Which Unlimited SIM Card for a Trip to Vietnam?

A little framing before diving into the subject: Caroline and I have a Vietnam trip in our plans for the coming years, but we haven’t set foot there yet. So, unlike our Morocco or Scotland guides where we share what we experienced in the Inwi or Vodafone stores, here we faithfully report what we’ve learned through documentation and discussions with friends who have traveled the country.

In concrete terms, this guide combines: the public rates for 2026 from the three local operators (Viettel, Vinaphone, Mobifone), cross-feedback from a few fellow travellers who came back from the country, and our analysis of the three main solutions to stay connected there. The day we actually go, we’ll create an enhanced version with our direct experience.

Why you need a real internet solution in Vietnam

Let’s be honest for a second: Vietnam has done perfectly well without your mobile data for centuries. But in 2026, as soon as you want to hail a Grab from Hanoi airport, translate a menu in Vietnamese at a local eatery, book a hotel in Hoi An at the last minute because your Halong Bay cruise took longer than expected, or simply share a sunset on the Mekong, data becomes useful.

Three concrete choices: your UK plan in roaming (to be forgotten except for very short travel passes), a Viettel or Vinaphone SIM card bought at the airport (£4 for the month, seriously), or a Holafly Vietnam eSIM activated from home (zero friction but eight times more expensive). We’ll look at each option in detail.

Solution 1: your UK plan in Vietnam, really?

The first option that comes to mind: keep your usual plan and use roaming. It’s the simplest on paper. Except that no major UK operator includes Vietnam in its standard EU roaming bundle. The country is over 10,000 km away, six hours of time difference, on another telecom continent.

Three UK (Go Roam). Three’s Go Roam covers 71 destinations at no extra cost (including most of Europe and a handful of long-haul countries), but Vietnam is not on the list. Even there’s a recent change to verify, is not included. Roaming charges apply by default, guaranteed hefty bill upon return.

EE (Roam Extra passes). EE sells daily/weekly passes for Asia Pacific zones: roughly £6 to £7 per day, with very tight data caps. Useful for three or four days. Ruinous for two weeks.

Vodafone UK. Daily Roaming Charge applies in Vietnam (around £6.85 per day) unless a dedicated international add-on is purchased. We did not test Vodafone UK in our van because our 4G modem in Edouard refuses certain UK SIMs (known issue with some modems and specific radio bands).

O2 UK (Travel Bolt-On). Travel Bolt-Ons for Vietnam are available daily/weekly via the app: low data cap, anything over the cap is charged per unit.

In concrete terms, on all UK operators outside of dedicated travel add-ons, data in Vietnam costs you between £5 and £13 per megabyte if you haven’t taken a travel option. Three Instagram photos and you’re at £50. With a travel option, you’ll get 1 to 2 GB for £15 to £25, barely enough for GPS and a few messages over a week.

Here’s our updated price comparison of roaming rates in Vietnam by UK operator:

Verdict on the UK plan option: to be avoided for any stay in Vietnam. The country has a local telecom infrastructure that makes UK plans completely uncompetitive.

Viettel, Vinaphone, Mobifone: the landscape of local operators

Three major national operators in Vietnam, each with very distinct profiles. All our feedback from friends converges on the following hierarchy.

Viettel is the historical operator, owned by the Vietnamese army. Absolute coverage across the country, including remote areas: Sapa, the Ha Giang loop, the Central Highlands, the Mekong Delta, the Khmer coast. Universally recommended for a north-south road trip by motorcycle or long-distance bus. Default first choice for travelers venturing off the main roads.

Vinaphone plays the urban challengers. Good coverage in major cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An), Tourist SIM kiosks in international airports. A valid solution for those staying within the Hanoi-Hoi An-HCMV triangle without pushing towards the mountains.

Mobifone rounds out the podium. Solid urban coverage, competitive rates on 30-day plans, popular MVNOs using its network. Less reliable outside major roadways, so not the default choice for the Ha Giang loop or the rice terraces of Sapa.

Vietnamobile, the fourth operator, has coverage too limited to be recommended to a foreign traveler.

Advantages and disadvantages of SIM cards for Vietnam

How much does a SIM card cost in Vietnam in 2026

Hold on tight: after the reminder of UK roaming rates, Vietnamese prices will make you smile.

Viettel

• 60,000 VND (about £2.5): 5 GB of data for 15 days. Perfect entry pack for a short stay.
• 100,000 VND (about £4): unlimited for 30 days, plus 20 minutes of national calls and 20 minutes of international calls. The best value for mobile data worldwide in 2026, period.
• 200,000 VND (about £8): unlimited for 30 days, 100 free minutes of national calls, 20 minutes of international calls. The pro pack for those who call a lot.

Vinaphone

• 199,000 VND (about £7.5): 1 GB per day for 15 days.
• 90,000 VND (about £3.7): 1 GB per day for 30 days, plus 30 minutes of off-network calls.
• 150,000 VND (about £6.2): 2 GB per day for 30 days, plus 80 minutes of off-network calls.

