What Vietnam Actually Cost Us (For a Family of Four)
The Budget We Started With
If you’ve read our budget story, you’ll know we landed on a rough figure of $10,000 AUD per month for this trip.
If you haven’t read it, it’s worth a look (Read Here). That number came from a fair bit of research, trying to understand what accommodation, food, and travel might realistically cost across different parts of the world.
We always knew Vietnam would come in under that.
What we didn’t realise was just how far under we could go.
This was our first stop, and we weren’t trying to travel cheap. We wanted to enjoy it, spend time at the beach, slow things down a bit, and just ease into this whole way of living.
What We Actually Spent
In the end, we spent $17,310 AUD across our 68 days in Vietnam.
That works out to about:
$255 AUD per day (family of four) or
$8,650 AUD per month
So comfortably under our $10,000 budget.
And that wasn’t us cutting costs or holding back. That was just how we lived there.
Accommodation
Accommodation was our biggest cost, as expected.
We spent roughly $6,965 AUD
That covered a mix of:
City hotels
Beach resorts in Phu Quoc
A 20-day worldschooling hub
A farm stay where meals were included
Almost everywhere we stayed included breakfast, which made a bigger difference than we expected. It removed a daily decision and cost without us really thinking about it.
Food
Food was one of the biggest surprises.
We didn’t cook. We didn’t grocery shop. We just ate out, because it was cheaper and easier.
On average:
Lunch: $16 AUD
Dinner: $22 AUD
Snacks: $8 AUD per day
That’s about $46 AUD per day, or roughly $3,100 AUD total across the 68 days.
Eating out every meal, every day, without needing to think about it.
Transport (Day-to-Day)
Getting around was simple and cheap.
We hired scooters in Phu Quoc, Hoi An, and Phong Nha, which cost around 120,000–150,000 VND per day (about $7–$9 AUD).
Outside of that, we used:
Grabs
Buses
Trains
All up, day-to-day transport came to about $1,155 AUD.
Flights & Visas
The bigger travel costs were what you’d expect.
Flights (Cairns → Brisbane → Ho Chi Minh): $1,307
Internal flight (Phu Quoc → Da Nang): $984
Visas: $158
Total: ~$2,449 AUD
All flights included us travelling with 4 × 20kg check-in bags, 2 × 8kg carry-on bags and 4 x under seat bags.
Activities & Experiences
This is where the trip really comes to life.
And this is also where your budget can move depending on how much you do.
For us, this came to roughly $3,000 AUD.
We didn’t hold back.
We went to places like VinWonders Phu Quoc, Vin Safari, Sun World, Grand World, and VinWonders Hoi An. We went cave kayaking in Phong Nha, climbed Thuy Son Mountain, visited Thung Nham Ecovillage, took boat cruises, rode cable cars, explored national parks, and chased waterfalls.
But more than that, we just filled our days.
Riding bikes through villages, swimming at beaches, having bonfires, feeding farm animals, watching fire shows, eating dinner on a jetty at sunset, jumping off boats, playing pickleball and soccer, visiting a bee farm, and celebrating New Year’s in Hoi An.
A lot of the best stuff didn’t cost much at all.
The Small Everyday Costs
Then there’s the things you don’t really think about before you leave.
Medicine, sunscreen, aloe, and bits and pieces: $200 AUD
Clothes washing: $150 AUD (costs anywhere from 15,000 to 60,000 VND per kg)
Not big individually, but part of everyday life when you’re travelling long-term.
The Full Breakdown
When you put it all together, this is what it looked like:
Accommodation: ~$6,965 AUD
Food: ~$3,100 AUD
Flights & visas: ~$2,449 AUD
Transport: ~$1,155 AUD
Activities: ~$3,000 AUD
Other (washing, medicine, etc.): ~$350 AUD
Total: $17,310 AUD
What We Took From It
You don’t really have to think too much about spending when you’re somewhere like Vietnam if you’ve set a realistic budget. It just sort of takes care of itself, and that’s what we liked about it. It was easy living. A good way to kick off a 12-month trip without overthinking everything, just settling into it, enjoying it, and letting it unfold.
We know moving forward, especially heading into Europe, we’ll need to be a bit more aware of the budget. But this gave us a bit of breathing room. A chance to ease into it and put a bit aside for later on when things inevitably get more expensive, or when we want to say yes to something bigger.