Can You Travel By Train In Vietnam? Yes: How It Works
✅ Last verified on-the-ground: 2026-07-17
Cross-checked against Vietnam Railways (DSVN) current schedules and traveller reports from June 2026.
Short answer: yes, you can travel by train in Vietnam, and it’s one of the better ways to do the Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City spine. The Reunification Express runs the full 1,726 km from Hanoi to Saigon in roughly 30 to 34 hours, with stops in nearly every city worth stopping in (Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang). It’s not fast, it’s not the cheapest option, and the booking website can be a chore on a foreign card, but for a first trip it is far easier than the guidebooks from 2018 made it sound.
This guide covers exactly what’s realistic in 2026: which routes exist, what they cost, how to pay, how to deal with the Vietnamese-language booking system, and the honest comparison against sleeper buses and short-hop flights.
📍 Distance: 1,726 km (Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, full Reunification Express)
⏱️ Fastest option: 1.5 hours flight (Hanoi to Saigon)
💰 Cheapest option: sleeper bus (\~250,000 VND on most corridors)
✅ Best option: Reunification Express for the Hanoi-Hue-Da Nang-HCMC spine, sleeper buses for shorter hopsQuick Answers
| What | Answer | Price (INR) |
|---|---|---|
| Can you travel by train in Vietnam? | Yes, the Reunification Express runs Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with stops along the coast | ₹1,840-₹5,520 (~500,000-1,500,000 VND or ~$19.10-$57.30) |
| How long does Hanoi to Saigon by train take? | 30 to 34 hours depending on the train number (SE1, SE3, SE5, SE7) | — |
| Is English supported on the booking site? | Partly. Dsvn.vn works but station names must be typed in Vietnamese diacritics; 12go.asia is the easier workaround | — |
| Can I pay with an international card? | Direct on dsvn.vn is hit-or-miss from India; 12go.asia accepts Visa, Mastercard, UPI via Indian cards on partner banks | — |
| Train vs sleeper bus vs flight? | Train wins for the scenic coast and Hanoi-Hue; sleeper bus wins on price for most corridors; flight wins purely on time | ₹920 (~250,000 VND or ~$9.55) to ~₹5,520 (~1,500,000 VND or ~$57.30) to ~₹4,416 (~1,200,000 VND or ~$45.84) |
Does Vietnam Have a Working Rail Network?
Vietnam Railways (Đường sắt Việt Nam, DSVN) operates a single 1,726 km main line from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, plus a few short branches around Hanoi and a metro in Ho Chi Minh City that opened in 2024. The main line is the Reunification Express. It’s old (parts of it were built in the 1930s by the French), it is state-run, and it works. Trains leave daily from Hanoi and Saigon, multiple times a day, in each direction.
Outside that one north-south spine, train travel in Vietnam drops off sharply. There is no rail link from Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos, or China for passengers. There is no commuter rail worth speaking of, no high-speed line, and no overnight train to Ha Giang, Sapa, Phong Nha, or Ninh Binh (you take a bus or a motorbike to the nearest station).
What this means for your trip: trains are useful for the spine route and a few specific corridors (Hanoi to Haiphong, Hanoi to the northern border towns), and nothing else. If you’re heading to Sapa, Ha Giang, Phong Nha, or the Mekong, you’ll be on a bus.
How to Get Tickets: Booking From India
Three ways to book, ranked by ease:
1. 12go.asia (easiest). Pay in VND or your home currency with Visa, Mastercard, or UPI on partner Indian banks. Tickets are issued as e-vouchers you show at the station. Fares are higher than the DSVN counter price by 5-10% because of the service fee, but the time you save is worth it for most Indian travellers. Compare prices on 12go.
2. Dsvn.vn (official, harder). The Vietnamese Railways site. Prices are 5-10% cheaper than 12go, but the form requires station names typed with diacritics (Hà Nội, not Hanoi), payment requires a Visa/Mastercard that may or may not work on Indian-issued cards, and there’s no English error message when something goes wrong. If your card declines three times, it often keeps blocking for 24 hours.
