Vietnam train travel guide (2025)

Main train routes in Vietnam

Within Vietnam, there are three train routes, although the star attraction is the Reunification Line that travels the length of the country from Saigon to Hanoi. Taking almost 36 hours to cover the 1,600km, it’s one of Southeast Asia’s most iconic travel experiences and regularly features in the list of best long-distance train journeys in the world. Many travellers break the journey into smaller legs, stopping off at one of several cities along the way.

Alongside the Reunification Line, there are two other lines heading near to the tourist hotspots of Sapa and Halong Bay. For Sapa, you actually take the train to Lao Cai, which is then a one hour bus ride to Sapa. It’s a similar situation for Halong Bay; take the train from Hanoi to Haiphong and then bus or taxi from there.

The train to Lao Cai (for Sapa) tends to leave at an awkward time late in the evening, meaning you miss out on scenery and arrive to Sapa in the early morning, often before hotels will accept you. Special tourist carriages are attached to the regular service (at a premium price), so it can feel quite touristy.

Pre-Covid, there used to be a fantastic service from Hanoi to Nanning via the Chinese border at Dong Dang. From here, there were plenty of options further into China and Hong Kong. Sadly, these have yet to be restarted after Covid, hopefully it won’t be too long now though.

What are Vietnam trains like?

Vietnamese trains are generally comfortable, reliable and in good condition. The rolling stock is perhaps showing its age in places, although there are plans for refurbishments and upgrades. Onboard, the majority of the carriages you’ll encounter won’t be the ultra-modern style you might find in Japan or China, but the compartments are kept clean and there’s plenty of space to store your luggage, especially if you’re just travelling with backpacks.

Note that there are several companies operating in Vietnam who offer high-end, first-class carriages to tourists, and these are attached to popular trains including to Lao Cai (for Sapa) and on some of the long-distance north-south routes. They’re in better condition, with more mod-cons, but are also significantly more expensive than the standard carriages.

There are four main types of seating class you’ll encounter on the Vietnamese trains:

• Four-berth soft sleeper. Ideal for groups of four, these have two sets of bunk beds.
  
• Six-berth hard sleeper. Despite the name these compartments are almost identical to the four-berth variety, just with an extra layer of bunks.
  
• Two-berth luxury sleeper. Some of the normal Vietnamese trains have these options but they’re popular so book as far ahead as possible. On some tourist routes (particularly towards Sapa), various private companies hook their own carriages onto the train and offer high-spec, luxury travel targeted predominately at the high-end tourist market.
  
• ‘Normal’ seats. If you’re just doing a short daytime journey, you could consider the normal seats which are arranged in pairs (with two sets of four seats around a table in each carriage). They’re cheaper than the compartments but can get noisy, and they often feel crowded. It’s often better to book a compartment, even during the daytime.

How to buy Vietnam train tickets

Seats can be booked directly at the station but most tourists will find life easier if they book online. Our personal favourite website is Baolau, which is an excellent resource for booking train tickets and also to research journey options across the whole of Southeast Asia.

As Baolau has access to the official Vietnam Railways booking engine, it displays the live status of seat availability, allowing you to choose seats and receive instant confirmation.

International credit cards are accepted and we’ve never had any problems with using them on the site. After payment has been processed, you’ll receive an acknowledgement email immediately, then a confirmation email will usually arrive within an hour containing your pdf e-ticket, which can be used to board the train. There’s no need to print the e-ticket out, just make sure you’re able to display it on the your phone, tablet, etc.

One quirk to be aware of: the Baolau site uses the Vietnamese version of place names so, if you’re looking for (e.g.) Danang, it’ll be listed as ‘Da Nang’. If you’re accustomed to typing the first few letters into a search box, keep this in mind that typing ‘Dan…’ won’t bring back any results.

Note that the booking window usually opens 60-90 days in advance, but this varies depending how long your journey is. Generally, the further you are travelling, the further in advance you can book. For very short journeys (e.g. less than two hours), bookings might not open until a couple of days beforehand.

This is basically a quirk of the Vietnamese railway network and how the majority of services travel the full length of the country. As a result, Vietnamese Railways don’t want someone to book a ticket for only a short leg, as this would stop that seat/berth being bookable by someone travelling from Saigon to Hanoi (for example).