True Trip Costs: Vietnam
before you go
- DoWhere: evisa.gov.vn only
- CarryCash for: Street food, markets, taxis
- Don'tIgnore the fake-taxi touts at the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City airports
- ExpectTipping: Not required, but appreciated
- ExpectThe notes: Big dong notes look alike
That's the short version. Below: every fee we checked, what it all adds up to, and the traps we help you dodge.
No match. See all guides.
Money in Vietnam, sorted.
A calm, current plan for the money side of your trip: what to pay with, how much cash to carry, and the local traps to dodge.
The three things people ask
Will my card work? Do I need cash? Are ATMs easy?
The quick read for a first trip.
Your card
Works in cities, not everywhere
Fine at hotels, malls and nicer restaurants. Visa and Mastercard rule, Amex is spotty. Some small shops add a 2 to 3% card surcharge.
Check yours →Cash
Yes, you'll need it daily
Street food, markets, taxis, small cafes and rural areas are cash only. Keep small notes for vendors who can't change a big bill.
How much to bring →ATMs
Easy in cities
Everywhere in towns, thin in remote areas. Use a bank ATM (VPBank is fee-free, big limit). Fees elsewhere run about $1 to $2 a withdrawal.
See ATMs in Vietnam →(opens in a new tab)Cash or card
Day to day, Vietnam leans heavily on cash.
A rough feel for everyday spending. Cards climb toward half in central Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, and contactless (Apple Pay, Google Pay) works at many city terminals. Out of the cities, assume cash.
See what the trip really costs →Your money plan
Four steps and you're set.
Before you go
- Get a no-foreign-fee debit card for cash. A Charles Schwab account refunds ATM fees worldwide, which suits Vietnam well.
- Bring a Visa or Mastercard with no foreign fee for hotels and bigger spots.
- Tell your bank you're traveling so it doesn't block the card.
At the airport
- Skip the airport exchange counters, the rates are poor.
- Pull your first dong from a bank ATM and decline "convert to USD." Always choose dong.
- Take out a larger amount to save on per-withdrawal fees.
Day to day
- Cash for street food, markets, taxis and small shops. Card for hotels, malls and nicer restaurants.
- Use Grab for taxis so the fare is set in the app and you skip meter games.
- Keep most cash at the hotel, carry a day's worth.
A little USD
- Carry some clean, newer-than-2009 USD for emergencies, but pay in dong day to day.
- If you exchange cash, use a bank or reputable gold shop, never the airport or street changers.
Staying connected
Will my phone work here? And what will it cost?
Yes. Vietnam has near-universal 4G and growing 5G across the cities and main travel routes, with signal thinning in remote mountain areas like Sapa and Ha Giang. The cost is where people get caught out, and on most US plans it lands in one of two buckets.
Your plan may already include it
Often, do nothing
Some US plans include slow data abroad at no extra cost. If that is you, the honest move is to leave it alone.
we earn nothing
Or it charges quietly, after the fact
The bill lands later
On pay-per-use plans the cost runs in the background while you travel, and the charge can show up weeks after you are home. Forgetting to switch off data roaming is the classic one. For a week or more, an eSIM is usually cheaper and keeps you in control.
Check what your own carrier charges before the trip, not after.
If an eSIM is the cheaper call, Nomad covers Vietnam.
Get your Nomad eSIM→(opens in a new tab)we may earn a commissionMedical cover
The one cost with no price tag.
Every other number on this page has a price you can look up. This one does not, and it can be the largest of them all. Most US health plans cover little or nothing once you leave the country, and Medicare covers essentially none of it abroad. A serious illness or injury is paid up front, and a medical evacuation runs from tens of thousands of dollars to past $100,000 if you are remote or an ocean from home.
First, you may not need to buy anything.
A cheap, refundable trip close to home does not need this. And if you are healthy, headed somewhere with good care, and one of the premium cards on the shortlist above already includes emergency medical and evacuation, you may be covered already. Check your card's benefits guide before you buy. Saying that costs us the commission, and it is still the right call.
