Vietnam train is a public mean of transport and very popular in Vietnam. Vietnam Railway system was built by French from 1881 during French colonialism. Travel by train is also a good way because Vietnam railways go through our S shape country from north to south and vice versa. Moreover, there many stops during train way for your short trip and continue to another destination.
Vietnam train travel guide
If you travel from the north to south of Vietnam and need to choose between train and bus, the better choice is going by train. Traveling by train is both safe and convenient because you may choose sleeper bed or seats, free to enjoy meals or going toilets, easy to view landscape through window. Moreover, train way usually go through forests, mountains and beaches so it is very good for sightseeing. The bad point is only trains in Vietnam still was used for a long time and railways system is very old. Therefore, it is noisy and slow if you compare it to trains in the developed countries.
Booking train tickets
You should book train tickets as early as possible and consider to choose kind of ticket. Vietnam train commonly is divided in to 4 categories: Soft sleeper, hard sleeper, soft seat, hard seats. For sleeper tickets, you base yourself on your group to choose 4 or 6 sleepers cabin, suitable for small group or family. Today, train booking system is very convenient for travelers, you might book through ticket agents. travel agents or online train booking system at http://vetau.com.vn
Luggage on train
Vietnam trains do not limit the luggage weight but you should use light luggage if possible, because you have to walk a long way from train station to your cabin. Wearing comfortable clothes, individual and important things should be bear on hands, luggage should be placed under sleeper beds or cargo hold. You should take care of valuable items because of dense crowd in the station and thieves.
Food and beverage
There are small restaurants in the train, and you can buy snack meals, mineral water, noodle soup. You should bring fruit, mineral water and towels if you have a long trip.
Popular routes for Vietnam train travel
Hanoi to Sapa train
Traveling from Hanoi to Sapa by train is the way chosen by many tourists. Road to Sapa looks dangerous, sinuous and sloping so train is a good mean of transport to travel Sapa safely.
Train to Sapa departs at night: the earliest train departs at 19:40, the latest train departs at 23:00. It usually takes 8 hours for Hanoi to Sapa route.
There are several choices for train tickets to Sapa: hard seat, soft seat, hard bed and soft bed. Foreign travelers usually book soft beds for their trip because they can sleep during the trip and feel comfortable next morning, soft sleeper bed is placed in 6 or 4 beds cabin.
Train ticket cost for Hanoi to Sapa or vice versa varies from 8 to 30 USD per way. There are several good train you can use such as King Express, Sapaly, Fanxipan, Livitrans..
Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh train
Train from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh is the busiest trail way in Vietnam. There are about 10 trains per day from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh and vice versa, departure time varies from 6:00 to 22:00.
The train goes through Vietnam and stop in around 20 destinations from north to south and vice versa. Consequently, you have various choice for stop to discover each destinations through Vietnam.
The fastest train has the code SE1 takes about 32 hours for the route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. This is quite slow to other train in your country but reality in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh to Phan Thiet train
After launching new travel train from Ho Chi Minh to Phan Thiet with train code SPT2 & 4, traveling by train to Phan Thiet from Ho Chi Minh is one of the best choice. You get away from noisy and crowded roads and feel safer to use train.
Today, it takes 4 hours for Ho Chi Minh to Phan Thiet train. Booking tickets is very easy through online system.
