Best eSIM for Vietnam (2026)

The short version

Land with data already working. Pick up a Vietnamese number once you actually need one.

Holafly Plans is the eSIM we point people to before a flight. It is one plan with unlimited data across 160 destinations, not a single-trip SIM you throw away at the border. It includes a US, UK, or Canadian number so you can still receive messages and 2FA from banks and accounts back home. Always On leaves 1GB of backup data free every month, even after the paid plan ends, as long as the eSIM stays installed.

A local SIM from Viettel, Vinaphone, or Mobifone is the other half. It is cheap, it is a real +84 number, and several things in Vietnam will not work properly without it. You register it to your passport, usually at the airport counter.

Use both. Holafly Plans for the flight and the first days. A local SIM when a bank, a wallet, or VNeID asks for a Vietnamese number.

Affiliate disclosure. Vietnam Launchpad participates in the Holafly Plans partner program. Links to Holafly Plans on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. The audience code VNLAUNCHPAD takes 10% off Holafly Plans for the first 12 months and 5% off other Holafly eSIMs. The link on this page applies the code for you. We do not publish a Holafly Plans price, because the tariff changes. Check the current plan on their site.

What Holafly Plans actually is

Holafly sells two different products, and mixing them up causes bad advice.

• Classic eSIMs cover one destination, or a region, for a shorter trip.
• Holafly Plans is the ongoing product: unlimited data across 160 destinations, on a single eSIM you install once.

For someone flying into Vietnam and likely leaving again, Holafly Plans is the one that fits. You install it on wifi before you fly. When the aircraft door opens, data is already there. No kiosk, no passport photo at a counter, no guessing which tourist package the clerk is pushing.

What is included, in the terms Holafly uses:

• Unlimited data while the plan is active
• Coverage across 160 destinations, including Vietnam
• A US, UK, or Canadian phone number for receiving messages, including bank codes and 2FA
• Always On: 1GB of backup data, free, every month, while the eSIM remains installed, including when you do not have an active paid plan

What it is not:

• It is not a Vietnamese mobile number. You cannot give it to Techcombank, Vietcombank, or a ward police officer and expect SMS in Vietnam to arrive there.
• It does not register you for a local SIM. That is a separate, in-person step.
• Your phone has to be unlocked and eSIM-capable. If it is not, Holafly Plans cannot be installed, and the airport counter is your only option.

See current Holafly Plans and enter VNLAUNCHPAD if the code is not already filled in.

Local SIMs: Viettel, Vinaphone, Mobifone

The three networks you will actually see at arrivals:

| Carrier | What it is good for | |

|

| | Viettel | Widest coverage, including outside HCMC, Hanoi, and Da Nang. This is the line we tell people to get if they will travel. | | Vinaphone | Solid in the big cities. Fine if you will barely leave HCMC or Hanoi. | | Mobifone | The third counter in arrivals. City coverage is usable. Same passport-registration step as the other two. |

A starter SIM with a data bundle is commonly sold at airport counters for around 200,000 VND, and a heavy monthly 4G plan often lands around 150,000–200,000 VND. Those are the figures we use elsewhere on this site as a rough arrival budget. They are not a published tariff. Ask what the current tourist package includes, and pay the counter, not a helper who meets you outside the doors.

Holafly Plans is the practical choice for the flight, the airport, and ordinary city use. If you will spend weeks in the mountains or well outside the tourist corridors, buy a Viettel SIM as well. We are not publishing a coverage map for either product. Ask Viettel if a specific district matters to you.

The airport SIM, in practice

All three carriers have counters in international arrivals at Tan Son Nhat (SGN), Noi Bai (HAN), and Da Nang (DAD). Phu Quoc and the smaller airports are less consistent. Do not plan your only connectivity around a counter that may be closed when your flight lands.

What the counter needs:

• The passport you entered on. A photo on your phone is often refused.
• A phone that takes a physical SIM, or their eSIM process if that counter offers one that day.
• Cash or a card. Have a bit of VND or a foreign card. Do not assume every counter takes every card at 1am.

What you should leave with:

• A SIM or eSIM that is already registered and has a working data balance
• The phone number written down
• A rough idea of when the bundle expires

Queues after a wide-body arrival can be long. That is the practical case for installing Holafly Plans the day before: you can order a Grab, message the apartment, and deal with the SIM counter when the hall is quieter, or the next morning in the city.

SIM registration rules

Vietnam does not sell anonymous prepaid SIMs. A local line has to be registered to an identity document before it is activated.

