Essential Vietnam Travel Mobile Apps: Your Guide to a Smooth Trip (also Used by Locals!)

Planning a trip to Vietnam? Unlock the best of the country with these essential mobile apps! Whether you’re a tourist exploring its quiet villages and stunning cities, or looking to navigate daily life like a local, these applications are your key to a smooth experience. Many of these are the go-to apps for Vietnamese people too, so you’ll be tapping into authentic local solutions. From hailing a ride to finding the best street food, these apps will be your indispensable tools during your trip to Vietnam.

Important: all these apps need access to internet to function on your mobile. It’s good thing that mobile internet is very cheap in Vietnam, with networks 4G and even 5G. Check our article with the essential info about how to get a sim card in Vietnam.

Moving Around The Cities: Ride-Hailing & Navigation

Getting around Vietnam’s bustling cities and scenic routes is easier than ever with these reliable apps.

For Eco-Friendly Rides: XANH SM (Green SM)

Launched by VinFast, Vietnam’s unique electric vehicle manufacturer, Xanh SM offers a greener way to travel. Their fleet consists exclusively of electric cars and motorbikes, most of the vehicles have a distinctive turquoise blue color.

Pros: Sustainable choice • Drivers are often younger, have better English skills • Vehicles are new and clean.

Cons: Not cheaper than Grab • it can be difficult to find a driver during rush hours.

Things to Note: The motorbike seats can be a bit narrow. If you’re very tall (1m80 or 6 ft) or heavy (more than 80kg, 180lbs), you and the driver might find it a tight squeeze.

Availability: While Xanh SM cars seem to operate in all cities of Vietnam, the bike rides can be found only in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang.

The Ride-Hailing Leader: GRAB

Grab is the undisputed king of ride-hailing in Vietnam. It’s the region’s answer to Uber, but it offers much more than just booking a taxi, including booking motorbikes, food delivery and more.

Pros: Widest availability of drivers/vehicles in most cities throughout Vietnam • The Grab app is available in English with a translation in the chat so you can communicate with the drivers easily.

Services: GrabBike (motorbike), GrabCar (car), GrabFood (food delivery), GrabExpress (parcel delivery).

How Do These Vietnamese Ride-Hailing Apps Work?

Both Xanh SM and Grab function similarly:

Account Creation: Sign up with your phone number. A foreign number usually works, but using a Vietnamese SIM card is recommended to ensure you receive SMS confirmation codes.
Set Destination: Enter your destination and pickup addresses. The apps integrate with Google Maps, so you can often find hotels, restaurants, and points of interest by name.
Choose Vehicle: You’ll be shown several options:
- Motorbike (GrabBike / Xanh SM Bike): The quickest and most common way to get around cities.
- Motorbike Plus/Premium (GrabBike Plus / Xanh SM Plus): Often a slightly larger, more comfortable bike. Recommended if you’re above 70kg (155 lbs) for better comfort.
- Car 4-seater / 7-seater (GrabCar / Xanh SM Taxi): Standard car options. Important: Don’t book a 4-seater if your group has more than 4 people (including children). Drivers may refuse the ride to avoid issues with traffic police.
- Rentals: For cars, you can often rent a vehicle with a driver for several hours or for long-distance trips.
Confirm & Discount: Confirm your chosen vehicle and the displayed price. Always check the “Offers” or “Promotions” section for available discounts before booking! (You might see a visual cue for this in the app).
Driver Search: The app will find a nearby driver. During peak rush hours (typically 6 AM – 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM – 7 PM), or during heavy rain, it might take longer to find a driver, or surge pricing may apply.
Driver Communication:
- The driver might call you to confirm the pickup location. Simply stating the name of your hotel or the address you entered is usually sufficient.
- Grab features an in-app chat with a built-in translation tool, which is incredibly helpful for communicating with drivers.
Identify Your Ride: The app will show you the driver’s name, photo, vehicle model, and license plate number. You can spot your driver by the last few digits of their plate and sometimes the car color (common colors: trang = white, den = black, do = red). (The app usually displays a screen with the driver’s details approaching your location).
The Ride:
- Motorbike: The driver will provide you with a helmet. Be aware that these helmets are shared and might not be the epitome of cleanliness, but they are generally acceptable.
- Car: No helmet needed. You can usually sit in the front passenger seat if you prefer.
Payment:
- Cash: You can pay the driver in cash (Vietnamese Dong – VND) at the end of the trip.
- Card: You can add your Visa/Mastercard details to the app before ordering the ride to pay cashless. Note that some apps might apply a small processing surcharge (e.g., Grab sometimes has a ~4% fee for card payments on certain services).

For Reliable Traditional Taxis: VINASUN

Vinasun is one of Vietnam’s largest and most reputable traditional taxi companies. Their app allows you to hail a metered taxi.

Pros: Reliable, honest drivers who use the meter correctly • Good availability, especially during peak hours when Grab/Xanh SM drivers might be scarce.

Local Tip: While you can hail Vinasun taxis on the street, be cautious of “clone” taxi companies that mimic Vinasun’s appearance but may have “tweaked” meters designed to overcharge significantly. Using their app ensures you get a legitimate Vinasun taxi.

How it Works: Enter your pickup address or location name, then tap “Call Any” (or similar). A nearby taxi will be dispatched. The driver will likely call your local number to confirm your pickup. When you get in, tell the driver your destination. They will input it into their system, which usually shows the route and estimated fare. Pay upon arrival by cash or by card (many taxis have payment terminals for Visa, Mastercard).

