Vietnam Trip Cost Breakdown: What a Week and Two Weeks Really Cost From the UK
Vietnam is one of the best value long-haul destinations a UK traveller can choose. Street food costs a few pounds, a smart hotel costs a fraction of what it would in Europe, and the country stretches far enough from north to south to fill two weeks without repeating yourself. The catch is that the flight is the single biggest cost, so a short trip feels expensive per day while a longer trip spreads that fare across far more days on the ground.
This Vietnam trip cost breakdown works through every line of a real trip, from the return flight out of London to a bowl of pho in Hanoi, a sleeper train down the coast and an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay. All figures are per person, in pounds, and are typical 2026 prices gathered from current travel cost guides, so treat them as planning ranges rather than fixed quotes. If you are still shaping the route itself, our two-week Vietnam itinerary from north to south shows how the days fit together.
How Much Does a Vietnam Trip Cost at a Glance?
The short answer is that most UK travellers spend between about £25 and £45 a day on the ground if they travel on a budget, around £45 to £70 a day at a comfortable mid-range level, and £130 or more a day for a luxury trip. Those daily figures exclude international flights, which are covered separately below, because the fare varies so much by season and booking time.
| Travel style | Per day on the ground | 7 days, land only | 14 days, land only | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | £25 to £45 | £175 to £315 | £350 to £630 | Hostels and guesthouses, street food, buses and shared transport |
| Mid-range | £45 to £70 | £315 to £490 | £630 to £980 | Three-star hotels, restaurants and street food, an overnight cruise, the odd internal flight |
| Luxury | £130 and up | £910 and up | £1,820 and up | Four and five-star hotels, private car and driver, a smart cruise cabin |
One useful comparison is our Costa Rica trip cost breakdown, which shows a similar length trip in Central America costing noticeably more per day, mainly because hotels and transport there are dearer. Vietnam keeps daily spending low, so the flight is the part of the budget worth the most attention.
Flights From the UK to Vietnam
Return flights from the UK to Vietnam usually cost between about £500 and £800 in economy when booked two to three months ahead. Vietnam Airlines flies direct from London Heathrow to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with a flight time of around 13 hours, and indirect options through the Middle East or another Asian hub are often cheaper if you do not mind a stopover. Fares rise sharply around Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday in late January or February, and again in the July to August summer peak, so avoiding those windows is the simplest way to keep the flight bill down.
On a one-week trip, the flight can cost more than everything you spend on the ground put together. On a two-week trip, the same fare is spread across twice as many days, which is why most cost guides suggest two weeks as the sweet spot for Vietnam. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, remember that UK261 compensation rules can apply to flights departing the UK, and our flight delay compensation UK guide explains how to claim.
What a Day in Vietnam Costs: Budget, Mid-Range and Luxury
A budget traveller can manage on roughly £25 to £35 a day. That covers a dorm bed or a basic guesthouse, three street food meals, local buses and the cheaper sights, with a little left over for a coffee or a beer. Backpacker-focused guides put the same range at about $30 to $45 a day, which works out to much the same figure once the currency is converted.
A mid-range traveller spends more like £45 to £70 a day. The difference buys a proper three-star hotel with breakfast, a mix of restaurants and street food, a Grab car instead of a bus when you are tired, and room in the budget for a tour or two each week. Some guides quote higher mid-range figures, up to $100 to $200 a day, but those include an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise and internal flights spread across the trip, which we count separately below.
Luxury travel starts at about £130 a day and rises quickly. Five-star hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City average £130 to £300 a night, a private car and driver costs far more than a bus ticket, and a top-end Ha Long Bay cruise cabin can cost several hundred pounds on its own. Even at this level, Vietnam is good value next to a comparable trip in western Europe.
Accommodation Costs in Vietnam
A bed in a well-rated hostel dorm typically costs £3 to £10 a night, which is why Vietnam suits backpackers so well. A private room in a budget guesthouse is usually £10 to £20 a night, and a comfortable three-star hotel runs about £20 to £35 a night, often including breakfast. Four-star hotels are generally £40 to £55 a night, and five-star hotels start at roughly £100 a night outside the big-city peak season.
