Author: dan

Cost to Retire in Da Nang Vietnam

We just finished a month in Da Nang, Vietnam, and I will now share my feet-on-the-ground observations, my pros and cons, and my low to middle-range monthly costs for expats who retire here.  

I will start with the pros of Da Nang, Vietnam,  and then do the cons.

Da Nang has become the softest landing in Vietnam. A soft landing is a place where new expats have an easier time adjusting to their new life overseas.  For example, Da Nang has an assortment of Western restaurants, so you can eat your favorite comfort foods from home.  

Da Nang has expats from many parts of the world, so you will likely find friends who not only speak your language but will laugh at your jokes because they are from your home country.  They will also teach you where to find things you miss from home.  But you have to stay in the right neighborhood.  More on that later.  

Da Nang has a reasonable cost of living at many price points, so your budget is more likely to last past the end of the month.  You won’t live like a King; that has never really been a thing.  But many expats still live middle-class lives on a poor man’s salary.  

Da Nang offers Western-style medicine, including cardiologists and oncologists, with prices so cheap that you can afford the imaging that proves your body is healthier than you thought.  I learned how little plaque I had in my heart and arteries for $174 USD total.  

If fighting disease alone isn’t enough for you, Da Nang also offers centuries-old eastern-style traditional medicine to help you regain the energy you had decades ago.  If you think I am exaggerating, watch my Danang expat interviews.  

I will now share my cons for Da Nang, and then my low to middle-range living costs estimates.  

The first con we noticed was our apartment.  We rented the same studio apartment in 2025 as we did in 2023.   But the monthly rent had increased from $264 to $342 USD.  That is a 30% increase in two years, but it is still way cheaper than most of the world, it is our favorite neighborhood, and it is just a few blocks from the beach.  So we still feel okay about it.  

The second thing we noticed was that meals in my favorite Vietnamese restaurant (link provided) had increased from about $1.23 to $1.34 USD per person per meal.  But it felt like a fair tradeoff, because many more western-style restaurants have opened, so there are more comfort foods from home to choose from.

The biggest con I thought was that the beaches were more crowded.  But Qiang pointed out to me that we were last in Da Nang in low season, and this was high season.  So, to be fair, I will have to come back and compare the same season before officially calling it a con.  

Vietnam is in the center of Southeast Asia, facing the South China Sea.  Da Nang has an international airport, so it is easy to get there from overseas.  We will be comparing our two favorite cities in Vietnam in a week or two, so subscribe if you want to learn more about that too.

Next, I will share my low to middle-range living costs for Da Nang.  After that, I will share the best restaurants, where we stayed, a visa update, and a nightlife map for Da Nang.  

Okay, estimated living costs to retire in Da Nang, Vietnam.  

Estimated Cost to Retire in Danang, Vietnam

Rent: We rented our apartment for $342 per month.  But other expats often spend more than us, so I will set the middle range rents at $700 USD per month for a townhouse with 2 or 3 bedrooms.  

Here is the process we use to find great apartments all over the world. If you’re interested in renting the studio where we stayed, you can contact this agent directly.  So, we will show you a table of all expenses in a moment.  We will use $342 per month for our lower rent estimate and $700 per month for the middle-range cost of living estimate.  All of these links are accessible by scanning the QR code now or at the end of this video.  

Utilities:  Our past winter visit cost about $30 USD for the month.  We paid $70 USD this time because we needed more AC in the summer.  So we estimate around $60 per month for electricity as a year-round average.  The utilities would be about $110 USD average year-round for the larger place, for the middle-range cost of living expats.  

Groceries:  As mentioned earlier, we went out to eat almost every meal while in Da Nang.  But if we lived here, we might spend a little more on groceries and cook at home a few times per week.  We would shop mostly in the public market where the vegetables, fruits, and rice are cheaper.  We estimate about $151 per month for groceries.  

Other expats are likely to buy more expensive imported foods from home and more meat, so they would likely spend $250 per month in groceries.  

Restaurants:  If we ate most meals out since in Vietnamese restaurants, and only once or twice per week in expat-style restaurants, we would spend around $398 per month in restaurants for the two of us.  

Other expats are likely to eat more Western-style foods in expensive expat-style restaurants and less in Vietnamese restaurants, so they would likely spend $500 per month for 2 people.  

