Is it possible to live in Da Nang on $500/month?

It all depends on how you want to live. I'm sure there are some locals who get by on $500 a month but I think it would be pretty tight...and I do not live extravagantly by any stretch of the imagination. However, I live in Ho Chi Minh City. I don't know what the prices are like in Da Nang but I suspect they may be higher, not lower.

vietexplorer wrote:

I don't mind living modestly. Some forum members say it's possible to find accommodation under $200, so it looks like living on $500/month is viable. What do you think?

Almost everything is viable in almost every country.  Even in the city of Alhambra where you live, $500/month is viable if your bed is a sleeping bag on the floor in someone's room, if you eat Ramen noodles at $1.99 for 6 packs, if you walk or take the bus, and if you don't do anything that costs money.

The point is, why would you want to leave your home country where the hourly minimum wage is more than what many people make in one or two days here, just so you can live for under $500/month?

But, if you insist to pay the equivalence of more than your monthly budget for airline ticket to come here, then the answer is yes, it's certainly viable. 

There are adverts on this site showing room in someone's house for $200.  If you grab one of those, you'll have $10 left each day to pay for electricity, SIM card, transportation, food, drink of some sort (tap water is not potable), personal hygiene supplies, hair cut, health care, currency exchange fee, Visa run/Visa renewal, etc and etc.

You're young (I'm pretty sure you must be), you probably don't mind going without soap for a few days after walking under the 95°F sun.  LIfe can be a great adventure when trivial things are ignored, so go East, young man, but make sure you have enough money for a return ticket when your dream life becomes not so dreamy.

BTW, Drutter mentioned that some locals get by for $500.  Actually, many locals do because $500 is a lot more than what an unskilled worker makes in one month here.  The difference is that the locals live in the same house with their parents, siblings, or other relatives where Western standard of privacy doesn't exist.  They also may not have to contribute to the household expenses, or only a small amount each month.  They don't have to buy their own grocery, laundry detergent, and various other daily necessities.  Their health care is covered by their jobs, and they don't even have to pay rent.

vietexplorer wrote:

I don't mind living modestly. Some forum members say it's possible to find accommodation under $200, so it looks like living on $500/month is viable. What do you think?

Sleeping in a hostel dormitory is likely the way it would work.

If you are serious about this, I highly recommend that you learn how to use search engines for lodging over here, even if it's just Google Maps, and then the online currency converters, which Google will do for you pretty easily if you just search how much a dollar is in Vietnamese dong.

Google search "1 USD to VND"

I don't know this place, but it is well-rated and lists today at ₫120,000, which is currently $5.17:

Starfish Alley Hostel
5 Mỹ Đa Đông 12
Bắc Mỹ An
Ngũ Hành Sơn
Đà Nẵng 550000
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3wTR1

I'll let you multiply that by 30 to get the monthly rate.

Hotel/Hostel rates can change without notice. So can currency exchange rates.

If you can pay for one month up front, you might get a slightly lower rate.

Also, search for places where some breakfast is included and compare the cost with places that don't include it.

If you live on bread and fresh fruits & vegetables from a local market, your meal costs can be $2 to $3 a day, but you'll probably spend closer to $4 or $5 by eating inexpensive rice or noodle meals.

Just stay away from places other foreigners use, as the prices there will be double what you pay in a local neighborhood.

Motorbike taxi (Grab) services are pretty cheap.

Wifi is everywhere and will keep your phone data costs down.

Get injured one time in traffic, or get sick and require hospitalization and you are toast.

What @Ciambella said about air fare home is great advice.

Oh, and draft beer in a sidewalk "cafe" runs between $0.13 cents and $0.22 cents a glass.

