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updated:
2 February 2012
Travelling by train in Vietnam
Watch the video...
An express from
Hanoi to Saigon along the coast from Hue & Danang.
Vietnam's air-conditioned trains are
safe, comfortable & inexpensive, the ideal way for independent travellers to get around and
see
Vietnam at ground level. The train journeys are an experience in
themselves, and become an integral part of your visit to Vietnam.
You might even meet some Vietnamese people. Inexperienced
travellers sometimes think they'll save time by using internal
flights - in fact, an overnight train ride from Hanoi to Hué or Danang
actually saves time compared to flying, because the train leaves
Hanoi city centre in the evening and arrives in Hué city centre next
morning, but it's more than this, the train journey is a genuine
Vietnamese experience, flying is a wasted opportunity. Flying takes 4 or 5 hours out of your sightseeing day
in getting to a remote airport, checking in, taking the flight itself,
collecting your bags and getting back into the city centre. And
the sleeper train saves a hotel bill, too. And what's the rush
anyway? Air-conditioned trains
with sleepers and on-board catering link Hanoi, Hué,
Danang, Nha Trang, and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Hoi An has no
station, but it's just 30km by bus or taxi from Danang. There
are also trains from Hanoi to Haiphong (for Halong Bay) and Hanoi to
Lao Cai (for Sapa).
The Reunification Express?
Trains between Hanoi & Saigon are sometimes referred to as the
'Reunification Express' by guide books and tourist agencies, although there are now
several trains on this route and no single train
officially carries this name. The line was completed by the French
in 1936, and trains linked Hanoi to Saigon until 1954, when Vietnam was
divided into north and south and the railway was cut. The trains
resumed on 31 December 1976, unifying the country once more. You
too can easily travel the length of Vietnam using the reunification
railway, a travel experience in its own right.
The view from the train...
Along the coast
and up into the hills... The most magical part of the Hanoi to Saigon train
journey is the world-class scenic section between Hué and
Danang. The train runs along the South China Sea, snaking
from cliff to jungle-covered cliff past beaches and
islands, then heads through the
lush green mountains via the Hai Van Pass to reach Danang.
In Vietnamese it's 'Đèo Hải Vân'
meaning 'Ocean Cloud Pass', and I can't think of a better name. These photos were taken in poor weather at the end of the rainy
season - in the bright Vietnamese sun, the vivid blue skies,
green waters and yellow beaches will take your breath away...
See the video, Hanoi-Saigon by train.
Rice fields, palm trees, water buffalo, Vietnamese towns
and villages... You get a real insight into
Vietnam when you travel by train, both urban and rural,
which you don't get from 35,000 feet. And if you're
good at people watching you'll get insights on board the
train, too, as the 'real' Vietnam is as much inside the
train as outside...
HCMC or Saigon?
Since the end of the
Vietnamese war, the official the name for the conurbation as a whole
has been Ho Chi Minh City
(HCMC). However, the city centre is still officially called
'Saigon', which is the city's traditional and historic name. In fact, the city appears as 'Sai Gon' in all Vietnamese railway
timetables, it will say 'Sai Gon' on your train ticket and as you can see
from the photo, it actually says 'Sai Gon' in big letters on the station
itself. The city's
ruling elite may toe the line and call it 'Ho Chi Minh', but
everyone else calls it Saigon. So do what the locals do,
call it Saigon!
Over the last decade the
Hanoi-Saigon train service steadily improved and there are now a whole
range of daily air-conditioned trains linking Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Nha
Trang & Saigon (HCMC), an ideal way to travel between these cities. Here are the principal
trains, there
are additional trains at peak times such as the
Tet holiday period
in late January or February.
SNT1, SNT2: Air-con soft sleepers (both older & newer
types), air-con hard sleepers (both older & newer types), air-con
soft seats. Ask for a 'chat luong cao' (newer higher quality)
sleeper. Also has 'Golden Trains' high-quality sleepers
attached.
Livitrans private tourist sleeping-cars, Hanoi-Hué-Danang: Trains
SE1 & SE2 have one or two tourist sleeping-cars attached between Hanoi, Hue & Danang run by
private company Livitrans,
see the photos & information below. These have 4-berth sleepers
of a higher standard than the regular ones,
but higher fares. See
www.livitrans.com for fares &
online booking.
Golden Trains private tourist sleeping-cars, Saigon-Nha Trang:
Trains SNT1 & SNT2 have 'Golden Trains' tourist sleeping-cars
attached between Saigon and Nha Trang. These have 4-berth soft
sleepers of a higher quality than the regular sleepers. Fare
$38 for a bed in a 4-berth sleeper, bookable through an agency such
as
www.vietnamimpressive.com.
Hoi An it features on many visitor's
itineraries. It's about 30 km south of Danang, but has no
railway station, so take a train to Danang, then a bus or taxi. There are regular buses, minibuses & taxis from
Danang to Hoi An taking between 45 minutes and an hour. The bus fare is about US$3, a taxi will cost in the region of US$9-15
depending on your negotiation skills.
See map.
The seaside town of Phan Thiet is on
a 15km-long branch line from Muong Man. There's a daily direct
train between Saigon & Pan Thiet shown in the timetable above, or you can take any mainline
train to Muong Man station and then a taxi to Pan Thiet. Pan
Thiet is 15.7 km by taxi from
Muong Man. For heading north from Pan Thiet, take a taxi to
Muong man station.
See area map.
Train fares in Vietnam
are cheap, and sleeper trains save on hotel bills as well as the
cost of taxis to & from airports way outside the cities they serve.
The fares shown below are for the SE1, SE2, SE7 & SE8, fares for the
slightly faster SE3 & SE4 are a fraction higher. Fares for the
'SNT' trains are about the same, fares for the slower 'TN' trains
are significantly cheaper.
Incidentally, the old system of charging foreigners higher fares
than Vietnamese citizens was abolished in 2002.
Children aged 0
to 4 travel free, children 5 to 9 travel at half fare.
Children10 and over must pay full fare.
Fares are shown
here in 1000s of Vietnamese Dong. £1 =
approx 32,900 Dong. $1 = 20,500 Dong.
Do I need a
reservation? Can I stop off along the way? Can I buy an
open ticket and hop on
and off?
Yes, yes, and no... All trains require a reservation, so you need a
specific ticket for each individual train journey you make, which will
have printed on it the date, train number, car number and your
reserved seat or berth number. You cannot buy an open ticket
and hop on and off trains without a reservation. If you want to travel from Saigon to Hanoi (or vice versa) stopping
off on the way, this is not a problem, you simply need to book a series of separate
tickets, one for each leg of the journey, either bought in advance or
bought as you go along.
Do I need to
book far in advance? Can I buy my tickets a day or two
ahead?
Booking opens at
least 60 days before departure, often more than 90 days before
departure. However, apart
from peak holiday periods such as
Tet
(Vietnamese new year, in late January or February), it's not usually difficult to
buy tickets a few days in advance especially if you're not fussy
about the exact date, train or class. If you are booking
for the same day or the following day, you might find the best
quality SE trains full, but other slower trains may have berths
available, or you may find the soft sleepers full, but hard
sleepers still available, so be prepared to be flexible.
You're unlikely to get stuck as there's usually something
available to your destination even at fairly short notice, but
if it's mission-critical for your itinerary to be on a specific
train on a specific date in a specific class, then it's worth
paying the extra to book through an agency such as
www.vietnamimpressive.com to secure the exact tickets you want
before you get to Vietnam.
Buy tickets at the
station...
It's easy to buy train
tickets
at
the station when you get to Vietnam. Reservations were
computerised in 2002, and you can buy tickets for most train journeys
within Vietnam at Saigon and Hanoi booking offices. So
for example, you can buy both a Saigon-Hue ticket and a Hue-Hanoi
ticket in Saigon. However, at other
stations such as Hue, Danang or Nha Trang, you may only be able to book journeys
starting at the station you're at. At ticket offices, you pay
in Vietnamese Dong, US dollars are not generally accepted, nor are
credit cards.
...buying
tickets in Hanoi
Hanoi
main station on Le Duan Street. Enter by the main doors and turn left
into the booking office. Press a button on the box at
the entrance (on the right of the right-hand photo) to get a numbered queuing ticket.
Take a seat, and watch the illuminated board above
the ticket counters (at top right in the photo) to see
which counter to go to when your number comes up.
Incidentally, the ugly concrete central section of an
otherwise attractive French colonial station is the
result of American bombs which flattened this part of
the station on 21 December 1972...
