Source: www.seat61.com
Why trains are the best way to get around Vietnam...
Why trains are the best way to get around Vietnam...
You'd be crazy not to. 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 often mistakenly think they'll save time by using internal flights - in fact, an overnight train ride from Hanoi to Hué or Danang is not only far more of an experience (and cheaper) than a flight, the train actually saves time compared to flying, because the train leaves Hanoi city centre in the evening and arrives in Hué city centre next morning. 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 trains saves a hotel bill, too. And what's the rush anyway?
Train route map
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 Halong & Haiphong (for Halong Bay) and Hanoi to Lao Cai (for Sapa).
Is it 'Ho Chi Minh' or 'Saigon'?
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is the official the name for the whole conurbation. However, the city centre is still officially called 'Saigon', which is of course it's time-honoured, traditional and historic name. It is shown in all Vietnamese railway timetables and in big letters on Saigon station building itself as 'Sai Gon', and not Ho Chi Minh. So do what the locals do, call it Saigon!
The Reunification Express?
Trains between Hanoi & Saigon are sometimes referred to as the 'Reunification Express' by guide books or tourist agencies. However, there are now many trains on this route and no single train officially carries this name.
The view from the train...
You'll see some amazing scenery from the train between Hanoi and Saigon. Easily the best section is between Hué and Danang over the Hai Van Pass, where the train runs along the coast past bays and islands and through the hills. The train travels at low speed up the fierce gradients, with an assisting locomotive at the rear and people sitting on the roof!
The North - South 'Reunification' Main Line...
Over the last decade the Hanoi-Saigon train service has been steadily improving and a whole range of daily air-conditioned trains now link Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Nha Trang & Saigon (HCMC). Here are the principal trains, all running daily. There are additional trains at peak times, such as the Tet holiday period.
Hanoi - Hue - Danang - Saigon
The North - South 'Reunification' Main Line...
Southbound timetable...
All these trains run every day. Hanoi to Saigon is 1,726km or 1,070 miles. Map of Saigon showing station. Map of Hanoi showing station.
SE1, SE2, SE3, SE4: These are the best trains. They have air-conditioned soft sleepers (4-berth), air-conditioned hard sleepers (6-berth), air-con soft seats & air-con restaurant car.
SE5, SE6: These trains have air-conditioned hard sleepers, air-con soft seats, air-con hard seats, and non-air-con hard seats. No soft sleepers!
SE7, SE8: These trains may not operate between May & October. Air-conditioned soft sleepers (4-berth), air-con hard sleepers (6-berth), air-con soft seats.
SE19, SE20 is a new train introduced April 2011. Air-conditioned soft sleepers, air-conditioned hard sleepers, air-con soft seats, air-con hard seats, hard seats.
TN1, TN2 have air-conditioned hard sleepers (6-berth) & non-air-con hard seats only. No soft sleepers or seats.
SNT1, SNT2 have air-conditioned soft sleepers, hard sleepers & seats.
Livitrans private tourist sleeping-cars: Trains SE5 & SE6 have a tourist sleeping-car attached between Hanoi, Hue & Danang run by private company Livitrans. It has 4-berth sleeper compartments of a higher standard than the normal Vietnamese Railways ones, but fares a bit higher. See the photos below & see www.livitrans.com for fares & online booking.
Northbound timetable...
How to get to to Hoi An...
Hoi An it features on many visitor's itineraries. It's about 30km 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.
How to get to Phan Thiet
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.
How much does train travel cost?
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 best trains SE1 & SE2, but fares for other 'SE' trains are similar. Fares for the slower 'TN' trains are cheaper. 'Soft sleeper' is the recommended class for overnight travel, although hard sleeper is fine if the soft sleepers are fully booked or if you're on a tight budget. Soft seat is a good choice for daytime journeys. 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.
Southbound timetable...
How to buy tickets...
Do I need a reservation? Can I stop off along the way? Can I buy an open ticket and hop on and off at random?
Yes, yes, and no... All trains require a reservation, so you need a specific ticket with reservation for each individual train journey you make. If you want to travel from Saigon to Hanoi (or vice versa) stopping off on the way, this is not a problem, but you will need to book it as a series of separate journeys, with a separate ticket for each leg either bought in advance or bought as you go along. You cannot buy an open ticket and hop on and off trains without a reservation.
How to buy tickets at the station...