The short answer is YES you can. I was in VN twice: Once in Da Nanang I had a $10 hotel including breakfast, power, water and WiFi. Which means, if you do the same you will have $200 left that's about $6 a day which could be enough for food - but really frugal. The second time I had a paid the equivalent of $250 per month in Bien Hoa near Ho Chi Minh (some hotel have a monthly option which is cheaper, but here I had to pay power - can't remember how much but not too much).
I am not gonna question WHY you would do that...It all depends on circumstances. Some people have online or remote jobs and prefer to work from a location where living costs are cheaper than their cities.

BUT ..BUT....

1) Make sure that, as some have mentioned before you have a good plan and stick to it including a return ticket.

2) Make sure this is a self-imposed/voluntary frugality, in other words if $500 per month is all you can afford, it will be hard especially if something goes wrong like if you have to consult a doctor or something along those lines. Like if you are retired and $500 a month is all you have, then it would be close to IMPOSSIBLE to make it.

3) Tied to 2 above, I would say that $500 would be just for accommodation and food, just the basics: no parties, NO GIRLS, no tourist stuff...nothing at all - and unless you are as disciplined/self-controlled as an ancient Greek stoic, I bet it will be hard for many of us to keep to that and resist the `temptations`.

Having said that, if you are an adventurous person and a risk taker don't listen to us. Just get yourself on the plane and do it. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? You can always hack your way around. I don't know, maybe find even a cheaper accommodation in a hostel or a free one in exchange for your skills ( like teaching English) or find a job (again, there seems to be a demand for English teachers if you meet the requirements).....and if/when everything fails, there are always flights out of VN.

Good luck!

I think it's fine if you just have to pay less than 5 million VND for accommodation 

$500?    How many months?
After one month, you will feel great.
You compromised, so careful with your money, winner, in full honeymoon.

But at the end of two months, it will be much harder not easier. Remember this is a vry foreign country without a safety net for you. Your room has no kitchen. Eating out every day on red chairs, occasional splurge in the back of Circle K. You are missing food from home. Tired? You have to walk everywhere in the heat or rain, and you notice that no one else walks (except tourists). Meeting people but you can't join them without breaking your budget. You will feel so broke and sorry for yourself because even the ice cream cone at McDonalds is a luxury.

I say you need $700. Like $250 accommodation + $10/day simple food + visa + phone charges + Grab sometimes + pharmacy/household/clothing/misc. Maybe you won't spend it all, but you need a buffer or your sleep will suffer living on the edge. And also you want a $2000 reserve in the bank.

Not sure of your marital status, but if you marry a local, move in with the family, $500 a month and you can live pretty well as the average salary in VN is $300 a month.  When I was living with the VN family, it was very easy to spend less than $500 a month, but I had no rent bill.  However, you will have -0- privacy.  If you don't mind living in a fish bowl, you should be ok.

vietexplorer wrote:

I don't mind living modestly. Some forum members say it's possible to find accommodation under $200, so it looks like living on $500/month is viable. What do you think?

If you speak Vietnamese or do you want to live like Local and eat like a local, then it might be possible.

NO, it is not a good idea. It would cost at least $500 a year for a business visa, renewable every year. You'll have no medical insurance. Vietnamese that get sick need to have some money to pay doctors besides having medical insurance. Those without insurance or money are sent home...to die. You would have to pay for your own insurance plan for Vietnam since Foreign insurance plans are not accepted in Vietnam. You'll find a new additional need every month that was not in your budget. Food and daily accessories may cost about $10 a day; that's about $300 a month. Don't expect to have a girlfriend since they are not looking to finance and support a boyfriend. There is too much to consider and if you overlook something...your in trouble in a country that won't help you. I love living in Vietnam and what I share here is what I have encountered. You mentioned Da Nang as your considered home. Not a good option for someone with little money. Look for a small city or village and you'll find the rents and prices you have read about.  In the U.S. you have government hospitals for those without insurance. 99 cent stores for shopping and the possibility to get a section 8 government housing supplement to get cheap rent. You are better where you're at now. Come when you have a good retirement fund. Good luck!