...buying tickets in Saigon
Saigon
station & ticket office... A numbered queuing
system operates. Press the button and take a ticket
from the small box at the entrance to the ticket office area
(in the ticket office photo above the box is just visible on
the wall at far right), take a seat
and watch the screens which will show you which counter to
go to when your number comes up. The station is a
15 minute taxi ride from central Saigon, so it can be easier to
buy your tickets at the city centre ticket agency, 275
Pham Ngu Lao, see the photo above right.
Train ticket
agency at 275 Pham Ngu
Lao. Buying tickets here saves having to make a trip
out to the station...
Buy tickets in
advance via a travel agency...
You cannot buy train
tickets online from Vietnamese Railways, so if you want to pre-book some or all of your
trains you need to contact a local Vietnamese train booking
agency and buy tickets through them. These agencies naturally charge a fee
or mark-up for their service, but it can be worth it to be sure of a
ticket for the exact date, train and class you want.
VietnamImpressivewww.vietnamimpressive.com is relatively new, but has already had five very good
reports from seat61 correspondents who highly recommend them, and I
have used them myself. They answer emails promptly and are
very helpful. For a typical Hanoi to Hué soft sleeper
ticket they charge $51 (£33), which equates to a handling fee of
about $14 (£9) over the ticket office price of 748,000 dong,
which includes delivery to any hotel in Vietnam. If you
pay securely online by credit card via Onepay there's an
additional
3% credit card charge. Vietnamstay.com
(www.vietnamstay.com)
also gets very good reports from travellers, although they can
only book trains departing from Hanoi or Saigon, and not
starting at intermediate stations. Their website now
only seems to mention Hanoi-Sapa trains, but ask them for a
quote for other routes. Saigonhotel (www.saigonhotel.com, formerly Viet-nam.net)
has not had such good reports, but offers a comprehensive
service.
Traveller Jon
Feltham reports on
www.vietnamimpressive.com: "We arrived Hanoi and checked
into our hotel in the old quarter. I telephoned Vietnam
Impressive and within the hour our train tickets to Danang and
from Danang to Saigon had arrived at our hotel, pretty good
since I had ordered and paid for said tickets way back in March
and it was now November. The tickets were exactly what I
had ordered, bottom bunks soft sleeper on both stages of the
trip." Further feedback (or recommendations for other agencies) is always
appreciated!
Privacy-loving
westerners who are unfamiliar with sleeper train travel often ask this
- although they'll happily sleep in a seat with 300 strangers
on a long haul flight, which they somehow now find socially acceptable
even though in reality it's far less acceptable than a comfy 4-berth
sleeper with proper flat beds! Yes, you can pay
for 4 tickets for sole occupancy of a 4-berth soft sleeper if you
like, just be aware that you may need to politely but firmly repulse any attempt by
other passengers to join you, or by staff to allocate passengers to
your 'spare' beds which might well be the only spare berths left on
the train. My advice is
don't bother, just book 2 beds in a 4-berth soft class sleeper, you'll
be safe and comfortable sharing a 4-berth soft sleeper, and might
actually meet some real Vietnamese people this way, rather than
sitting in isolation from everyone else.
You can also use
a reliable train-travel specialist to arrange all your train
travel, hotels, transfers and (if required) international
flights to your own specification, hassle-free.
www.railbookers.com
(UK-based) or
www.railbookers.com.au
(Australia-based) can do this, for example a 6-night 1,070 mile
tour of Vietnam covering Saigon, Danang, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi
starts at £599 per person excluding flights, including some top
class hotels. You can customise your itinerary as you
wish.
How to read a a
Vietnamese train ticket.
It can help to
know a few Vietnamese words when looking at tickets, websites,
fares notices or timetable posters.
Useful Vietnamese words...
Ngòi or
Ghé = seat.
Năm or
Giuòng = sleeper berth.
Mèm = soft class
Cúng = hard class.
Dièu Hòa (ÐH) =
air-conditioned.
Toa = coach, carriage.
Ga = Station,
as in the French 'Gare'.
Giò tau = train
times. Giá Vé = ticket prices.
T1, T2, T3 = Tang 1, Tang
2, Tang 3 = lower, middle or upper berths.
Most western
visitors choose to travel in a soft sleeper. Soft sleeper
compartments have 4 berths, each supplied with pillow, sheet and
duvet and an individual reading light. By day you simply
sit on the lower berths. You keep all your bags with you,
there is luggage space beneath the bottom bunks and in the large
recess above the compartment door. Lower berths are
recommended if you're tall, as the upper berth has a support
chain taking up an inch or two at each end. The most modern cars
used on the trains SE1 to SE8 have a 2-pin power socket for
recharging your mobile or camera, and you'll find a
western-style toilet usually kept supplied with soap and toilet
paper at one or both ends of the corridor.
Several windows on the corridor side open, useful for
photography, but the compartment windows don't open. There's a free water dispenser at the end of the corridor for
both boiling and cold water, handy if you have bought some
powdered soup, instant coffee or hot chocolate with you, or have
bought some dried noodles from one of the stalls at the station.
A trolley service comes down the train serving snacks, coffee,
soft drinks and beer, and at meal times a member of the train
staff will sell you a meal ticket for around 35,000 dong (£1 or
$1.60). A set meal with mineral water will then be delivered
to your compartment around half an hour later from the kitchen
car. At night, you'll find a lock and usually an
additional security lock on the door. Expect even the
newer cars to be a bit tatty as they are intensively used, but
overall soft sleeper is a very pleasant and civilised way to
travel... Between Hanoi, Hué & Danang,
also see this section about the
privately-run Livitrans sleeping-car.
4-berth soft sleeper on
train SE1, as laid out when boarding...
A hot meal served in your
sleeper from the kitchen car...
Train SE3 from Hanoi to Saigon.
SE3 is painted blue, unlike other trains.
'Duong Sat Viet Nam' = Vietnam Railways.
Train SE1 from Hanoi to
Saigon at Danang. Note the number on the coach
side, 'Toa 11' meaning car number 11...
Relaxing in a soft
sleeper on train SE3 from Hanoi to Saigon...
If the soft
sleepers are full, or if you're in a group of 5 or 6 people,
there's no reason why you shouldn't travel hard sleeper,
especially if it's an overnight journey such as Hanoi to
Hue with relatively little daytime element so you'll spend
most of the time in your berth. Hard sleeper
compartments have 6 berths, lower, middle and top on each side,
but apart from the extra two berths, the facilities are exactly the same as for
soft sleepers in terms of power sockets, water dispenser,
toilets, luggage space and meals.
6-berth
hard sleeper...
Train SE1 from
Hanoi to Hue, Danang & Saigon, boarding at Hanoi.
These can be recommended for
daytime journeys such as Hue to Danang or Hanoi to Vinh, but for
overnight trips always book a soft or hard sleeper so you can
sleep properly.
In the most modern cars used on the 'SE' trains, you'll find
power sockets in the wall for charging mobiles or cameras.
Wooden seats in much older cars without air-con.
However, these cars have
windows that open, which can be an advantage for
photography. The photos below show an ordinary hard
seats car on train LC3 from Hanoi to Lao Cai, similar cars
operate on trains LC4, TN1 & TN2.
Livitrans'
private sleeping-cars, Hanoi to Hue & Danang...
One or two privately-run Livitrans sleeping-cars are attached to SE1/SE2 between
Hanoi, Hue and Danang, aimed at foreign tourists. They
have 4-berth compartments of a better standard than the regular
Vietnamese Railways sleepers, but cost more. If budget is
an issue for you, stick with the regular Vietnamese railways
sleepers, but if you're happy paying a bit more for a much nicer
environment, go for these Livitrans cars. The fare includes water and
pot noodles, and there are electrical
sockets for charging cameras and mobiles. In the past, the
Vietnamese Railways have periodically changed the train to which
these Livitrans cars are attached, so check when you book.
At the moment they're attached to the SE1/SE2, but check this
hasn't changed to the SE3/SE4 or the SE5/SE6.
Most of the tourists
in these Livitrans cars leave the train at Hué, leaving you with
little competition for the handful of opening windows in the
corridor to photograph the superb scenery along the coast and
over the Hai Van Pass between Hué and Danang.
The fare is US$49 one-way per person from Hanoi to Hue or US$59
Hanoi to Danang, travelling in 4-berth air-conditioned soft
sleepers. See
www.livitrans.com for fares &
online booking.