It's easy to buy train tickets at the station when you get to Vietnam. Apart from peak holiday periods such as Tet, it's not difficult to book a soft sleeper a few days in advance, but be prepared to be flexible over your exact choice of class, train number or departure date. If you are booking for the same day or the following day, you might find the best quality trains full, but other trains may have berths available. Reservations were computerised in 2002, and you can buy tickets for most train journeys within Vietnam at Saigon and Hanoi station booking offices. So for example, you can buy both a Saigon-Hue ticket and a Hue-Hanoi ticket at Saigon station ticket office. However, at other stations such as Hue, Danang or Nha Trang, you can only book journeys starting at the station you're at. 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 in a specific class, then you can pre-book by email with a local Vietnamese travel agency, see the next paragraph.
How to buy tickets in advance via a travel agency:
You cannot buy train tickets online, so if you want to pre-book some or all of your trains you'll need to contact a local Vietnamese train booking agency. Naturally, these agencies charge a fee for their service.
Can I buy all 4 berths in a compartment to have a room to ourselves?
Privacy-loving westerners who are unused to sleeper train travel often ask this. The answer is that in theory yes you can, but it can't be guaranteed that the train staff won't allocate additional passengers to the berths they know to be empty. My advice is don't bother, just book 2 beds in a 4-berth soft class sleeper. The Vietnamese may view it as selfish to take up 4 beds when you only need 2, given that places on their national transport system can be in short supply at times. You'll be safe and comfortable sharing a 4-berth soft sleeper, and might actually meet some real Vietnamese people this way!
Southbound timetable...
Hanoi ► Hué ► Danang ► Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) | |||||||||
Train number: | SE19 | SE1 | SE3 | SE5 | SE7 | TN1 | SNT1 | P2/SPT1 | |
| 0 km | Hanoi depart: | 14:30 day 1 | 19:00 day 1 | 23:00 day 1 | 15:45 day 1 | 06:15 day 1 | 10:05 | - | - |
| 116 km | Ninh Binh | 16:50 day 1 | | | | | 18:06 day 1 | 08:33 day 1 | 12:33 | - | - |
| 175 km | Thanh Hoa | 18:00 day 1 | 22:18 day 1 | | | 19:22 day 1 | 09:43 day 1 | 14:12 | - | - |
| 319 km | Vinh | 20:25 day 1 | 00:49 day 2 | 04:12 day 2 | 22:16 day 1 | 12:01 day 1 | 16:54 | - | - |
| 522 km | Dong Hoi | 01:15 day 2 | 04:43 day 2 | 08:01 day 2 | 02:46 day 2 | 15:55 day 1 | 21:51 | - | - |
| 688 km | Hué | 04:48 day 2 | 08:02 day 2 | 10:50 day 2 | 06:12 day 2 | 19:12 day 1 | 01:18 | - | - |
| 791 km | Danang (for Hoi An) arrive | 07:50 day 2 | 10:31 day 2 | 13:12 day 2 | 08:56 day 2 | 21:41 day 1 | 04:38 | - | - |
| 791 km | Danang (for Hoi An) depart | - | 10:46 day 2 | 13:24 day 2 | 09:11 day 2 | 21:56 day 1 | 04:58 | - | - |
| 928 km | Quang Ngai | - | 13:31 day 2 | | | 12:05 day 2 | 00:38 day 2 | 08:12 | - | - |
| 1,095 km | Dieu Tri (for Qui Nhon) | - | 16:28 day 2 | 18:32 day 2 | 15:09 day 2 | 03:35 day 2 | 12:26 | - | - |
| 1,315 km | Nha Trang | - | 20:33 day 2 | 22:08 day 2 | 19:45 day 2 | 07:42 day 2 | 16:58 | 18:40 day 1 | - |
| - | Phan Thiet depart | - | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14:05 day 1 |
| 1,551 km | Muong Man (for Phan Thiet) | - | | | | | | | 11:44 day 2 | 22:23 | 23:44 day 1 | 14:19 day 1 |
| 1,726 km | Saigon arrive: | - | 04:10 day 3 | 05:00 day 3 | 04:40 day 3 | 15:05 day 2 | 03:03 | 05:20 day 2 | 18:40 day 1 |
All these trains run every day. Hanoi to Saigon is 1,726km or 1,070 miles. Map of Saigon showing station. Map of Hanoi showing station.
SE1, SE2, SE3, SE4: These are the best trains. They have air-conditioned soft sleepers (4-berth), air-conditioned hard sleepers (6-berth), air-con soft seats & air-con restaurant car.
SE5, SE6: These trains have air-conditioned hard sleepers, air-con soft seats, air-con hard seats, and non-air-con hard seats. No soft sleepers!
SE7, SE8: These trains may not operate between May & October. Air-conditioned soft sleepers (4-berth), air-con hard sleepers (6-berth), air-con soft seats.