Prices vary by city more than most travellers expect. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City cost almost the same overall, but Hanoi is a little dearer at the mid-range and Ho Chi Minh City a little dearer at the top end. Beach towns such as Da Nang and Nha Trang can be cheaper than either city for the same standard of hotel, while Hoi An sits somewhere in between. Booking a few weeks ahead usually beats walking in, and prices fall noticeably outside the peak months, with October often one of the cheapest months for hotels.
Food and Drink: What Meals Actually Cost
Food is where Vietnam feels cheapest. A bowl of pho from a street stall often costs well under 60,000 dong, which is roughly £1.75 at recent exchange rates, and a banh mi sandwich is usually £1 to £2. A sit-down meal in a casual air-conditioned restaurant is more like £3 to £5 per person, and a three-course meal in a smart restaurant in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City is typically £15 to £25 per person, drinks aside.
Vietnamese coffee is a small daily pleasure that costs very little, usually under £1.50 for a strong iced coffee from a street cafe, and a local beer is often less than £1. A realistic food budget is about £10 to £15 a day for a budget traveller eating mostly street food, £20 to £30 a day at mid-range with a mix of restaurants, and £50 or more a day if you eat in smart restaurants every night. Bottled water is cheap, so buy it everywhere rather than drinking tap water.
Getting Around Vietnam: Trains, Buses, Domestic Flights and Grab
Vietnam is a long, thin country, about 1,600 kilometres from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, so internal transport is a real budget line rather than an afterthought. Domestic flights between the main cities start from around $25 if booked early, though prices climb steeply around Tet, when they can reach several times that. A flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City takes about two hours, against more than 30 hours on the train, so flying is the sensible choice for the long legs.
The Reunification Express train is slower but it is an experience in itself, and an overnight sleeper berth from Hanoi to Hue or Da Nang costs roughly £20 to £40 depending on the class. Sleeper buses cover the same routes for less, usually £10 to £20, though they suit tall travellers badly. Inside cities, Grab works like Uber and is cheap and reliable, with most city rides costing £1 to £3. A sensible transport allowance for two weeks is about £80 to £150 per person, including one or two domestic flights.
Activities and Tours: What to Budget For
Sightseeing in Vietnam is inexpensive by European standards, but the big experiences add up, so budget for them rather than discovering the cost on the day. An overnight Ha Long Bay cruise, the single most popular paid experience in the country, typically costs £80 to £150 per person for a mid-range boat and considerably more for a luxury cabin. A day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels from Ho Chi Minh City is usually £15 to £30, a cooking class in Hoi An is around £20 to £35, and a guided street food tour in Hanoi is about £15 to £25.
Temple and museum entry fees are small, usually £1 to £5, and many of the best experiences cost nothing at all, including walking the Old Quarter in Hanoi, crossing the lantern-lit streets of Hoi An in the evening and watching the sun set over the rice fields around Sapa. Allow roughly £100 to £250 per person for activities and tours across two weeks, more if you add a cruise and a few guided days.
Visas, Passport and Travel Insurance
British citizens can visit Vietnam without a visa for up to 45 days for tourism, and your passport is stamped on arrival with the date you must leave by, so check that the stamp shows 45 days from your arrival date before you leave the airport. Your passport must have an expiry date at least six months after the date you arrive and at least two blank pages. If you want to stay longer than 45 days, you can apply for an e-visa that allows a 90-day stay with multiple entries. You can read the full rules on the GOV.UK Vietnam entry requirements page, and our guide to renewing a UK passport covers the renewal process if yours is running short.
A GHIC card does not cover Vietnam, because it only applies to state healthcare in Europe, so do not count on it. Our GHIC card versus travel insurance guide explains what the card actually does. A single-trip travel insurance policy for two weeks in Vietnam often costs around £40 to £70 depending on your age, your health and the level of cover, and it should cover medical expenses, cancellation and your activities, including any motorbike riding if you plan to do it. Check the health advice before you travel too, including the GOV.UK travel advice for Vietnam and our travel vaccinations checklist, because some vaccinations need to be started weeks ahead.