Sapa is a hill
station established by the French in 1922, and its beautiful
scenery and colourful local tribal people make it a popular stop
on many visitors' itineraries. The best way to get there is to take the
overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, then transfer the final
38 km (24 miles) from Lo Cai to Sapa by bus, car or
taxi. There are both daytime and
overnight sleeper trains between Hanoi & Lao Cai, and on the
sleeper trains you can use a regular Vietnamese
Railways soft or hard sleeper or choose from a whole range of
privately-run
sleeping-cars of a higher standard aimed at tourists. The line
from Hanoi to Lao Cai
was built by the French and opened in 1910 as part of the Vietnam to
Kunming railway. The Lao Cai to Kunming section is currently
out of commission following landslides in 2002, but for
onward travel from Lao Cai to Kunming by bus, see the Hanoi to
Kunming section. Hanoi to Lao Cai is 296 km (185 miles).
Train timetable...
Hanoi ►
Lao Cai (for Sapa)
Lao Cai ► Hanoi
Every
day:
LC3
SP7
SP1
SP3
LC1
Every
day:
LC4
LC2
SP8
SP2
SP4
Hanoi
depart
06:10
20:35
21:10
21:50
22:00
Lao Cai
depart
09:15
21:20
19:30
20:05
20:45
Lao Cai
arrive
16:35
04:55
05:25
06:15
07:20
Hanoi
arrive
20:15
06:55
04:05
04:35
05:10
SP1 & SP2: Recommended train with few or no stops.
Air-conditioned soft sleepers only. Most of this train consists of
privately-run sleeping-cars for tourists, including Fanxipan, King, Ratraco, Orient Express, Royal, TSC, Tulico and several others,
see the
tourist sleeper section below.
SP3 & SP4: Recommended train with very few stops. Air-con soft sleepers
and
air-con hard sleepers only. Much of this train consists of privately-run sleeping-cars including the Sapaly Express
Train, TSC, and the Victoria Express Train,
see the
tourist sleeper section below.
SP7, SP8: Recommended train. Air-con soft
sleepers, air-con hard sleepers, air-con soft seats. Conveys
privately-run 'Livitrans' sleeping-cars,
see the
tourist sleeper section below.
LC3, LC4: Daytime train. One carriage of
air-conditioned soft seats, many carriages of wooden-seated
non-air-con hard seats. Tea, coffee & snacks are available on
board.
LC1, LC2: Slower overnight train. Air-con hard sleepers,
air-con soft seats, air-con hard seats, non-air-con hard seats.
No soft sleepers.
How much does it cost?
One-way fare in 000
dong.
Hard
seat
Soft seat
Hard
sleeper
Soft
sleeper
ordinary
air-con
air-con
air-con
lower
air-con
middle
air-con
top
air-con
lower berth
air-con
upper berth
Hanoi to Lao Cai by SP overnight train
-
-
210
350
325
290
420
420
Hanoi to Lao Cai by LC1/LC2 overnight train
120
180
190
325
305
270
-
-
Hanoi to Lao Cai by LC3/LC4 daytime train
110
-
168
-
-
-
-
-
£1 =
approx 32,900 Dong. $1 = 20,500 Dong. Children aged 0
to 4 travel free, children 5 to 9 travel at half fare.
Children 10 and over must pay full fare.
These fares are for
travel in the normal Vietnamese railways carriages.
Prices for the privately-run sleeping-cars
are shown below.
Which station in Hanoi?
The trains to Lao Cai depart
from platforms 5 to 10 of Hanoi's main railway station.
However, these platforms are not accessed from the main 'A'
station building on Le Duan street, but from the 'B' station
building on Tran Quay Cap street on the far side of the tracks.
The 'B' station has its own ticket office, waiting room and check-in
desks for the various private sleeper carriages to Lao Cai.
Make sure your taxi driver knows it's the 'B' station on Tran Quay
Cap street that you want. In theory you can enter the main 'A' station and walk across the tracks
on the wooden barrow crossing linking all the platforms, but
the doors from the main station building onto platform 1 are
normally kept locked unless a train to the south is boarding, so you
may not be able to do this unless you can persuade a member of staff
to let you
through.
Map of Hanoi showing stations.
How to buy tickets at the station...
You can buy your
ticket
at
the station when you get to Vietnam, assuming you want tickets for the
regular Vietnamese Railways seats or sleepers, not tickets for the
high-quality
tourist sleepers. Tickets to Lao Cai can be
bought either at Hanoi's main station ticket office (the easiest to
reach), or at the 'B' station on the far side of the tracks which
has its own ticket office. Apart
from peak holiday periods such as
Tet
(Vietnamese new year, in late January or early February), it's not difficult to book a
soft sleeper a few days in advance, especially if you can be a bit
flexible over your exact choice of train or departure date. At ticket offices, you pay
in Vietnamese Dong, US dollars are not generally accepted.
If you're sure of your itinerary and it's important
to be on a specific train on a specific date, then you can pre-book by
email with a travel agency as shown below.
Traveller Rob
Damen travelled from Hanoi to Lao Cai and back in 2011:
"We just went to Hanoi station 2.5 hours before departure and
had no problem buying tickets. We bought them at the small
ticket window in the waiting area, for the price stated on the
boards at the station. Our train
arrived about 45 minutes before departure so we had plenty of time
to get comfy in our beds. Back from Lao Cai to Hanoi we took the
daytime train and we were able to arrange soft seats. In
order to get the correct tickets I used your shortlist of
Vietnamese words and made a note that I gave to the lady at the
ticket window. She looked a bit surprised but she got the
message so we got two soft seats for 168,000 dong each.
The ride took 11 hours which was quite long and we had a lot of
young children in the coach so it was rather noisy. The
views from the train are not spectacular but that was ok, as we
passed time playing games like yahtzee and some card games.
We arrived right on time at Hanoi Station.
Traveller Jens
Kupsch travelled on the daytime LC4 train in 2011: "We
crossed the border from China around 07:30, and bought tickets
to Hanoi on train LC4 at Lao Cai station about an hour ahead of
departure. It didn't seem to be a problem."
How to buy tickets by email
via a travel agency...
If you want to get your
train reservation sorted in advance before you get to Vietnam,
contact a recommended local travel agency such as
www.vietnamimpressive.com,
www.vietnamstay.com or
www.saigonhotel.com. These agencies can book both the
regular Vietnamese carriages and the special high-quality
tourist sleepers. Tickets can be waiting for you at
your hotel when you get to Vietnam, or for an extra charge couriered overseas.
Payment is by Visa, MasterCard or other major credit card.
www.vietnamimpressive.com is relatively new but has already
received a steady stream of good reports. Vietnamstay.com also gets good
reports from travellers, although they can only book trains departing
from Hanoi or Saigon, not starting at intermediate stations. Saigonhotel (formerly Viet-nam.net) has not had such good reports,
but offers a comprehensive service. Further
feedback or agency recommendations is always
appreciated!
Arranging a transfer from Lao Cai to Sapa...
Lao Cai to Sapa is about 38 km (24 miles) and the road journey takes
about 50 minutes by bus, shared minibus taxi or private car on a
scenic winding road up into the hills. If you have pre-booked
a hotel the best idea might be to ask them to arrange your transfer. But don't worry if you don't have a transfer
arranged, on arrival at Lao Cai you'll be besieged by offers of a
transfer to Sapa. A ticket for a bus from Lao Cai to Sapa costs around US$2,
a seat in a shared minibus taxi about 30,000 dong ($2) per person, a private
car about
US$25 per vehicle. On the way back, the shared minibus taxis all leave from
outside the Sapa church, running to no fixed schedule, just filling
up with passengers and leaving when full. You'll need to leave
Sapa around 17:00-17:30 to meet the trains, to allow for any delays on
the road down. Or you can arrange a transfer back to Lao Cai
direct from your
hotel, ask at reception.
Taking the
train to Lao Cai for Sapa...
Hanoi 'B' station on the far side of the tracks from
Hanoi main ('A') station, accessed from Tran Quay Cap
street. In the evening the B station comes alive as no fewer
than four busy sleeper trains with both Vietnamese and many
western tourists head north to Lao Cai...
4-berth soft sleeper as used on trains SP1/2, SP3/4.
See the section above
for more info.
Scenery on the
road journey from Lao Cai up to Sapa...
Sapa church...
This is the
daytime train to Lai Cai, the LC3, about to leave Hanoi in the
early morning. This is the one air-conditioned
soft seat car on the train, an older car with wire mesh
across the windows to protect against stones. The rest of
the train consists of ordinary hard seats
as shown here. A
Vietnamese Railways attendant is in charge of each car, and
you'll find beer, soft drinks and food sold by vendors.
You may prefer to take a privately-run sleeping car to Lao Cai for
Sapa. In addition to the normal Vietnamese Railways sleepers &
seats, overnight trains SP1-SP8 between Hanoi & Lao Cai convey a
bewildering range of privately-run deluxe sleeping-cars for
tourists. If you want extra comfort & cleanliness and don't
mind paying a bit more, go for one of these private cars as they're
all significantly better than the regular Vietnamese Railways
sleepers.
