Required by UK citizens. Vietnamese
embassy visa section, 12-14 Victoria Road, London W8 5RD, tel. 020
7937 3222, fax 020 7937 6108, www.vietnamembassy.org.uk.
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?
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 called Saigon or Ho
Chi Minh?
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 and traditional 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! See the video above and
the pictures below. For a good video montage of a
Saigon-Hanoi train journey
click here.
Up into the hills...
A train from Hanoi to Saigon climbs into the mountains along
the coast between Hué and Danang.
...And along the coast. Coastline seen from the Hanoi to
Saigon train between Hué and Danang.
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.
Look for the 'SE' numbered trains, as these are the best. The 'TN'
trains are slower and older. There
are additional trains at peak times, such as the Tet
holiday period. You can check
train times at the Vietnamese Railways website, www.vr.com.vn.
* = recommended trains.
All these trains run daily.
Trains SE1-SE8 have
air-con soft sleepers (4-berth), air-con hard sleepers (6-berth),
air-con soft seats
& air-con restaurant car.
Livitrans private tourist sleeping-cars: Trains SE1 & SE2 now have a new
tourist sleeping-car attached between Hanoi, Hue & Danang run by
private company Livitrans. It has 4-berth sleeper compartments
of a much higher standard than the regular Vietnamese Railways ones,
and fares only a bit higher. See the
photos below & see
www.livitrans.com for fares &
online booking.
Trains TN1 & TN2 have ordinary non-aircon hard sleepers
(6-berth) & hard seats only.
Hoi An is about 30km south of Danang,
and it features on many visitor's itineraries. There is no railway station at Hoi
An, but 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.
Train travel in Vietnam
is cheap - and sleeper trains save on hotel bills, too. The old system of
charging foreigners higher fares than Vietnamese citizens was
abolished in 2002, and everyone now pays the cheaper Vietnamese fare. This table shows fares in 1000s of Vietnamese Dong. You can check fares
for any journey on any train at the Vietnamese
Railways website.
One way per
person (000 dong):
Train
type:
Soft
sleeper
Hard sleeper
Soft seat
Hard seat
Air-con
Air-con
Non-air-con
Air-con
Non-air-con
Non-air-con
Saigon
- Hanoi
(1,726
km)
SE
994
(£31, $62)
910
(£28, $56)
-
750
(£23, $46)
-
-
TN
954
(£30, $60)
865
(£27, $54)
734
(£23, $46)
635
(£20, $40)
553
(£17, $34)
518
(£16, $32)
Saigon
- Danang
(935 km)
SE
588
(£18, $36)
538
(£17, $33)
-
430
(£13, $26)
-
-
TN
565
(£18, $36)
512
(£16, $32)
420
(£13, $26)
365
(£11, $22)
318
(£10, $20)
298
(£9, $18)
Saigon
- Hué
(1,027
km)
SE
665
(£21, $42)
610
(£19, $38)
-
480
(£15, $30)
-
-
TN
640
(£20, $40)
580
(£18, $36)
468
(£15, $29)
405
(£13, $26)
353
(£11, $22)
330
(£10, $20)
Saigon - Nha
Trang
(411 km)
SE
280
(£9, $17)
255
(£8, $16)
-
190
(£6, $12)
-
-
TN
240
(£8, $15)
220
(£7, $14)
186
(£6, $11)
160
(£5, $10)
140
(£4, $8)
130
(£4, $7)
Hanoi
- Saigon
(1,726
km)
SE
994
(£31, $62)
910
(£28, $56)
-
750
(£23, $46)
-
-
TN
954
(£30, $60)
865
(£27, $54)
734
(£23, $46)
635
(£20, $40)
553
(£17, $34)
518
(£16, $32)
Hanoi
- Hué
(688
km)
SE
458
(£14, $28)
420
(£13, $26)
-
317
(£10, $20)
-
-
TN
440
(£14, $28)
400
(£13, $25)
310
(£10, $19)
268
(£8, $16)
234
(£7, $14)
220
(£7, $14)
Hanoi
- Danang
(791
km)
SE
507
(£16, $32)
464
(£15, $29)
-
365
(£11, $22)
-
-
TN
487
(£15, $30)
442
(£14, $27)
357
(£11, $22)
310
(£10, $19)
270
(£8, $16)
252
(£8, $15)
Hué -
Danang
(103
km)
SE
63 (£2, $4)
58 (£1.80, $4)
-
48 (£1.50, $3)
-
-
TN
60 (£2, $4)
55 (£1.60, $3)
47 (£1.50, $3)
40 (£1.50, $3)
35 (£1.50, $3)
33 (£1.50, $3)
Danang - Nha Trang
(524 km)
SE
320 (£10, $20)
293 (£9, $18)
-
242 (£8, $15)
-
-
TN
307 (£10, $19)
280 (£9, $18)
236 (£7, $14)
205 (£6, $12)
178 (£6, $11)
167 (£5, $10)
Children aged 0
to 4 travel free, children 5 to 9 travel at half fare.