How much cover matters here
Strong care can sit a long way from where you are traveling and an evacuation is a genuine possibility, so this is one to weigh seriously for a trip here.
If you do want cover, this is what it is for: the evacuation and the up-front hospital bill, the part no card limit is meant to absorb.
Enough for most trips
Faye, or a comparable whole-trip policy
Bundles trip protection with emergency medical, which is enough cover for most travelers on a typical trip.
The deeper end
A dedicated travel-medical plan built for serious care and evacuation abroad
Stronger on medical care and evacuation, for a remote or higher-risk trip where that is the real exposure.
If it happens
Call it first, then call your insurer's 24/7 assistance line, which is what confirms payment and arranges an evacuation. 115 reaches an ambulance. There is no single all-services number, so 113 is the police and 114 is fire.
TrueTripCosts explains the gap and points to options. It does not set your coverage amounts or act as your insurance advisor, and every policy carries its own exclusions, so read them before you buy. Emergency number checked Jul 2026. Confirm the current number before you travel, as local lines can change.
Currency basics
The dong, in plain terms.
Quick conversion
About 25,000 VND to $1. Drop three zeros, divide by 25: 100,000 VND is roughly $4.
Biggest common note
500,000 VND (about $20). Easy to mix up with the 20,000 note, similar color, so look twice.
Carry small notes
10,000 to 50,000 VND for taxis, street food and tips. Vendors often can't change a 500,000.
Local QR wallets
MoMo and ZaloPay are everywhere for locals but usually need a Vietnamese bank account, so they're not your tool.
Real exchange rate
What your money is really worth here.
This is the mid-market rate, the one the banks trade at and the yardstick every other rate is measured against. Your card lands a little below it, and if a screen ever offers to bill you in dollars, that is worse again. So this is the number to expect, and how you spot a bad one.
1 US dollar is about 26,206 VND
Fees and taxes to double-check
The numbers most likely to change.
These are the fees and taxes that move on political timelines, so we track each one on its own. Every line shows the amount, whether it is in effect yet, the date we last checked it, and a primary source where a clean one exists.
Vietnam e-visa (up to 90 days, US citizens)
$25 single entry or $50 multiple entry, on the official e-visa portal before you fly
In a hurry? A private service can prepare and file this visa for a fee on top of the official cost above, which stays the cheaper route.
File it faster with RushMyTravelVisa→(opens in a new tab)we may earn a commissionBefore you book: passports, the six-month rule and whether you need a visa. Not a US citizen, or connecting through Europe? The rules can differ, and even a layover can need its own visa. See our passports and visas guide →
Watch out for
The small traps that catch first-timers.
Tipping
Not expected, always appreciated.
Vietnam isn't a tipping culture, so there's no set percentage. Rounding up a taxi or leaving small notes for great service is a kind gesture, not an obligation. Upscale restaurants and hotels sometimes add a service charge already, so check the bill before you add more.
Common questions
Quick answers.
Do I need cash in Vietnam?
Yes. Cash is essential for everyday spending: street food, markets, taxis, small cafes and rural areas are largely cash only. Cards work at hotels, malls and nicer restaurants in the cities.
What is the best ATM to use in Vietnam?
Use a bank-branch ATM. VPBank has been fee-free for foreign cards with a high withdrawal limit. Many other ATMs charge about 22,000 to 55,000 VND per withdrawal, and TPBank added a fee in 2025. Always choose to be charged in dong, never your home currency.
Should I bring US dollars to Vietnam?
Bring a little clean, newer-than-2009 USD for emergencies, but pay in Vietnamese dong day to day. If you exchange cash, use a bank or a reputable gold shop rather than the airport.
Do you tip in Vietnam?
Tipping is not expected and there is no set percentage. Rounding up or leaving small notes for good service is appreciated. Some upscale places add a service charge already.
How much cash should I bring for a week in Vietnam?
For two mid-range travelers over a week, plan roughly 400 to 500 US dollars in day-to-day cash spending beyond your hotel, withdrawn in a couple of ATM visits. Adjust for your style and group size.
