Vietnam independent travel guide 12-day tour (food, accommodation and transportation cost guide)

Vietnam is our neighbor to the south. Vietnamese culture has been deeply baptized by Chinese civilization. The living and eating habits of the people of the two countries have many similarities. In modern times, Vietnam was colonized by the West, so the writing and language have changed. Therefore, Vietnam is both strange and familiar to us. Let me share with you the detailed guide for a 12-day trip to Vietnam.

I went to Vietnam at the end of March and the beginning of April. The two of us spent 12 days and visited several cities from north to south. This is Cha Cha’s first time abroad, and he chose Vietnam because Vietnam is a visa-on-arrival for China. The visa is easy to apply for. It is also very close to us, and air tickets and other expenses are relatively cheap.

Okay, let’s start writing the strategy. There are not many pictures, so I won’t put too many pictures of beautiful scenery. There will be many in my feed. I only talk about strategy stuff here. There is a lot of text. If you can’t finish it at once, you can save it first.

Our itinerary is: Guangzhou - Hanoi - Da Nang - Nha Trang - Dalat - Ho Chi Minh City - Guangzhou

Cost and price:

Vietnam requires a visa on arrival, but we asked someone to apply for the visa in advance on a certain website. It is very convenient. You can take a passport photo and give it to him, and he will send it to you after the application is completed. 240 per person, so the visa is 480.

Transportation:

The flight from Guangzhou to Hanoi, Vietnam, is the low-cost airline Jetstar Airways. It is very cheap to book more than a month in advance, including tax, 180 per person; fly back from Ho Chi Minh City In Guangzhou, I didn’t book too far in advance so it was a lot more expensive, 400 per person including tax.

You can basically fly between cities in Vietnam, and some can also take buses. Flying from Hanoi to Da Nang including tax is 190 per person; taking a bus from Da Nang to Nha Trang is 70 per person; taking a minibus from Nha Trang to Dalat is 60 per person; taking a flight from Dalat to Ho Chi Minh City is 130 per person.

Personally, I feel that air tickets between cities in Vietnam are quite cheap, only one or two hundred yuan without booking in advance. In addition, for transportation, you can take bus or train. Starting from Guangxi, I don’t know the specific price.

We are two people, so the general transportation is: 180x2+400x2+190x2+70x2+60x2+130x2=2060

Take two pictures to see our ticket prices, basically They are all quite cheap. The prices in the screenshots are all for two people:

Then there is another big item which is accommodation. We basically stay at about 150 for accommodation. Let’s calculate it based on the average price of 150. There are some in the text. The specific price of the hotel where you have stayed will be given.

So the total accommodation is: 2 nights in Hanoi + 3 nights in Da Nang + 1 night in Nha Trang + 3 nights in Dalat + 1 night in Ho Chi Minh City = 10 nights x 150 = 1500.

Take a screenshot of our hotel order, this is the price for two nights in Hanoi:

Transportation in each city in Vietnam is not much, because the city is very small, you can basically walk, or Renting a motorcycle is not expensive if you need to take a taxi when you go to the airport.

I rented motorcycles in Da Nang, Nha Trang and Dalat. The two of them rode one ***, one car cost about 40 per day including gas, and the prices were similar. It cost one *** to rent a motorcycle. It’s 200 for 5 days. Counting several taxi rides, it’s almost 200, so the total cost of urban transportation is: 20200=400.

Then there is the cost of eating every day. Food prices in Vietnam may be slightly cheaper than in China, but they are not very cheap. We usually eat street snacks, spring rolls, rice noodles, etc., and occasionally have big meals. , such as seafood and barbecue, so the average day for two people is 150. Sometimes the hotel will include breakfast. The day of arrival and the day of departure are counted as one day, which is 11 days. So the total meal is: 150x11=1650 .

For other fun activities and ticket shopping, the two of them spent a total of almost 1,000.

So, the total cost is 48206150401651000=7090. This is the price for two people. On average, it is 3500 per person.

The next step is to talk about the itinerary, by city, not day by day.

Hanoi

Because the air ticket is cheap enough, this is a red-eye flight of a low-cost airline. The flight takes place at about three in the morning and arrives in Hanoi at about four in the morning. Vietnam time is one hour behind us. Hours, four o'clock there is equivalent to 5 o'clock in our country, so it actually takes two hours to fly.

After arriving, we took an Uber to the hotel. I want to say here that it is best to download the international version of Uber in advance to register. We met two girls who were on the same flight as us because they did not register in advance. After registering, I couldn’t register when I went abroad, so I couldn’t use Uber, so I had to carpool with us later.