Children10 and over must pay full fare.
The hard sleeper fares
shown here are for the middle bunk. Top bunks are roughly 20% cheaper,
bottom bunks roughly 12% more.
The soft sleeper fares
shown here are for the bottom bunk. Top bunks are roughly 10%
cheaper.
Fares can vary slightly
between trains, but you can check fares at the Vietnamese
Railways website for any train or journey.
Do I need a
reservation? Can I stop off along the way? Can hop on
and off?
Yes, yes, and no... All trains require a reservation, so you need a
specific ticket/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.
Buying 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 will probably 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 several travel agencies, see below.
If
you want to get some or all of your train reservations booked in
advance before you get to Vietnam, there are several reputable travel agencies who will book
trains for you for a small fee. Agencies include
www.vietnamstay.com/service/sapatrain.htm,
www.saigonhotel.com, &
www.vietnamimpressive.com.
Tickets can be waiting for you at your hotel when you
get to Vietnam, or couriered overseas.
Payment is by Visa, MasterCard or other major credit card. Viet-nam.net
charges around US$140 (£83) for Hanoi-Saigon in an air-conditioned soft
sleeper, and around US$105 (£63) for Saigon-Hué, so compare these with the
ticket office price shown above. Vietnamstay.com 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 (formerly Viet-nam.net) has not had such good reports,
but offers a comprehensive service, charging around $137 Hanoi to
Saigon or $73 Hanoi-Hue in soft sleeper.
www.vietnamimpressive.com is new, but has already had two good
reports from users. Their prices look good and they will deliver to
any hotel in Vietnam. Further
feedback (or recommendations for other agencies) is always
appreciated!
Privacy-loving westerners
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!
Rail-based tailor-made
holidays in Vietnam...
Alternatively,
there are UK agencies who will book Vietnamese rail
travel for you as part of a tailor-made itinerary, such as www.regent-holidays.co.uk.
These agencies are usually willing to book the trains you specify, but
only if one or two hotel bookings are also made through them, usually
at the more expensive tourist-orientated hotels.
The best trains
are the ones with 'SE' train numbers, equipped with modern air-conditioned coaches. They
have:
soft class
air-conditioned sleepers (4-berths per compartment).
hard class air-conditioned sleepers
(6-berths per compartment)
air-conditioned soft class reclining
seats.
a restaurant or buffet car.
in soft sleeper, simple tray meals are
served in your compartment along with mineral water, included in
the fare.
Train SE1/SE2 also has private 4-berth
air-conditioned sleepers of a higher standard attached between
Hanoi, Hue & Danang, see
www.livitrans.com.
The coaches on these
'SE' trains have large picture windows, unobstructed by the wire mesh that
protects other trains' windows from stones. Choose these
trains if you can.
Which class should you
choose?
Air-conditioned soft
sleeper is the recommended choice for most western travellers, for any
journey involving overnight travel. Air-con soft sleeper cars
have western-style toilets at the end of the corridor. However,
air-con hard sleeper is perfectly acceptable if you're on a budget or
if all the soft sleepers are sold out, so don't rule it out.
Some hard sleepers have squat-type toilets only, if that's an issue
for you. Air-con soft seat is a good choice for daytime
journeys, but not for overnight trips as you can't sleep properly in a
seat.
Above: Trains SE1-SE8 have
the most modern coaches.
Photo courtesy
of Willy Kaemena
Above:
Two photos of a soft class 4-berth sleeper, of the most modern
type used on trains SE1-SE8. Photos courtesy of Graeme
Thorley & Stephanie Sinden .
Above: Modern reclining
seats on trains SE1-SE8. Note the TV entertainment
screens!
Photo courtesy of Rakuda
Above: Train SE2 from
Hanoi to Saigon.
Photo courtesy of Rakuda
You can find photos of
air-conditioned hard class sleepers on train SE1
here.