All these private operators offer berths in shared First Class
4-berth sleepers, and a few also offer a handful of VIP 2-berth
sleepers (though if these have sold out you can always pay for all 4
berths in a 4-berth if you like, the price works out pretty much the
same). The sleepers all
have air-conditioning, fresh clean bedding, complimentary mineral
water and snacks, and clean western-style toilets. These
private sleepers are all very comfortable, just
remember that this is still Vietnam with Vietnamese standards,
you'll enjoy the trip more if you don't turn up with unrealistic
expectations of 5-star western-style luxury for $35! Most of these
private tourist sleeping-cars run attached to train SP1/SP2, though
one or two (TSC and Sapaly) are
attached to SP3/SP4 and Livitrans cars are attached to SP7/SP8.
Which company should you choose? How much does it cost?
There's not a huge amount to choose between the many different
operators and the price they all charge is pretty similar, about
$34-36 one-way in a shared First Class 4-berth sleeper or $70-79 per
person for travel in a VIP 2-berth sleeper. However, the best
operators are usually acknowledged to be Fanxipan and Orient
Express (both on train
SP1/2) and Sapaly Express (on train SP3/4). Personally, I
prefer Fanxipan to Orient Express as there was sufficient headroom
under the upper berths to sit on the lower bunk, in the Orient
Express carriage I had to lean forward (I'm 6' 2"). Lower
berths are recommended if you're tall, as the upper berth has a
support chain taking up an inch or two at each end. If you use one of these
private sleepers, feedback
is always appreciated.
Can I buy all 4 berths
in a compartment to have a room to ourselves? Yes, if you
insist, if the very few 2-berth VIP compartments are all sold out as
they often are. But
meeting fellow tourists and talking over a beer into the night
is great fun. Would I recommend paying double to miss
all the fun and sit in glorious isolation? No!
How to buy tickets: For prices, photos and more
information on each of the various tourist sleepers, try
www.vietnamimpressive.com or
www.vietnamstay.com, as both these
agencies get good reports, are reliable and respond promptly to
emails. You book your chosen sleeper by email with these
agencies, pay with a credit card using a secure online payment
service, and you will be emailed an 'e-ticket' which must be
exchanged for an actual ticket at the carriage operator's check-in
desk at Hanoi 'B' station an hour before departure. If you're
already in
Vietnam, you can book these tourist sleepers via local travel
agencies, but not at the station, although there's a ticket window for the Ratraco sleepers to Lao Cai
in the ticket hall at the 'B' station.
This is a cut above the other tourist
trains, in fact it's the most luxurious way to reach Sapa with
wood-panelled 'orient express' style carriages including a proper dining
car on some departures, but you can only use it if you're staying at the luxurious and
expensive (but excellent)
Victoria Hotel in Sapa. The train runs daily except Saturdays,
consisting of two deluxe sleeping-cars and (on some departures) a restaurant car attached
to train SP3/SP4. Prices around US$140 round trip per person
($160 including meals in the restaurant car) in 4-berth or $220
per person ($250 with meals) in 2-berth. One-way fares are
only about 25% less than returns, so buy a return ticket if you're
coming back to Hanoi. See
www.victoriahotels-asia.com
or
www.vietnamstay.com for details. The
hotel can arrange a shuttle bus or private car transfer from the
station.
The beautiful Halong Bay is on many visitors' lists of places to
visit. You can get there by air-conditioned train from Hanoi
via Haiphong.
Hanoi to Haiphong (for ferry to Cat Ba island)...
Hanoi ► Haiphong
Haiphong ► Hanoi
Train
number:
HP1
LP3
LP5
LP7
Train
number:
LP2
LP6
LP8
HP2
Hanoi
Main station
depart
06:00
-
15:25*
-
Haiphong
depart
06:10
08:55
15:10
18:40
Hanoi Long Bien
station
depart
|
09:30
15:35
18:10
Hanoi
Long Bien station
arrive
08:40
11:18
17:40
|
Haiphong
arrive
08:15
12:10
18:00
20:35
Hanoi
Main station
arrive
-
11:25
-
21:05
* Train LP5 starts from Hanoi main station at
weekends only, but runs from Long Bien every day.
These
Hanoi-Haiphong
trains have air-conditioned soft seats (see the photo of the
poster below advertising travel to Haiphong in these comfortable
air-con cars), air-conditioned hard seats, and ordinary hard seats
in much older cars. Hanoi to Haiphong is
102 km (63 miles).
How much does it cost?
Hanoi to Haiphong
Air-con soft seat 65,000 dong (£2 or $3)
Air-con hard seat 60,000 dong (£2 or $3)
Hanoi Long Bien station
is 3km northeast of Hanoi main station, immediately south of the huge
steel Long Bien bridge over the Red River (which was a target
for American bombers on several occasions during the Vietnamese
war). The small road
outside the station is only accessible to pedestrians, bicycles and motorbikes, not cars,
so if your taxi drops you on the main road by the river, don't
worry, it's just a 100 yard walk up the side road and round the bend to the station.
Map of Hanoi showing main & Long Bien stations
How to buy tickets: Buy tickets locally, at the
station. No advance reservation is necessary.
Ferries to Cat Ba Island: Hydrofoils take 45 minutes
and leave Haiphong ferry terminal at 08:50 & 09:00.
Returning, hydrofoils leave Cat Ba ferry terminal at 06:45 &
15:00. Alternatively there are ships taking 2 hours, with
departures from Haiphong ferry terminal at 06:30 & 12:30.
Returning, the ships leave Cat Ba Island at 05:45 & 12:30.
Simply buy your ferry ticket at the ticket offices at the port,
the fare is around 100,000 dong (£4 or $6). Cat Ba town is a
half hour bus ride from where the ships arrive, but the hydrofoils
arrive at a pier near Cat Ba town.
A private company, Dongrim Railway Transport Co of Korea launched
a tourist train daily between Hanoi & Halong, for the scenic
Halong Bay. However, it folded again by July and it's not
clear if any passenger trains still run on the line to Halong
Bay. Instead,
you can take local transport from Haiphong.
Feedback would be
appreciated!
Twice-weekly sleeper train from
Beijing to Hanoi...
There is a safe,
comfortable & affordable twice-weekly train service between Beijing & Hanoi.
A Chinese express train with modern air-conditioned 4-berth soft class
sleepers and restaurant car runs from Beijing to Dong Dang on the
Vietnamese frontier. At Dong
Dang you pass through customs & passport control and board a
connecting Vietnamese metre-gauge train for the final run to Hanoi.
Note that at Nanning you may be asked to get off and wait on the
platform for an hour or two while the train is shunted.
Beijing ► Hanoi
Hanoi ► Beijing
Train number T5 in China, M2 in Vietnam.
Train number M1 in Vietnam, T6 in China.
Beijing (West)
depart
15:45
Sundays & Thursdays
Hanoi
(main station)
depart
18:30
Tuesdays & Fridays
Zhengzhou
depart
23:56
Sundays & Thursdays
Dong Dang **
arrive
22:40
Tuesdays & Fridays
Guilin
depart
14:58
Mondays & Fridays
Dong Dang **
depart
23:59
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Nanning
depart
21:16
Mondays & Fridays
Nanning
arrive
06:30
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Dong Dang **
arrive
02:21
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Guilin
arrive
13:21
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Dong Dang **
depart
03:50
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Zhengzhou
arrive
05:23
Thursdays & Sundays
Hanoi
(main station)
arrive
08:10
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Beijing (West)
arrive
12:08
Thursdays & Sundays
** Dong Dang is the
China/Vietnam frontier, where you change trains.
Which station in Hanoi?
Map of Hanoi showing main station. The train to
Beijing departs from Hanoi's main railway station. Enter Hanoi
station's
main entrance, turn sharp right and pass through the narrow
passageway to the regular waiting room. Look for the little
door in the corner marked 'Waiting Room for Passengers of International
Train' in English.
Wait in here, and staff will lead you to the train when it's ready for boarding, a
single sleeper car at the north end of platform 1, a short walk
from the waiting room.
Daily alternative
Beijing-Hanoi journey, changing trains in Nanning: If you
can't get tickets for this twice-weekly Beijing-Hanoi through train or
if you need to travel on one of the other days of the week, simply use
the regular daily sleeper trains between Beijing & Nanning (see
here for details), then the
daily train between Nanning & Hanoi.
How much does it cost?
One-way fare in soft
class 4-berth sleeper.
Beijing to Hanoi
The fare is around 2,156 RMB (£220 or $320) if bought from the ticket office or local agency in
Beijing. The price increased significantly in Feb
2009.