Mobifone

• 250,000 VND (about £10): 6 GB, 60 minutes of local calls, 100 SMS for 30 days.
• 200,000 VND (about £8): 10 GB for 30 days.

The Holafly eSIM Vietnam, in comparison, costs €19 for unlimited data for 5 days, or about €65 for unlimited data for 30 days. Fifteen to sixteen times more expensive than Viettel for the equivalent monthly plan. You pay for the total absence of friction (no queue at the airport, no passport photocopy).

Here’s the updated numerical overview of local SIMs in Vietnam, with current packages and rates:

Buy your SIM card on-site in Vietnam or in advance from home?

Three options to compare for equipping yourself before departure or upon arrival. Our critical reading based on documentation and feedback from acquaintances.

Holafly Vietnam: what our peers say

We asked several travelers in our circle who went to Vietnam in the last two years. The consensus is clear.

For a stay of less than fifteen days: Holafly eSIM Vietnam, without hesitation. They all told us the same thing: “the time saved upon arrival is worth the price difference, and you keep your UK number for SMS from the UK bank.”

For a long stay (three weeks to several months): local Viettel SIM, without contest. The price gap becomes decisive, and the 20 to 30-minute queue at the airport kiosk is easily amortized over time.

Here are the concrete benefits of the Holafly eSIM, as described to us:

• online purchase in five minutes from the UK, promo code applied directly
• activation the day before departure, switch at the moment of boarding
• arriving in Hanoi or HCMV already connected, which helps a lot for hailing a Grab from the airport to the hotel
• keeping the UK number active on the second profile of the chip
• automatic expiration of the eSIM at the end of the duration, no action required

On the local Viettel side, the same budget benefits (up to sixteen times cheaper), with the trade-off: 20 minutes of queue upon arrival, passport photocopy, and a temporary Vietnamese number replacing your UK number on the physical SIM.

Network coverage in Vietnam: where it works, where it struggles

Field summary of feedback from our acquaintances who have traveled the country from north to south, some by motorbike, others by bus.

What we learned while preparing for our upcoming trip

Here are the stable tips that come from the feedback of those around us.

Arrival at the airport. Two validated scenarios. Option A: eSIM Holafly activated before boarding, we head straight for a Grab to the hotel after passport control. Option B: head to the Viettel or Mobifone kiosk at arrivals, 20 to 30 minutes of queuing depending on the crowd, then a local SIM for £4 for the month. For a first trip of 7 to 14 days, the eSIM is more coherent for saving time. For a long stay or a return trip, the local Viettel is the obvious choice.

In-store procedures. Several feedbacks converge: Viettel and Mobifone sellers in the city speak limited English, having Google Translate ready is useful. At airport kiosks, English is better understood. And always ask for a receipt with the SIM number printed on it, just in case.

Free wifi everywhere. All feedback mentions that public wifi in Vietnam is ubiquitous: hotels, restaurants, cafes, sometimes even convenience stores. If you work remotely and camp in cafes, you can almost do without a data SIM by staying with the locals. But for Grab GPS outside or Maps while exploring, the SIM remains essential.

The SIM-locked phone trap. A colleague got caught: Viettel SIM purchased at the airport, iPhone rented from his UK operator with SIM lock. The new SIM never worked. Check the SIM unlock BEFORE you leave, not after.

The rejected eSIM trap. The same issue with the eSIM Holafly: if your iPhone is rented from a UK operator with SIM lock, the third-party eSIM may be rejected by the phone. Test it before departure by downloading a test eSIM (Airalo offers a free Spain eSIM to check compatibility).

The day Caroline and I take the plane to Hanoi, we will redo a “Our Experience” version of this article with our own anecdotes. In the meantime, this cross-feedback covers a lot of ground.

To go further: our other SIM card guides by destination

If your trip to Vietnam is part of a larger Asia tour, here are our other guides where we also explored the topic (with direct experience this time).

Conclusion: what we honestly recommend

The executive summary:

For a short stay in Vietnam (less than two weeks), eSIM Holafly with the code LAPLANETEDECARO. -5% discount, activation from your couch, arriving connected to hail the Grab to the hotel.

For a long stay or a motorcycle/bus road trip, local Viettel SIM purchased at the airport. Expect 20 to 30 minutes of queuing, a photocopy of your passport, and you leave with a month of unlimited for £4. Unbeatable in the world.

For the Ha Giang loop or the rice terraces of Sapa, download your offline maps before you go. Your GPS will continue to work even when Viettel drops in the valleys.

Do you have a question we haven’t covered? Ask it in the comments, and we will dig deeper. And if you return from Vietnam with your own field feedback on the operators or coverage, share it too: these testimonies feed the next versions of the article and will directly help us prepare for our own departure.

Safe travels in Vietnam (and enjoy the phở at £1 a bowl while we prepare ours from Édouard).

PS: this guide assumes its transparency. If Caroline and I had said that we walked into a Viettel store in Hanoi as we did at Inwi in Morocco, it would have been more immersive but it would have been false. We prefer to bring you the real prices and the cross-feedback from friends, and promise you an updated experience the day we have crossed the country ourselves. Thanks to the friends who shared their travels with us to allow us to write this guide.