You can find more photos of
air-conditioned soft class sleepers on train SE3
here.
This is a
4-berth sleeper compartment & the corridor in the 'Livitrans'
sleeping-car, see
www.livitrans.com. This is a privately-run sleeping-car
attached to trains SE1/SE2 between Hanoi, Hue & Danang. It's
of a noticeably higher standard than the regular Vietnam Railways
sleeping-cars, and special higher fares apply. Photos
courtesy of Tom Bailey.
Trains TN1 to TN8...
These are the slower,
older trains. Trains TN1 & TN2 only have hard sleepers &
hard seats. Trains TN3 to TN8 have:
air-conditioned soft
class sleepers (4-berths per compartment)
air-conditioned hard class sleepers
(6-berths per compartment)
hard class sleepers (non-aircon,
6-berths per compartment)
air-conditioned soft class reclining
seats
soft class seats (non-aircon)
hard class seats (non-aircon)
One advantage of these
trains is that they have non-air-conditioned cars with windows
that open, better for photographing the scenery. However, bear in
mind that they are much more basic than the SE trains.
Above left:
An older train at Hué. The two coaches in front of the
camera are air-conditioned soft class sleepers...
Above right:
Inside one of the air-conditioned 4-berth soft sleepers - the
other two bunks are just out of shot to the right. In
the centre is a folding table.
Above: The refreshment trolley makes its way down the soft
sleeper corridor...
Above: Standing in the corridor
of an older hard class sleeper.
Above left: An older train arrives in Saigon.
Above right: A hard class non-AC sleeper with 6 bunks.
The other three bunks are just out of shot to the left.
Photo courtesy of Pierre-Damien Jourdain.
Saigon to Nha Trang by '5
Star Express' or 'Golden Trains'...
A
privately-run deluxe tourist train called the 5 Star Express used to
link Saigon with Nha Trang. It has now been discontinued, but
another company called Golden Trains took up the operation in
December 2007. Golden Trains runs several deluxe cars attached
to a Vietnamese Railways slow train between Saigon and Nha Train
(the SN1/SN2, if you want to find it on the DSVN website).
There appears to be no proper Golden Trains website, and given that
the 5 Star operation collapsed even with a good website and online
booking, I frankly don't expect the Golden Trains to last very long.
So stick with normal DSVN Vietnamese Railways trains!
If you want to head
for the hills at Sapa, take the train from Hanoi to Lao Cai.
Sapa has no railway station, but it's about 40km from Lo Cai
rail station and easily reached from there by tourist bus
(US$2), jeep (US$4-5 per person) or hired motorbike. There
are both daytime and overnight sleeper trains between Hanoi &
Lao Cai.
Train timetable...
Hanoi ►
Lao Cai (for Sapa)
Lao Cai ► Hanoi
LC3
SP1
SP3
LC1
LC4
LC2
SP2
SP4
Hanoi
depart
06:10
21:15
21:55
22:05
Lao Cai
depart
09:15
18:45
20:15
21:00
Lao Cai
arrive
16:35
05:30
06:15
07:25
Hano*
arrive
19:55
04:00
04:30
05:05
Trains LC3, LC4: Daily. Soft seats & hard
seats, not air-conditioned.
Trains LC1, LC2: Daily. Air-con soft sleepers,
air-con hard sleepers, hard sleepers, soft seats, hard seats.
Trains SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4: Daily. Air-con soft sleepers,
air-con
hard sleepers, hard sleepers, air-con soft seats, soft seats, hard
seats. These regular seats & sleepers are
similar to the ones shown here. These trains also have several privately-run deluxe
sleepers attached, see the section below.
Hanoi to Lao Cai is 294 km (183 miles).
Which station in Hanoi? The trains to Lao Cai depart
from a separate section of Hanoi's main railway station, sometimes called
the 'B' station, usually platforms 10 or 11.
Road access is on Tran Quay Cap street, on the opposite side of the tracks from the main
'A' station at 120 Le Duan street, so make sure you make this clear
to your taxi driver. Or you can enter the main 'A' station and walk across the tracks
on a walkway, but
allow time to do this as it's a bit of a trek.
How much does the train cost?
One way per
person (000 dong):
Train
type:
Soft
sleeper
Hard sleeper
Soft seat
Hard seat
Air-con
Air-con
Non-air-con
Air-con
Non-air-con
Non-air-con
Hanoi
to Lao Cai
(294 km)
SP
300
(£9, $17)
234
(£7, $14)
175 (£5, $10)
168 (£5, $10)
113 (£4, $7)
98 (£3, $6)
How to buy tickets...
