12 Days in Vietnam Cost Us 1.7L for 2 People. Say What!

It has now been five months since I’ve returned from Vietnam. But it feels like yesterday. Vietnam has that effect on you. Or maybe it’s because it was my longest vacation.

Vietnam had been on my radar since 2019. That’s precisely a year after I realized what an affordable gem Southeast Asia is. So I planned hard in 2019. Read up on the history. Looked up flights and hotels. Made a cost sheet. Even had the dates finalized. But Covid put the planet on emergency brake. Vietnam got shelved.

Four years later, the costs had almost doubled (not surprising) but Ha Long Bay held the same place in my heart. So Vietnam was back on. 

Here is a good place to say that I’m the planning and  itinerary person in the relationship. And Tathagata shoulders execution. Since we do everything ourselves, a lot of time and effort goes into research. On the plus side, we get to create a plan that is exactly what we want down to the last paisa.

Would it surprise you if I told you – our 12-day Vietnam trip cost us 1.7L INR? If it does, then you’re my ICP for this blog.

My Method for Selecting Destinations

Let’s start with Ha Long Bay – the ember to my ‘Nam flame. Ha Long Bay can be accessed from the capital city of Hanoi. Therefore, Hanoi was a natural choice. Why not make it our jump-off point? Turns out, Indigo flies non-stop, budget planes from Kolkata to Hanoi. So that hammered in the nail – we were to enter the country from the North. Wow, I did not intend for it to sound like a combat thing.

Moving on, where do we go next? Vietnam is a long country. It looks like a seahorse on the map, marking the coastline with the length of its body. So if we were to start at the North, it only made sense to follow the natural flow southwards.

But remember we were on a budget? This meant that our destination choices were to be directed by the cost of flight out of the country. I did a quick scan on Google Flights, Skyscanner, MMT and Indigo and had my answer. Ho Chi Minh City or more popularly, Saigon baby! 

Now I had our entry and exit points fixed. The next step was figuring out the stay duration in both cities. I looked at things to do in each city and there was a tonne. At least 3 nights worth. So that gave us a solid 6 nights without counting travel days. That also meant we had room to include a third destination. 

We talked to a few people, watched some videos and realized that the whole country is teeming with can’t-miss destinations. So we needed some filters to narrow down. Let’s do a central location with some activity options, a nice beach nearby and at a reasonable distance from the airport with flights connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. That left us with Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue.

Let me tell you this – it’s a huge mistake to leave central Vietnam without sampling the fairytale town of Hoi An. We figured that we could also slot in Da Nang if we added one more night to the trip. And it fit nice and snug.

So now we had our stops finalized. Start with Hanoi, stop at Hoi An, next stop at Da Nang and peace out with Saigon. A mix of exploring history, culture, city walks and some beachside unwinding. We had to skip some places like Sapa, Hue, Da Lat, and Mui Ne. Tough choices. But it was a trade-off we had to make.

Breaking Down the Cost

1. Flights

• Kolkata to Hanoi
• Hanoi to Da Nang
• Da Nang to Ho Chi minh
• Ho Chi Minh to Kolkata

Now prices:

Kolkata to Hanoi – INR 25,060 for 2 people (booked through Indigo website)

Hanoi to Da Nang – INR 14,809 for 2 people (booked through MakeMyTrip) – VietJet Air

Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City – INR 12,005 for 2 people (booked through MakeMyTrip) – VietJet Air

Ho Chi Minh to Kolkata – INR 23,108 for 2 people (booked through Indigo website)

Total rounded-off flight cost – INR 75,000

2. Hotels

• Hanoi – 4 nights
• Hoi An – 3 nights
• Da Nang – 1 night
• Ho Chi Minh City – 3 nights

The best way to cut back on hotel costs is by staying at hostels. A lot of hostels in Vietnam have both dormitories and private rooms. While dormitories would reduce costs to fractional amounts, I’m not that adventurous yet. The good news is, private rooms in hostels also cost way less than hotel rooms.

a. Hanoi – Central Backpackers Hostel – INR 9,330 for 4 nights (Including breakfast)

Our flight to Hanoi landed at 2 in the morning. We decided to spend the rest of the night at the airport to be able to take the first public bus to the hostel.

Big mistake.

We took turns stretching out on the airport seats through the night. But that did nothing good to our backs and exhausted, sleep-deprived selves. It’s always better to book an extra night stay and get that sleep to start fresh. Nonetheless the adrenaline helped us power through the day.

On the plus side, the bus ride was something new and fun. We missed our stop but had a good laugh.

I only have great things to say about Central Backpackers Hostel. It’s right in the Old Quarter, at walking distance from Hoan Kiem, Beer Street and Night Market. They host free walking tours every morning at 10 sharp, volunteered by a student. There’s a pub crawl led by a different hostel guest every night. Free breakfast on the terrace. Wonderful staff.

I was surprised to see that they have a lift! Usually hostels do not because of the backpacking culture. Thankfully, it saved us lugging our bags up the stairs. I also noticed that hostels/homestays without a lift generally have a luggage lift, which is a lifesaver.

b. Hoi An – Lisa Homestay 2 – INR 4,100 for 3 nights (does not include breakfast)

Hoi An might be an anagram of Hanoi but that’s all that is similar between the two. 

The hostel culture has not caught on in the quaint town as wildly as it has in the capital city. Not surprising. There are primarily two areas to stay in Hoi An – the Old Town or near the An Bang beach. Considering the beach is only a 30 minute drive away, we chose to stay in the Old Town across the Thu Bon river. 

Lisa Homestay 2 was right on the walking street with the night market. The owners of the homestay lock up at 10 pm. But because it’s a tourist-first country, we were given a copy of the keys to the main door to enter and leave as and when we please.

