Hi everyone,
I’m not interested in dining at high-end restaurants or booking any extravagant excursions, but I aim to experience life authentically, like a local. My accommodation and airfare are already covered, so I’m primarily focused on estimating costs for food, local transit, and activities/day tours.
Thanks in advance!









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I like these questions because I like spending money in Vietnam.
I like spending money in Vietnam because at all price levels, you’re getting great – quality great, not USA style, “they give you a big serving” – but ingredients and prep great for your money.
You’ll eat better quality food than any country in the world at any price point because it’s all starts out fresh, then gets better from there.
That’s a fact.
Let’s look at a 15k Bahn mi, and a 35k Com tam.
Forget the lunch meat crap served in HCMC (sorry, said it) and eat the marinated grilled pork stuff in Đà Nẵng’s Bahn mi then tell me you’ll find better value, better quality, in any country for 15K.
Note: Of course, we respect people’s choices for food:)
And, not all “lunch meat” is the same. Vietnamese terrine is some of the best in the world. And, I’d take the variety of Vietnamese cold cuts over any place.
Find a better deal anywhere at 40k for a huge piece of delicious marinated and grilled pork chop serving in Com tam.
And Google Map “vegetarian”, the see the nunber of restaurant results will rival India’s (not really)
Next, spend 1,000,000 dong per person eating see what you get. You’ll get some next level foodstuff.
Or just spend 300k, 200k, 100k
It doesn’t matter, it’s all good. (Except at the International hotels)
But, the international hotels, and other upscale places, have some of the best, coolest bars and drinks in the world. And not at NYC prices.
It’s the same with hotel reservations.
Look at the hotel prices on Google Maps. You’ll never see a greater disparity in prices, nor abundance of choices in those price ranges, in any city.
Definitely not in Jakarta. Bangkok maybe.
But… Forget Thailand.
Cheap, yes. But the food doesn’t even come close. Match up the photos of the dishes. Match up the presentations. Match up the cooking time of Bún bò Huế!
I’ll go farther and say equal in prep quality, ingredients quality and taste AT ANY PRICE LEVEL to my favorites, Japan, Spain, France.
And I’ll say something else… it’s all going away quickly. Like super fast.
Okay, nothing new here, that’s how things go, embrace what’s around you.
But truly, over the years, we’ve seen the restaurants change, lower their quality or switch out stuff. And it’s accelerating.
Some restaurants have simply closed up, replaced by a gaudy Pizza sign or some other food to please the overwhelming throngs of visitors coming to Vietnam.
Still, the neighborhoods exist and the heart of preparing great quality food continues.
That is till the younger potato chip snacking, fast food chain eating kids, or the SALT and SUGAR, Asian fusion, “gourmet” crowd upturns the restaurants.
Oh. Ops.
Already done.
Anyway, 35K will give you a good meal. Might decide to spend more with HCMC’s big city prices, but you can easily also spend less. Times that by 3, x4, there’s your food budget. Booze is extra.
Everthing else you do will cost more.
Rent a scooter around 100k a day and explore.
Please, don’t bother to fact check. This is a sloppily prepared rant from an old curmudgeon with too much time on their hands 🙂
Replying to zkarenJ
Yeah $50 Aus will be fine, likely have some left over.
ZK likely went a bit over the top but she points out some interesting points. Invite her to go with you . You will be at $ 25 🙂 Enjoy you will have a great time.
I budget about $50 AUD a day.