...at the
station...
Above:
Air-con 4-berth soft sleeper, as used on the trains from Hanoi to Lao Cai. Photo courtesy of Graeme
Thorley & Stephanie Sinden .
You can buy your
ticket
at
the station fairly easily 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, 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.
If
you want to get your train reservation sorted in advance before you
get to Vietnam, try
www.vietnamstay.com/service/sapatrain.htm,
www.saigonhotel.com, or
www.vietnamimpressive.com. Tickets can be waiting for you at
your hotel when you get to Vietnam, or couriered overseas.
Payment is by Visa, MasterCard or other major credit card. Vietnamstay.com 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.
www.vietnamimpressive.com is new and has had no reports as yet,
but prices look good and they will deliver to Hanoi hotels. Further
feedback or agency recommendations is always
appreciated!
The overnight trains between Hanoi & Lao Cai have several
privately-run deluxe sleeping-cars attached for tourists, as well as
the normal sleepers & seats. If you want extra comfort &
cleanliness and don't mind paying a bit more, go for one of these.
Tulico, Ratraco, TSC, Friendly, Royal, King
These
deluxe tourist cars run attached to train SP3/SP4. They're all
significantly better than the regular Vietnamese Railways sleepers, but there's
reportedly not a lot to choose between the different
private operators. For example, the 'Tulico' cars offer
VIP 2-berth, 1st class 4-berth or 2nd class 4-berth,
aimed at mid-market tourists. The cost is around $60 each way in 2-berth, $30 each way
in 1st class 4-berth or $25 in 2nd class 4-berth.
For more information on the various tourist sleepers, email booking
& prices,
www.vietnamstay.com/service/sapatrain.htm. Once in
Vietnam, you can book these tourist sleepers via local travel
agencies, but not at the station, although there's an office selling
tickets for the Ratraco sleepers to Lao Cai just inside the main
station entrance.
Victoria train...
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. However, you
can only use it if you're staying at the deluxe
Victoria Hotel in Sapa. It runs daily except Saturdays,
consisting of two deluxe sleeping-cars and a restaurant car attached
to train SP3/SP4. Prices around US$145 round trip per person
($165 including meals in the restaurant car) in 4-berth or $230
per person ($170 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/eng/hotels-in-vietnam/sapa-resort-spa/victoria-express-train
or
www.vietnamstay.com/service/sapatrain.htm 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 train from Hanoi.
Hanoi to Haiphong (for ferry to Cat Ba island)...
Hanoi ► Haiphong
Haiphong ► Hanoi
Hanoi
depart
06:05
09:25
15:10
-
Haiphong
depart
06:00
08:20
14:35
18:10
Hanoi Long Bien
depart
|
09:35
15:20
17:45
Hanoi
Long Bien
arrive
08:25
10:42
17:00
|
Haiphong
arrive
07:55
12:10
18:00
20:05
Hanoi
arrive
08:35
10:55
-
20:00
Hanoi - Haiphong
trains have soft and hard class seats.
Hanoi Long Bien is 3km from Hanoi
main station. Hanoi to Haiphong is 102 km (63 miles).
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.
Hanoi to Halong (for Halong
Bay)... New from April 2009!
A private company, Dongrim Railway Transport Co of Korea has
launched a tourist train daily between Hanoi & Halong, for the
scenic Halong Bay. It uses refurbished imported Korean
coaches with comfortable seats and a buffet-bar car. For more information
& photos, see their website
www.halongtrain.com.vn.
LATEST UPDATE JULY 2009:
It's reported this train may have been discontinued already,
please check locally.
Hanoi ► Halong
Halong ► Hanoi
Runs
daily. Train number:
LHr 1
Runs daily.
Train number:
LHr 2
Hanoi
(Gia Lam station)
depart
07:05
Halong (for Halong Bay)
depart
15:00
Halong (for Halong Bay)
arrive
12:00
Hanoi
(Gia Lam station)
arrive
20:05
Hanoi Gia Lam station is in Northeast
Hanoi, about 6km from Hanoi main station.