What will your trip really cost?
Name where you are going. We will show you what nobody quotes.
For instance, right now
ColombiaHotels charge 19% IVA, but as a foreign tourist you are exempt, and about half try to add it anyway.
JapanThe world's most high-tech country is still cash-first, and most bank ATMs refuse US cards.
CzechiaCzech law gives you three hours to cancel a bad currency exchange and get your money back, on amounts up to 1,000 EUR.
GreeceGreece's climate fee charges an Airbnb-style rental about 8 EUR a night against 2 for a budget hotel.
El SalvadorThe country that made Bitcoin legal tender?
CambodiaThe US dollar is Cambodia's everyday currency, and ATMs hand you crisp $100 bills nobody can break.
TurkeyUS citizens need no visa and no e-visa for Turkey, scrapped in 2023.
ItalyMost Italian restaurants add a coperto, a per-person cover charge of commonly 2 to 3 euros, before you have ordered anything.
The one thing most people get wrong about Vietnam
Checked Jul 2026You install Grab because that is the one everybody names.
Xanh SM overtook Grab in 2025 to become the largest ride app in Vietnam, and its fares often come in lower.
The old adviceJust get Grab, it is the one that works here
NowXanh SM took the lead in 2025, so check both
What to doInstall both and compare in-app before each ride, and ignore the fake-taxi touts at the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City airports.
Market-share fact. Re-verify each season.
Ride apps and airport taxis in VietnamEverything we checked
What Vietnam actually charges you, in one place.
5 things we verified for Vietnam, grouped by the kind of thing they are. The numbers are below; this is the shape of them.
fees nobody quotes
money you keep
traps to dodge
timing
The number
What you'll really spend in Vietnam.
Your flights if you want them counted, your room, your on-the-ground spending, the two fees most US cards add without telling you, and Vietnam's tourist tax. One number, nothing waiting on the statement. No bank to pick, no sign-up, nothing saved.
Optional. Enter your round trip fare per traveler to fold flights into the total.
Total trip realistically somewhere between $0 and $0.
Getting thereflights, and what the border costs
Departure tax is not a separate line here. Where a country charges one it is collected inside your airfare, so it is already in the flight figure, and adding it again would count it twice.
On the ground detailyour room, your days, and how much of it is cash
Whether at an ATM or a card terminal in a shop or restaurant, always choose to be charged in the local currency, not dollars. Paying in dollars (called dynamic currency conversion) lets the machine set its own, worse, exchange rate on top of any fee.
Fees nobody quotes youthe part that lands on the statement weeks later
What you'll pay
Plus the one-off entry charge, which sits in Getting there above with the flights, because it is per person rather than per night.
What you can refuse, and what the lookalike sites charge, is set out under Costs nobody tells you about below, with the two figures kept apart from these ones.
Costs nobody tells you about
Most of it you can keep. Here is every dollar of it.
Every one of them, and how to avoid it4 items
None of this is in the trip total above, and none of it ever will be. Two of these are money you hand over by default and the rest is money you keep by knowing, so they are counted apart and never added together.
What you'll pay unless you act
- Your own bank's foreign feeswhat the fees above come toMost US cards add a percentage on what you buy and on the cash you pull, plus a few dollars per ATM withdrawal. Nothing about that is a cost of the trip; it is a cost of the card you happened to bring.A no-foreign-fee card takes both fee lines above to zero.The cards that do not charge it
- Paying in dollars at the terminalabout 3 to 8%on what you cardDynamic currency conversion lets the machine set its own rate on top of any fee, and it runs about 3 to 8 percent on whatever you put on the card. It is the single easiest charge on this page to refuse, and it costs nothing to say no.Choose VND every time, at a till and at an ATM.How to decline it
- The airport or hotel exchange deskExchange counters make their money on the spread rather than on a stated fee, which is why we publish no percentage for it: it moves by counter, by hour and by note. The rule is what is reliable, not the number.Withdraw from a bank ATM instead, and never change cash at the airport.Getting cash here
What we'll help you dodge
- Reseller markup on the entry chargeThe charge itself is unavoidable. Paying an agent on top of it is not, and the sites that rank above the official one are agents. We publish no figure for the markup because it varies by reseller.Apply on the official government portal, linked in Getting there above.The official source for this charge
Where these numbers come fromevery assumption, and its limitssources
These are the assumptions behind the number. Change the room price, nights, travelers, or travel style above, and every line here moves with them.
