Vietnam Trip from India: Visa, Routes and Budget

Vietnam is well connected from India, with flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from several Indian metros, and the e-visa process is entirely online. The country also rewards a proper 7-10 day trip rather than a rushed long weekend, because the north and south feel like two different destinations: limestone bays and cool hill towns up top, river deltas and tropical heat down below. Here's how to plan it — and you can browse our Vietnam holidays page for a sense of how we put these trips together.

Do Indians need a visa for Vietnam?

Yes. There is no general visa-free entry for Indian passport holders — Vietnam's e-visa is the standard route for almost everyone travelling from India. The one exception is Phu Quoc Island, covered below, and it comes with real conditions attached.

The e-visa is open to all nationalities, including India, and is valid for up to 90 days as either a single-entry or multiple-entry visa. Apply only through the two official government portals — evisa.gov.vn (the Vietnam Immigration Department's own site) or thithucdientu.gov.vn. Every other site offering a "Vietnam e-visa for India" is a third-party agent; some are reliable, but the application itself only needs to go through these two official domains.

How the e-visa works

The process is simple and fully online:

1. Scan your passport's bio-data page and keep a passport-style photograph ready.
2. Fill in the application on evisa.gov.vn and pay the fee online — US$25 for single entry, US$50 for multiple entry (roughly ₹2,400 and ₹4,800 at October 2026 conversion rates; check the live rate before you pay).
3. Processing normally takes about three working days, so apply well before your trip — not the week before.
4. Download and print the approved e-visa to carry with your passport.

Two passport conditions matter here: most Vietnam visa requirements call for at least six months' passport validity remaining from your date of arrival, and at least two blank visa pages. Confirm the current rule on the e-visa portal before you apply. The visa fee is non-refundable if your application is turned down, so get the details right the first time.

One detail worth knowing before you finalise your route: e-visa holders and regular-visa holders aren't always allowed to exit through the same points. If you're planning any overland travel — say, crossing into Cambodia by road — check the designated exit points listed on the government portal in advance, rather than assuming your airport of arrival will also work for departure.

If you're travelling with children, note that none of the official sources spell out a different document process for minors beyond the standard passport and photo requirements. To be safe, check the e-visa portal directly for any dependent-specific steps, or message us before you apply.

Phu Quoc: the one visa-free route

There's a genuine exception for Indian passport holders, but it's narrow. If you fly directly to Phu Quoc Island from outside Vietnam — not via a stop on the mainland — and stay only on the island without entering mainland Vietnam, you can enter visa-free for up to 30 days. The moment your plan includes the mainland (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, anywhere outside Phu Quoc), you need a full e-visa instead. Overstaying this exemption attracts fines of roughly VND 500,000-2,000,000 (about US$20-80), so track your dates carefully if you use it. For most first-time trips that include Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, you'll be applying for the e-visa regardless.

The pre-arrival declaration you shouldn't skip

Vietnam now requires a free online pre-arrival declaration for all foreign nationals arriving by air, filed no more than 72 hours before you land, at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn (a QR code option is also available). This produces a QR code you show at immigration on arrival. It's being rolled out across Vietnam's major international airports, so check the portal before you fly and complete it regardless of which city you're landing in — it only takes a few minutes and avoids a queue at the immigration counter.

How to reach Vietnam from India

Vietnam is well connected from India, with flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from several Indian metros. Check an airline site or booking aggregator for current routes from your city before booking, as these change often.

Once inside Vietnam, Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi-Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City-Da Nang are the country's busiest domestic routes, with frequent flights running throughout the day — useful if your 7-10 day plan covers both north and south, since the overland distance between them is too long to cover by road or rail in a short trip.

North vs South Vietnam — which should you pick?

If you only have a week, choosing one region and doing it properly beats skimming both.

The north centres on Hanoi — the Old Quarter's narrow lanes, Hoan Kiem Lake, the Temple of Literature, the old Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. From Hanoi, most travellers head out to Ha Long Bay, the UNESCO-listed seascape of limestone karsts rising out of green water, dotted with caves and floating fishing villages. A day cruise (6-8 hours) gets you the views and a swim stop; an overnight cruise lets you watch the karsts turn gold at sunset and wake up to mist still sitting on the water — worth the extra cost if your schedule allows it.

The south is built around Ho Chi Minh City (still widely called Saigon), with the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum giving a direct sense of recent Vietnamese history. From the city, it's an easy day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels or into the Mekong Delta, where life runs on water — floating markets stacked with fruit, canal boats weaving between stilt houses, villages you cycle through rather than drive past. It's a different pace from the north, flatter, warmer, more agricultural.

Central Vietnam, anchored by Hoi An and Da Nang, is the natural link between the two if you have 10 days rather than 7. Hoi An's ancient town — lantern-lit streets, old trading houses, a paid entry ticket to access the heritage area (Hoi An Heritage's official 2026 price list sets this at 80,000–120,000 VND, roughly ₹290–440 — check hoianheritage.net for the current price before you go) — is worth a night or two on its own.

A 7-10 day Vietnam route that works

For 7 days, pick one region and go deep rather than trying to connect both:

For 10 days, you can link both ends through the centre:

Domestic flights (roughly ₹3,000-6,500 one way as of 2026) are the practical way to link the regions — the north-south road distance is too long to drive in the time you'd want to spend sightseeing instead.

What does a Vietnam trip cost from India?

Vietnam is genuinely affordable once you're there, which is part of why 7-10 days works well even on a mid-range budget. As rough, approximate figures for October 2026 (excluding your international flight):

Put together, a 7-day trip on a mid-range budget — decent hotels, a mix of street food and restaurants, one cruise, some domestic travel — runs roughly ₹50,000-1,10,000 per person, not counting the international flight. Budget travellers staying in hostels and eating mostly street food can come in well under that; add a few nights on an overnight cruise or in Hoi An and a 10-day trip will land at the higher end. These are approximate market ranges pulled from travel-cost aggregators rather than fixed prices, so treat them as planning estimates and build in some buffer.

A few practical notes before you go

Vegetarian food is easy to find in Vietnamese cities — most tourist areas have dedicated vegetarian or vegan restaurants, and standard dishes can usually be ordered without meat or fish sauce if you ask. A local SIM or eSIM is straightforward to pick up at the airport on arrival or from convenience stores once you're in town. Keep a small cash float in Vietnamese dong for markets and street stalls, since card acceptance is patchy outside hotels and larger restaurants.

Before you travel, check the latest advisory from India's Ministry of External Affairs (mea.gov.in) and the Indian Embassy in Vietnam.

If working out the e-visa paperwork, flight connections and a north-south split sounds like more than you want to handle alongside work and the rest of life, that's exactly the kind of planning we do every day for clients heading out of India. Have a look at our Vietnam holidays page for how we structure these trips, browse all our destinations if you're still weighing Vietnam against somewhere else, or just get in touch and tell us your dates.