AlexterBalexter wrote:

NO, it is not a good idea. It would cost at least $500 a year for a business visa, renewable every year.

The rest of your post was spot on, but that information about the business visa is incorrect.

Visa On Arrival agents charge whatever the market will pay.

Last I checked within the past 6 months, advertised rates were between $99 and $800 (not including the immigration stamping fee), although the website that listed the $99 price said they were temporarily unable to process business visas.

So mine (and two of my friends) ended up costing $199 for the Visa on Arrival letter and $135 for the Government stamping fee.

That's still $334 dollars, which would take a bite out of his budget.

I just want the casual reader to understand a bit more about visa fees.

IF he uses tourist visas, his costs would drop.

I don't know about the situation/prices in danang , I live in Ha Long for 5 years now and have a pretty big house for $200,-  in the centre of town , $300,- could be enough if you live local standards not tourist zones , everything depends on what you really need or want ,
Good luck , succes

To answer your question...
Yes it's “possible “ to live in vIetnam on $500 a month....along with many other places on the planet.

If that's your total budget.....unless your nearly dead,,,maybe you should focus on ways to increase that so your not spending the rest of your life living on the smell of an oil rag.

Hahaha yes , but the question was if it is possible , I think yes

A guy in Phan Rang, near the beach about 60k north of Mui Ne was in a guest house for $150 a month inc elec , TV & Internet.

He ate local food & drank Bia Hoi. 

He'd just wander around the beach front trying to shake off the DTs from the night before & contemplate a reasonably “respectable “ time to start back on the beer. 😆

His belly couldn't handle breakfast , didn't drink coffee either...just water & local cigarettes @ 50 cents a packet until mid arvo when he finally ate something.

He'd have easily lived on less than $500 a month.  His visa runs to Cambodia by bus would have been his main expense.  Actually...I think that's where he's ended up.   Before VN he was in Cambodia at Kep near the beach for $200 a month.   The vIsa is only $290 a year, Multi Entry and can be renewed without leaving the country.   

Since the Chinese casinos have taken over Sihanoukville, most of the Expats have done the “white flight” to Kampot & Kep ,,so those prices may start increasing.

So ...back to the OP,,there are many options in SE Asia to live for $500 a month.

As for Yogi......I'm an unusual species.   I rotate between countries in the region.  I keep a base in VN , but my Visa runs can last from a few weeks to a few months depending on the mood of the place I end up in.   

It costs much more to live that way ,,but I've heard there's NO pockets in a shroud. 😆

fredkaspers1964 wrote:

Hahaha yes , but the question was if it is possible , I think yes

In the title,  the OP asked whether it's possible.  Entering the thread, he said  "it looks like living on $500/month is viable."

Gobot, Yogi, and I replied the same way:  it's possible (it can be done), but it's not viable (no quality whatsoever in such life).

- "Only if you don't do anything that costs money."  (me)

- "You will feel so broke and sorry for yourself because even the ice cream cone at McDonald's is a luxury."  (Gobot, after drawing a darn good picture).

- "unless your nearly dead,,,maybe you should focus on ways to increase that so your not spending the rest of your life living on the smell of an oil rag."  (Yogi, forever blunt and forever spot-on)

I understand the cost of business visa's do vary. I would rather give a slight over estimate rather than under estimate. I agree tourist visa are cheaper but may be more expensive since renewals or out if country runs are costly. Business visa may be the least expensive.

A bit OT but I'm going to be shopping for a house/apartment to rent in Rạch Giá for September and I'm very curious about what to expect related to prices and commodities. This is not Saigon or a touristy city so prices should be good but I really, really want A/C. I'm getting old and need my comfort  I might have to try to look for a "luxury" place if I want A/C, but hoping I can get away with USD$400 or less a month and there's no guarantee I can find A/C anywhere over there. Having to buy one and having it installed might be a big waste of money since it's only for 6-7 months. Oh well.