When we arrived at the hotel, we couldn't check in because it was still very early. We paid an extra 30 yuan to check in early. Apart from this, this hotel is not bad. It's called Hanoi 3B B&B, and it costs 130 yuan a night. At night, the employees are very nice and polite. They will open the door for you when you come in and out, nod and say hello when you meet, and they are always very comfortable. Breakfast for two is also included. The breakfast is buffet, and there are bread, fruit, fried noodles, drinks and coffee. You can order freshly made omelets, pancakes, rice noodles, etc. from the kitchen. They are all free and taste good. Highly recommended.

In Hanoi, we went to Hoan Kiem Lake, museums, Ba Dinh Square, Imperial City, Cathedral, Train Street and other places, which are all relatively famous attractions. The rest of the time was spent shopping at 36 Hang Street and eating. As for snacks, Hanoi is relatively small and many places can be reached on foot. We basically walked to these places. Post a few pictures here.

The food we ate in Hanoi was pretty good. We didn’t look for specific guides. Most of the time we just wandered into a random shop. The Pho here was delicious, and the spring rolls and coffee were both good. !The best thing is to walk more and eat in restaurants with fewer tourists and more locals. Because Hanoi is close to Guangxi, the taste is the most suitable for us. The farther south they go, the sweeter their taste becomes.

The most impressive thing about Hanoi is that as the capital of Vietnam, this city is quite rundown. There are no high-rise buildings. People’s lives are very comfortable. At night, there are many local and international people on the street. Young people sit and drink drinks and beer. Most of them sit on the street and drink. We also drink. A cup of beer costs about five yuan. If you sit on the street with a plastic stool, you can sit there all night and chat. People were coming and going, and it was very peaceful and comfortable. We just spent three yuan to sit here for a night!

Many Chinese tourists like to go to beautiful cities like Nha Trang, Mui Ne, and Dalat, but check I checked out Hanoi and felt that Hanoi is my favorite city in Vietnam. It may not have so many beautiful scenery, but it has a lazy temperament, which appeals to me.

Da Nang

In Da Nang, we first stayed at an inn run by Chinese people. Because we thought the front desk could speak Chinese and could communicate easily, we stayed for one night, but the room was too dirty. , there were hairs on the bed, and the room was damp. It was like a rental house in an urban village in Guangzhou. It didn’t include breakfast. I moved to another hotel the next day. Although it didn’t include breakfast, the price was cheap. It was only 100 per night. The room was also clean. But this hotel can be a bit noisy at night, with many foreigners drinking and chatting in the lobby downstairs, so I don’t recommend it.

Let’s talk about the choice of accommodation here. Except for the hotel run by domestic people that we just mentioned, which was booked on the official account, we basically used the booking software to book the others, and the bookings were basically the same. Those with a score of 9.0 or above. According to our experience, anything with a score of more than 9.0 is not bad.

Then if you want to have fun in Da Nang, you need to rent a motorcycle, but the prerequisite is that you must be able to ride and pay attention to safety, because Vietnam’s motorcycle army is also famous. If there is an accident abroad, It will be more troublesome. We rented motorcycles in Da Nang for two days and rode along the coastline for both days. Because the coastline here is particularly beautiful, riding a motorcycle to stop and go is the best choice.

You can’t get to many beautiful places by taking a bus or signing up for a local tour group. If you don’t know how to ride a motorcycle, you can ask the locals to take them with you on a motorcycle. We saw a lot of them along the way. Foreigners should ask local motorcycle drivers to bring them, which will be safer. However, I have not learned about the cost. Generally, they will know if they ask the hotel staff.

Most of the things to do in Da Nang are along the coastline, which can be reached by motorcycle. Then we took a taxi to Hoi An in the last half day of Da Nang. Hoi An is a relatively small ancient city famous for its lanterns and Ao Dai is famous. If you have been to Dayan Ancient Town in Lijiang, you don’t think it is necessary to go here. You have to buy tickets there. It’s more than 30 per person. We had more time to stop by and take a bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang. .

When we eat in Da Nang, we basically eat seafood or food stalls. If we look for restaurants with high ratings and reasonable prices on TripAdvisor, there is basically no problem.

Nha Trang

We took the bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang. It left at 6pm and arrived at 5am the next day. It was a sleeper bus, so you could sleep. Buses in Vietnam are very developed. There are several well-known companies such as New Coffee, Han Coffee, Futa, etc. You can book tickets at any one, or you can ask the hotel to book it for you. The sleepers are quite comfortable and they also provide you with washed ones. Small blankets, that is, they have to stop four or five times a night. In a Buddhist life, you should not be too tired or in a hurry.

To be honest, I personally don’t like Nha Trang very much. You can dive in Nha Trang, the sea water is very blue, and there are many things to do, but there are too many tourists. We passed many scenic spots but did not go. Because I lost interest when I saw a bunch of tourists, but the good thing is that because there are many Chinese tourists, many Vietnamese there can speak Chinese.