For a foreigner that document is your passport. The airport clerk or the shop scans it and ties the number to you. A few practical consequences:

• You cannot buy a SIM "for later" and activate it without the passport.
• The line is yours. Lending it, or letting a landlord register their own number as if it were yours, creates problems the first time a bank or the police checks.
• Carriers can refuse extra lines on a passport that already has several. If a clerk says you are at the limit, that is a carrier rule at the counter, not something you can talk your way past. We do not quote a fixed legal maximum here because the number they enforce changes. Ask before you buy a second SIM for a partner.
• Replacing a lost SIM means registering again, with the passport, at a store. It is not an app reset.

Holafly Plans does not go through this process. There is nothing to register with Vietnamese police or a carrier shop. That is a feature on day one, and the reason it cannot stand in for a local number later.

When you still need a local number

Data and a Vietnamese phone number are different problems. Holafly Plans solves the first. These are the situations that still need the second.

Banking

A Vietnamese bank will ask for a local mobile number before the account is usable. OTP for transfers, card payments, and the banking app is sent by SMS to that number. The US, UK, or Canadian number on Holafly Plans is for receiving codes from institutions back home. It is the right tool for your existing bank while you travel. It is the wrong tool to give Vietcombank.

Get the local SIM before the appointment, not in the Grab on the way there. Our banking guide covers which visa types can open an account at all. A SIM does not unlock a tourist-visa account. It only completes the setup once the bank is willing to open one.

Grab, MoMo, and local payments

Grab rides work without a Vietnamese number. Install the app before you fly, register it with your existing number, and pay with a foreign card. Holafly Plans data is enough for that from the curb at arrivals.

A local number starts to matter when you want local money on the phone: linking a Vietnamese bank, using MoMo, or receiving a transfer from a landlord. Those products expect a +84 line. Do not block your first Grab on a SIM queue.

VNeID

VNeID is for foreign nationals who already hold a TRC. Tourist and e-visa holders cannot register. The registration itself is in person at the ward police station, with your TRC, passport, and the phone that has the app installed. Activation then arrives by SMS or in the app, usually within a few working days.

Have a Vietnamese number on that phone before you go. An officer can complete the visit either way, but the SMS path is the one that fails quietly if the only number on the account cannot receive Vietnamese texts. Holafly Plans does not get you into VNeID. A TRC does, and a local SIM makes the activation step boring, which is what you want.

Side by side

| | Holafly Plans | Viettel / Vinaphone / Mobifone | |

|

|

| | When you set it up | Before the flight, on wifi | Airport arrivals, or a city store | | Data | Unlimited while the plan is active | Bundle. Airport starters are often around 200,000 VND; monthly data often around 150,000–200,000 VND. Confirm at the counter. | | Number | US, UK, or Canadian, for receiving messages and 2FA | Vietnamese +84 number | | Where it works | 160 destinations, including Vietnam | Vietnam. Viettel is the widest of the three if you leave the cities. | | Passport registration in Vietnam | Not required | Required before the SIM works | | Vietnamese bank OTP | No | Yes | | Grab rides | Yes, on data | Yes | | VNeID SMS | Not a substitute | The practical choice | | After you stop paying | Always On: 1GB free backup data each month, if the eSIM stays installed | The line goes quiet until you top up |

We are not listing a Holafly Plans monthly price. Use the Holafly Plans page for the current figure, with code VNLAUNCHPAD applied.

What we would actually do

1. The day before the flight, install Holafly Plans on wifi and send yourself a test message to the included number so you know 2FA from home still arrives.
2. Land, use that data for Grab and maps, and keep the printed e-visa in your bag. The SIM counter can wait if the queue is ugly.
3. Within the first day or two, if you will open a bank account, use MoMo, or later register for VNeID, buy a Viettel SIM and register it to your passport. Vinaphone or Mobifone are fine if you will stay in one city.
4. Keep Holafly Plans installed. When you leave Vietnam, or when a local plan lapses, Always On is the 1GB that still loads a boarding pass.

The code is VNLAUNCHPAD: 10% off Holafly Plans for the first 12 months. It is already on this link.

Related reading

• Your first week in Vietnam, including the airport SIM step
• Banking in Vietnam for expats
• VNeID for foreign nationals
• Cost of living, for what local mobile data costs once you have a SIM

Updated October 2026. Local SIM packages and carrier counter rules change. Confirm the current tourist bundle at the counter. Holafly Plans features above are the partner description of that product: unlimited data, 160 destinations, a US, UK, or Canadian number for receiving messages, and Always On 1GB monthly.