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
Beijing (West)
depart
16:16
Sundays & Thursdays
Hanoi
depart
18:30
Tuesdays & Fridays
Zhengzhou
depart
22:43
Sundays & Thursdays
Dong Dang **
arrive
22:40
Tuesdays & Fridays
Guilin
depart
14:36
Mondays & Fridays
Dong Dang **
depart
01:20
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Nanning
depart
21:15
Mondays & Fridays
Nanning
arrive
06:50
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Dong Dang **
arrive
00:11
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Guilin
arrive
14:58
Wednesdays & Saturdays
Dong Dang **
depart
03:50
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Zhengzhou
arrive
07:10
Thursdays & Sundays
Hanoi
arrive
08:10
Tuesdays & Saturdays
Beijing (West)
arrive
13:38
Thursdays & Sundays
** Dong Dang is the
frontier. Change trains. Beijing to Hanoi is 2,996km or
1,861 miles.
You can check train times & fares at
www.vr.com.vn. Note that the departure days from
Beijing changed in 2004. The train used to leave Beijing on Mondays &
Fridays. Departure from Hanoi is confirmed as Tuesdays &
Fridays - be warned that some parts of the Vietnamese railways website
may still say Tuesdays & Thursdays in error.
Which station in Hanoi?
The train to Beijing departs from a separate section of Hanoi's main
railway station, sometimes called the 'B' station. Road access
is on
Tran Quay Cap street, on the opposite side of the tracks from the main
'A' station at 120 Le Duan street, so make sure you make this clear
to your taxi driver. Or you can enter the main 'A' station and walk across the tracks
on a walkway, but
allow time to do this as it's a bit of a trek.
Daily alternative via
Nanning: If you can't get tickets for the Beijing-Hanoi
through train or if you need to travel on one of the other days of the
week, simply use a regular daily sleeper train between Beijing &
Nanning then the daily train or
buses between Nanning & Hanoi.
Fares & how to buy tickets...
One-way fare in soft
class 4-berth sleeper.
Beijing - Hanoi
The fare is around 2,156 RMB (£200 or $320) with soft
sleeper 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 $389 (£243) or
www.chinatrainticket.net
who charge $406 (£253).
www.realrussia.co.uk can
also book this train along with your Trans-Siberian tickets,
but are more expensive, charging around £331 one-way.
Hanoi - Beijing:
4,400,000 Vietnamese dong (about $250 or £185) one-way with soft sleeper if you buy your ticket at
Hanoi
ticket office, window 10 (price after significant increase
in February 2009).
How to buy tickets in
Hanoi...
At Hanoi
station, go to ticket window 10 for foreigners &
international trains. You will need to show your passport and a valid visa for
China. You can pay in US dollars or dong, credit cards
are reportedly not accepted, although there's a MasterCard
sign. This train cannot be booked online, although you
could try emailing local travel agencies in Vietnam.
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...
You can pre-book
from outside China by contacting
www.chinatripadvisor.com
for US$389,
www.chinatrainticket.net for $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 £331
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 Que Clothier reports: "I finally got my ticket
from a small pavement shop front office next to, and part of,
the Railway Hotel, which is directly next to Beijing West as you face
it. The only thing that gives it away as a ticket office is the A4
paper sign sellotaped to the front window - however this is in
Chinese. There is also a phone number to ring if they
are closed to find out ticket sale opening times. This
office is four doors to the left of the main front doors of
the Railway Hotel it also has a souvenir / poster shop next
door to it so you cant really miss it. The women in
the office does not speak English but has a tick sheet with
questions and answers and you simply point to the correct
answer, for example: Nationality, UK. It was really
easy. They still insist inside the station that they
do not sell tickets and that you have to go to the bank of
China which is about a five minute walk past the "actual"
ticket office. The bank still are not aware that they
"sell" train tickets!"
Traveller Chris Emmerson reports: "The
building mentioned by Que Clothier (which I believe is a
hotel) was chaotic, so I gave up and went
to the 旅游大厦 (Lu3 You2 Da4 Xia4. "Tourism Mansion") – at the
corner of Jianguomen Wai Da Jie and Jianguomen Nan Da Jie.
Characters are in 6 foot high letters on the outside of the
building: you can see it from the SW exit of Jianguomen
subway station. Very helpful, English speaking staff
quoted me 1,200 RMB per soft sleeper ticket one way (a
little over £85 at current exchange rates - you can’t book
returns); final cost was slightly under that at 1,166 RMB,
which apparently included a 200 RMB commission. This was
around what I’d been told to expect. I left a deposit
of 500 RMB, and they called me when the tickets were ready
to pick up a week later (I think the booking agent was on
holiday for some of that week, hence the wait). There’s a 5%
surcharge for credit card bookings; I did ours in cash."
