Using an eSIM in Hanoi

What Hanoi is like on a phone

Hanoi is the starting point for nearly every northern Vietnam itinerary: people give it two or three nights before heading on to Ha Long, Ninh Binh, or up into the hills at Sapa. Coverage across the city is dense, and everyday usage is cheap enough locally that phones simply stay online. What travellers notice fast is that the street and the guest room are two different environments, because houses here are narrow at the front and run back a long way — the room at the rear is markedly weaker than the shopfront.

À l'atterrissage

International flights land at Noi Bai (HAN), terminal two. Switch the eSIM on before you leave your seat so you can check your arrival paperwork and order a car the moment you clear the hall. The ride into town takes about forty-five minutes and crosses the Red River on an open, modern bridge where service holds the whole way. The other common arrivals are the overnight train from Lao Cai into Hanoi station and coaches from Cat Ba or Ninh Binh that stop at various points around the old town. Visa and entry-document rules are revised from time to time, so check the Vietnamese immigration authority's own notice before you travel.

Où la couverture change

Around Hoan Kiem and out at West Lake the ground is open, so the line arrives clean and stays put. In the thirty-six streets, where narrow-fronted shophouses stand shoulder to shoulder, the street itself is fine but the inner rooms of a deep building fall away the moment you walk past the front door. The alleys you enter, follow for several turns and then climb by a tight staircase are what people complain about most. On the old steel Long Bien bridge the signal is present but uneven along the span. Head west out of the city, where the land begins to rise, and consistency drops off with distance.

What a day here costs in data

A day here runs roughly 1 to 2GB, because you will book motorbike rides through an app several times over and keep the map open in an old town where the street name changes every block. Camera translation gets a workout ordering from street kitchens with no English menu. Scanning to pay is routine for locals, though plenty of small places still take cash. On an evening when you cut a clip and upload it from your room, budget about double an ordinary day.

Districts travellers ask about

• The Old Quarter — A grid of tight streets named for what they used to sell; out on the road the line is good, but a room set deep inside a building is far weaker, so test it before you agree to a call.
• Tay Ho / West Lake — Where long-stay foreigners settle, with cafes along the water; the open ground around the lake keeps the line noticeably steadier than in the old town, which suits anything that needs a camera on.
• Ba Dinh — The government district of wide boulevards and open squares, consistent out in the air, though inside a few of the thick-walled museum halls sending a photo is harder than you would expect.
• Long Bien — Across the river, with a big night market and a walkway on the old steel bridge; the span carries service unevenly, and over the middle of the river you can feel it thin.

Day trips out of the city

• Ha Long and Lan Ha bays — Two and a half hours east, then onto an overnight boat. The road and the harbour behave normally; once the boat moors out among the limestone islands, service becomes unpredictable and in some anchorages goes silent altogether.
• Ninh Binh — Rice fields with limestone towers standing in them; roads and villages are fine, but on the rowboat rides that pass under the cave roofs at Tam Coc and Trang An there is nothing at all while you are inside.
• Sapa — North by road or on the night train to Lao Cai; on the climb the line comes and goes with the shape of each valley. Sapa town itself is normal, but the trekking routes down into the villages go quiet for long stretches.