WillyBaldy wrote:

A bit OT but I'm going to be shopping for a house/apartment to rent in Rạch Giá for September and I'm very curious about what to expect related to prices and commodities. This is not Saigon or a touristy city so prices should be good but I really, really want A/C. I'm getting old and need my comfort  I might have to try to look for a "luxury" place if I want A/C, but hoping I can get away with USD$400 or less a month and there's no guarantee I can find A/C anywhere over there. Having to buy one and having it installed might be a big waste of money since it's only for 6-7 months. Oh well.

I've been able to negotiate installation of air con on the two last places we rented.  That said they were 20 million/mo and year leases.  It's only about $700 to install so not a huge expense for them but it might be tough to convince them on a 6 month rental.  You night find a place you like that doesn't have it an negotiate that they add one and increase the rent to you an extra $50/mo.  You would end up paying half of the cost and they pay the other half but they have air con for a future renter.  Still could be cheaper for you than paying for a luxury place.

SteinNebraska wrote:

That said they were 20 million/mo and year leases.

I don't understand that part, what does actually cost 20 million a month? Seems like a LOT of money.

My wife and I live on about 15-16 million a month in Vung Tau. 50% of that is rent. As a single guy you can survive on 500 usd a month as long as you aren't a bar fly and eat at expat joints.

WillyBaldy wrote:

A bit OT but I'm going to be shopping for a house/apartment to rent in Rạch Giá for September and I'm very curious about what to expect related to prices and commodities. This is not Saigon or a touristy city so prices should be good but I really, really want A/C. I'm getting old and need my comfort  I might have to try to look for a "luxury" place if I want A/C, but hoping I can get away with USD$400 or less a month and there's no guarantee I can find A/C anywhere over there. Having to buy one and having it installed might be a big waste of money since it's only for 6-7 months. Oh well.

Based on our stay in Rach Gia, it was not hot at all and at night, it was actually cold.  We did not use ac and actually were looking for heat!

$500 a month, not what I would call golden retirement years. Noodle soup and a tin shack, no thanks!

Canman63 wrote:

$500 a month, not what I would call golden retirement years. Noodle soup and a tin shack, no thanks!

We dont live in a tin shack and dont eat noodle soup every day. Its easy when you know how.

Well your wife is certainly not a gold digger 

colinoscapee wrote:

Canman63 wrote:

$500 a month, not what I would call golden retirement years. Noodle soup and a tin shack, no thanks!

We dont live in a tin shack and dont eat noodle soup every day. Its easy when you know how.

I commend you on that, I just returned and it would not be possible for me.

WillyBaldy wrote:

Well your wife is certainly not a gold digger 

My wife comes from an extremely poor family, to this day, not one thing has ever been asked of me to buy for her or her family.

Canman63 wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Canman63 wrote:

$500 a month, not what I would call golden retirement years. Noodle soup and a tin shack, no thanks!

We dont live in a tin shack and dont eat noodle soup every day. Its easy when you know how.

I commend you on that, I just returned and it would not be possible for me.

I hear you, we eat at home 5 nights a week, thats a big saving. We dont rent motorbikes or live in a hotel, I also don't frequent the local expat bars. I think that is why we can live on that amount. I also have a 2 year TRC that cost me 140 USD, whereas many people have to renew visas and do visa runs.

WillyBaldy wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

That said they were 20 million/mo and year leases.

I don't understand that part, what does actually cost 20 million a month? Seems like a LOT of money.

My monthly rent.  That is likely why they don't mind adding things when we move in.  We sign a one year lease and the houses tend to be right around 20,000,000/month.  I think this one is 21,000,000.

colinoscapee wrote:

Canman63 wrote:

$500 a month, not what I would call golden retirement years. Noodle soup and a tin shack, no thanks!

We dont live in a tin shack and dont eat noodle soup every day. Its easy when you know how.

Colin's rent is unusually low especially for a house. 

