Foot massage - from $ 3, acupressure back massage - from 50 thousand dong ($ 2.5), massage with hot stones - from 60 thousand dong ($ 3). It is assumed that after the procedure, you will have to leave a tip to the masseuse. Sauna - from 30 thousand dongs ($ 1.5). In popular tourist destinations, prices can be significantly higher.

Fare

Bike rental cost

Usually renting a bike for a day in Vietnam costs about $ 5. The cost of a liter of gasoline is $ 1.

Taxi

A taxi ride in Vietnamese cities costs $ 1-5. The calculation is usually as follows: $ 0.5 is taken for landing, and then the counter is turned on (price per kilometer - from $ 0.4 to $ 0.7). Be careful: Vietnamese taxi drivers may try to trick you by using a counter twisted in their favor or by winding extra circles during the trip.

Trips to other cities

• A trip on a sleeping bus (night bus with sleeping places) from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap (Cambodia, near this city is Angkor Wat) costs about $ 20.
• Boat ticket to Vung Tau - $ 10.
• Bus Ho Chi Minh City - Nha Trang night (slipbass) - $ 10, day - $ 9.
• Seating places (the cheapest) on the Nha Trang - Hanoi train (1.5 days on the way, 6-hour day stop in Hue) - $ 25.

Other

• A polo shirt or T-shirt on the market costs from 80 thousand dongs (160 rubles).
• Disposable raincoat - 5 thousand dong.
• An hour in an Internet cafe - 4 thousand dongs.
• A haircut at a hairdresser's - from 80 thousand dongs.

Related article: Shops in Vietnam (addresses, names, tips).

Budget for living in Vietnam

Based on all of the above, you can now easily calculate how much it costs to travel to Vietnam for a short time and stay in Vietnam for a longer period. If you are planning to travel here for a month or more, then the budget can be calculated as follows (for two people):

1. Housing (rent of apartments, guesthouses, houses) will cost you about $ 150-250 per month (7-12 thousand rubles)
2. The cost of food in Vietnam will be $ 150-200 for two (7-9 thousand rubles.)
3. Travel expenses - about $ 100 - will be enough to rent a bike per month or, alternatively, to travel on public transport and travel to other cities.

Everything else is added based on your personal desires and needs. It turns out that if you count all the main items of expenses, then living in Vietnam will cost in the range of $ 400-550 (18-25 thousand rubles) per month for two + minor additional costs for clothing, household goods, etc. As you can see, life in Vietnam costs very little money.

Related article: Weirdness and peculiarities of Vietnam.