It's 10pm and you've just landed in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. You blitz through the airport and in no time your on the street hunting down one of the safer taxis that whisk you off into the city - the adventure begins!
This is a quick trip report of my trip to vietnam with a 'bargain' focus. People here respond to price so ill just list out rough spendings on various things. As a general rule I found we spent more money in situations where we were lazy and wandered into tourist traps so planning and hunting down reviewed watering holes/eateries saved us particularly around some of the major sights.
Getting there:
Airasiax return flights to KL on sale: $300
Vietnam airlines (Saigon, Hoi An, Hanoi): $200ish
Vietjet (Bangkok) : $50
Airasia (Back to KL): $60
All up around $600 for four major locations (we did spend a day in KL but I wont count that).
To from the airport
Saigon: Take a taxi by Vinasun and use the meter. They give you a recipt here becuase of the amount of taxi scams that take place. $8 to district 1
Hoi An: Orgainse a set fare to get you from Danang to Hoi An (about 30km away). Dont use the meter here until youre at your destination for short trips. $15
Hanoi: It was a $17 transfer orgainsed by our hotel to the airport but we went straight to Halong bay from the airpoty when we got there so can't comment.
Sleeping and Breakfasts
Depending on what comfort level you want you can spend anywhere from $4 to $200. We did a bit of a mix and went for the better reviewed hotels (which naturally were a bit more expensive). No regrets though as all our accommodation was fantastic.
HCM:
We stayed a street away from the backpacker street (bien vu?) in the AVA 2 hotel. Lovely staff and great rooms. I booked on expedia for 5 nights and found a $20 off over 100 spend so ended up being $80 for the 5 nights in a deluxe room with breakfast, wifi, free landline skype calls and laundry.
$16pn
Hoi an:
We splashed out a bit on this one. Essence hotel and spa at $65 pn for the basic room (which we were then upgraded) with breakfast, wifi and bike rental all thrown in. Best service in all of vietnam, staff were great. If I did Hoi An again I would go for a cheaper hotel as we were out and about too much to take advantage of the hotel.
$65pn
Hanoi:
We hadnt booked our hotel so upon returning from Halong bay we asked to be dropped in old town (at the suggestion of some fellow boat people). Went in a few hotels and managed to bargain down a $45 suite to $30 which we were pretty happy with being so tired. A1 Hanoi it was called I think. Basic accommodation but lovely staff as usual, staff even tracked down a lost mobile phone in a taxi for us like eager detectives.
$30pn
Bangkok:
We splashed out a bit again in our last destination. Id signed up to the GHA Platinum on here a while ago and found a 40% off flash sale for this hotel. Anantara Sathron Bangkok. It was something like $60pn, but we received a double upgrade a cake, and towels in the shape of swans. (because it was our honeymoon, wink wink wink). Stunning view and massive apartment. Location, although central, required travelling even to eat at small eateries so probably didnt suit our usual style of wandering out of the hotel to find some grub.
$60pn
Beer
A special topic for a beverage close to my heart (and liver). Just a collection of prices we paid for various local drinks. Depending on where you are the local beer is either Saigon (a basic lager), 333 or Hue. All fine. Tiger and Singhas also cheap. They are big on their belgium beers in the fancier places but as they are imported dont expect them to be cheap either ($5 to $10 depending).
HCM:
$1 on the street in most places for a 500ml saigon. 50cents for a 'fresh' beer which is homebrew (safer than drinking tap water!). Most expensive we paid was $3 in a cafe near the bizco tower but the staff spoke great english and was able to play tour guide for us so worth every penny.
Hoi an:
$1-2 a beer in most places. River front was a bit hit or miss.
25c street beer was a highlight for me; I dont remember where that was (cough cough)
Halong bay cruise:
$2 a beer. No complaints.
Hanoi:
50c - $1 beer. Fresh beer 25c.
Bangkok:
$1-6 a beer depending where you were.
Halong bay cruise
I think this deserves its own category because it was a tough decision for me as someone who likes to find the best value option. There are basically two categories of Halong bay cruises.
Cheap halong bay tours and Luxury halong bay tours. The cheap ones you can buy in one of the many tourist shops littered around Hanoi where as the luxury ones fill up and you really need to pre book.
The price difference is massive, about $70 for the cheapie on a 2night cruise and about $270 for the luxury. There isnt much room for haggling on the luxury either as they sell out almost every trip in the high season. We were lucky to get the last spot on one of the luxury Indochina Junks and it was absolutely spectacular. Managed to negotiate $10 off the price due to our late booking but wouldnt recommend waiting for such a puny discount. 7 course meals, stunning scenery, private port (away from the cheap tours), private dinner in a motherfucking cave!. Stunning.
$300pp with two way private transfer
i love a good "bagain"!