Our rent+utilities are 12M ($500).  It's significantly higher than most expats pay in VT, but we're very happy with the high quality and safety of our apartment, the lack of immediate neighbours, and the short walk to the beach.  The higher rent is worth it to us.

Cost of rental aside, fitting all expenditures into a budget of $250 - $300 is easy to do, as Colin said, when you know how.  Our $300 covers groceries (we eat at home but we eat very well), transportation, 2 cell phone plans, husband's meds, his weekly breakfast out, my bi-weekly spa, and all miscellaneous.

I am a Vietnamese lived in Da Nang for two years alone. I have to tell you that it would be hard to live on 600 bucks only. I spend most of the time at work so I rent a room in a "nha nghi", cheap motel for 200 bucks (internet, water, electricity included), it has a big bed, fridge, fan, aircon, light, tiny toilets and bathroom. I have 400 bucks left for all the other things. As a small girl it cost me around 1 dollar for breakfast, 1 to 2 dollars for dinner and around 2 dollars for snack, water, pay sometimes when eating out with friends (as a girl I think I spend much less on that than a boy). So in total around 250 bucks for eating. So after all the essentials I have around 100-150 bucks per months for other things (I always walk or take bus or have someone take me around so almost no cost for travelling). If I don't buy anything not essentials, if I don't go to a birthday party I can save it I guess but usually I don't. But I can always run back to my parents if I get sick so … If you want to live on 500 bucks you can for a few months but you have to get a job pretty quick.

Ciambella wrote:

Cost of rental aside, fitting all expenditures into a budget of $250 - $300 is easy to do, as Colin said, when you know how.

Agreed and as I stated before, without rent, $300 a month is not a problem and you will be fine, as long as you live like a local.  No, it does not mean a tin shack and noodles.  When my wife was single, she told me $300 a month was more than enough to buy clothes, use of her cell phone and go out with her friends to have a coffee or dinner during the week etc.  Granted, she had no rent bill.

Thus, if you need to rent, $300 plus your monthly rent would be a good place to start.  Then depending on what you consider normal, the $300 could change.

Quote: you will be fine, as long as you live like a local. End of topic!

Canman63 wrote:

Quote: you will be fine, as long as you live like a local. End of topic!

Just want to clarify:  "Live like a local" doesn't always mean lowering one's standards of living or making do with less.  The locals know many ways to enjoy a good life, a life that are actually better than what most foreigners can afford, and they do that without paying an exorbitant price.

Let me explain what I just said by using concrete and personal examples:

My husband and I eat very fresh and very high quality seafood almost every day.  Some of the seafood we consume cannot be found at the supermarkets or seafood stores or even the most well-known fish market in VT.  The reason?  High quality seafood do not jump onto fishermen's boats en masse because they live only in certain parts of the ocean and they do not exist in large quantity.  When they're available for purchase, the price is much more than most people are willing to pay. 

We don't pay the market's high price.  My niece's BFF is one of the highly respected individual seafood distributors in VT whose family owns a couple boats and belongs to a network of top fishermen in this city.  She lets us know of the best items in the best catch of the day, not just from her family's boats but also from other fishermen.  Any item we wanted, she would buy it on our behalf and pay only the trade's price (for want of a better term), which is the price that the fishermen determined, not the price that includes middleman's commission and added-on expenses such as rent, fuel, and labour.

That's the meaning of living like the locals.

Every season, I buy fruits in bulk from a couple local clean farms (Vietnamese term for agriculture businesses where chemicals are not used in any part of the planting, growing, and harvesting).  The workers at these farms pick the fruits only a couple hours before delivering them to our home.  Just this month alone, my niece and I've purchased 90 kg (198 lbs) of mangoes already.  She gifted her half to friends and relatives while my husband and I simply stuffed ourselves with our half.  (We're gluttons when it comes to fruits --  we eat them as is, press them for pure juice, and make smoothies out of them.) 