Alternatively, you can arrange
a ticket from outside China via
www.chinatripadvisor.com
who charge $379 (£255) or
www.chinatrainticket.net
who charge $406 (£270).
www.realrussia.co.uk can
book this train along with your Trans-Siberian tickets,
but are more expensive, around £356 one-way.
Hanoi to Beijing:
These international fares are linked to the Swiss Franc
(CHF).
Hanoi-Beijing is CHF 299 in soft sleeper, which is around 7,000,000 dong
or $333 or £207 if bought at
Hanoi
ticket office (2011 prices).
Hanoi to Guilin:
These international fares are linked to the Swiss Franc
(CHF).
Hanoi-Guilin is CHF 141 in soft sleeper, which is around 3,300,000 dong
or $157 or £98, if bought at
Hanoi
ticket office (2011 prices).
The Chinese sleeper train from
Beijing to Hanoi...
The twice-weekly Beijing-Hanoi train service actually consists
of two trains. This is the standard-gauge Chinese soft class sleeping-car
which runs between Beijing and Dong Dang on the Vietnamese
border, where you change onto a connecting Vietnamese
metre-gauge train for Hanoi. It has
comfortable, air-conditioned, carpeted 4-bed soft sleepers
(above, right), and
there's a restaurant car for most of the journey. A
wonderful way to travel between Beijing & Vietnam! Exterior photo courtesy of Nandakumar Narasimhan, interior photo
courtesy of
Chris "Mzungu" Holden .
Scenery in southern China
seen from the Beijing to Hanoi train...Photos courtesy of
Chris "Mzungu" Holden
The connecting Vietnamese
sleeper train from Dong Dang to Hanoi... This is the Vietnamese metre-gauge train, just
one or two
sleeping-cars which
connect with the Chinese train at Dong Dang on the China/Vietnam
border to take passengers the final part of the journey into
Hanoi. It has comfortable 4-berth soft sleeper
compartments. Photos courtesy of
Chris "Mzungu" Holden .
Buying your ticket to Beijing:
At Hanoi
station, go to the ticket window for foreigners &
international trains. You will need to show your passport and a valid visa for
China. You can pay in Vietnamese dong or (reportedly) US dollars, credit cards
are not accepted, although there's a MasterCard
sign. This train cannot be booked online, although you
could try emailing local travel agencies in Vietnam.
Getting a Chinese visa
in Hanoi: You'll need a visa to enter China, and indeed
you will need to show your Chinese visa at Hanoi station when buying
a train ticket to Beijing. It's reported that the Chinese embassy
in Hanoi will not now issue visas for anyone who is not a
Vietnamese citizen or resident (this may well be a new policy for
2010). So either get your visa in your home country before you
leave, or arrange your Chinese visa in Hanoi through a suitable
travel agency such as
www.hanoibackpackershostel.com.
Traveller Peter Day reports (2011): Tickets
(soft class only) are available from Window 7 at Hanoi main
railway station. There is a system in place where you
get a number which indicates your place in the line - locals
ignore it, you should too. Tickets are available to purchase
in cash only, Vietnamese dong only as far as one could tell.
You go to the window first and the lady tells you how much,
then you go get the cash and return to buy the tickets.
The cost of two tickets to Guilin was over 6 million dong,
clearly Beijing would be more - getting that amount of dong
out of ATMs is problematic because of limits on each
transaction and number of daily withdrawals allowed. We had
to use 2 cards. They check you have visas for China.
Traveller Alex Hartland reports: "I booked my
Hanoi-Beijing train ticket yesterday at Hanoi station.
I was sent from window 10 to window 1 to window 6 and
finally window 8. The woman at window 8 spoke pretty
good English, but I don't think it's the standard window for
Hanoi to Beijing bookings. The paperwork took a while
to process (about 45 minutes) and the final cost was
4,635,000 dong. She told me I could pay in dollars if I
wanted to, but again not sure if this is standard procedure.
She checked my passport & Chinese visa, too."
How to buy tickets in
Beijing...
Buying a train
ticket to Hanoi in Beijing... This is the agency in
Beijing where Laurent & Chris both bought their train tickets to
Hanoi
You can pre-book
from outside China by contacting www.chinatripadvisor.com who charge US$379
(£255) or
www.chinatrainticket.net who charge $406 (£253).
Reliable Russian/British agency
www.realrussia.co.uk
can also book this train along with your Trans-Siberian
tickets, but are more expensive, charging around £356
one-way.
To buy in person in Beijing,
there are several options:
Traveller Laurent Fintoni reports: "I was
told to go to Bei Feng Wo Lu (a street near Beijing West
station) and look for a shop opposite the Tian You hotel. So
I would say for anyone else, the easiest might be to get a
cab or directions to Tian You hotel on Bei Feng Wo Lu.
Opposite the hotel is what looks like a travel agent, though
when I went it had the shutters pulled down - however it was
open, not quite sure why that was. The shop sign is blue,
and you can tell you found it as there is a small window on
the side of the shop's main doors which says they sell train
tickets. However, you want the main shop not the window.
Once in there if you tell them you want to buy Beijing to
Hanoi tickets, I had a sentence written in Chinese for me,
she pulls out what seems to be the same form that Que
Clothier mentions. The woman speaks no English, just point
at the answers on the form and she does it all for you. I
was charged only 1086 RMB without a 50 RMB charge, but not
quite sure why as she answered in Chinese when I asked her
if she wanted the charge. Her form mentions the
charge, making the price 1166, the same as Chris Emmerson
reported. She'll also point at a calendar and ask for
dates as well as how many tickets. There are about 3
banks within 100 to 200 metres of the shop on Bei Feng Wo
Lu, all do currency exchange and have ATMs however none seem
to change Travellers Cheques so be careful. Once you
pay her it's all done, it was really easy, the trickiest
part is finding the shop, but with the Tian You Hotel being
quite big (and having its name written in English on the
front in big letters) it shouldn't be too difficult."
Traveller Chris "Mzungu" Holden reports (2011): "I got my
tickets from the same place as Laurent Fintoni [see above]
got his. It was easy to find, took me about 30mins to
get the tickets from a helpful and friendly chap who spoke
no English but pointed to the booking forms and a calendar
when needed. It cost me RMB 2,200 (2150+50 commission)
from memory."
Traveller Christian Morgan reports
(Oct 2009): "In Beijing I paid 2,156 RMB for the
ticket and a commission fee of 150RMB, total 2306 RMB. This
was from the Railway hotel office as described by Que
Clothier. I imagine this must be the new price but it was
the Chinese national holiday and I purchased the day before
departure. As for the train it was less than half full
on departure and only 3 of us went over the border into
Vietnam. 2nd class carriages were clean and very comfortable
and smoking was clearly permitted throughout (in between
carriages). The Vietnamese train was a little more noisy
(and bouncy!) being diesel engined carriages but nonetheless
a pleasant experience. The sunrise over the Vietnamese hills
was a real treat!"
If you have any further
feedback, please email me!
Travellers' reports...
Traveller Peter Day
reports (2011): Having got your tickets you arrive about 1
hour before train is due to leave. Go to main entrance of
Hanoi Central Station (not round the back) and pass through the
regular waiting room - on the right as you enter - to the
international waiting room beyond (signed in English). They then
lead you to the train which is a single sleeper carriage - a short
walk from the waiting room. Beware the guys who grab your bags
and then demand tip-tip. There seems to be little relation
between berth number written on your ticket and where you end up,
one couple had no numbers written on their ticket at all. The day we
travelled it was very full with a large Vietnamese tourist group.
The Vietnamese train is fairly basic but you are only on it about 5
and a half hours. At the border you get off with your bags,
wait while the Vietnamese immigration people stamp your passport
then board the Chinese sleeper - much better than the Vietnamese one
and more berths so while the berth number still bears no relation to
where you end up little chance of having to share. At the
Chinese border post you get off the train only to pass in front of
one of those automated temperature checking machines to be sure you
haven't got SARS. All Chinese immigration done on the train.
You get kicked of the train at 06.30 am (really 05.30 taking into
account the time change) at Nanning to 'have a rest' in the soft
class waiting room while the sleeper carriage gets added into the
Nanning-Beijing train. Beautiful carp in the pool in the waiting
room, and they will give you a 'pass' so you can go out to get
Chinese currency from an ATM and to buy food and so on.
Daily direct sleeper train from Hanoi to
Nanning...
A comfortable daily
overnight train links Hanoi & Nanning, which started running in
January 2009.
This is a standard-gauge Chinese sleeper train that runs all the way
from Nanning to Hanoi. The timetable is as follows, but always
double-check times locally as they keep changing the exact times. The distance
between Hanoi and Nanning is 396km.