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!
On board the
Hanoi-Beijing train...
Above: The
twice-weekly Hanoi-Beijing train service actually consists of two
trains. This is the Vietnamese metre-gauge train, just two
cars which
run between Hanoi & Dong Dang on the Chinese frontier, where
you change to or from the standard gauge Chinese train.
Photo courtesy of Nandakumar Narasimhan
Above: This is
the Chinese soft class sleeping-car which runs between Dong Dang &
Beijing. It has comfortable, air-conditioned, carpeted 4-bed
soft sleepers, and there's a restaurant car for most of the
journey. A wonderful way to travel between Beijing and
Vietnam!
From 1 January 2009, a new daily
overnight train has linked Hanoi & Nanning,
see this article.
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 locally, reports suggest they've changed it yet again,
and it now leaves Nanning at 18:45 and Hanoi at 22:40):
Nanning ► Hanoi
Hanoi ► Nanning
Soft &
hard air-con sleepers, train T871 / MR2
Daily
Soft &
hard air-con sleepers, train MR1 / T872
Daily
Nanning
depart
17:15
day 1
Hanoi
(Gia Lam station)
arrive
19:25
day 1
Pinxiang
(Chinese border point)
arrive
20:41
day 1
Dong
Dang (Vietnamese border)
arrive
23:28
day 1
Pinxiang
arrive
22:41
day 1
Dong
Dang
depart
03:00
day 2
Dong
Dang (Vietnamese border)
arrive
23:22 day 1
Pinxiang (Chinese border)
depart
03:41
day 2
Dong
Dang
depart
01:25
day 2
Pinxiang
arrive
05:41
day 2
Hanoi
(Gia Lam station)
arrive
05:30
day 2
Nanning
arrive
09:05
day 2
Gia Lam station is 6km from
Hanoi Main station, across the river.
Map showing Gia Lam station (look for Ga Gia Lam on the right, 'Ga'
is from the French 'gare' meaning station)
Fare for soft sleeper:
In Nanning, it's currently RMB 229, which is around £23 or $37. In Hanoi,
it was reduced in summer 2009 to the dong equivalent of 32 Swiss
francs, around £20 or $30.
Distance 396km.
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.
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 Pinxiang 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 daytime
bus: If the train is full or you prefer daytime travel,
there are several daily buses between Nanning & Hanoi, using modern
coaches. 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 with a change of train 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
£80 or $130 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: From 1 January 2009 you can take the new
daily overnight train from Hanoi to Nanning,
see the section above.
It leaves Hanoi at 19:30 and arrives Nanning at 08:00 next day.
The soft sleeper fare is RMB 334 (£33 or $52). 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 three possible trains, train 2572 leaving Nanning at
19:13 and arriving Guangzhou (main station) at 0652 next morning,
train1234 leaving Nanning at 21:33 and arriving Guanzhou (East
station) at 12:12, and train K366 (a higher quality K-category
train) leaving Nanning at 00:31 and arriving at Guangzhou
(main station) at 11:50 next day. All three trains have soft & hard class
sleepers. The fare is about 350 RMB (£35 or $56) in a soft sleeper,
or 255 RMB
(£25 or $40) in a hard sleeper. In an ideal world, you'd
pre-book this train, and I suppose 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 $28).
Hong Kong ► Hanoi
You cannot buy a through ticket, but it will cost around £80 or $130 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 06:20. Soft and hard class
sleepers are available. The fare is about 350 RMB (£35 or $52) in a soft sleeper,
or 255 RMB
(£25 or $40) in a hard sleeper. Spend the day in Nanning.
Day 2, take the daily overnight train from Nanning to Hanoi, running
since 1 January 2009, see the
section above. It leaves Nanning at 17:15 and arrives
Hanoi at 06:00. Soft & hard sleepers available, fare RMB 334
(£33 or $52). Alternatively, there are several modern buses
from Nanning to Hanoi every morning.
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 Pinxiang (RMB 17, 8am – 11:30). Hard seats, friendly
co-passengers and some great scenery on this trip! In Pinxiang 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
currently suspended...
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...
While the train remains suspended, take an overnight train from Hanoi
to Lao Cai -
see the train times & fares above. Lao
Cai is just 3km 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. Then travel overnight from Hekou to Kunming on
one of several 'sleeper buses' (buses with
sleeping-berths). One bus leaves at 19:00 and arrives in Kunming
around 07:00, but there are earlier and maybe later departures.
