Paying for a Da Lat Visa Run: What You Owe, How to Pay It, and When

The short version

You pay after the run, not before it

The payment policy on a Da Lat visa run is almost aggressively simple: nothing is paid when you book, and everything is settled on return in Da Lat. You send your name, pickup point, passenger count, and date through the form, the desk confirms by message the day before, and you pay when the run is done. No deposit, no prepayment, no advance wire to a stranger.

Four ways to pay are accepted: VND cash, USD cash, bank transfer, and Wise or Revolut for the visa add-ons. Cash is the default for most runners. The transfer options exist for people who do not want to carry the larger amounts around, and they matter most for the 90-day Vietnam e-visa, which is a real sum of money on top of the transport.

The booking flow itself is covered on the booking guide, and the full line-item breakdown lives on the cost guide. This page is the part in between: what you owe, how to pay each piece, and the small practical stuff like USD at the border and tipping.

The numbers

What you actually owe

Your total is transport plus any add-ons you ticked in the form. Transport comes in two lines. The sleeper bus combo is 900,000 VND per person plus 1,600,000 VND per car for the HCMC to Moc Bai legs, so a solo runner is looking at 2,500,000 VND before add-ons. The private car is a flat 6,000,000 VND for up to four people, which is why it beats the bus once you are a group of three or four.

The add-ons sit on top. The Cambodia visa at Bavet is 1,100,000 VND when the fixer handles it, about 45 USD per person at the 25,500 VND reference rate the booking form uses. The 90-day Vietnam e-visa is 2,400,000 VND for single entry or 3,100,000 VND for multiple entry. Guided support, for people who want someone walking them through the border windows, is 250,000 VND online or 1,000,000 VND onsite.

The rates are flat for 2026, so the price the form shows before you send it is the price you pay. No surge pricing, no fuel surcharge added on return. The one exception the desk will flag in advance is holiday weeks like Tet, where the schedule stretches but the prices stay put. Every line item is broken out on the cost guide if you want to check the math.

Cash

VND and USD: what to carry

Cash is the default way to pay, and both currencies work. VND covers the transport, and it is what most people settle with back in Da Lat. USD is for the border: the Cambodia visa at Bavet is paid in dollars, about 45 per person, and small bills are the ones that move smoothly. A 20 and a 20 and a 5 beats a single 50 every time.

How much cash to bring depends on your options. Transport in VND, plus the USD for the Cambodia visa, plus a little buffer for lunch in Tay Ninh or a drink at the Bavet casino strip while you wait. If you booked the 90-day e-visa add-on, that piece is better settled by transfer than by carrying 2,400,000 extra VND in your pocket, which is exactly why the desk splits the payment methods the way it does.

One honest warning: do not plan to get the visa money at the border. Bavet has ATMs and money changers, but you are on a schedule, the rates are not kind, and the visa fee is the one payment you cannot miss. Pull the USD from an ATM in Da Lat the day before, or exchange it at one of the gold shops around the market. Your hotel can usually point you to a fair one. The rest of the border routine, including why the fixer handles the cash windows, is on the step-by-step guide.

Transfer

Bank transfer: for the larger totals

Bank transfer is the option for people who would rather not walk around Da Lat with several million dong in their wallet. The desk sends you the account details after booking, you transfer the exact total when the run is done, and you confirm by message so the desk can match the payment to your booking. Vietnamese bank transfers between local accounts land within minutes, which keeps the pay-on-return timing intact.

Two details matter. Transfer the exact amount shown on the booking form, because the desk matches payments by amount and name, and a rounded-up figure can sit unmatched for a day. And put your name or booking reference in the transfer note; the desk runs several bookings a day and the note is what makes the match instant. If your bank blocks the transfer amount or the name does not match the booking, a one-line message to the desk sorts it out before you leave.

International bank transfers work too, but they are slower and the fees eat into the total. For anyone sending from abroad, the booking guide covers the flow, and the desk will tell you the best method for your bank when you ask. For most people in Da Lat, though, the choice is really between cash and the two app-based options below.

Apps

Wise and Revolut for the visa add-ons

Wise and Revolut are accepted for the visa add-ons, and they are the quiet favorites of digital nomads in Da Lat. The 90-day e-visa at 2,400,000 VND single entry, or 3,100,000 VND multiple, is the kind of amount many people simply do not carry in cash anymore. Sending it from an app keeps the wallet light and gives you a receipt in your transaction history, which is handy for anyone tracking expenses across borders.

The flow is the same as a bank transfer: the desk shares the receiving details after booking, you send the amount when the run is done, and you drop a message with your name and the transfer reference. Wise and Revolut both give you the mid-market rate on the VND conversion, which usually works out better than the cash exchange rate at a Da Lat gold shop, especially on the larger amounts.

Transport itself stays on cash or bank transfer; the app route is for the visa add-ons. If you are booking the e-visa from abroad before you even land in Da Lat, the 90-day e-visa guide explains how the desk submits it the moment you exit Vietnam at Moc Bai, and the payment can follow the same Wise route.

Tipping

Tipping: nothing is expected, none of it is required

Nobody on a Da Lat visa run expects a tip. The price you agree covers the driver, the fixer, and the border handling, and the people you meet at the crossing are doing a job with a set rate, not a service charge hidden in the fine print. You can pay the exact total, thank the driver in Vietnamese, and walk away with everyone perfectly happy.

If you want to leave something, rounding up is the local habit. The private car total of 6,000,000 VND rounded to 6,100,000, or the bus combo rounded to the nearest 50,000, is a common gesture after a long day, and it is appreciated the way it is meant: as a thank you, not an obligation. The same goes for the fixer at Moc Bai. A few dollars when someone has been patient with a nervous first-timer goes a long way, and nothing at all is completely fine.

The only real rule is to tip in cash, in small notes, and only after the run is finished. Tipping before the border gets you nothing but awkwardness, since the fixer's job is the same either way. If you are weighing whether the guided support add-on is worth it instead of a tip, the 250,000 VND online tier is the structured version of the same help, and it is covered in the booking guide.

Groups and friends

Paying for someone else, or splitting a car

One payment on return covers the whole booking, so paying for a partner, a friend, or a colleague's run is as simple as booking it in their name and settling yourself when the car gets back. The confirmation message is addressed to the traveler, and the desk will happily take the payment from whoever shows up with the cash or the transfer note. Just make sure the traveler knows the pickup time and has their passport and USD for the Cambodia visa.

Groups splitting a private car have two options. The clean way is one person pays the 6,000,000 VND flat rate on return and the group sorts out the split between themselves, which keeps the desk out of it entirely. The flexible way is separate payments per person, which the desk handles without fuss, especially when some of you are paying cash and one person wants to use Wise for their share. The form asks for passenger count precisely so the per-head math is clear before you book.

If you are paying for someone else's add-ons through Wise or Revolut, put their name in the transfer note, not yours. The e-visa and the Cambodia visa are tied to the passenger's passport, and the desk matches the payment to the right file by name. The group math, including why the private car beats the bus from three passengers up, is laid out on the cost guide.

Quick answers

Payment questions, short answers