These
international fares are linked to the Swiss Franc (CHF).
Soft sleeper
costs CHF 31.53 = 740,000 dong or £22 or $35
Hard sleeper
costs CHF 20.29 = 476,000 dong or £14 or $23.
A metered
taxi from Hanoi old quarter to the Gia Lam station costs around VND 100,000 (£3.50 or $5).
How to buy tickets...
Tickets are sold in Nanning at the station reservations office counter
16 and at Hanoi Main Station counter 10. Tickets are also sold in
Hanoi by Vietnam Hanoi Railways Tourist Company
(Travel Agency - 152 Le Duan Street, Hanoi, email
haratour@fpt.vn or call (84-4)
3518-6782. In Hanoi, you'll need to show your passport and
Chinese visa when buying tickets. It can help to know that the
Vietnamese for 'Nanning' is 'Nam Ninh'.
On board the
Hanoi to Nanning train...
The Hanoi to
Nanning train:
This is the Nanning to Hanoi train at Hanoi Gia Lam
station. Above right: A comfortable
4-berth soft sleeper compartment, with two upper and two
lower berths, curtains, fresh clean sheets & pillows, and
small table. Interior photo courtesy of Chris at
www.myeggnoodles.com.
More photos of this train here.
Hanoi's Gia Lam station...
Hanoi's Gia
Lam station (see
location map) is a tiny suburban station across the
river in northern Hanoi, a 20 minute taxi ride from the main
station. Why does the train to Nanning start here?
Its Chinese carriages are standard gauge 4' 8½", as used in
Europe, China and North America. Vietnam's railways
are metre gauge (just over 3'). A third rail has been laid as
far as Gia Lam station, making the tracks 'dual gauge', allowing the Chinese train to run that
far but no further. You can see the three rails in the
photo above right...
Getting a Chinese
visa in Hanoi...
You'll need a visa to enter China, and
indeed you will need to show your Chinese visa at Hanoi station when
buying your train ticket to Beijing. It's reported that the Chinese
embassy in Hanoi will not now issue visas for anyone who is
not a Vietnamese citizen or resident (this may well be a new policy
for 2010). So either get your visa in your home country before
you leave, or arrange your Chinese visa in Hanoi through a suitable
travel agency such as
www.hanoibackpackershostel.com.
Travellers reports...
Traveller GeekySeb
reports from a Nanning-Hanoi train journey in summer 2010:
"The train starts at 18.45 and the waiting hall is number 1. Thanks
for the advice to use counter 16, it saves a lot of time as this is
the one with no queue. If you don't know about that, you first join
the long queue, then get sent to counter 16, as it happened to
another traveller I met. I booked my ticket on the Saturday
noon for the Monday. I think I understood the Saturday train was
full. We had to leave the train twice, once at around 22.30 to have
our luggage scanned at the Chinese border and get the Chinese exit
stamp, the other two hours later at around 23:30 Vietnamese time to
get the Vietnam stamp and fill in the arrival card. The train
arrived at Gia Lam station at about 5.30 local time. There were
plenty of taxis awaiting and I paid 200,000 VND, far too much I
think! There is some street food available for breakfast in
the street opposite the station and one taxi driver awoke a
shop-owner so I can change money and buy a SIM card."
Traveller Anton Vidgen reports from a Nanning-Hanoi train journey in January 2009:
"We purchased tickets in Nanning at counter 16 and departed the same
day at 18:15. Soft sleeper cost RMB 334 each. There is a comfortable
waiting room to the far left of the station if you are facing the main
clock. The train only had about 20 passengers in total (exclusively
soft sleeper) so ticket availability did not seem to be an issue. We
arrived in Pingxiang around 20:00 and customs only took 45 mins. We
then arrived in Dong Dang at 23:30 and customs again only took 45
mins. Our Vietnam visas became active on the next day so we were
worried officials would cause a fuss, but we had no problems. We
re-boarded the same comfortable Chinese train which finally arrived in
Hanoi around 5:30am."
Nanning-Hanoi by bus...
If the train is full or you
prefer daytime travel, there are several daily buses between Nanning &
Hanoi, using modern coaches and travelling by day. Buses
reportedly leave Nanning bus station at 08:30. 09:00 & 09:30, journey
time 7-8 hours, fare around RMB 150 (£15 or $25). The scenery is
reported as well worth the trip!
There is no direct train
service between Hanoi & Hong Kong, but you can travel overland fairly
easily by train, changing trains in Nanning & Guangzhou. Here's how:
You cannot buy a through
ticket, you
generally need to buy tickets for each train as you go along,
but it will cost around
£70 or $110 one-way in total, and it's an experience itself. Remember that you'll need a visa
for China, and you'll need to satisfy any return/onward ticket
requirements, which is usually more of a logistical headache than the
actual travelling. If you have any more
information (including fares) for travelling via this route, please
e-mail me.
Day 1, evening: Take the daily overnight train from Hanoi to Nanning,
see the section above.
It leaves Hanoi in the evening and arrives Nanning next morning.
The soft sleeper fare is VND 568,000 (£20 or $30). Spend
the day in Nanning. Alternatively, there are several modern
buses from Hanoi to Nanning every morning.
Day 2, evening: Travel by overnight train from Nanning
to Guangzhou. There are several possible trains, train 2572 leaving Nanning at
19:15 and arriving Guangzhou (main station) at 07:50 next morning,
train 1234 leaving Nanning at 17:25 and arriving Guangzhou (East
station) at 05:56, and train K366 (a higher quality K-category
train) leaving Nanning at 00:30 and arriving at Guangzhou
(main station) at 12:05 next day. All three trains have soft & hard class
sleepers. The fare is about 286 RMB (£29 or $43) in a soft sleeper,
or 184 RMB
(£19 or $29) in a hard sleeper. In an ideal world, you'd
pre-book this train, and you could always try contacting a
Chinese travel agency in Nanning, assuming they could somehow
arrange for you to collect tickets. Otherwise, as there's no
easy way to pre-book from Vietnam, just turn up and see what ticket
you can get to Guangzhou. A taxi from Guangzhou main station
to Guangzhou East station costs about RMB 30 (£3).
Day 3, travel from Guangzhou (East/Dong station) to
Hong Kong (Kowloon station) by train. There are a range of
departures daily, including one at 14:00 arriving 15:48. Fare
about HK$190 (£17 or $26).
Hong Kong ► Hanoi
You cannot buy a through ticket, but it will cost around £70 or $110 one-way in total. It's a good idea to book the Hong Kong-Guangzhou
&
Guangzhou-Nanning trains in advance by email through an agency such as
www.chinatripadvisor.com,
www.chinatraintickets.net
or www.china-train-ticket.com,
or perhaps in person through a travel agency in Hong Kong. The
other buses & trains can be paid for as you go along.
Day 1, morning: Take a train from Hong Kong (Kowloon
station) to Guangzhou (East station). There are a range of
departures daily, including one leaving Kowloon at 11:17 and
arriving Guangzhou Dong at 12:58. Fare about HK$190 (£17 or
$28). A taxi from Guangzhou East to Guangzhou Main station
costs about RMB 30.
Day 1, evening: Take an overnight sleeper train from Guangzhou
(main station) to Nanning, train number 2571 departing Guangzhou at 16:52 and arriving
Nanning the next morning at 06:35. Soft and hard class
sleepers are available. The fare is about 286 RMB (£29 or $43) in a soft sleeper,
or 184 RMB
(£19 or $29) in a hard sleeper. There are in fact several
alternative trains too, such as the K483 departing Guangzhou main
station at 21:08 arriving Nanning at 09:34 next morning. Spend the day in Nanning.
Day 2, take the daily overnight train from Nanning to Hanoi, see the
section above. It leaves Nanning in the early evening and arrives
Hanoi next morning. Soft & hard sleepers available, fare RMB
229
(£23 or $37). Alternatively, there are several modern buses
from Nanning to Hanoi every morning.
What are the trains
like?
Above left:
This is the Nanning to Hanoi train. The Guangzhou to
Nanning train is very similar Above right:
A comfortable 4-berth soft sleeper compartment on the
Nanning to Hanoi train, the compartments on the Guangzhou to
Nanning train are similar. It has two upper and two
lower berths, curtains, fresh clean sheets & pillows, and
small table. Cheaper hard sleepers are also available.
Interior photo courtesy of Chris at
www.myeggnoodles.com.
Travellers' reports...
Traveller Jeremy Buddress travelled from Hanoi to Hong Kong in
April 2009: "We bought our Hanoi-Nanning tickets at
Counter 10 of Hanoi main station - a 4 berth soft sleeper for
1,102,000 VND per person. The process was a little confusing.