SE19, SE20 is a new train introduced April 2011. Air-conditioned soft sleepers, air-conditioned hard sleepers, air-con soft seats, air-con hard seats, hard seats.
TN1, TN2 have air-conditioned hard sleepers (6-berth) & non-air-con hard seats only. No soft sleepers or seats.
SNT1, SNT2 have air-conditioned soft sleepers, hard sleepers & seats.
Livitrans private tourist sleeping-cars: Trains SE5 & SE6 have a tourist sleeping-car attached between Hanoi, Hue & Danang run by private company Livitrans. It has 4-berth sleeper compartments of a higher standard than the normal Vietnamese Railways ones, but fares a bit higher. See the photos below & see www.livitrans.com for fares & online booking.
Northbound timetable...
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) ► Danang ► Hué ► Hanoi | ||||||||
Train number: | SE2 | SE4 | SE20 | SE6 | SE8 | TN2 | SNT2 | SPT2/P1 |
| Saigon depart: | 19:00 day 1 | 23:00 day 1 | - | 15:45 day 1 | 06:30 day 1 | 10:05 | 20:00 day 1 | 06:50 day 1 |
| Muong Man (for Phan Thiet) | | | | | - | 19:07 day 1 | 09:45 day 1 | 14:14 | | | 10 44 day 1 |
| Phan Thiet arrive | | | | | - | | | | | | | | | 11:00 day 1 |
| Nha Trang | 02:36 day 2 | 05:38 day 2 | - | 23:54 day 1 | 13:28 day 1 | 18:24 | 05:10 day 2 | - |
| Dieu Tri (for Qui Nhon) | 06:29 day 2 | 09:26 day 2 | - | 04:20 day 2 | 17:25 day 1 | 23:32 | - | - |
| Quang Ngai | 09:16 day 2 | | | - | 07:22 day 2 | 20:34 day 1 | 03:21 | - | - |
| Danang (for Hoi An) arrive | 11:51 day 2 | 14:30 day 2 | - | 10:18 day 2 | 23:12 day 1 | 06:38 | - | - |
| Danang (for Hoi An) depart | 12:06 day 2 | 14:42 day 2 | 16:50 day 1 | 10:34 day 2 | 23:27 day 1 | 06:58 | - | - |
| Hué | 14:48 day 2 | 17:11 day 2 | 19:49 day 1 | 13:26 day 2 | 02:12 day 2 | 10:38 | - | - |
| Dong Hoi | 17:56 day 2 | 20:08 day 2 | 23:35 day 1 | 17:14 day 2 | 05:33 day 2 | 14:06 | - | - |
| Vinh | 21:42 day 2 | 23:46 day 2 | 04:52 day 2 | 22:13 day 2 | 09:31 day 2 | 19:12 | - | - |
| Thanh Hoa | 00:19 day 3 | | | 07:19 day 2 | 01:01 day 3 | 11:59 day 2 | 22:49 | - | - |
| Ninh Binh | | | | | 08:57 day 2 | 02:28 day 3 | 13:10 day 2 | 00:11 | - | - |
| Hanoi arrive: | 04:02 day 3 | 05:00 day 3 | 11:25 day 3 | 04:45 day 3 | 15:28 day 2 | 03:05 | - | - |
How to get to to Hoi An...
Hoi An it features on many visitor's itineraries. It's about 30km 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.
How to get to Phan Thiet
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.
How much does train travel cost?
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 best trains SE1 & SE2, but fares for other 'SE' trains are similar. Fares for the slower 'TN' trains are cheaper. 'Soft sleeper' is the recommended class for overnight travel, although hard sleeper is fine if the soft sleepers are fully booked or if you're on a tight budget. Soft seat is a good choice for daytime journeys. 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.
Southbound timetable...
How to buy tickets...
Do I need a reservation? Can I stop off along the way? Can I buy an open ticket and hop on and off at random?
Yes, yes, and no... All trains require a reservation, so you need a specific ticket with reservation for each individual train journey you make. If you want to travel from Saigon to Hanoi (or vice versa) stopping off on the way, this is not a problem, but you will need to book it as a series of separate journeys, with a separate ticket for each leg either bought in advance or bought as you go along. You cannot buy an open ticket and hop on and off trains without a reservation.