However, the prices are relatively high. I read many guides before saying that seafood here is cheap, but we went to have a meal, which cost nearly 400 for two people. It was not delicious. Maybe the restaurant we were looking for was not good enough. Well, I was tired that day and looked for something close to my home. It seemed like I had to find a restaurant with a high score to eat. Then I also ate at a tile barbecue restaurant. Many Chinese tourists would go there to eat. The boss and waiters all spoke Chinese. On a certain group You can buy it directly through group buying, it’s quite cost-effective and the taste is okay.

In Nha Trang, we went for mud baths and massages, etc. The prices were not expensive. The mud bath plus water park cost less than 100 per person, and you could soak for 20 minutes. In fact, I didn’t particularly like it. The beauty effects are all gimmicks. What can be achieved by soaking for 20 minutes? After soaking, your body will be slippery and cannot be washed off easily. Don't go here if you have mysophobia.

Personally, I feel that Nha Trang is suitable for a family vacation, bringing parents or children, because there is a lot to do here, and you can definitely find a good hotel to stay for a few days and have fun, but we are traveling on a budget. I don’t like the crowds either, so I don’t like it that much.

Then Nha Trang Hotel recommends a Happy Angel Hotel. The room environment is good. The boss is from Hong Kong and the landlady is Vietnamese. They can communicate in Chinese without any barriers. Over 100 yuan per night, breakfast is included. It is suitable for those with limited budget. Qiongyouer.

Da Lat

We asked the hotel owner in Nha Trang to help us book a minibus to Dalat, which is about four or five hours away. Dalat is also a city I like very much. It is a small mountain town. The houses there are very beautiful. There is a crazy house which is very fun. Girls should like to go there because it is very nice to take pictures. The ticket costs about 14 yuan per person. Dalat is a bit more bourgeois. , cafes are everywhere, and it’s very comfortable to walk around every day. You can also take a small train (the most expensive seat is more than 40 yuan per person), visit the pink church, etc. I won’t go into details here because the place is very small. Check the attractions online and find that you can walk there with your feet.

By the way, the strawberries in Dalat are super delicious. Many strawberry sellers in the market will add some salt, sugar, and chili and mix them together. They are very delicious. The strawberry flavor is very strong. It should not be They were sprayed with pesticides and so on, because the shape didn’t look very good, and they didn’t look very good, but they tasted really good, and now I still drool when I think about it.

Vietnam’s fruits, such as strawberries and custard apples, are relatively cheap and very sweet. The juice is also very sweet, so you can eat them to your heart’s content there.

For dinner, look for it on the review software. You can’t go wrong with the ones with high ratings. However, Dalat is south of Dalat and the taste is sweet. In fact, I don’t have the habit of eating it.

For accommodation in Dalat, we recommend a B&B called Rainbow B&B. It is run by the locals. It is a small three-story self-built house. The owner and his family live in it. The house is beautiful and has a balcony. The balcony is full of flowers. The view is good, the furniture inside is usable, and the owner is very nice and talkative. If you like to experience the local B&B, you can try it, it costs less than 200 per night.

It is not recommended to rent a motorcycle in Dalat. Dalat is a mountain city with many slopes, many small roads, and many cars. It is very difficult to walk and it is easy to bump into other cars.

Ho Chi Minh City

I actually didn’t go shopping in Ho Chi Minh City because I had diarrhea in the last two days. I ate a lot of barbecue in Dalat the day before, and the food I ate before was not very appetizing. So after having a delicious barbecue meal, I ate all the meat. Maybe some of it was undercooked and caused diarrhea. I went to bed when I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and didn't even visit the pink church one kilometer next to it. However, I can recommend a hotel here. This is an apartment hotel called BABILON. The price is less than 200 a night. We got off the plane and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 9 am, but they also let us check in for free and delayed check-out until 5 pm the next day. There is an extra charge, which is pretty good, but there is no one to care about you. There is only one person at the front desk to check you in. Everything else is self-service. There are beds, sofas, microwaves, induction cookers, refrigerators, washing machines, and pots and pans. You can buy things and cook them back. , very convenient.

The above are some of the situations in the cities we have been to. Finally, let’s talk a little more about withdrawing money. We did not change money in advance. We all went to ATMs in Vietnam to withdraw money, and there was UnionPay on it. You can withdraw Vietnamese dong from any of them. If you can't withdraw it, you can use an ATM machine. There will be a handling fee, but this is very convenient. You can also swipe your credit card for accommodation or other things.

When withdrawing money, don’t withdraw too much at once. Vietnamese dong can easily cost tens of thousands. Sometimes it takes a long time to count the money before you know it clearly, so it is better to withdraw a little at a time and then withdraw it when it is almost used up.