1. Grab App: the Best Alternative to Uber in Vietnam
The best alternative to Uber for ride-sharing in Vietnam is Grab. After Uber left the market in 2018, Grab became the dominant ride-hailing service, offering a reliable and widely used platform for users to book rides in Vietnam.
Massively popular, massively reliable, and very easy to use. Any time you think ‘hey I would like to use the Uber app right now,’ you should just use the Grab app instead.
Though you can get a Grab car anywhere, the roads in Vietnamese cities are much better suited to scooters*. Roads are narrow, traffic is heavy, and most people drive scooters instead of cars. So unless you need to be in a car (if you’re with another person, or lots of luggage), it’s best to use a scooter.
*When I say ‘scooter,’ I mean ‘low-powered motorbikes’. Not those things where you push yourself along with your feet.
When you open the Grab app, you can choose between scooters and cars, so you always know what you’re getting.
Please be careful when you use bikes. If your travel insurance covers riding on the back of a scooter, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t. But broadly speaking, Grab drivers are very safe—and they always have a spare helmet for their passengers.
All that said, if in doubt, just get a Grab car.
For your Grab rides you can pay cash (by handing it to the driver) or with your card (by entering your card details into the app on your profile). You don’t need a Vietnamese credit/debit card to use the app.
And if you don’t have a Vietnamese number, your WhatsApp number is enough.
How much do Grab rides cost in Vietnam? These rides are super-cheap: If you get a bike, a ten-minute ride will cost the equivalent of around $1 USD. If you take a Grab car, that same journey would cost around $2 or $2.50 USD.
You can download the Grab App from Apple’s App Store or from Google’s Play Store. Or visit Grab’s official website and download it to your phone.
