Six trains run from Hanoi to Hue, taking between 12 hours 30 minutes and 14 hours 7 minutes. The first leaves at 06:00 and the last at 21:45, and the choice is between a long daytime journey and a night in a sleeper.
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How to buy tickets
The easiest way to buy train tickets in Vietnam is online rather than going to the station. You do pay a very small commission but the ease and convenience makes it worthwhile in our opinion.
Baolau is the best site to use for buying train tickets, they have access to the live Vietnam Railways booking engine, so you can easily see availability, timetables and prices.
Payment can be made using international credit cards and PDF confirmation tickets are sent to your email address within a few minutes. This is the actual ticket you need to board the train, so there’s no need to exchange it at the station before travel. You may prefer to print the pdf out, but it’s also fine to show it on your mobile phone to the conductors and station staff.
Vietnam Railways releases tickets in blocks of a few months, on dates it announces. Travel up to 25 Feb 2027 is on sale now. For full details on booking windows, see the when to book Vietnam train tickets guide.
Hanoi to Hue train tickets
About the route
Most people take the evening trains, SE3 at 19:20, SE19 at 19:45 and SE1 at 21:45, which get you in the next morning. The daytime trains, SE7 at 06:00, SE5 at 08:00 and SE9 at 13:00, take the same time, but you see the countryside and the coast, and the northern part of the journey is quite scenic.
Hue is a good place to spend a few days, with the Imperial City, the royal tombs and good food, and it is about three hours by train from Da Nang. The station sits on the south bank of the Perfume River, and the old citadel is a short taxi ride away.
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