Fares from Hanoi to: | Soft seat | Hard sleeper | Soft sleeper | |||
air-con | air-con lower berth | air-con middle berth | air-con top berth | air-con lower berth | air-con upper berth | |
| Ninh Binh | 70 | 103 | 100 | 84 | 110 | 108 |
| Thanh Hoa | 107 | 157 | 150 | 128 | 166 | 164 |
| Vinh | 194 | 285 | 273 | 232 | 300 | 298 |
| Dong Hoi | 335 | 493 | 472 | 400 | 520 | 515 |
| Hue | 442 | 708 | 677 | 575 | 748 | 740 |
| Danang | 508 | 784 | 750 | 637 | 828 | 820 |
| Quang Ngai | 570 | 836 | 800 | 680 | 883 | 873 |
| Dieu Tri | 672 | 988 | 945 | 802 | 1043 | 1030 |
| Nha Trang | 836 | 1352 | 1294 | 1100 | 1428 | 1412 |
| Muong man | 950 | 1453 | 1390 | 1180 | 1535 | 1518 |
| Saigon | 1008 | 1482 | 1418 | 1203 | 1565 | 1547 |
Fares from Saigon to: | Soft seat | Hard sleeper | Soft sleeper | |||
air-con | air-con lower berth | air-con middle berth | air-con top berth | air-con lower berth | air-con upper berth | |
| Nha Trang | 220 | 360 | 345 | 294 | 367 | 357 |
| Danang | 600 | 910 | 870 | 738 | 960 | 950 |
| Hue | 667 | 1008 | 964 | 818 | 1062 | 1052 |
| Hanoi | 1008 | 1482 | 1418 | 1203 | 1565 | 1547 |
Fares from Hué to: | Soft seat | Hard sleeper | Soft sleeper | |||
air-con | air-con lower berth | air-con middle berth | air-con top berth | air-con lower berth | air-con upper berth | |
| Hanoi | 442 | 708 | 677 | 575 | 748 | 740 |
| Saigon | 667 | 1008 | 964 | 818 | 1062 | 1052 |
| Danang | 67 | 98 | 94 | 80 | 103 | 102 |
| Nha Trang | 404 | 593 | 568 | 482 | 626 | 619 |
Fares from Danang to: | Soft seat | Hard sleeper | Soft sleeper | |||
air-con | air-con lower berth | air-con middle berth | air-con top berth | air-con lower berth | air-con upper berth | |
| Hanoi | 508 | 784 | 750 | 637 | 828 | 820 |
| Saigon | 600 | 910 | 870 | 738 | 960 | 950 |
| Hue | 67 | 98 | 94 | 80 | 103 | 102 |
| Nha Trang | 337 | 495 | 474 | 402 | 523 | 517 |
Fares from Nha Trang to: | Soft seat | Hard sleeper | Soft sleeper | |||
air-con | air-con lower berth | air-con middle berth | air-con top berth | air-con lower berth | air-con upper berth | |
| Hanoi | 836 | 1352 | 1294 | 1100 | 1428 | 1412 |
| Saigon | 220 | 360 | 345 | 294 | 367 | 357 |
| Danang | 337 | 495 | 474 | 402 | 523 | 517 |
| Hue | 404 | 593 | 568 | 482 | 626 | 619 |
How to buy tickets at the station...
It's easy to buy train tickets at the station when you get to Vietnam. Apart from peak holiday periods such as Tet, it's not difficult to book a soft sleeper a few days in advance, but be prepared to be flexible over your exact choice of class, train number or departure date. If you are booking for the same day or the following day, you might find the best quality trains full, but other trains may have berths available. Reservations were computerised in 2002, and you can buy tickets for most train journeys within Vietnam at Saigon and Hanoi station booking offices. So for example, you can buy both a Saigon-Hue ticket and a Hue-Hanoi ticket at Saigon station ticket office. However, at other stations such as Hue, Danang or Nha Trang, you can only book journeys starting at the station you're at. 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 in a specific class, then you can pre-book by email with a local Vietnamese travel agency, see the next paragraph.
How to buy tickets in advance via a travel agency:
You cannot buy train tickets online, so if you want to pre-book some or all of your trains you'll need to contact a local Vietnamese train booking agency. Naturally, these agencies charge a fee for their service.
Can I buy all 4 berths in a compartment to have a room to ourselves?
Privacy-loving westerners who are unused to sleeper train travel often ask this. The answer is that in theory yes you can, but it can't be guaranteed that the train staff won't allocate additional passengers to the berths they know to be empty. My advice is don't bother, just book 2 beds in a 4-berth soft class sleeper. The Vietnamese may view it as selfish to take up 4 beds when you only need 2, given that places on their national transport system can be in short supply at times. You'll be safe and comfortable sharing a 4-berth soft sleeper, and might actually meet some real Vietnamese people this way!
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