Vietnam By Train Or Bus

Trains exist in Vietnam, but solely for the joy of existing. They are slow, but also tend to be more comfortable and far less crowded than the public bus. Keep your ticket or you’ll be charged again to disembark. Tracks that once extended throughout the country were destroyed during the war, and now the only rail routes run from HCMC to Hà Ni (with plenty of stops in between) or Hà Ni to a handful of northern destinations. A journey on the Reunification Express route from Hà Nÿi to HCMC or vice versa is a scenic way to visit most of Vietnam’s major cities and offers more contact with local culture than travel by minibus.

Train fares depend both on the length of the route and the class of travel. There are two types of trains in Vietnam: the newer, air-conditioned SE trains (numbered one to six) have soft seats, hard sleepers, and soft sleepers; older TN trains (numbered three to 10) include hard seats, soft seats, soft sleepers, and hard sleepers, with or without air-conditioning. Sleepers are two- or three-tiered; bottom sleepers are the most expensive. If you’ll be traveling a long distance, be sure to use an express train. Regular trains on the Reunification Express line stop frequently, making the 36-hour journey from Hà Ni to HCMC days longer. For more information about train travel in Vietnam, visit Vietnam Railways online at www.vr.com.vn.

Most tourists use open-tour buses operated by budget travel cafes based in HCMC and Hà Nÿi. Open-tour buses cost more than public buses (below), but run more regularly, boast air-conditioning and more comfortable seating, and don’t require haggling. The downside is that you will see most of Vietnam through a window and your fellow riders will all be travelers, so you’re less likely to share your journey with loads of fruit or gigantic bags of grain—but you’ll miss out on the opportunity to meet Vietnamese locals. Your choice of destinations is also limited to those along the open-tour bus path from HCMC to Hà Nÿi, passing over many out-of-the-way destinations that Let’s Go recommends. You can, however, hop on and off any of these buses according to your schedule, as long as you reserve your seat a day in advance with a tourist company. Open-tour buses will pick you up right at your hotel and shuttle you to the affiliated hotel in your destination city.

If you’re looking for a more adventurous and interesting way to travel between cities, take the public bus. Few foreigners use it, but those that do can claim a legitimately authentic Vietnamese experience: improbable numbers of riders, bags, items of fruit, and bikes get packed in tight in a sweaty, joyous tribute to makeshift bus engineering and the human ability to overcome claustrophobia. If there’s no bus station at your city of origin, you’ll have to wait on the highway and flag down the next bus (they run extremely frequently). Tell the driver where you’d like to go and start negotiating for a fare immediately, or you’ll be tricked into paying an inflated tourist rate. Learn Vietnamese numbers and phrases like “How much is it to..” and “too expensive” (see Phrasebook), but bring a pen and pencil so your “6000” doesn’t sound mysteriously like “60,000” to the driver. Rides on public buses are hot and long and you might be dropped off on the outskirts of town rather than in the center, but they will take you to most out-of-the-way locations that open-tour buses won’t. Note that drivers don’t exactly follow traffic and safety laws, but then again, these don’t really exist in Vietnam to begin with.

You’ll notice both regular buses and minibuses on the highways in Vietnam. Regular buses usually stop running mid-afternoon but are more comfortable. Minibuses are slightly more expensive, travel more quickly (and dangerously), make more stops, and run all day long. They often have air-conditioning as well.