The mangoes I've bought so far this month are called Xoài Cát Hòa Lộc, known for the large fruit, flat pit, thick and firm meat, beautifully fragrant and as sweet as sugar,  It's the signature fruit of Tiền Giang but flourished at the farms in the rural area east of Bà Rịa.  We paid 40k/kg.  The same fruits are sold this week at 85k - 100k in Vung Tau Market.  There's no way we could eat fruits to our heart's content if we had to buy them at the markets.

That's the meaning of living like the locals.

Next month, I'll receive avocado from the farm owned by the aforementioned seafood distributor's parents.  Last year, the avocados were accompanied by a huge bunch of bananas as a gift to us from that farm.

Yesterday morning, 3 chicken and 2 dozen eggs arrived at our home from another clean farm  One of the chicken will go into a pot of soup tomorrow; my niece already purchased a huge bag full of potatoes, carrots, daikon, and kohlrabi from Đà Lạt, pearl garlic and purple shallots from Quảng Ngãi, all of them sold by wholesalers outside the gate of Vung Tau Market before the market was opened to the public   A hug bag cost her 38k.  Had she waited two more hours and bought them from the veggie vendors inside the market, the price would've been doubled or tripled.

My husband and I eat very well; our food comes from safe, clean, and trusted sources.  For that, we pay about half of what the supermarkets charge.  The $300 budget-for-everything-except-travel that I mentioned on the previous post?  It would've been closer to $800 if we didn't learn from my relatives.

That's the meaning of living like the locals.

colinoscapee wrote:

WillyBaldy wrote:

Well your wife is certainly not a gold digger 

My wife comes from an extremely poor family, to this day, not one thing has ever been asked of me to buy for her or her family.

I personally think her family being poor has nothing to do with this. I've seen some very poor families willing to do anything to extract money from me, and much wealthier ones who were not after money at all. What I'm saying is, I think you simply hooked up with a great person and family.

Ciambella wrote:

That's the meaning of living like the locals.

Thanks for the read, very interesting. The only thing I could not handle "living like the locals" is housing. Many Vietnamese I know live in places I could never imagine living. Dirty houses, humid, sometimes smelly. In Saigon and big cities it's a bit worse, you can get something very cheap but it's very "awful" (based on my criteria). Anything else I can easily go along and blend in, although some toilets are a bit challenging 

SteinNebraska wrote:

WillyBaldy wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

That said they were 20 million/mo and year leases.

I don't understand that part, what does actually cost 20 million a month? Seems like a LOT of money.

My monthly rent.  That is likely why they don't mind adding things when we move in.  We sign a one year lease and the houses tend to be right around 20,000,000/month.  I think this one is 21,000,000.

Well, it's probably quite the nice house to live in! My 6-7 months stay will allow me some flexibility on prices as I got lucky enough to be able to work for my Canadian company from Vietnam, with my current salary, so "anything" would seem cheap although USD$1000 is a bit expensive even in my city (Montreal, which is much cheaper than Toronto and Vancouver). Last time I was there (Saigon) for 6+ months I was working small programming contract jobs on the internet and money was tight, I was trying to survive on USD$1000 a month but with a girlfriend with an "expensive" lifestyle at the time so it was not easy. Anyway, I can't imagine anything being above USD$500/month in Rach Gia, unless I'm renting the Governor's Palace or something 

You seem to be doing things right ciambella. Thumbs up

Sure is is doable.

Can get your own room in a house for 150-200 dollars.

Eating local food or cooking for yourself would be 100 -150 dollars.

Motorbike petrol for 1 month would be 10 - 20 dollars.

Phone bill would be 5 dollars a month.

Electricity would be 25 - 50 dollars a month.

Could get by on 450 dollars without much of a fuss assuming you didn't go out much and don't do much shopping.

If you really wanted to cut down on costs you can share a room with someone then you could live on probably 300 a month.