- Hotel
- Daily spending
- Flights
- Cash vs card
- ATM withdrawals
- Foreign fee
- The range
- Tourist tax
Rough guide, not a quote. The percentage here is a blended stand-in for a typical US card's foreign fee, not your exact rate. The real number moves with the card you carry: one no-foreign-fee card can cover both sides, while a plain rewards credit card only removes the fee on what you buy, and cash still costs a little unless that card also waives ATM and foreign-cash fees. A debit card, or accepting the "pay in dollars" (dynamic currency conversion) offer at a till or ATM, can push it higher. Rates checked Jun 2026 and rounded.
How we check and date every figureVietnam, TTC-ed
truetripcosts.comWhat this assumes
Tips are already inside the daily spending figure, never added on top.
Not sure which card to bring? See my pick for Vietnam.
Already carry a card with no foreign transaction fee? Then you are set for Vietnam, and can skip this. There is nothing to buy.
Vietnam leans on cash more than its reputation suggests, so the card that earns its place is a fee-free ATM debit card, with a no-foreign-fee credit card for hotels and bigger spots. If you are getting one, this is the pairing I would pick. We earn nothing on these today. Always confirm the current fee with the issuer before you apply. Checked Jun 2026.
Schwab refunds worldwide ATM fees with no cap, the standout for pulling cash abroad. Opening it also opens a linked Schwab brokerage account, though you never have to fund or invest it.
No foreign transaction fee
No foreign transaction fee
Want one account that holds and spends in the local currency? A different job from the three above, and the one I reach for abroad. It is free to open; you can create a virtual card in the app and add it to your phone wallet in minutes, without waiting for the physical card; and you can convert US dollars into the local currency inside the account before you travel, then spend from that balance. Wise uses the mid-market rate plus a small conversion fee (around 0.4% and up), with no flat foreign fee.
The three picks above pay us nothing, and their tags say so. Wise is the only option here that can earn us a commission, and its tag says that too. Paid or not, the pick is still the pick.
Before you fly
At least ten countries now make you file a form online before you fly. Nine of them are free. One really does charge, and it is not the one you would guess.
Vietnam does not ask for one, so this is not a job for this trip. It is worth knowing anyway, because the list keeps growing and the pattern is always the same: the filing is new, obscure and mandatory, and the paid lookalikes outrank the government site because the real ones do not buy ads.
See every form we can source, with the official address for eachWhen to go
Cheaper and busier months in Vietnam.
The month you pick moves the budget as much as the country does. Here is the shape of Vietnam's year, with no price attached to it, because an honest one does not exist.
- Busy and pricey
- In between
- Cheaper and quieter
- Cheaper and quieter
- May to Sep in the north and south, avoiding the centre in Oct and Nov
- What drives the peak
- Christmas and New Year, Tet, the lunar new year in late Jan or Feb, whose date moves, and Vietnamese school holidays at the beaches
Medium confidence. The seasons are well established, though the money side of them is partly our own inference.
See all 59 countries compared on the when to go pageTravelers, not touristsA little Vietnamese goes a long way
A little Vietnamese goes a long way
Vietnamese is written in the Latin alphabet, though its tones take practice, and a warm Xin chào and a story or two mark you as a guest rather than a tourist. A little effort is met with real warmth.
Say a few words
Tip: Two daily joys are worth seeking out: phở, the fragrant noodle soup Vietnamese eat for breakfast, and cà phê sữa đá, strong coffee dripped over sweet condensed milk and poured over ice. Pull up a low plastic stool at a street stall and you are doing it exactly right.
