Da Nang Visa Run for UK, Australian & Canadian Citizens

UK citizens and the 45-day exemption

UK passport holders are in the small group of nationalities that can enter Vietnam without a visa. The exemption gives 45 days for tourism, and it applies at Lao Bao like every other entry point. You do not apply for it, you do not pay for it, and you do not need an approval letter. You just show up with a passport that is valid for at least six months and get the stamp.

Two details are worth knowing. The exemption covers British passports, but British National (Overseas), or BNO, passports are not part of the scheme, so BNO holders need the e-visa like everyone else without an exemption. And the 45 days is the limit per entry. If you want to stay longer than 45 days, you either exit and re-enter to reset the clock, or you switch to the 90-day e-visa and do fewer runs.

That choice is the real decision for UK travelers in Da Nang. The exemption run is cheap: transport plus a Laos visa on arrival, no Vietnam visa fees at all. But it buys only 45 days, which means up to eight runs a year if you stay year-round. The 90-day e-visa costs 25 USD for single entry or 50 USD for multiple entry, and cuts the year to about four runs. Most UK expats and long-stayers in Da Nang end up on the e-visa once they do the math; the exemption stays popular for the first trip and for travelers who only need a couple of months.

Whichever route you take, the run is the same trip. The only difference is what the border stamps when you re-enter: a fresh 45-day exemption stamp, or the start of your new 90-day e-visa. More detail on the e-visa cycle is on our 90-day visa page, and the full price picture is on the cost breakdown.

Australians and Canadians: the e-visa cycle

Australian and Canadian passports are not on Vietnam's visa exemption list, so there is no visa-free entry to fall back on. The 90-day e-visa is the standard option, and for anyone living in Da Nang it is also the practical one. One application, one approval letter, one 90-day stamp, roughly four runs a year. That beats any arrangement that forces a border trip every month and a half.

The e-visa itself is straightforward. You apply online through the official government portal, pay the fee by card, and wait for the approval letter. Single entry costs 25 USD and multiple entry costs 50 USD. Processing is usually 3 to 4 working days, with faster tiers available when you are short on time. Once approved, you enter Vietnam with the letter and the border stamps you in for 90 days. Australians and Canadians can apply from home before arriving, or from Da Nang while a current visa is still running, which is how most border runs work.

There is a timing trap worth planning around. The 90 days starts on the day you enter, not the day the letter is approved. Mark the expiry date on your calendar when you get the stamp, and book the next run with two to three weeks of slack. That buffer matters because the approval letter for the next cycle takes a few working days to come back. Run the numbers the other way and you are sitting in a van hoping the letter lands in time, which is exactly how overstays happen.

What the border checks at Lao Bao is simple: passport valid for six months, the printed e-visa approval letter, and a clean page for the stamp. If you applied for a fresh e-visa while your old one was still active, the new entry simply starts the new 90-day period when you cross back in.

What happens at Lao Bao

The run day looks the same for all three passports, so here is the hour-by-hour version. Pickup runs between 04:00 and 06:00 from your hotel or apartment across Da Nang, and the van or car heads north over the Hai Van Pass, down through Hue, then west toward the border. Plan on 4.5 to 5.5 hours of driving each way, with comfort stops roughly every two hours.

At Lao Bao you exit Vietnam first. The exit stamp matters more than people expect: for an e-visa cycle, that stamp is the proof your previous stay ended cleanly, and it is what gets sent through so the next approval can be filed. Then you walk across to the Densavan checkpoint on the Laos side, which is the one Vietnam-Laos land crossing that still issues a Laos visa on arrival.

The Laos visa is a cash transaction. Budget roughly 30 to 42 USD depending on your passport, plus a small stamping fee, and bring clean US dollar bills and a passport photo if you have one. The border stalls do not take cards. Most nationalities, including UK, Australian and Canadian, need this Laos visa even for a same-day run, because you are technically entering Laos. The whole crossing, with a fixer handling the paperwork, takes about 45 to 60 minutes.

Then you reverse it: Laos exit, Vietnam re-entry, and your fresh stamp. For UK passports on the exemption that means a new 45-day stamp. For Australian and Canadian passports it means the start of the new 90-day e-visa, assuming the approval letter came through. The drive home is the same 4.5 to 5.5 hours, and you are back in Da Nang the same evening, 10 to 12 hours after pickup.

If you want the border steps in more detail, the step-by-step guide walks through each checkpoint, and the shared van and private car pages cover the transport options on this route.

Costs for these passports

Transport is the big line item, and it is the same for every nationality. The shared van runs from 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 VND per seat, which makes it the default for solo travelers. The private car runs from 3,200,000 to 3,400,000 VND for the whole vehicle, which works out better for couples, families, and anyone with luggage who wants control over the stops. For two people the car is already close to the van on price.

The visa side splits by passport. UK travelers on the 45-day exemption pay no Vietnam visa fee at all, so their run total is transport plus the Laos visa. UK travelers on the 90-day e-visa, and all Australian and Canadian travelers, pay the Vietnam e-visa fee: 25 USD single entry or 50 USD multiple entry, paid online to the government. That fee covers 90 days, not one run, which is why the e-visa math beats the exemption for long stays.

On top of transport you have the Laos visa on arrival at Densavan, roughly 30 to 42 USD in cash depending on your passport, and lunch at the border restaurants, around 50,000 to 100,000 VND per person. Bring cash for both. Total the day up for a solo traveler and you are looking at roughly 1.1 to 1.5 million VND in transport and fees for a UK exemption run, and a bit more once a 90-day e-visa enters the picture.

Compare that with flying to Bangkok or Singapore for a visa trip, which costs a flight, a night or two of hotels, and two full days. The Lao Bao run is a day trip, and it is the cheaper option by a wide margin for anyone already in Central Vietnam.

UK, Australian & Canadian questions, answered

Ready to book: message WhatsApp at +84 33 410 3857 with your pickup area, date, and nationality. Pickup runs 04:00 to 06:00 across Da Nang, and we will confirm the vehicle, price, and pickup window, usually within the hour.