This part of the railway is not as fast as newer buses, but the route is right on the water and very scenic. Da Nang to Hue (3.5 hours) Map courtesy of Īfter a few days in the Da Nang/Hoi An area, we were excited to see what is often considered the most scenic part of the North-South Railway, the journey along the cliffs just north of Da Nang. There were many official taxis available to meet the train. Literally it seems like you could reach out and knock on someone’s front door. I would take some bottled water for brushing your teeth and staying hydrated.Ĭoming into Da Nang we noticed how close the builds are up to the sides of the train. Bathrooms were generally clean enough (they literally spray them down with a hose) although very utilitarian. The train rode a bit “bouncy” but nothing too scary. It had the best food and the scenery was really beautiful the next morning leading up to Da Nang. Train SE2 ended up being the nicest train we rode on the whole trip in terms of comfort. Soup in plastic cups and a full plate of food. We had a beer with our Architect roommate before heading to bed. Food and treats were inexpensive and none were inedible – some were actually quite good. You never know how many carts will be going around so I suggest buying too much instead of not enough. Train attendants bring around food and drink carts. It’s something to behold one traffic cop holding back what seem to be an endless pack of motorbikes. Most of the railroad crossings are manually operated arms with traffic police. Leaving Saigon you really get an idea for how big and congested the city is. We’ll probably never forget the conversations we had with him, as broken as it was at times due to us not speaking any Vietnamese. We had a few different cabin mates along our trip including the one of the nicest people we met on our trip, an architect from Saigon who was so proud of his kids studying abroad in the United States. The Saigon train station is small, but there are some shops to buy water and snacks for your journey right alongside the tracks, at a little bit of a premium. The top bunk is a bit tricky to get in, but there are a couple of power outlets, air conditioning, and a table. In the “Soft Bed” class train 2 uses refurbished sleeper cars with four bunks to a cabin. Saigon to Da Nang (17 hours) Map courtesy of įor this trip we booked one of the express trains (SE #2) leaving Saigon in the evening and arriving to Da Nang around noon the next day. I won’t go into what we did in each spot, but here’s a bit about the journey. Our trip was broken down into four segments: 1. They even sent us PDF boarding passes so we didn’t have to retrieve our ticket from the station. Although it will cost a few dollars more, if you want to book your tickets online I highly recommend since you can pay with a foreign credit card and secure a spot on the train you prefer. At times they will add another car onto trains that are selling out, so if your preferred train is not available at first, keep checking. There are a few express trains and a few local trains each day, all run by Đường sắt Việt Nam.įrom our experience, the trains are generally very full. Sometimes you’ll read about this route referred to as the Reunification Express due to its linking of northern and southern Vietnam, but the official name is just the “North-South Railway.” To this day it follows almost the same exact route that was completed in 1936, 1,076 miles of mostly single, narrow gauge track.
One of the interesting things about the history of Vietnam is their rail line between Saigon and Hanoi, and after a bit of research we figured out that this route would be a great way to take us between the two major cities with a few stops along the way. It didn’t hurt that China Eastern had some killer fares from SFO to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) that we couldn’t turn down ($450USD round trip/person? what?). In November 2016 we took a much needed vacation.