The fixed costs, in rupees
| Cost | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| E-visa, single entry | 25 USD, about ₹2,400 | Rate of 24 September 2026 |
| E-visa, multiple entry | 50 USD, about ₹4,800 | Worth it if you cross into Cambodia or Laos and return |
| TCS on a tour package | 2% | From 1 April 2026; claimable against income tax |
| Foreign cash you may carry | Up to USD 3,000 per trip | RBI rule; the rest on a forex card |
| Indian notes you may carry | Up to ₹25,000 | Hard to change in Vietnam anyway |
Why this page has no daily number
You will find confident per-day figures for Vietnam all over the internet, many of them years old. A stale number is worse than none, because you plan around it and then find yourself wrong in one direction. Every figure on this site has a source, and no source publishes a reliable, current daily spend for a country with this much variation. So this page gives the costs that are fixed, and the structure that decides the rest.
Flights: the line that moves most
From India, the flight is often the largest single line, and it moves more than anything else: by city, by season, by how early you book and by which of the roughly 80 weekly direct flights you choose. India and Vietnam agreed in September 2026 to more than double the seats airlines may offer on the route, so check several airlines for your dates. Who flies from where is in flights from India to Vietnam.
TCS: the tax that comes back
Tax Collected at Source is the line on a package invoice worth understanding. From 1 April 2026, the Union Budget set it at 2% on overseas tour packages, down from the earlier 5% and 20%. The operator adds it to your invoice, and it appears against your PAN, so you claim it back when you file your income tax return. It affects your cash flow before the trip, not the final cost.
Travel you book piece by piece is treated differently from a package. If your foreign spending in a financial year is large, ask your bank how its forex products are taxed before you pay.
The four things that move the rest
- How often you change region. Vietnam is 1,650 kilometres long. Two bases with day trips cost less than five stops.
- How you cross the country. A night bus or a sleeper train is transport and a bed in one; a domestic flight saves time and usually costs more.
- Where you eat. Street food and places with prices on the wall cost less than hotel restaurants, and a marked price is one you do not have to negotiate.
- When you go. Around Tet, the lunar new year, Vietnamese families travel home, trains and buses fill early and many small businesses close for days.
The longer version, with a tool for reading Vietnamese prices, is in what a trip to Vietnam costs, and turning dong into rupees at a glance is in Vietnamese dong to rupees.
One cost to settle before you fly
Data. Roaming charges depend on your Indian plan, and a Vietnamese SIM from an airport counter can mean a queue on arrival. A prepaid eSIM is installed in India before you leave and works when you land; the plans are in the Vietnam eSIM store, and the visa itself is in Vietnam visa for Indians.
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