Vietnam is still cheap, and the room is what decides your budget. On prices we checked in October 2026, a day on a shoestring costs about 449,000 VND (US$17), a mid-range day about 678,000 VND (US$26) and a comfortable day about 855,000 VND (US$33) per person, before you travel between cities. Food barely changes between the three levels; the bed, the car and the flight do. Two weeks from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City comes to about US$317, US$471 or US$675, everything included that we could price.
How we built this guide: on 4 October 2026 we recorded Booking.com prices for one night, Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 November 2026, in Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City, and took food prices from named 2026 news reports plus one 2025 Lonely Planet figure, ride fares from Grab's published table, entrance fees from official sites and ticket notices, and transport fares from our own route guides and research datasets. We did not buy these services. Dollar figures use Vietcombank's selling rate of 26,170 VND per US dollar, unchanged from 2 October to our check on 4 October 2026. Every formula is written out below, so you can swap in your own choices.
How much does a day in Vietnam cost?
About US$17 to US$33 per person, depending mainly on where you sleep. Each column below adds up one night, three meals and a coffee, two city rides and one entrance ticket.
| Daily item, per person | Shoestring | Mid-range | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bed | Dorm bed: 145,000 VND | Half a 3-star double: 199,000 VND | Half a 4-star double: 375,000 VND |
| Food and coffee | Street food: 135,000 VND | Street food plus a sit-down dinner: 306,000 VND | Same as mid-range: 306,000 VND |
| Two city rides of 4 km | GrabBike: 49,000 VND | GrabCar, shared: 53,000 VND | GrabCar, shared: 53,000 VND |
| One entrance ticket | 120,000 VND | 120,000 VND | 120,000 VND |
| Total per day | 449,000 VND (US$17) | 678,000 VND (US$26) | 855,000 VND (US$33) |
How each line is built:
- Bed: the average, across the four cities, of the median of the ten cheapest listings rated 8 or higher. Mid-range and comfortable assume two people share the room.
- Shoestring food: a 30,000 VND banh mi, a 40,000 VND bowl of pho, a 45,000 VND bowl of bun bo Hue and a 20,000 VND coffee.
- Mid-range and comfortable food: the same banh mi and coffee, a 60,000 VND serving of bun cha, and half of Lonely Planet's US$15 sit-down dinner for two (196,275 VND).
- Rides: Grab's Hanoi base fare for the first 2 km, its per-km rate for 2 km more, and the lowest platform fee. GrabBike: 13,255 + 2 x 4,222 + 3,000 = 24,699 VND a ride. GrabCar: 28,473 + 2 x 9,818 + 5,000 = 53,109 VND a ride, split between two.
- Ticket: the median of the five official prices in the sights table below, 120,000 VND.
Totals are added up before rounding, so a column can differ by 1,000 VND from the sum of its rounded lines.
Components are rounded to the nearest 1,000 VND; totals use the unrounded figures.
What does a bed cost?
A well-reviewed dorm bed costs about 116,000 to 162,000 VND (US$4 to US$6), and a 3-star double about 360,000 to 446,000 VND (US$14 to US$17), at the middle of the ten cheapest listings in each city. The table shows the cheapest listing and that median, for one night on 11 November 2026, all rated 8 or higher on Booking.com.
| City | Dorm bed, 1 adult | 3-star double, 2 adults | 4-star double, 2 adults |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanoi | 75,833 / 116,052 | 312,955 / 380,021 | 337,624 / 636,588 |
| Hue | 114,683 / 147,262 | 315,000 / 445,595 | 818,056 / 1,017,438 |
| Hoi An | 112,500 / 162,037 | 326,004 / 406,574 | 317,593 / 628,022 |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 109,091 / 154,352 | 266,667 / 360,244 | 546,296 / 719,444 |
| Average of the medians | 144,926 (US$5.54) | 398,108 (US$15.21) | 750,374 (US$28.67) |
Figures are in VND, cheapest / median. Sources: Booking.com searches for Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City, sorted by price.
