$20 vs $200 in the World’s Cheapest Country! 🇻🇳 Vietnam

Cost of Living in Vietnam - $20 vs $200 in the World’s Cheapest Country! 🇻🇳

Let’s talk money. But not in the boring, accountant-meets-spreadsheet way. I’m talking real-world, in-your-face, crispy-Vietnamese-dong-on-the-table kind of talk. What can $20 get you in Vietnam? Better yet… what happens when you blow ten times that amount in the same day? Well, welcome to Hanoi—a city where street food slaps, motorbikes rule the roads, and the cost of living makes you do a double take like, “Wait, this pho is HOW much?!” I spent 24 hours testing two very different travel budgets. One day I played broke backpacker. The next, I splurged like I’d just sold a tech startup. And let me tell you—both days were epic in their own right. Get my free travel tips and hacks guide here https://paradiseadventures.live/southeast-asia-travel-tips-and-hacks-free-guide/ The $20 Challenge: Can You Survive in Hanoi? Spoiler alert: You can. And you’ll probably eat better than you do back home. This is the side of the Vietnam travel guide that doesn’t always make the Instagram grid. It’s raw. It’s gritty. It’s got flavor for days. Morning: Budget Coffee & Banh Mi Bliss I started the day with a local staple: Vietnamese egg coffee. It cost me 25,000 VND (a little over $1). It looked like a dessert. It tasted like a miracle. Then I found a street vendor serving banh mi that had more crunch than a bag of chips. Price? 20,000 VND. My wallet was still practically full. My stomach? Not so much. Midday: Culture Without the Cost What’s cooler than exploring a UNESCO World Heritage site? Doing it for the price of a bottled water. The Temple of Literature and Hoan Kiem Lake offer solid doses of history and serenity for just a few bucks—or free, depending on where you go. Afternoon: Street Market Safari Wandering through Xuan Market was like entering a parallel universe. It’s chaotic in the best way. I grabbed a bowl of bun cha—a smoky grilled pork noodle dish—for 40,000 VND. It was like my taste buds got a hug from the streets of Hanoi. Even after a coffee, a banh mi, temple hopping, and a full lunch, I was barely at the halfway point of my $20 budget in Hanoi. Evening: Dinner With Plastic Chairs and Michelin Dreams Dinner was served on a plastic stool in an alley where grandmas rule the kitchens and the food is no joke. Pho bo—beef noodle soup—cost me 35,000 VND. That’s like... $1.40. Add in another iced coffee and a brew for 25,000 VND and I STILL had change left. End result? A full day of eating, exploring, and caffeinating... all for less than the price of a round of drinks back home. Now Let’s Talk $200 in Hanoi. Boujee Mode: Activated. Okay, now imagine I woke up and said, “Today, I’m going to live like royalty.” Would $200 even be enough? (Yes, my dear travel-loving friend, it’s more than enough.) Cost: around 1,000,000 VND (~$40). Worth it? Every VND. Add a couple of cocktails (I was feeling myself), and I dropped around $60 here. No regrets. It takes a lot of coffee to make a travel vlog: You can buy me a coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ParadiseAdvntr Book your Vietnam accommodation through trusted providers here: Booking .com = https://booking.tp.st/ZjeV6SG5 Agoda = https://agoda.tp.st/LKGhCniM Hostelworld = https://hostelworld.tp.st/yznTwSKe Get SafetyWing Digital Nomad Travel Insurance = https://paradiseadventures.live/safetywingsyt Book your Vietnam Adventures and Tours here: Get Your Guide = https://paradiseadventures.live/gygyt Klook = https://paradiseadventures.live/klookyt (Use code PARADISEADVENTURESKLOOK to get up to 10% off) Wise Low Fee Travel Account and Credit Card = https://paradiseadventures.live/wiseyt Paradise Adventures haun here - your adventure-seeking, camera-wielding, drone-flying guide at Paradise Adventures! Back in 2022, I took a leap of faith, trading routine for the open road, armed with nothing but a camera, a drone, and a hunger for discovery. Since then, I’ve been chasing hidden gems, stunning landscapes, and epic experiences across Southeast Asia. To me, this region is a goldmine of adventure—bursting with rich culture, incredible people, mouthwatering food, and stories waiting to be told. And that’s exactly what I’m here to share with you. So, grab your sense of adventure, hit that subscribe button, and let’s dive headfirst into the magic of Southeast Asia—one epic journey at a time! 🚀 For more check out https://paradiseadventures.live/ Follow us however you want to: https://www.instagram.com/paradiseadventures.live https://www.tiktok.com/@paradiseadventures.live https://www.facebook.com/ParadiseAdventures.live https://twitter.com/ParadiseAdventr Video Vietnam Travel Vlog by Shaun from Paradise Adventures #vietnam #tavelvlog #costofliving #travel #southeastasia