A 14-Day Vietnam Trip Cost Example
Putting the lines together, here is what two weeks in Vietnam looks like at each level, per person, based on the ranges above. The route follows our two-week itinerary, starting in Hanoi, travelling south through Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An and Da Lat, and finishing in Ho Chi Minh City.
| Cost | Budget | Mid-range | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return flights from the UK | £550 | £650 | £800 |
| Accommodation, 13 nights | £130 | £390 | £1,430 |
| Food and drink, 14 days | £170 | £350 | £700 |
| Internal transport, including 2 flights | £80 | £150 | £300 |
| Activities and tours, including a cruise | £120 | £250 | £500 |
| Travel insurance | £40 | £50 | £70 |
| Visa | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Total for 14 days | £1,090 | £1,840 | £3,800 |
A one-week version of the same trip, sticking to the north or the south rather than covering the whole country, works out at roughly £750 to £900 on a budget, £1,150 to £1,350 at mid-range and £2,100 or more for luxury, with the flight again the biggest single line. The longer you stay, the better value the flight becomes, which is the main reason two weeks is the most popular length for a first trip.
Money Tips: Cash, Cards and the Vietnamese Dong
Vietnam uses the dong, and the large numbers take some getting used to. At recent rates, one pound buys roughly 34,000 dong, so a 60,000 dong bowl of pho is under £2 and a 500,000 dong note is about £15. Count the zeros before you pay, because a 20,000 note and a 500,000 note look more alike than their values suggest. Cash is still king at markets, street stalls and small restaurants, although cards and QR payments are spreading in hotels and larger restaurants in the cities.
ATMs are easy to find in towns and cities, but they charge a withdrawal fee, usually around £2 to £4 per transaction, and many have a low per-withdrawal limit, so taking out larger amounts less often saves money. If you carry cash into or out of Vietnam, you must declare amounts over 15 million dong or 5,000 US dollars. Tipping is not traditional in Vietnam, but it is increasingly expected by tour guides and drivers, and around 10 percent in a restaurant is generous rather than expected.
When Is the Cheapest Time to Visit Vietnam?
The cheapest months for hotels are often in the autumn, with October frequently the cheapest month to book, when hotel prices can sit roughly a quarter below the August peak. The most expensive time to travel is Tet, the Lunar New Year in late January or February, when domestic flights and hotels surge and many businesses close for the holiday. July and August are also dear, because they are the European summer holiday peak.
The trade-off is the weather, because the north and south have opposite climates and there is no single best month for the whole country. The north is at its best from October to April, the south from December to April, and the centre is driest from February to May. If budget matters more than perfect weather, travelling just outside the peak season in either the north or the south, rather than trying to cover the whole country at once, gives you the lowest prices with the fewest compromises. Pack light either way, and check our hand luggage size guide for UK airlines before you fly, because a bottle of Vietnamese coffee or fish sauce bought as a souvenir still has to fit the liquid rules on the way home.
How much money do I need per day in Vietnam?
Budget travellers can manage on about £25 to £35 a day, mid-range travellers average around £45 to £70 a day, and luxury travellers should allow £130 or more a day. These figures exclude international flights.
Do British citizens need a visa for Vietnam?
No, not for a stay of up to 45 days. British citizens can enter Vietnam visa-free for tourism, and your passport is stamped on arrival. For a longer stay, apply for a 90-day multiple-entry e-visa before you travel.
How much does a two-week trip to Vietnam cost from the UK?
Including return flights, a two-week trip costs roughly £1,090 on a budget, about £1,840 at a comfortable mid-range level and around £3,800 or more for luxury, per person. The flight is the biggest single cost, so booking two to three months ahead matters.
Is Vietnam cheap to visit?
Yes, Vietnam is one of the cheapest destinations in Asia for UK travellers. Street food costs a few pounds, hostels cost a few pounds a night, and even a comfortable mid-range trip works out far cheaper per day than a similar holiday in Europe.