Two patterns stand out. Hue had only six well-rated dorm listings and ten 4-star hotels on our date, so its 4-star median is the highest of the four. And several of the cheapest 3-star and 4-star rooms in Ho Chi Minh City sat in outer districts such as Binh Tan and Hoc Mon, so a room near the center costs more than our median.
What does food cost?
Street meals cost 40,000 to 60,000 VND (US$1.50 to US$2.30), and food is the cheapest part of the trip at every level.
| Item | Price (VND) | About (US$) | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl of pho or similar noodles | around 40,000 | 1.53 | Tuoi Tre News, Apr 2026 |
| Banh mi, four popular Hanoi stalls | 12,000 to 40,000 | 0.46 to 1.53 | VnExpress International, Feb 2026 |
| Bun bo Hue, in Hue | from 45,000 | from 1.72 | VnExpress International, Jul 2026 |
| Bun cha, Hanoi Old Quarter | about 60,000 | 2.29 | VietnamNet, Aug 2026 |
| Coffee or milk tea | 20,000 to 50,000 | 0.76 to 1.91 | VnExpress Quy Nhon guide, Apr 2026 |
| Sit-down dinner for two | about 392,550 | 15 | Lonely Planet, Oct 2025 |
The same 2026 industry report, by iPOS.vn and Nestle Professional, found that 53% of Vietnamese diners spent 31,000 to 50,000 VND on lunch, and some businesses reported raw material costs up 30% to 40% in 2026, so expect prices to keep creeping up. Eating six Hue specialties in one go came to about 190,000 to 200,000 VND in VnExpress's July 2026 food tour. Our regional food guide covers what to order.
What does getting around cost?
City rides cost a dollar or two, airport rides up to about US$13, and the whole run from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by bus about US$51.
In town
Grab's published fare table, updated 8 July 2026, starts a Hanoi GrabBike at 13,255 VND for the first 2 km and a four-seat GrabCar at 28,473 VND, then 4,222 and 9,818 VND per km, plus a per-minute charge after 2 km and a platform fee of 3,000 to 19,000 VND (Grab). Paying with a foreign card adds 4%. Our Grab and taxis guide explains surcharges and scams.
From the airport
The bus is the bargain almost everywhere. Our airport transfer report found Noi Bai's bus 86 at 50,000 VND against 250,000 to 350,000 VND for a Grab car, the figure Grab still publishes, and Tan Son Nhat's bus 109 at up to 15,000 VND against 120,000 to 200,000 VND by car. A car fare covers the whole car, so two people sharing halve it.
Between cities
Buses are cheapest, but flights are closer in price than most people expect. Our fly or ride study priced the cheapest flights on 18 routes for 21 October 2026 at 636,821 VND (Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc) to 1,430,181 VND (Da Nang to Nha Trang), with Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City at 1,053,021 VND, about US$40, which was cheaper than the cheapest bus. The table shows the two-week route we costed, with each level's choices.
| Leg | Shoestring | Mid-range | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanoi to Hue | Sleeper bus 405,000 | Flight 919,781 | Flight 919,781 |
| Hue to Hoi An | Bus 170,000 | Bus 170,000 | Private car via the pass, from 628,080 |
| Hoi An to Nha Trang | Sleeper bus 266,000 | Sleeper bus 266,000 | Car to Da Nang airport 143,935, flight 1,430,181 |
| Nha Trang to Da Lat | Van 180,000 | Van 180,000 | Private car, shared: 457,975 |
| Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City | Bus 250,000 | Bus 250,000 | Flight 843,181 |
| Airport rides | Buses 86 and 109: 65,000 | Four car rides, shared: 435,000 | Seven car rides, shared: 845,000 |
| Total per person | 1,336,000 (US$51) | 2,220,781 (US$85) | 5,268,133 (US$201) |
Fares in VND. Bus, van and car fares are the lowest on our route guides for Hanoi to Hue, Hue to Hoi An, Hoi An to Nha Trang, Nha Trang to Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat and Da Nang to Hoi An; the Hanoi to Hue bus and all flights come from the fly or ride dataset, and airport car fares from the airport report, at the low end of each range. Some legs were priced in the opposite direction.
What do sights cost?