To Not Get Lost: GOOGLE MAPS

Absolutely essential for finding your way anywhere in Vietnam. The service is very reliable, offering walking, motorbike, and car navigation. You can also download maps of specific cities or regions for offline access, a lifesaver when you’re out of Wi-Fi or data range.

Google Maps is used a lot by locals, so you can find reviews of any hotel/restaurants/thing to do more accurately than on Tripadvisor.com.

Eating in Vietnam: Discovery & Delivery

Vietnamese cuisine is world-famous. These apps help you explore it and even get it delivered to your door!

To Discover What to Eat: STREET FOOD EXPLORER VIETNAM

Don’t get stuck eating Phở every day (although it’s delicious!): Vietnam has an incredible diversity of dishes. Our mobile app Street Food Explorer helps you discover names, ingredients, and photos of various Vietnamese foods and drinks. With around 200 dishes and drinks listed, you’re sure to find something new and exciting to try throughout your trip.

Discover new dishes: while walking around, you will meet many street vendors or small restaurants. The sign will tell you what dishes they are cooking: search this name in our app to find what is that dish about, and try them!

The Premium version even allows you to take a photo of a menu and find these dishes in our database, thanks to Google Gemini.

To Deliver Food: GRAB FOOD

If you’re tired after a long day walking around, you can indulge in your hotel room: Grab Food will deliver at any hour of the day or night. Just make sure your hotel accepts it (most do), order from the app and the driver will call you when they arrive downstairs, you can come to pick your dinner and pay by cash.

Pro: Grab app has English version, the dishes are sometimes AI-translated • Pay cash on delivery • Hundreds of restaurants.

Tip: don’t forget to check the “offers” at checkout, Grab gives many discounts.

To Find Restaurants: GOOGLE MAPS

Again, Google Maps is invaluable. It’s arguably your best bet for finding restaurants, especially in your preferred language.

Reviews: Generally less biased than some other platforms, and Google automatically translates reviews into your language.

Local Stalls: Be aware that many of the ubiquitous small, local food stalls and family-run eateries may not be registered businesses and thus might not appear on Google Maps. Keep an eye out for these gems as you explore!

Communicating with local Vietnamese people

For Instant Translation: GOOGLE TRANSLATE

Google Translate is an essential app for any traveler. Use it for text, voice, and even camera translation (point your camera at signs or menus). Vietnamese people use it a lot.

Tip: Download the Vietnamese language pack for offline use.

Tip2: use simple expressions to ensure an accurante translation: Google Translate is not totally accurate, especially on the pronouns (I, you) as their grammar is a bit different in Vietnam.

The Local Chat App: ZALO

Everybody in Vietnam uses Zalo. From businesses to friends and family, it’s the primary messaging app, a mix of messaging and social media.

Pros: you can register with your foreign number • Zalo allows someone to give you their contact without showing your phone number • Features an AI chat translation service, making communication with locals much easier.

Tips: as some users have occasionally reported difficulties to register, it can be wise to install and set up Zalo before you arrive in Vietnam • Zalo doesn’t use end-to-end encryption like Whatsapp.

Whatsapp is getting more popular among Vietnamese urban professionals who do business with foreigners but its 30% penetration rate is still way behind Zalo’s 95%.

Party / Nightlife

To find a bar/club: FACEBOOK EVENTS / INSTAGRAM

Vietnam is not really a nightlife destination except for Ho Chi Minh City, and a little bit Hanoi and Hoi An because they have many tourists.

Most venues will post events (Ladies’ Night, special DJ, …) on their Facebook page, so it’s a good place to start your local research for bars and clubs, and to see what’s going on tonight.

You can also check the Instagram or TikTok profiles to see the mood at the venue, but they will usually post “real” photos of their past parties on their Facebook page or stories.

Traveling around Vietnam

To Book Hotels/Homestays: AGODA / BOOKING

There are many apps to book hotels in Vietnam, both local and international, but Agoda and Booking ensure the best experience for foreign tourists in Vietnam. They often have the cheapest rates, the largest options both for regular hotels and homestays, without the additional costs of Airbnb. As only paid customers can give a rating on Agoda or Booking, the reviews are balanced and reliable, not like Tripadvisor.

To book domestic plane tickets: VIETNAM AIRLINES / VIETJET

Taking the plane can save you a lot of time to travel the long distances in Vietnam, but there are frequent delays so you should keep some security period in case your flight is delayed.

Be careful: many fake websites copy the official websites and lure you into buying tickets that don’t exist, so please only use the official websites of these airlines, that we provide above.

Vietnam Airlines is the national airline, the most reliable (on time rate of 83%). Normal conditions apply with 20 kg check-in and food served on the flight.

VietjetAir is a leading low-cost airline. Fares are cheaper than with Vietnam Airlines but all additional services are paid: by default the ticket doesn’t include checked-in luggage, just a 7kg carry-on. You can buy the checked-in for ~10USD for 20 kg. And Vietjet has a lot of delays (only 62% on-time rate), so your flight will likely be moved to another schedule, a few hours after the time you paid for. That’s an inconvenience of being cheap, so be prepared…

We hope this list of essential apps for Vietnam helps you make the most of your journey! If you think there’s a crucial service or app missing from our list that would benefit fellow travelers, please send us a quick message at chef@street-food-explorer.com, and we’ll be happy to look into it! Enjoy your Vietnam adventure!