Is It Expensive to Visit Vietnam? How Much Should I Prepare for a Vietnam Tour?

Being in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is an affordable country to visit. Although it is getting more expensive every year, it’s still a cheap country to travel. This article is mainly about the costs to travel in Vietnam and talking about different aspects such as flight, visa, transportation and accommodation during your trip in Vietnam including some solid suggestions that can help you have a cost saving journey in Vietnam.

How Much Does the Air Ticket Cost?

There are frequent flights between Vietnam and various countries in the world. It’s affordable to get to Vietnam from Europe, USA and other Countries in the world. There are international airports in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City so you can easily fly to Vietnam. The air ticket prices vary according to peak and off-peak seasons.

Flights from New York, U.S. to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, typically cost $2,332. If you fly from Tokyo, Japan to Hanoi Airport, the air ticket price is only about 330 US dollars. In Europe, says if you fly from the UK to Hanoi, the average air ticket is about $1330. The flight ticket from Madrid Airport, Spain to Hanoi is around $1220. Australian tourists need about $1329 to fly from Sydney Airport to Hanoi Airport.

How Much Does Vietnam Visa Cost?

Currently, Vietnam grants e-visas to citizens of 80 countries with a 1-month visa term and has the right to enter 28 international border gates of Vietnam. The fee for an e-visa is 25 USD, and you can pay online when doing online procedures.

Be confident when you encounter the heavy traffic of Vietnam.

How Much It Usually Costs for an Escorted Vietnam Trip?

After arriving in Vietnam, we generally recommend a tour with guides. Tour guides make travel more interesting and easier to deeply understand local history and culture. The tour guide fee is $50 per/day and the fee for car and driver should be $60 per/day.

Hotels

Like other tourism destinations in the world, Vietnam has different rankings of hotels which can satisfy tourists’ different needs. You can choose to stay in hotels with different star ranking. Generally speaking, the price of three-star hotels is 40 dollars a day, the price of four-star hotels is 80-130 dollars a day, the price of five-star hotels is 150-180 dollars, and that of luxury five-star hotels is 250-380 dollars.

Foods

Vietnam is known for being one of the most affordable destinations in the world. Especially when it comes to cost of food in Vietnam, it is probably the best country in Asia for offering the best value for your money.

You can find casual dining restaurant in Vietnam on major streets or inside shopping malls. Cost of eating at casual dining restaurants in Vietnam is usually $6.3 to $10.5 for each person. There are plenty of great fine dining restaurants in Vietnam which are perfect for exquisite culinary experiences. Cost of a fancy dinner in a fine dining restaurant in Vietnam is usually $21 to $63 for each person.

Vietnam is a famous paradise for foodies.

Entrance Fee

Generally speaking, the entrance fee is cheap only a few dozen dollars for most sight views and activities.

High Season and Low Season

High tourism season in Vietnam stretches over two periods of time. The first one goes from the beginning of March to the beginning of May. The second one occurs from October to the end of December.

The rest of the year (January, February, May, June, July, August, September) can be called low season. Hotels and cruises often offer a low season rate and a high season one. On low season, all costs can be about 30% cheaper than high season. Therefore, it is much cheaper to travel in Vietnam on low season and there are also far fewer visitors.

It’s very affordable for Vietnam Domestic Flight or Train.

When you travel in Vietnam, sometimes travel from one city to another in order to experience the different cultures. At this time, you need to book your plane, train or bus tickets online in advance. Since Vietnam has a long north-south span, so if you travel from north to south, we suggest you to take a plane. The air ticket price in Vietnam is different according to various cities and airlines. For example, a Round trip flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min ranges is $100 to $400 per person. A Round-trip flight from Hanoi to Hue ranges from $158 to $260 per person.

Sometimes if you want to enjoy watching more beautiful landscape during your trip, you can take a train and the price is also affordable. For example, if you want to visit Sa Pa from Hanoi by train, the train ticket will be $100 to $280 per person.

It’s Easy and Affordable to get to Other Neighboring Countries of Southeast Asia.

After visiting Vietnam, you can also choose to visit nearby Southeast Asian countries. It's easy and cheap to get from Vietnam to neighboring countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, or Thailand.

Vietnam and Cambodia are neighboring countries and to cross the border from Vietnam to Cambodia, broadly speaking, you can choose from three ways: by boat, by plane, or by road. No international trains are available between these two countries yet. No matter which way you choose, departing from Ho Chi Minh City is the most popular option for time-saving and cost-saving.

Flying from Vietnam to Cambodia is the fastest and most convenient way. The airfare starts from US$90 for an economy-class ticket in the low season (July to September). The price might double in the peak season (October to March). Because of the pandemic, flights have decreased a lot. Only Ho Chi Minh City has daily departures to both of the top Cambodian cities.

There are three ways to travel Laos from Vietnam: by tourist sleeper bus, by plane and by motorbike. There is no railway between Vietnam and Laos. So you can choose travel by air since it is the most convenient way. The airfare is about US$1500 from Hanoi to Luang Prabang per person.

Enjoy your adventurous time in Vietnam Phong Nha Caves.

Can I Travel Vietnam Independently? Will it be Cheaper?

Tourists can travel freely in Vietnam. In this case, you just don’t need a tour guide and a car at the destination. However we don’t suggest our clients to travel solo in Vietnam since it is simply not that safe and time-wasting. Moreover, it will not save much money when you travel alone. The tour guide and car only cost you around 100$ per day. The most important thing is the tour guide can take you to better understand the local culture and history, and discover what it means to travel.

How to Save for a Vietnam Tour?

First of all, invite more friends to travel together, the more people, the lower the average cost per person. Secondly, Shop as little as possible in Vietnam, if you want to buy something, you must learn how to bargain. Thirdly, choose to travel to Vietnam in the off-season. In this case, the price of accommodation and air ticket will be much cheaper than usual, and the number of tourists will be relatively small, so you won’t feel crowded and noisy.

The last but the least, we have been optimizing our hotel selection and constantly helping our guests choose the most comfortable and cost-effective hotel. So just go to our website to book your hotel as early as possible when you travel to Vietnam.

Conclusion

To be honest, these are the most important costs to take into account when you are traveling in Vietnam. As you can see Vietnam is a very budget-friendly destination and totally worth a trip. Well, it is also very important to find a reliable travel agency when traveling in Vietnam. A good tour guide can make your trip more fulfilling and interesting, and allow you to truly emerge into the local culture. Perhaps this is the purpose and significance of travel.