The bus fare is about 87 RMB. You may want stop off at Lao Cai
to visit Sapa, 40km away, before going on into China.
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..!
Kunming ► Hanoi by sleeper bus
+ sleeper train...
Southbound, take an overnight
sleeper bus (a bus with sleeping-berths) from Kunming to Hekou on the
Vietnamese frontier. There's also an earlier departure, and
there maybe later ones. The bus fare is about 87 RMB. At
Hekou, cross over the border to the Vietnamese side and use a taxi to
get to Lao Cai 3km from the border post. Then use an overnight
train from Lao Cai to Hanoi -
see the train times & fares above. You
may want stop off at Lao Cai to visit Sapa, 40km away, before going on
to Hanoi. 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 not huge!
Photo
courtesy of Tom Finn.
Saigon - Phnom Penh (- Bangkok)
There is no railway (as yet) between
Saigon and Phnom Penh, a distance of some 250 km. However, there
is a daily bus service, times shown below. Alternatively, a
number of local tour operators run a river boat + bus service from
Saigon to Phnom Penh, a very enjoyable way to travel between the two
cities. For onward travel to Bangkok by a combination of
Cambodian train, bus and Thai train, see the Cambodia page.
Saigon ► Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh ► Saigon
(Bus
service)
(Bus
service)
Depart Saigon:
06:00
Depart Phnom Penh:
06:30
Arrive Moc Bai (frontier,
Vietnamese side)
08:00
Arrive Bavet (frontier Cambodian
side)
11:00
Depart Bavet (frontier,
Cambodian side)
09:00
Depart Moc Bai (frontier,
Vietnamese side)
12:00
Arrive Phnom Penh:
13:30
Arrive Saigon:
14:00
The fare is
about US$ 12. You must change buses and make your way across the
frontier between Moc Bai and Bavet on foot. Visas are not issued
at this frontier.
Hotels in Saigon, Hanoi, Hue or elsewhere in Vietnam...
Don't be afraid to find hotels as you go, to stay
flexible. A good guidebook like the Lonely Planet or
Rough Guides will point you at some good hotels in each town
or city when you get there. Alternatively, you
can pre-book hotels (budget, mid-range and upmarket) in
Saigon, Hanoi, Hue, and most other Vietnamese cities through
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box
below.
This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (AsiaRooms,
Asiativ.com, Opodo, Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide. It will find the
best online rate for the
Continental Hotel in Saigon, my own
favourite.
Personal
recommendation: Continental
Hotel, Saigon...
If it's in your price range (or if you can stretch your budget), the famous
Continental Hotel in central Saigon is one of the most pleasant
and historic places to stay, and my own favourite. It's modern and comfortable
without being 'corporate', ands costs around $140 (£88) per night for a
double room. The Continental features in Graham Greene's novel 'The
Quiet American', set in Saigon during the Franco-Vietnamese war.
Nearby, the famous Rex Hotel was where many American officers stayed
during the Vietnam war.
Tripadvisor reviews.
For eating, try the Bo Tung Xeo
restaurant (where all the locals go!) on D. Ly Trung. You could
try the grilled weasel, fried sparrow or sautéd chicken penis, but
there are more conventional dishes on the menu!
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.
If
you have the time, about two weeks, you can reach Vietnam by train
all the way from London. 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...
Step 1:
London to Moscow by train. Daily
departures, 2 nights, from about £140 one-way with sleeper.
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.
Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable
It's probably
the most adventurous timetable ever produced... The famous Thomas Cook Overseas
Timetable has train, bus & ferry times for
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, in fact for every country
in Asia, Africa, North & South America and Australasia. It is
updated every
two months. It's
essential reading for any serious traveller, and an inspiration for
armchair travellers...
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 after clicking these
links.
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but 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%. 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 a long-haul flight might be unavoidable to reach Vietnam in
the first place. For flights to
Saigon or Hanoi, start with
Opodo.com. Opodo is a flight-booking site started by
a consortium of airlines and Amadeus, and it's normally
where I start looking for a flight myself. Seat61 gets a small commission through this link.
Personal
recommendation: Continental
Hotel, Saigon...
If
you have the time, about two weeks, you can reach Vietnam by train
all the way from London. 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...
If you're a UK resident, try
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