Most headline sights cost 40,000 to 300,000 VND, and the prices below come from the operators' own notices.
| Sight | Adult ticket (VND) | About (US$) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City | 40,000 | 1.53 | Tuoi Tre News, Feb 2026 |
| Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Hanoi | 100,000 | 3.82 | Official site, since 1 Jan 2025 |
| Hoi An Old Town, international visitors | 120,000 | 4.59 | Government news portal, since 15 May 2023 |
| Imperial City, Hue | 200,000 | 7.64 | Tuoi Tre, Aug 2025 |
| Trang An boat trip, Ninh Binh | 300,000 | 11.46 | Management board |
Hue's four-site pass, covering the Imperial City and the tombs of Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh, costs 530,000 VND from 2026, and an all-sites ticket valid for five days costs 600,000 VND (Bao Van Hoa). Our Hue and Hoi An guides explain what each ticket covers.
What else should you budget for?
Three one-off costs: the visa, a SIM and anything you book as a tour.
- E-visa: US$25 single entry or US$50 multiple entry (Vietnam Integration), 654,250 or 1,308,500 VND. Some passports are visa-exempt; our visa guide has the list.
- SIM or eSIM: Viettel's 30-day tourist plan with 5 GB a day costs 150,000 VND (US$5.73), plus the SIM (Viettel). Our SIM guide compares the networks.
- Tours and cruises: not in our totals. A Ha Long Bay cruise, a cooking class or a motorbike tour can each cost more than a day's budget.
What does two weeks cost?
About 8.3 million VND (US$317) on a shoestring, 12.3 million VND (US$471) mid-range and 17.7 million VND (US$675) in comfort. That is 13 nights and 14 days of the daily budget above, plus the route table, a 150,000 VND SIM and the 654,250 VND e-visa.
| Two weeks, Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City | Shoestring | Mid-range | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 nights | 1,884,038 | 2,587,702 | 4,877,431 |
| 14 days of food, rides and a ticket | 4,261,572 | 6,711,376 | 6,711,376 |
| Transport between cities and airports | 1,336,000 | 2,220,781 | 5,268,133 |
| SIM and e-visa | 804,250 | 804,250 | 804,250 |
| Total, VND | 8,285,860 | 12,324,109 | 17,661,190 |
| Total, US$ | 317 | 471 | 675 |
| Per day, everything included | US$22.62 | US$33.64 | US$48.20 |
Flights are what make the comfortable trip dearer, not the meals. Our classic north to south route suggests how to split the same stops into days.
How does this compare with other estimates?
Our numbers are lower than the usual rule of thumb, because they count only what we could price. Lonely Planet's October 2025 guide puts the average daily cost for budget travelers at US$40 to US$70 (Lonely Planet). The gap is everything our model leaves out: tours, drinks, snacks, laundry, souvenirs, extra rides, a second sight, and rooms in prime locations. Treat our totals as a floor, then add what your own trip involves.
Key facts at a glance
- A typical bowl of pho costs around 40,000 VND in a 2026 industry report, per Tuoi Tre News.
- The cheapest well-rated dorm bed for 11 November 2026 was 75,833 VND in Hanoi, per Booking.com.
- A Hanoi GrabCar starts at 28,473 VND for the first 2 km, per Grab's fare table of 8 July 2026.
- Hanoi's Imperial Citadel has charged 100,000 VND since 1 January 2025, per its official site.
- Vietcombank sold US dollars at 26,170 VND when we checked on 4 October 2026, per Vietcombank.
Limitations
This is a model built on one date's listings, not a record of real spending. Hotel prices are for one weeknight in November, sorted by price and limited to the first page of results, and Booking.com may add taxes or fees at checkout. Holiday dates such as Tet can look very different, and Hue's thin hostel supply makes its figures less stable. Our sit-down dinner comes from an October 2025 list, the Imperial City and Hoi An ticket prices from 2025 and 2023 notices, and the Trang An page carries no date; we found no 2026 source for a mid-range restaurant meal. Grab fares exclude per-minute charges and surcharges for night, rain and tolls. Some transport legs were priced in the opposite direction, and the walk or ride to each bus station is not counted. We could not source prices for drinking water, laundry or tours, so they are left out rather than estimated.