We went to the station on a Tuesday to try and confirm costs and
times. While the ticket machine at the entry to the main
waiting area spits out slips for you spot in the queue, the '5'
button that we pressed for "International Tickets" produced a
5000-series number which never ended up on the display even after 45
minutes of waiting, so we went to a ticket window to ask. So,
after stepping up to on of the other ticket counters we learned that
the train did in fact leave every day (contradicting what one travel
agent told us, even after making a "confirming" phone call).
We weren't ready to buy yet as we were still waiting for our China
visas, which is another story. But it does bring up a good
point - you do need your passport when you buy tickets with the
proper China visa ready to go. So after getting our visas we
returned to the station on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately the
noonish hour was apparently lunch so we waited until Counter 10
reopened around 13:30. Counter 10 is the only one labelled
'International Tickets" in English. The transaction was speedy
and we paid in cash. We caught a cab from the Old Quarter to
the Gia Lam Train Station in northeast Hanoi for about 70,000 VND.
Gia Lam is much smaller than the main station but nice enough.
We boarded our train right on time with only six other passengers.
The stop at the Vietnam border control was no more than 20 minutes
(off of the train, minus luggage) and at the China border was only
about 15 minutes (off of the train, with luggage). Arrival and
departure times were spot on per your timetable. On arriving
in Nanning we grabbed a room at a hotel across the street from the
train station for 80 RMB, as the train didn't leave for Guangzhou
until 00:30 that night. Getting our tickets for this leg was a
bit more challenging, as the Nanning ticket area is labelled almost
entirely in Chinese. Fortunately we were able to buy our
domestic tickets at the international counter (#16, also labelled in
English) for 197 RMB per person in a hard sleeper. These were
6 berth, open to the corridor bunks that were full to capacity.
There appeared to be an earlier train around 19:00 that night, but
it was full minus hard seats. Our train left about 15 minutes
late from Nanning, but again it was smooth sailing after that.
Arrival at the Guangzhou Main Station was a bit hectic as it is
quite massive. Meeting our friend "out front" proved to be a
challenge. The KFC is a nice landmark, attached to the station,
right in front, if you need to meet someone there.
Traveller Erandathie Jayakody travelled from Hong Kong to Hanoi in
January 2009: I didn't buy the tickets in advance, I
bought tickets along the way. China Travel Services in Hong
Kong can arrange tickets for you with a few days notice from Hong
Kong to Guangzhou and from Guangzhou to Nanning. There is a
China Travel Service and another travel agent at the Hung Hom
Station in Hong Kong (at the concourse, not at the MTR station
itself). However, I found it cheaper to buy the tickets from
the station. I caught the train from Hung Hom station in HK to
Guangzhou East Station on 2 January 2009. Hong Kong to
Guangzhou was HKD$ 190. It left promptly at 10.42 and arrived
in Guangzhou at about mid-day. Buying the ticket from
Guangzhou was a bit difficult as I got caught up in the Chinese New
Year rush, however I managed to buy a sleeper ticket to Nanning to
depart same evening. The ticket to Nanning and Guilin are sold
at Counter 7. The ticket cost RMB 173. The train departs
from the Guangzhou main Station, the taxi ride from Guangzhou East
Station to the main station costs about RMB 30. The train left
at 16.52pm and arrived in Nanning at approximately 6am. I then
bought a ticket for the new overnight train from Nanning to Hanoi [see
below].
Traveller Cath Battersby traveller Hong Kong to Hanoi in
January 2009: We bought our tickets 3 days ahead at Hung
Hom station at China Railways (HK) holdings, under McDonalds. We
paid HK$999 for 2 of us HK to Nanning hard sleeper. (HK$190 HK to
Guangzhou, RMB 179 Guangzhou to Nanning and HK$100 commission each).
Soft sleeper would have been a total of HK$1235 for 2. We had to pay
in cash. The staff were very helpful and provided us with a B & W
map of Guangzhou metro. We left HK at 11.17. We weren’t
allowed through security until 10:35. Buy any drinks/snacks
you need in advance, nothing past security except toilets and duty
free. Excellent train and trouble free departure/immigration.
Upon arrival at Guangzhou the signs to the metro are in English and
easy to follow. It is fairly simple to work out how to get to
the main station with the coloured maps on display. Large signs at
Guangzhou main station show you which waiting room you need for your
train. Lots of snack food and hot water available. The
overnight train to Nanning was a smooth journey. The signs in
Nanning are now in English too and we bought tickets for train #5517
to Pingxiang (RMB 17, 8am – 11:30). Hard seats, friendly
co-passengers and some great scenery on this trip! In Pingxiang there
were a large number of people vying for our business. We paid RMB 5
for a mototaxi/tuktuk to the border and changed money in the back.
Very quick and easy at the Chinese border and more money changing
opportunities (although we didn’t see anywhere official). It’s
useful to have Dong as you’ll need to pay a small fee (VND 2000) for
your ‘medical check’ at Vietnamese immigration. We had a trouble
free entry. Once through immigration we could not find anyone
that would take us to Dong Dang. This may have been a scam but we
had to settle for paying US$5 each (cheaper if you can pay in Dong)
for a taxi to Lanson. We were taken straight to a minibus office and
we paid VND 110,000 (their starting price was VND 200,000) for a
seat to Hanoi’s main train station. This took about 3 hours and left
almost immediately.
Traveller Alan Merry travelled from Hong Kong to Hanoi in 2007:
"I booked from Hong Kong to Nanning at the agency within the
shopping mall attached to Hong Kong’s Hung Hom station two days
before departure and was told that I had the last available soft
class sleeper. The fare from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was HK$190
(about £13/$25) and from Guangzhou to Nanning the sleeper ticket was
priced at Y274 (about £18/$34). The agency also provide me
with a map of the Guangzhou underground indicating that a change of
train was needed to get from Guangzhou East to Guangzhou [main]
Railway Station. The train left promptly at 11.17 arriving at
12.58 Of course, in China, all of the signs are in Chinese, making
it difficult to know where to go to buy tickets or board trains.
At Guangzhou East, you descend one floor from the main concourse to
find the ticket office for the underground. Guangzhou’s
underground is modern clean and efficient. The clue to finding
the right train is its number, which is printed on the ticket. The
departure board refers you to a waiting room rather than a platform
and you are directed from the waiting room to the train when it is
ready for boarding. There is a special waiting room at Guangzhou for
soft class passengers. Departure from Guangzhou was at 16.57
and, as promised, the train was full. As it got dark, shortly after
6pm most passengers took to their bunks, while I occupied a
fold-down seat in the corridor to watch the world go by.
Although arrival at Nanning the following morning was some two hours
later than the scheduled 05.47, there was plenty of time to buy the
next ticket, to Pingxiang, (Y17 = £1.10) and take a short stroll
before departure. This is a rather more scenic part of the
journey as the train climbs into the mountains. After about
four hours arrival was at the almost completed new Pingxiang station
where there was a selection of taxis ready and vying for business to
take me to the border post. Although quoted "only Y3" by the
young man, this had grown to Y20 (about £1.30) before we reached the
boarder. On the Chinese side the French style buildings are
still intact, used as shops, surrounded by neat gardens leading to
the old gateway and on to the modern building which is the Chinese
border post. Then it is a few yards downhill to the rather
less imposing Vietnamese post. Here things are less chaotic
than it appears. You pick up an immigration card, fill it in
and place it in your passport which you then put on top of a pile on
the counter. The immigration officers work their way though
these and having stamped them will wave them in the air to be
claimed. Seemed to work. Then another taxi down to Dong
Dang which cost $10 US for the ten minute journey. The service
in the French style station was very helpful and friendly and the
ticket to Hanoi cost 36,000 dong, just over £1 ! (again paid in US
dollars) The train is not so much a passenger train as a parcels
train with passengers. The seats are wooden slats and all of
the local passengers come with varieties of parcels. Departure was
at 14.20 (Vietnam time is one hour behind Chinese time) and the
100 mile journey took some 4½
hours.
Hanoi to Kunming train service:
Still cancelled...
There
used to be a direct metre-gauge sleeper train from Hanoi to Kunming in China twice a week.
Unfortunately, floods and landslides damaged the Chinese part of the
line in May 2002 and this train is currently suspended and likely to
remain so for many years. Because of a shortage of funds for
repair, it is not clear exactly when (or if) it will start running
again, although there are reports that work on a new fast
standard-gauge line will start at some point. In the meantime,
use a sleeper bus to the frontier then a train to Hanoi as shown
below.
Hanoi ► Kunming by
sleeper train
+ sleeper bus...
