Cost of living in Da Nang

So, are you curious how much it cost to live in Da Nang, Vietnam?

Well, stick around. I'll tell you how much I spent the first month living here in this beautiful city.

Vietnam is becoming an attractive destination to live in for many ex-pats, digital nomads and retired people. The low cost of living, incredible culture and weather attract more and more people to come and live here.

But what exactly can you get and for how much to live comfortably here? I’m Mexican and I’ve been living in Vietnam for over a year. I was living in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam but very recently my husband and I decided to move to Central Vietnam.

Why? Because it’s a little bit cheaper than Hanoi among other reasons.

If you want to know those reasons, I made a video about that. Click here to watch the video and subscribe if you like this channel.

After making that video, some people on Instagram asked me how much it cost to live in Da Nang specifically because the city looks really beautiful. They told me they are looking for a place to live in the future or just out of curiosity.

Considering that Da Nang is a very touristy city with a large beach, it’s normal to think that cost of living could be expensive.

Well, I’ve been living in Da Nang for a month and I’ve registered everything we spent on. I’m going to break down our expenses with you guys here.

Please consider the prices I’m going to mention are for 2 people.

Rent

Rent is definitely our biggest expense, so I'll start with this. We found a cosy apartment by the beach for $ 300. Renting an apartment in Vietnam always includes water and the internet bill. It wasn't difficult at all to find an apartment of this price and I’ve seen on some facebook groups that you can even find a cheaper apartment or a studio.

There are a lot of empty and beautiful apartments so I guess it depends on your needs. You can find more expensive ones of course but they will be super beautiful and big. Consider you have to pay a 1-month deposit of course as well.

This doesn’t include the electricity bill. This could be very expensive as it’s very hot in here and we have to have the AC on sometimes. We try to avoid using it but still, we have it on for about 4 hours per day and we paid 1 million last month.

Groceries

This point could be as cheap as you want or as expensive as you want. We are used to going to the market to buy all the vegetables, fruit and chicken. This month we ended up paying around 50 dollars for all the essentials but we cook quite a lot at home and we eat a lot.

We also go to the supermarket. We spent 160 dollars at the supermarket last month and that was because there are things that you can’t definitely get at the market. I also love buying oats and that’s my guilty pleasure because here in Vietnam it’s very expensive, 500 gr of oats cost around 4 dollars.

Milk could also be expensive. The cost of 1 litre of milk is around 2 dollars. Milk is not included in our groceries but I know it’s essential for some people.

Also, you have to consider drinking water. We buy big bottles of water. Each one cost us 1.3 dollars so we spent 10.4 dollars last month.

Gym

I also paid for one month of GYM. I didn’t finish my month because of the lockdown but that cost me 13 dollars a month. I have to say it is not a fancy GYM. Actually, the machines are outside on the street and there aren’t AC’s but that’s what’s so exciting about living near the beach right?

Coffe shops and Bars

We were actually going out quite a lot because it was our first month in Da Nang and we were excited about going everywhere so we went to restaurants, cafes, bars and we spent I’d say more than normal. Let me break it down:

A black coffee here costs 1 dollar on average.
A western breakfast cost 4.34 dollars.

If you want a Vietnamese breakfast, it costs around 1 dollar. For all the coffees and breakfast we spent around 38 dollars. We also had lunch at restaurants. We were trying all those amazing places so we spent around 80 dollars for the whole month. This amount includes restaurants on the streets and also fancy restaurants. Of course, you can find a meal for a dollar but if you want the delicious and culinary food that Da Nang offers, you’ll pay much more.

A beer costs .87. We had some beers of course and we probably spent 20 dollars in total last month. We didn’t drink too much.

We also went to this amazing night market here in Da Nang where you can find tasty and cheap seafood. We went with some friends and paid 40 dollars between 4 people but we ate quite a lot. So that means we spent 20 dollars including beers.

Holidays

We had some holidays in the historic city of Hoi An. It’s a city that's 30 minutes by bike from Da Nang and it’s one of the most touristy places in Vietnam. It’s picturesque and its historic buildings place this ancient city in one of the most Instagram-able places in Vietnam.

Just 3km north of Hoi An, there’s an incredible beach that has become my favourite: An Bang beach. There, you’ll find hippie bars, restaurants with fresh and tasty food, loads of homestays and fancy hotels in a very quiet atmosphere. Staying at the beach and visiting Hoi An is a good plan for a relaxing visit to the area.

So we spent two weekends there just eating and relaxing. We paid 20 dollars for 2 people staying in hostels but for 2 days we changed to a hotel and we paid 35 dollars per night.

Almost always hostels and hotels include breakfast so we just had to worry about our lunch and dinner. Eating out in a touristy area could be as expensive as you want or as cheap as you like and both options are really great.

We ate in a local restaurant that we found with amazing food. The food there cost around 3 dollars for each plate. We also ate in a fancy restaurant and the prices per dish are around 8-10 per dish.

We spent 240 dollars for 5 days in total. Including food and accommodation.

Once you’re in the country you might want a bike because it’s very cheap and easy to move around. If you want to rent a bike, that’d cost around 40 dollars a month. If your plan is to buy one, that won’t be a problem at all. There are second-hand bikes for sale and groups on Facebook that are offering bikes as well. It depends on your taste but we paid for our bike around 350 dollars.

This is just advice for you. If you’re planning to travel around Vietnam, I’d definitely recommend trying the train. I tried to move from Hanoi to Da Nang and I was very surprised. First of all, we didn’t pay extra money for our luggage and secondly, it’s really comfortable and beautiful to travel having your own bed.

If you are here, you might also want a massage. The famous massages here in Vietnam. Of course, I’ve had them quite a lot of times and they’re great. The prices depend on what part of your body you’d like to be massaged. Last month we paid 20 dollars each to have a full body massage. But you can have a foot massage for 4 dollars.

Finally, insurance. I’ve got to be honest with this. This is not included in our expenses because we don’t have insurance right now. We quoted one though, and they say they can provide it for 1500 dollars, the cheapest option. I also want to say the medical service here is quite good. I went to the dentist twice and I was totally satisfied. I have to say that It was even cheaper than Mexico. They removed a wisdom tooth and I paid around 8 dollars for that. They spoke very well English as well (more than me).

Now, if you’re looking for living here, you may consider the cost per VISA.

Before July, people were able to have a tourist VISA for 3 months paying only 25 USD. There’s a new rule now. If you want to visit Vietnam, you can only have your VISA for a month paying the same amount of money. Currently, this rule is paused though because borders are closed and we don’t know when they are going to be opened again.

Also, a retirement VISA doesn’t exist yet here. I think there aren’t good options for the moment now.

Well. I think that's it. I’ve made different videos talking about the cost of living in Vietnam. I’ve made videos about what you can do for 10 dollars in one day in Hanoi and I made one video about what you can get for a dollar going to the market.