Money & Budget in Vietnam

All about money in Vietnam (VND)

The Vietnamese currency is Vietnamese Dong (VND) which converts at about $1AUD = $18,300VND (rates fluctuate). You'll have to get use to using very high denominations, with the highest note being $500,000 VND which is only about $27-28 AUD.

It is advisable to carry cash during your stay in Vietnam. Smaller notes ($10,000 / $20,000 / $50,000 VND) are useful for street food, markets and vendors. We found that organising all the notes from smallest denomination to largest in the wallet was very helpful when looking for the right amount.

Cash vs Card

Cash is widely used throughout Vietnam, especially in rural areas, markets and local restaurants. In the bigger cities, you'll find more places where you can pay with card. However, this sometimes comes with a surcharge.

When booking your accommodation, I'd advise that you choose to "pay now" rather than at the hotel to avoid any surcharges.

ATMs & Withdrawing money

We chose to take a small amount of Vietnamese Dong out prior to our trip so we had some available on arrival. We then used ATMs in Vietnam to get more cash out in Vietnam as needed.

While ATMs are widely available throughout Vietnam, it is advisable to get enough cash out prior to visiting rural areas in case there aren't any available.

Our Budget

This is one of the most common Vietnam topics people ask me about. Vietnam is a very affordable destination for families, with the option to have quite a luxurious trip if you're travelling with a flexible budget.

While we didn't track absolutely everything while in Vietnam, I am a meticulous planner so have quite a detailed outline of our budget from our trip! Please keep in mind that prices have likely increased since our trip as inflation has been insane!

Not including flights we spent around $5,000 AUD for our family of 4 over 3.5 weeks. This rounds out to roughly $208 AUD/day.

Accommodation

The total we spent on accommodation was $2,139 AUD, which included a 1 night cruise on Halong Bay for $673. So without the cruise, the average cost on accommodation was $64 AUD/ night.

Spending/ Food

For this category this is the total amount of cash we took out via ATMs throughout our trip, combined with a few card transactions. At the end of the day, this category includes everything from food, experiences we paid for in cash, and anything else we needed to pay for while on the ground in Vietnam. The total for this category was around $1,890 AUD, assuming I didn't miss any transactions in my calculations!

Trains/ Transportation

The two biggest costs here was our return transfers from Hanoi to Halong Bay, which cost $189 AUD & our overnight train from Ninh Binh to Hue which was $188 AUD. The rest was spent on grab rides, which are a very small costs. The total was around $470. Any additional "on the ground" transportation would have been paid for in cash, coming out of our Spending category.

Experiences

The total here was $170, which was for our pre-booked Hanoi Food Tour and for our Trang An boat tour. However we certainly spent more on experiences during our time in Vietnam, that just would have come out of Spending category.