Hosting

During our 45-day stay in Vietnam, we paid an average of $7 / night / person. With these prices, we always had private rooms. Most of the time, all the essentials were provided (sheets, towels, soap, shampoos). The rooms almost always had reversible air conditioning. Internet connections were good, and the places were generally clean. On many occasions, breakfast was included at that price! When it comes to homestays (meaning staying with locals), you should even have access to a washing machine. However, if your accommodation doesn’t include a washing machine, it’s not a problem because you should easily find services priced between $0.50 to $1 / kg for washing and drying. For the record, we tried washing our clothes by hand, but the problemit was hard to get our clothes dried on time. During our stay, humidity levels could be quite high, and since the clothes never really dried, they quickly developed a musty smell.
The cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh are a bit more expensive, but the prices remain quite acceptable at around $10 / night / person.
The only downside we can mention about Vietnamese accommodations might be the size of the hot water tanks: if you go during cold temperatures, expect the tank to be empty before you even started to warm up. The toilets are all equipped with bidets for washing. Toilet paper should be placed in a bin and not flushed down the toilet. Some accommodations may not provide toilet paper to avoid any inconvenience, so don’t hesitate to carry a roll in your bag!

Unfortunately, the dormitories seem to display similar prices per person according to our discussions with solo travelers. If you are traveling alone, you may end up paying the same price for a slightly lower quality, which still appears to be quite acceptable. And apparently the facilities when going in a dormitory can be quite nice !

Food

It is at this level of spending that we treated ourselves the most!
On average, we spent $6.80 / day / person in restaurants and street food and $1.75 / day / person in supermarkets for snacks, drinks, or even gluten-free food for Eva.
Although these prices seem quite reasonable to us, it is certainly possible to spend even less! As mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for breakfast to be included in the room price, so it is entirely feasible to have a restaurant budget around $4 / day / person. However, we were truly enchanted by Vietnamese food and didn’t hesitate to have several small meals throughout the day to taste the many local specialties or to indulge in the fruit juices, which, unlike in other countries, are not diluted with water and contain no added sugars (or salts!).
The fact that Eva does not eat gluten also sometimes prevented us from enjoying street food. In larger cities, street food vendors do not necessarily take the time to talk with customers and may not inform you if a dish is safe for you. In these cases, we preferred to pay more at a restaurant to ensure that Eva would not get sick. For local dishes, prices are about twice as high in restaurants compared to street stands. Expect to pay around $2-4 / dish.

Activities

In terms of activity, we paid an average of $8.47 / day / person.
Below, we list the prices of the main activities we undertook:

• Street food tour in Hanoi: $30 / person. The tour we took lasted 4 hours and allowed us to taste 7 different flavors.
• Trek in the mountains of Sa Pa to meet the Red Dao: $80 per person. The trek lasts for 2 days. This price includes a French-speaking guide, food for the 2 days, water, and a night with a local family.
• Boat trip in Trang An at Tam Coc: 250,000 VND or $10 per person for a 3-hour trip on the river.
• Huang Mua in Tam Coc: 100,000 VND or $3 per person for entry to the site.
• Visit to Phong Nha Caves: 1,150,000 VND, approximately $40 per person. This price includes entrance tickets to Phong Nha Cave and Paradise Cave, as well as a guide and transportation. We hesitated for a long time about this expense because the entrance fees for the different caves are minimal. However, the region is hilly, and we succumbed to the desire to travel by motor vehicle.
• Cooking class in Hoi An: 940,000 VND, which is approximately $33 per person. The class includes a visit to the Hoi An market and product selection with the chef, a visit to the Tra Que gardens, and the preparation of 3 dishes. The chef came to pick us up at our accommodation and provided bicycles for us to reach the Tra Que gardens.
• Cu Chi Tunnels: $80 per person, this price includes the trip from Ho Chi Minh to Cu Chi, an English-speaking guide, entry to the tunnels, and lunch. But you can pay much less! To get to the Cu Chi tunnels, you can either go by bus or by boat along the Saigon River. The boat ride is faster, but it’s mostly the uniqueness of the transport that appealed to us. Ultimately, there’s not much interest in this mode of transport. Aside from showing us a few swallow nests, the guide didn’t really explain much else simply because the boat’s engine was extremely loud. Anyway, if you want to save money, take the bus option!
• Ao show in Ho Chi Minh: 1,250,000 VND or approximately $45/person. Prices vary depending on the seat location. This price seems to be a good compromise in terms of value for money.

Shopping

Vietnam, having been our first stop on our long journey, we hardly did any shopping: we didn’t want to weigh down our bags or lighten our wallets.
However, know that in Vietnam, you can easily score good deals if you have a knack for negotiation! You’ll never truly know if what you’re buying is counterfeit or not, but that at least means it’s made well.
Vietnam is also a country rich in handicrafts: silk work, wickerwork, incense… In short, everyone will find their happiness in at least one typical product. Ultimately, the hard part is rather not giving in!