Vietnam eSIM

Mobile Networks & Coverage in Vietnam

e1sim Vietnam plans run on Viettel and VietnaMobile — two of the country's main mobile networks, together covering all major cities, coastal resorts, tourist destinations and most of the country's length from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. You get solid 4G LTE in Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Hue, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as in the main visitor areas of Ha Long Bay.

Coverage on offshore islands — Phu Quoc, Con Dao, the Cu Lao Cham islands near Hoi An — is available in resort towns and on main roads. Remote beaches and boat trips between islands can have limited signal. In the northern highlands around Sapa and Ha Giang, coverage exists in towns and along the main roads; more remote mountain trails and rice terrace viewpoints may have patchy connectivity.

Da Nang, Hoi An & Nha Trang — Why Summer Is Central Vietnam's Season

Vietnam has three distinct climate zones and knowing them changes everything about when and where to go. The central coast — Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue and Nha Trang — enjoys its dry season from roughly April to August, making summer the ideal time to visit. While northern Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long) is hot and rainy in July and southern Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta) is deep in its wet season, the central coast basks in warm sunshine, calm seas and low humidity. This reversal is the savvy traveller's secret: book central Vietnam for a summer holiday and you get the best of the country with none of the monsoon.

Da Nang sits at the midpoint of the central coast, flanked by a 30-kilometre sweep of My Khe Beach — consistently ranked among the best urban beaches in Asia. The city itself is modern and easy to navigate, with a thriving dining scene, the famous Dragon Bridge (which breathes real fire on weekend nights) and the Marble Mountains — five marble-and-limestone peaks riddled with Buddhist caves and panoramic viewpoints. A 30-minute drive south through the Hai Van Pass (one of Vietnam's great coastal roads, best ridden by motorbike) brings you to Hoi An: a perfectly preserved 15th-century trading port of yellow-washed merchant houses, red lantern-draped bridges and tailors who can copy any garment overnight. The Japanese Covered Bridge, Tan Ky Old House and the evening lantern market make Hoi An unmistakably itself. Nearby, the ancient Cham temple ruins of My Son sit in a jungle valley — a quieter, more atmospheric alternative to Angkor Wat.

Nha Trang, 500 kilometres south of Da Nang, is Vietnam's beach resort capital — a bay lined with high-rise hotels, seafood restaurants and beach clubs, backed by misty green mountains. The offshore islands of the Nha Trang archipelago offer snorkelling and diving on coral reefs in water clear enough to see the bottom at 20 metres. Hon Mun Island is the best diving site; the cable car to Vinpearl Land resort island is a Nha Trang institution. The Po Nagar Cham Towers on a hilltop north of the city centre are a 2,000-year-old reminder of the Cham civilisation that once dominated this coastline.

Hanoi, Ha Long Bay & Ho Chi Minh City

Hanoi — Vietnam's capital of a thousand years — is a city of lakes, colonial boulevards, ancient temples and the most concentrated street-food culture in Southeast Asia. The Old Quarter's 36 guild streets, each traditionally specialising in a single trade (silk, paper, bamboo, tin), are now a maze of guesthouses, coffee shops and pho restaurants where mopeds outnumber pedestrians ten to one. Hoan Kiem Lake at the city's heart is both park and pilgrimage site — the restored Ngoc Son Temple on its island is reached by a red wooden bridge. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature (Vietnam's first university, founded 1070) and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology round out the capital's essential sights.

Ha Long Bay — a UNESCO World Heritage Site of nearly 2,000 limestone karst islands rising from jade-green water — is one of the natural wonders of Asia. The classic experience is a two-day junk boat cruise: you sleep aboard a traditional wooden vessel, kayak into sea caves and floating fishing villages, and wake to mist drifting between the pillars at dawn. Ha Long is best visited between March and June (before summer rains) or October to December. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) — a megacity of motorbikes and relentless energy — offers the War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh Market and a craft cocktail scene that competes with any city in the region.