Cell Phone Data: The cost to recharge our prepaid service is about $7 per month, which includes 6GB of data per day.  My Android phone will act as a hotspot, allowing us to both be on the internet simultaneously when we are out of the house together.  Vinaphone and Viettel had good prices and reception.

Other expats are likely to buy two prepaid SIM cards so they would send $14 per month.  

Laundry:  Our apartment included a clothes washing machine, and people hang dry their clothes in Southeast Asia.  Since the laundry detergent is included in our grocery bill, there is no expense for this.  

Drinking Water: Our landlord provided 20-liter jugs of reverse osmosis water, costing about $8 per month.  

Internet: 30 MBPS up and down is about $10 per month for in-home wifi.  It is advertised at 100 MBPS, but the realized speed is about 30MBPS up and down.

Transportation:  We walked almost everywhere in our favorite area of Da Nang (My An Beach).  It was about $3 USD to get a Grab Taxi to shopping malls and the cinema, so $6 round-trip.  We estimate about $33 per month for Brag Taxi.   Stay away from renting scooters in Vietnam unless you are highly experienced.

Middle-range expats seem to want to rent or buy a scooter or a small car, so we will estimate $120 per month for them for gas and maintenance.  

Alcohol (Optional): Local beer is about 25,000 Dong in local bars and restaurants ($1 USD) and about 18,000 Dong in stores ($0.72 USD).  So, we would spend about $90 per month on alcohol for the two of us.

Other expats would spend a higher amount for imported foreign or craft beers in expat bars for about $2 or $3 USD each, so about $180 per month for two people, assuming they are not into imported whiskey or wine.  

Entertainment (Optional):  We would budget about $200 per month for entertainment for the two of us.  We generally enjoy doing more do-it-yourself kinds of entertainment, but middle-range expats would spend a little more, maybe $300 per month, for 2 of them?

Retire Early $1009 Month Da Nang Vietnam

Da Nang Estimates

Lower

(USD)

Higher

(USD)

Rent

342

700

Utilities

60

110

Groceries

151

250

Restaurants

398

500

Cell Data

7

14

Laundry

0

0

R/O Water

8

8

Internet

10

10

Transportation

33

120

Total

$1009

$1712

Alcohol

90

180

Optional Total

$1099

$1892

Entertainment

200

300

Optional Total

$1299

$2192

We gathered this data with our feet on the ground here in July of 2025, so adjust for inflation after that.  The above lower estimated cost of living would be if the two of us lived in Da Nang on a tight budget.

The middle-range estimate is just an example of what more typical expats might spend if they moved here.  

You should also add any expenses in your home country that are not already listed in the table.  Presumably, you find those things necessary in life.  

To do that, visit Numbeo Da Nang and add anything not mentioned in the above table.  Anything not on Numbeo, you should add during your exploratory visit to Da Nang, so you learn your personal cost of living before deciding to move here.

Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on your lifestyle and the time since this post.  

More typical expats’ living costs in Da Nang range from about $1200 to $3000 per month.  But people who spend that much often have higher savings, incomes, or pensions.  They frequently report spending more on accommodations and entertainment, eating out more, traveling more, and drinking more alcohol.  Many also have more expensive cars, houses, or apartments.  

Many of the expats we meet living overseas are self-insured for medical care.  That means that not everyone buys health insurance overseas.  They just pay for services as they need them.  That probably sounds crazy to many of you.  

Begin by considering health insurance options, and revisit them after several years in your new country, when you can better understand the typical health care costs for the aging population in your adopted country.  

To understand what it would cost you to live here, you must put your feet on the ground, see how you would choose to live, eat, and entertain yourself, and add it all up.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else spends because we are all different.  

Money Tips in Da Nang

The local Vietnamese food is some of the most delicious and healthiest food in the world.  We have been eating in the neighborhood restaurants for $1.5 to $2 per meal per person.  

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in Vietnam is to eat a steady diet of Western-style food in the expat restaurants.  Western-style foods cost 4 or 5 times as much as Vietnamese food, and in my opinion, they are not as healthy as Vietnamese food, which contains a healthier balance of fresh greens.  

The local restaurant food was so reasonably priced and delicious that we ate almost every single meal at our favorite local restaurants in Da Nang.    

