The Dufresnes

We lived in Da Nang for a year, and over that time we used Holafly across 14 different areas of Vietnam — from the big cities to the far north to the islands. It was the only travel-data service we relied on the entire time, for our whole family. This is the honest account of why, written from a year of daily use rather than a week's holiday.

The short version: for unlimited data that held up everywhere we went in Vietnam, Holafly earned it. Code THEDUFRESNES = up to 30% off. 👉 Get it here · 📺 how we used it · New to Holafly? Our complete Holafly guide has the code, setup, and Plans in one place.

A year of real use, not a review copy

We're official Holafly ambassadors (since May 2022), and full transparency: this is our code and we earn from it. But we also paid for our own plans and used it as our only SIM through an entire year based in Da Nang, so what follows is what actually happened — including the honest limits.

Over that year we used it in 14 areas of Vietnam, including Da Nang (home base), Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Phong Nha, and Phu Quoc. Cities, northern mountains, central coast, and islands. It kept us connected in all of them.

What we actually used it for

Living somewhere is different from visiting, and our data use reflected that — it varied a lot. On an ordinary day at home in Da Nang it was modest: navigation to a café, a few Grab rides, Google Translate at the market, messaging. When we were traveling the country it jumped — constant maps in unfamiliar towns, translating everything, and uploading photos and video as we went. That swing is exactly why unlimited mattered: we never had to think about which kind of day it was or ration anything.

The daily essentials in Vietnam, all of which run on data:

• Grab — the ride-hailing you'll use constantly, and it needs a live connection to book
• Google Maps — streets rarely have English signage, so navigation is non-negotiable
• Google Translate — camera mode for menus and market signs, every day
• WhatsApp — how you talk to hotels, tours, and family back home
• Banking and booking apps — for ATMs that don't always cooperate and last-minute stays

The night it really mattered: our Da Nang apartment fire

The story we come back to happened near the end of our year there, in March 2026. A fire alarm went off in our Da Nang apartment building in the small hours, and we evacuated with the kids into the middle of the night. What got us through the next hour was having instant, unlimited data on our own phones: WhatsApp calls to tell family we were safe, a booking app to find a hotel immediately, maps to get there, and a Grab booked within minutes. No scrambling for Wi-Fi, no rationing data during an emergency. That's the moment connectivity stops being a convenience and becomes the thing you're quietly grateful for.

Coverage: where it held up

Across the year and those 14 areas, the honest summary is that it worked everywhere we needed it, on local Vietnamese networks (it connects to whichever is strongest, and switches automatically):

• Cities — Da Nang, Hanoi, HCMC, Hue: fast and reliable, fine for uploads and remote work
• Tourist areas — Hoi An, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Phu Quoc: strong, no trouble sharing photos or working from a café
• Northern mountains — Sapa, Ninh Binh: solid where we went, good enough for navigation and staying in touch
• Phong Nha: worked around the caves area for navigation and booking

As with any network anywhere, signal thins out in genuinely remote spots and deep inside caves — that's physics, not the eSIM. For off-grid stretches, download offline maps first. But across a year of ordinary life plus a lot of travel, we were never actually stranded.

Holafly Vietnam pricing with THEDUFRESNES

The Vietnam eSIM is unlimited data on the standard ladder, 5% off with the code:

Duration	Price	With THEDUFRESNES
5 days	$20.50	$19.48
7 days	$27.50	$26.13
10 days	$36.50	$34.68
15 days	$50.50	$47.98
30 days	$73.90	$70.21

Any duration from 1 to 90 days. You can tether about 1 GB/day to a second device — fine for a partner's phone.

Living in Vietnam, or moving on through Asia? That's where Holafly Plans made sense for us — one subscription instead of buying an eSIM per country, with unlimited hotspot:

• Monthly Unlimited: $64.90 → $58.41 (10% off)
• Quarterly Unlimited: about $52.79/month (up to 20% off — newer option)
• Annual Unlimited: about $566/year (up to 30% off), covering 160+ destinations

Full comparison in our Holafly Plans guide.

Setup (do it before you fly)

1. Buy at Holafly, select Vietnam (or a Plan), enter THEDUFRESNES.
2. Install the eSIM from the QR code at home on Wi-Fi.
3. Land in Hanoi, HCMC, or Da Nang, switch off airplane mode, select the Holafly line, turn on data roaming — connected in about 30 seconds.
4. Your home SIM stays active for calls, texts, and 2FA; your WhatsApp number carries over. Plus Always On gives you 1 GB/month of free backup data between plans.

Book your Grab before you've left baggage claim.

What other travelers say

On the forums, Vietnam visitors echo what our year taught us: Grab, Maps, and Translate make constant data non-negotiable here, hotel Wi-Fi is unreliable enough that you don't want to depend on it, and the relief of landing already connected (no airport SIM queue, no passport registration) comes up again and again. The common note is the same as ours — the value isn't a speed number, it's never having to think about it.

Who it's for

Get it if you want unlimited data that just works across Vietnam without a local-SIM queue, you're navigating and translating all day, you're creating content, or you're staying long-term (a Plan beats buying eSIM after eSIM). Think twice only if you genuinely use almost no data and never leave a hotel with Wi-Fi — but in Vietnam, that's nobody.

Vietnam FAQ

Is Holafly really unlimited in Vietnam? Yes — no hard cap. A fair-use policy can briefly manage speeds during congestion; over a year we never hit a wall in normal use.

Does it work outside the big cities? It held up everywhere we went, from Sapa to Phu Quoc. Deep-remote spots and cave interiors can drop, like any network — carry offline maps for those.

Can I share it with my family? About 1 GB/day of tethering on the Vietnam eSIM; for heavy multi-device sharing, Plans Unlimited has unlimited hotspot (what we used).

eSIM or a local SIM? The local SIM is cheaper up front but means an airport queue, passport registration, a physical swap, and losing your own number. The eSIM installs at home, keeps your number, and activates on landing.

Heading elsewhere in the region? See our Southeast Asia connectivity guide.

Get Holafly for Vietnam

Code: THEDUFRESNES

• 1 week: $27.50 → $26.13
• 2 weeks: $50.50 → $47.98
• 1 month: $73.90 → $70.21
• Long-term / multi-country: Plans from $58.41/month (up to 30% off annually)

👉 Get the Holafly Vietnam eSIM with THEDUFRESNES

A year living there taught us to stop thinking about data and just explore. Install it before you fly, and do the same.

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