Know a story
Where the dragon met the sea
Ha Long Bay is a maze of nearly two thousand limestone islands rising sheer from emerald water, often wreathed in mist. Its name means descending dragon, and legend says the peaks are jewels a great dragon spat into the sea to shield the land from invaders. Gliding among them by boat feels like sailing through a myth.
Good to know: Ha Long means descending dragon
Staircases of rice up the mountains
In the misty northern highlands around Sapa, farmers have carved the steep hillsides into shining green staircases of rice, worked by hand and by water buffalo much as they have been for generations. Fed by mountain streams, the flooded terraces mirror the sky. It is farming turned into landscape art.
Good to know: the terraces around Sapa are centuries old
The sisters who led a nation
Almost two thousand years ago, two sisters, the Trung Sisters, raised an army and rode elephants into battle to drive out a foreign occupier, becoming the first great heroines of Vietnamese history. Their revolt is remembered as the nation's first fight for independence. Streets and temples across Vietnam still carry their name.
Good to know: the Trung Sisters are honored across VietnamVietnamese are resilient, quick-witted and endlessly hospitable, proud of a long history of heroines and heroes and of a culture that has always endured. Pull up a stool, share a bowl of phở, and you will be treated like an old friend.
No links here, nothing to buy. This part is just to help you travel well.
Sources, and how this guide was checked
Last checkedJul 2026
Changed since last checkRe-checked July 2026, confirmed current. Vietnam's standard VAT is 10% but sits at a temporary 8% through 31 December 2026 under a National Assembly resolution, so most prices you pay include the lower rate for now. There is still no separate tourist or hotel tax.
- PwC Worldwide Tax SummariesVietnam's standard 10% VAT and the temporary 8% rate that runs through the end of 2026
- Trip.comthe tourist VAT refund and the fact that room rates already include VAT
Our own judgmentThe daily cash share, tipping norms and likely ATM behavior are our own estimate from experience, not an official figure.
How we checkHow every guide is researched, checked and dated
More money guides in Asia
If you are also weighing up nearby destinations, each guide covers cards, cash, ATMs and the fees to expect.
Going deeper on Vietnam
The money questions people ask on the ground.
Short, focused answers to the specific things that catch first-timers out in Vietnam.
- Do I need cash in Vietnam, or can I use cards?Short answer: cards for hotels and larger purchases, and dong cash for daily life. One quirk to watch: the dong has a lot of zeros, so notes are easy to mix up. Here is how to handle it.
- Tipping in VietnamVietnam has a light tipping culture: not required, but increasingly appreciated in tourist areas. Round up at restaurants, tip guides and spa staff a little, and use small dong notes. Here is what you actually owe.
- Which taxi app to use in Vietnam, and the airport scam to skipThe honest answer is that installing one app before you land makes most of the risk disappear. Here is the app to use, the fake-taxi trick to know, and how to get from the airport into town without the tourist markup.
- Common money scams in Vietnam, and what they cost youVietnam is a wonderful and largely trouble-free trip, and the scams that target tourists are mostly small-value money hustles, not danger: overcharging, sleight of hand and a few transport tricks. They rely on confusion, and a few habits defuse nearly all of them. Here is each one and how to avoid it.
- How do US citizens get a Vietnam e-visa?Short answer: online, on one official government site, before you travel. US citizens need a visa for Vietnam, the e-visa is the easy route, but search results are full of middlemen charging well above the real fee. Here is the official site and the real cost.
- Staying connected in Vietnam.Vietnam has better mobile coverage than most of Europe and charges almost nothing for it. The local SIM is the answer here, and the only real friction is that registration is properly enforced.
- What does getting sick in Vietnam cost a visitor?Vietnam's honest medical geography has three tiers: the international clinics of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for the everyday, local hospitals that stabilise, and then the region's hubs. Beyond the first tier, the serious case is treated in Bangkok or Singapore, so the bill that matters is the flight.
This is how Vietnam stands today.
Money rules move. We can let you know for free if that changes.