Our room was on the third floor. Nice and cozy. Clean room and bathroom. Comfortable bed. Balcony overlooking the pretty night market. What more can you ask for!

I think I will write a whole blog about the dreamy beauty of Hoi An soon.

c. Da Nang – Lighthouse Hostel – INR 1,800 for 1 night

We booked a private room with an ensuite bathroom. Again, great location. It is at a walking distance from the beach and a 10-minute drive from the Marble Mountains. Breakfast was not included in this price. 

Ours was a huge room with a huge balcony. Clean room and bathroom. Comfortable big bed. A cabinet full of French books.

d. Ho Chi Minh City – Thao Nhi Hotel – INR 5,640 for 3 nights

This is the cheapest option we got without skimping on comfort and location. It is located right on the Bui Vien street (or party street) in District 1. This price did not include breakfast. The room was huge with a double bed and a single bed. It had a balcony and a large bathroom with a bathtub. 

Total rounded-off hotel cost – INR 21,000

3. Tours

Klook is our go-to for activity and tour bookings. Here’s what we booked:

• Thang Long Water Puppet show – INR 1,236
• Ha Long Bay day trip – INR 7,607 
• Ninh Binh day trip – INR 6,298
• Coconut forest tour & cooking class – INR 4,644
• Cu Chi Tunnel day trip – INR 3,088
• Bitexco Skydeck – INR 1,358

Total rounded-off tour cost – INR 24,500

4. Visa 

Indian citizens need to apply for an e-visa to Vietnam. There is no visa on arrival. A single entry e-visa is valid for 90 days and costs around INR 2,100 if you apply directly through the Vietnamese immigration portal. 

We however wanted to bypass the effort and applied for our visas through Atlys which cost us a little bit extra.

Rounded-off Visa cost – INR 6,000 for 2 people

5. Food

Vietnam is a food paradise if you are not rigid about your preferences. Rice is a staple of Vietnam and is present in most of its dishes. So if there’s anything that can be made using rice, Vietnam has it. They have sticky rice, broken rice, noodles made out of rice, rice crisps, rice crepes, rice flan, rice cakes, and so on. Add to that the long coastline, which means you get fresh seafood at dirt cheap prices. There’s also an abundance of meat choices.

Vietnam’s sidewalks are unofficially used for food-stall seating and scooter parking. There are lines of tiny plastic stools and low-rise plastic tables along these sidewalks. Such a communal way to eat. But if not for the stools, it would look like you were squatting on the sidewalk wolfing down bun cha and pho. 

We can vouch for food quality because we lived on sidewalk food and not for once had a problem. Of course, the food costs were inexpensive. A sidewalk meal on an average would cost less than INR 1,000 for 2 people.

Rounded-off Food Cost – INR 25,000

6. Transportation

Grab is the Uber of Vietnam. You can book Grab bikes, hatchbacks, sedans and SUVs through the app. A 5 km ride would cost you about INR 200. The rides are comfortable, promptly accepted and arrive in a surprisingly short time. 

Vietnam is a very walkable city. There’s traffic, yes. But the people are accommodating. So there’s hardly any speeding and pedestrians always have the right of way. 

Selecting the stays within walking distance of the primary locations helped reduce our transport cost. Also, we used the public bus service as much as possible to commute within the city. These are air-conditioned buses with comfortable seating. They have subsidized fares of around INR 20 per person for a less than 10 km route. For the times we needed a car, we relied heavily on Grab.

Rounded-off Transport Cost – INR 20,000

Total Cost : INR 1,71,500

So yeah, that’s about it. Some things I would recommend:

• Stay the night on a Halong cruise ship instead of going for a day trip
• Do not sleep at the airport unless your body permits it. Book an extra night at the hotel instead.
• Sit on the red plastic baby stool on the sidewalk and have the bun cha
• Do not be afraid to cross the road even though it might seem like you will get run over. Believe me, you won’t. The scooters will simply swerve around you.
• Spend more than one night in Hoi An
• Haggle your heart out in Ben Thanh market
• If you decide to send anyone a postcard from the Saigon post office, buy an envelope and put the card in it. Otherwise, your postcard will surely get lost in the mail.
• The bamboo hats don’t just look cool, they actually keep your head cool and protected from the harsh sun
• Take at least one of these classes: cooking, pottery, lantern making
• Tip your boatmen and waiters. Vietnam is a very poor country. If you can afford to go there, you surely can afford to tip.
• Visit the museums and rent the audio guides. Vietnam’s history is riddled with destruction. You will feel the pain they’ve been through. And then when you see them smile, you will know how earnest it is.
• Trust the Vietnamese. If a taxi driver says that there is no bus going into town from the airport after 5 pm, there really isn’t. (I made the mistake of not trusting this man at the Da Nang airport)
• Catch the sunset from the 49th floor of the Bitexco Skydeck in Saigon. It felt surreal to watch the sun set over a bustling, dazzling city from that high above.
• Mingle as much as possible. You will learn a lot – take it from an introvert.
  We made friends with a shepherd from France who had some pretty interesting world theories we talked about.
  We met a man from South Korea whom we could only communicate with through Google Translate and he created some wicked mixes for us to try.
  We met a man from Turkey who lives in Japan for work and said he wanted to hug the living roots bridge of Meghalaya.
  We met a lady from Malaysia who insisted we drop her a line when we visit her country because she wants to carry on the tradition of welcoming guests and showing them around just like her mother does.
  We met a Vietnamese man who told us that the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter means “a good way to go”.

What a magnificent country! And what magnificent people! I’d leave you with one thought that Vietnam gifted me:

I’m forever amazed at how stories are built into the fabric of our existence. Only stories connect us. The stories we share and the stories we leave behind. Stories are our only inheritance. We are entitled to nothing else.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to answer them.