But if you do decide to cook at home, you will find the best prices at the public market.  Everything is fresher in the public market, and the prices are often much cheaper.   So, avoid the expat grocery stores whenever possible.  

What costs you two dollars in a supermarket in your home country will easily cost three to five times as much here.  Standard brands from home are fancy imported foreign foods once they are shipped internationally.  

If you don’t know how to find the best Vietnamese food in town, just eat at our favorite restaurants. Then you’ll know why we love the food here so much.   Just scroll down and pick out one to eat at today.  

Stay away from the retire overseas gurus who try to get you to buy real estate when you first move overseas.  You won’t believe how many expats have told me they wished they had waited a few years before making such permanent decisions.  If someone is being pushy about real estate, they might be getting a kickback if they can get you to buy.  

Finally, don’t book 30-day stays on Airbnb.com anymore.  Internet-connected landlords are overcharging all over the world now.  Just book a few days online in a hotel near the beach and then find a local place once your feet are on the ground. This report explains how.  All of these links are accessible by scanning the QR code now or at the end of this video.  

Make Sure to Have an Emergency Fund

If you are going to try to retire cheaply offshore, make sure to read my report, The Two Biggest Risks of Retiring Early for Cheap Offshore, which explains why you should have emergency funds available for unexpectedly large expenses (and how much).  

Vietnam Visas

Tourist Visa: If you plan to visit Vietnam, please apply online and obtain your 90-day visa prior to your travel.  There are websites pretending to be the official website, so our provided link to the official government website is accessible via this Da Nang QR code.  

With this visa, you can stay in the country for up to 90 days.  If you want to stay longer, exit Vietnam and go to any nearby country.  Once you are out of Vietnam, apply for another 90-day visa while you are outside the country.  It takes 3 to 4 days to get your new visa.  This is called a visa run.  

Thousands of foreigners live in Vietnam and do visa runs like this every 90 days.  Some people say you can not retire in Vietnam for this reason.  But we have met at least 40 or 50 people all over Vietnam who are retired here and do visa runs every 90 days.  

Retiree Visa: Vietnam has no retirement visa.  Some people are saying that Vietnam will offer retirement visas soon.  I will believe it when I see it.  

Foreigners living in Vietnam either do visa runs every 90 days or they get one of the other visas, such as tourist visas, business visas, marriage visas, working visas, investor visas, among others.   

I suggest you come visit Vietnam on a tourist Visa before spending time or money applying for other visas.  While here, chat with the expats you see everywhere and ask them which visa they have and recommend.  

How We Traveled to Da Nang

We spent 3 months in Vietnam on this tour in Saigon, Nha Trang, Da Lat, and finally Da Nang.  We have videos and reports on all of these and more.  In the past, we have traveled by train between different cities in Vietnam.  That is really fun, so keep it in mind.  

But this time, we flew from Da Lat, Vietnam, to Da Nang, Vietnam.  Then we took a Grab Taxi to our accommodations.  

Favorite Area of Da Nang

The walkable streets we love (An Thuong) are in the red circle below in this (Google Map) area called My An.  I would love to live here.  Everything you need like restaurants, expensive and cheap, foreign and domestic foods, wet markets, and a gorgeous beach, are all extremely walkable.  This is the area that provides a soft landing in Da Nang.  

Da Nang Nightlife Map

This nightlife walking map (Google Map) should help find something fun to do.  Just start walking and stop when you find whatever looks fun to you.

Where we stayed

If you’re interested in renting the studio where we stayed, you can contact this agent directly.  The place is shown in the video above.

2025 Favorites Updates

Restaurants

We ate at many of the same restaurants as shared in the earlier reports below.  But here are a few new ones we tried for the first time and recommend.  

Mixed meat and vegetarian

Vegetarian and Vegan

Cafes/Bars

Here are a few new bars and cafes we tried and recommend this time.  

Other Services

Expat’s Interviewed in Da Nang, Vietnam

Feel free to grab a free copy of my eBook, How to Fire Your Boss and Travel the World, and How to Pay for it All.  This includes the things you must do before you leave your home country.  

If you’re interested in the best places to retire in Vietnam and the expats I have interviewed, check out my Vietnam YouTube Playlist.