Vietnam train travel: Experience traveling by train in Vietnam

Vietnam train travel: The train is one of the 3 most popular transport modes in Vietnam today with an extremely large number of daily passengers. Previously, travel by train was not popular due to many outstanding issues such as incomplete ticket system, poor service quality on the train, long running time…

However, in recent years here, due to a methodically upgraded investment, the railway industry has attracted significantly more tourists to choose this form of travel. If you are planning to travel by train or are learning more about this option, the sharing in this article will be quite helpful for you.

Places that you can travel by train

There are many famous tourist destinations that you can go there by train, the most popular are the famous tourist cities located on the North-South railway. We will recommend to you beautiful destinations that you can travel by train in Vietnam.

Sapa

This is a rare tourist railway built in the northern mountainous provinces, originating from Hanoi and passing through the territory of some provinces such as Phu Tho and Yen Bai and then up to Lao Cai – the last leg of the journey.

The time of the train runs from Hanoi in the evening, 21-22h and arrives at Lao Cai station in the early morning (about 5-6 am). This route also has many private carriages invested by travel companies to serve tourism.

Read more:

• Sapa travel guide.

Ninh Binh

Ninh Binh is located in the southernmost region of the Red River Delta, which is the place to continue economic and cultural exchanges between the Red River basin and the Ma river basin, between the Northern delta region and Northwestern mountainous region of the country.

Coming to Ninh Binh you will visit the famous tourist areas such as Tam Coc, Trang An, Bai Dinh Pagoda …

Hue

Hue is a city located on the East Coast, a central city between two major cities Hanoi and Saigon. The two neighboring provinces of Hue are Quang Tri and Da Nang. Hai Van pass connects Hue with Danang and the boundary of the two regions. In December 1993, Hue was ranked as a world cultural monument by UNESCO.

Danang

Da Nang is a coastal city located in central Vietnam, located almost the center of the distance between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Possessing a lot of diverse natural landscapes, Da Nang not only attracts tourists with a beach longer than 60 km, voted by Forbes magazine as one of the 6 most attractive beaches on the planet, but also has many impressive landscapes such as Son Tra Peninsula, Ba Na Hills tourist area, Marble Mountains …and from Danang you can easily reach Hoian.

Quy Nhon

Quy Nhon is a place in Binh Dinh, a province on the southern central coast of Vietnam, with a tropical monsoon climate. Binh Dinh is the hometown of art forms such as Tuong, Bai Choi … with long coastline, many bays with beautiful beaches and landscapes such as Quy Nhon, Tam Quan, Tan Thanh …

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a coastal city and a center of politics, economy, culture, science and technology and tourism of Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. Before becoming part of Vietnam, Nha Trang belonged to Champa. Relics of the Cham people are still in many places in Nha Trang.

Mui Ne

Mui Ne 14 km northeast of Phan Thiet city center. Mui Ne is the name of a fishing village and also a familiar tourist spot in the South Central Coast. The beach is shallow, the water is clean and clear, the sun is warm all year round, there are no storms so Mui Ne is an ideal place for bathing and relaxing.

Instruction to buy tickets online

1. Access the online ticketing website of Vietnam Railway Corporation at https://dsvn.vn and enter information about the departure, arrival and departure times.
2. Next, you will be forwarded to the train selection page and seat position. At the top will display a list of trains with the time of departure and arrival, depending on the individual needs you choose the train with the time that best suits you.
3. You need to enter the name of the train passenger corresponding to the passenger passport number.
4. Confirmation of information: There are two types of information to confirm: information of train passengers and information about train ticket buyers (in case of purchasing tickets for many people).
   Please check all the information you have entered is correct for each passenger.
5. Payment: You will easily pay with visa/master cards. With some early booking, you can choose to pay later in 24h, with the upcoming departure time, you need to pay immediately.
   After payment is complete, you will be notified of the booking code right on the transaction screen, and an email will also be sent to the mailbox you have declared above.

How to cancel the booked and issued tickets?

As a rule, you are allowed to return the purchased train ticket; the latest time to return is 2 hours before the train departure. For peak season tickets (summer, Lunar New Year), you need to cancel tickets at least 10 hours before the train time.)

To cancel your ticket, please go to the nearest station to pick up and drop off (ie the station where guests can get on and off the train) and print all tickets sent to the email by the system.

After that, bring the ticket to the exchange counter to cancel the procedure, the cancellation fee is 10% of the ticket price, the peak season ticket is 30% of the ticket price. You will receive a refund for your canceled ticket in cash at the train station.

Some notes when traveling by train

There are a few notes below, so be careful not to encounter many problems that arise during your trip.

• Always reserve tickets at least 3-5 days before your trip so you can make a reservation. For big holidays, you should book a few weeks to a month in advance.
• Arrive 1 hour early than the train time.
• On train lines that run overnight, especially in carriages, air-conditioned nights are often quite cold, families with children and babies should wear long clothes for them.
• Free lunch/dinner meals will be provided on the current Reunification trains. Meals are packed in aluminum boxes like when on a plane. With short journeys, you usually will not have, but you can buy these meals at quite reasonable prices.

Hopefully, with the information we provide in this article will help you better understand Vietnam train travel.