Travel from Hanoi
to Lao Cai by overnight sleeper train,
see the train times & fares above.
You may want stop off at Lao Cai to visit Sapa, 40 km away, before
going on into China.
Lao Cai is just 3 km from the Chinese border. Use a local taxi
to reach the border post and cross over to Hekou on the Chinese side.
Passing through both sets of customs takes about an hour.
Travel from Hekou to Kunming on one of several overnight 'sleeper
buses' (buses with sleeping-berths, see the photos below). A bus
leaves Hekou bus station (a few blocks from the border post) at 19:00
& arrives in Kunming's East bus station (next to the railway
station) around 07:00, but there are earlier and maybe later
departures. The bus fare is about 143 RMB for the 440 km trip.
Kunming ► Hanoi by sleeper bus
+ sleeper train...
Travel from Kunming to Hekou (on the Vietnamese frontier) by overnight
sleeper bus (a bus with sleeping-berths, see the photos below).
A bus leaves Kunming's East bus stationat around 19:30 each evening, arriving in Hekou early next
morning, but there are in fact several evening departures. The
bus fare is about 143 RMB for the 440 km trip. If you have any more information on this
bus service please
e-mail me!
At Hekou, cross over the border to the Vietnamese side and use a taxi
to get to Lao Cai 3km from the border post. You may want stop
off at Lao Cai to visit Sapa, 40km away, before going on to Hanoi.
Traveller Delphine Odou reports (2010): "We booked our
ticket from a travel agency located in our hotel (Camellia hotel in
Kunming). They charged us 149 RMB per person (the real price
is 139 RMB) for the night bus of 19:30. The bus leaves from
the eastern bus station of Kunming, taking about 20 minutes by taxi
from the city centre and costing about 23 RMB. It wasn't the first
time we were taking a night bus in China so we were not surprised
but it can be astonishing if it is your first time. There are about
35 beds in the bus and you must not be too fat or too tall because
the berths are really small (mine was no taller than 1.55 m and 50
cm large). We left at 19:45 and the bus was full. We
were stopped several times by traffic jams in the middle of the
night, without knowing what was happening and when we would be able
to carry on. We stopped for about half an hour at 2 AM for the
bus driver to have rest and for people to eat, smoke (even if some
of them smoke while the bus is driving) and go to the toilets.
At about 4 AM, a policeman entered the bus, woke us up and took our
passports. He came back with our passports about 5 minutes
later. We arrived in Hekou at about 6 AM. We had to wait 2
hours for the border to open (8 AM Chinese time, 7 AM Vietnamese
time). The bus station is about 200 m from the Chinese border.
It took us about 10 minutes to cross the Chinese border than cross
the bridge than 10 minutes to cross the Vietnamese border (you need
to have your visa before). Once in Vietnam, it was quite hard
for us to find a bus going to Sapa at a reasonable price as we were
the only tourists crossing the border by foot. We finally took
a bus going to the bus station of Lao Cai and once again we had to
bargain to find a bus going to Sapa. As we were quite
exhausted by the night spent in the bus, we finally took a minivan
for 40 000 VND each. We arrived in Sapa about 1 hour and 15 minutes
later."
Traveller Jana Spannagel reports (2010): "The sleeper bus
from Kunming no longer leaves from Kunming's Nanyao bus station, but
from Kunming East bus station, because they want to close the Nanyao
bus station down. There are several buses leaving during the
day, I think the first one is at 12:00 and the last one at 19:30.
We took the 19:30 bus and arrived in Hekou around half past five in
the morning. So we had to wait until eight, since the border
opens at that time. It was kind of funny to see the Chinese
flying their flag and playing the national anthem at eight o'clock
sharp. I was a little bit afraid of the border, because I read
the worst things about it, but we had the nicest clerks ever.
Afterwards we walked to the bus/train station in Lao Cai, but when
there is no train arrival, there are no buses leaving to Sapa.
So we had to take a minibus, and there was only one guy offering a
ride, so we had no choice. He wanted 70,000 Dong, normally
it's 30,000. The sleepers in the bus from Kunming to Hekou are
OK, just a little bit too small for me and maybe western people in
general, but that was OK. The ride itself was pretty
shaky and I hit my head several times. The bus was quite
empty, there were only 5 or 6 Asian people travelling with us, so
you could have a lot of blankets, which was good. Some Chinese
officials entered the bus around 1:30 and wanted to see our
passports, but they came back quickly.
Traveller Tom Finn reports: "The Hekou-Kunming sleeper bus was
great, they drive like mad and you are a bit squashed but not too bad.
The bus was boarded by police in a small town at around 1am. They took
our passports and scowled at us for a while. Luckily they came back
with the passports and we arrived safely in Kunming at around 7am the
next morning." If you have any more information on this route please
e-mail me!
On board the Kunming-Vietnam sleeper bus...
Above: The sleeper
bus from Kunming to Hekou (for Lao Cai in Vietnam).
Photo courtesy of Tom Finn
Above: The sleeper bus
berths are comfortable enough but not huge, so tall westerners may
have to curl up! Photo
courtesy of Jana Spannagel.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
The famous and historic
Continental Hotel
is one of my favourite hotels worldwide, not merely a place to stay
but a Saigon landmark since 1880. Indeed, the Continental is
the backdrop for much of the action in Graham Greene's novel 'The
Quiet American', set in Saigon during the Franco-Vietnamese war.
If it's in your price range or if you can stretch your budget, the
Continental is superbly located, right next to the Opera House in
the centre of Saigon and a stone's throw from Saigon's distinctive
town hall, post office and cathedral. It's quiet,
understated, clean and comfortable with high ceilings, marble floors
and wood panelling, and not a corporate clone like so many chain
hotels. The breakfast buffet is good, and it has a pleasant
central courtyard and bar if you prefer to eat or enjoy a beer al
fresco. There's free WiFi, too. A double room costs around $140 (£88) per night.
Tripadvisor reviews. Nearby, the famous Rex Hotel was where
many American officers stayed during the Vietnam war. If you
prefer something more glitzy and glamorous, try the impressive
Majestic Hotel, a
mere parvenu dating from 1925 with many art nouveau features,
located across the road from the Mekong river.
The
Continental Hotel, a Saigon landmark since 1880, right
next to the Opera House with simple, spacious rooms...
This little budget gem may not be historic or
grand, but it's an excellent low-cost choice in Hanoi at around $40
a night for a room with toilet & shower, tea & coffee making facilities,
free WiFi, safe, free mineral water, a great breakfast, and great
staff at reception who really put themselves out to help you.
It's well located in central Hanoi, a short walk from the War
Remnants Museum, a 10-15 minute taxi ride from Hanoi's main station.
Of course, at the luxury end of the scale we have Hanoi's most
venerable and upmarket hotel, the luxurious and expensive
Sofitel Metropole, which comes complete with outdoor swimming
pool and lido bar.
At the top end, look
no further than
La Residence Hotel & Spa, located in the former French
governor's residence on the banks of the Perfume River. For
the budget-conscious, try the equally central
Than Thien Hotel. Both get great reviews.
The best hotel in
Sapa, which even runs its own train from Hanoi,
see the section here.
You'll find a real log fire burning in the lobby and restaurant, and
they do an excellent breakfast buffet. The hotel features an indoor swimming pool and adjacent spa, too.
If your budget can stretch, this is the place to stay!
Backpacker hostels...
www.hostelbookers.com: If you're on a budget,
don't forget the backpacker hostels. Hostelbookers has
online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in
backpacker hostels in major Vietnamese cities at rock-bottom prices.
There is no one agency who
can arrange all the stages of a trip like this, so you will need to plan
it and arrange each leg yourself - a small exercise in project
management..! Just follow the advice on each seat61 page to buy
tickets for each part of the journey. Where do you start? Read through the seat61
pages linked above, then sketch out your
itinerary using a simple spreadsheet like this.
Pictured right:
Don't forget to pay your respects to the body of Vietnam's great
leader, Ho Chi Minh, preserved in his mausoleum in Hanoi...
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a tiny
fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip. You will
see so much more, and know so much more about what you're looking
at, if you have a decent guidebook. The best guidebooks for
independent travel are the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. You won't
regret buying one of these guides..!
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance..
Get a spare credit card, designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up a £1,000 bill
in data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
Overland travel by train & bus
around Vietnam is an essential part of the experience,
so once there, don't cheat and fly, stay on the ground!
But if a long-haul flight is unavoidable to reach Vietnam in
the first place, use the Skyscanner search tool
to compare flight prices & routes
worldwide across 600 airlines...
Europe
to Vietnam by Trans-Siberian Railway...
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