3. At the station (cheapest in theory). Hanoi’s Ga Hà Nội and Saigon’s Ga Sài Gòn both have English-speaking staff at the international ticket counters. Show up 24 to 48 hours before departure, pay in cash (VND), get a paper ticket. This is the only reliable way to book hard-sleeper 6-berth compartments during Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and other peak travel periods.
For Indian travellers, the practical path is 12go. It’s the lowest-friction option that works with Indian payment rails.
What the Trains Are Like
Three classes you need to know about:
Hard seat (ghế cứng): Wooden bench-style seating, no recline, full of locals with luggage. Cheapest by far. Only do this on short hops (Hanoi to Ninh Binh, 2 hours). Don’t book it for an overnight.
Soft seat (ghế mềm): Reclining padded seats in rows. Okay for daytime coastal stretches (Da Nang to Nha Trang, about 11 hours), bad at night.
Hard sleeper (giường nứng) / Soft sleeper (giường mềm): 6-berth compartments (hard) or 4-berth compartments (soft). Soft sleeper is the one to book: a private door, air-con, four bunks, sheets and a pillow provided. Worth the upgrade for anything over 8 hours.
Speed is honest: trains average 50-60 km/h on the trunk line, dropping to 30-40 km/h on the coastal curves south of Da Nang. The famous Hai Van Pass section between Hue and Da Nang is one of the most scenic rail stretches in Southeast Asia, and it’s slow on purpose. You get a window seat with the South China Sea on one side and the mountains on the other. Don’t try to sleep through it.
The Reasonable Train Routes
Hanoi to Ninh Binh (2 hours, ~₹368 (~100,000 VND or ~$3.82)): Worth it. Faster than the bus, beautiful limestone karst views from the window.
Hanoi to Hue (~13 hours overnight, ~600,000-900,000 VND soft sleeper): The single best train journey in Vietnam. Wake up to the Hai Van Pass at dawn, which is the whole point.
Hanoi to Da Nang (~16 to 17 hours, ~700,000-1,000,000 VND): Same coastal corridor as the Hue train but extended. Most travellers split this into Hanoi-Hue night train then a short bus or train hop to Da Nang.
Da Nang to Nha Trang (~10 to 11 hours daytime, ~500,000-700,000 VND): A solid coastal run, mostly daytime through fishing villages. Train beats the bus here because the coastal road is busy and the train tracks run closer to the beach.
Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (full line, 30 to 34 hours, ~₹3,680-₹5,520 (~1,000,000-1,500,000 VND or ~$38.20-$57.30) soft sleeper): Only worth it as a one-time scenic experience. Most Indian backpackers split the trip into 2-3 train segments with stops in Hue, Da Nang, and Nha Trang. If your itinerary is Hanoi-HCMC in 5 days, take a flight and use the buses for the middle legs.
When NOT to Take the Train
Tet (late January or early February, lunar calendar). Trains sell out 2-3 weeks out, prices triple, and every soft sleeper is taken by Vietnamese families returning home. Travellers report being waitlisted at Hanoi station for 6+ hours. Book through a Vietnamese travel agency in advance or fly.
Typhoon season (September to November, central coast). Rail lines through central Vietnam (Hue-Da Nang-Nha Trang) have flooded and stopped service in past storms. Check DSVN’s announcements before booking; the alternative is to bus along the inland road, which is slower but operational in most weather.
If your trip is under 7 days total. Train travel burns time. Hanoi to Saigon in one go takes a full day and night that you can’t recover. For trips under a week, fly between major cities (Hanoi, Da Nang, HCMC) and use sleeper buses for ground-level hops.
Train vs Sleeper Bus vs Flight: Honest Comparison
Train beats bus when: You want scenery, you want to walk around (you can’t on a sleeper bus), you have luggage you don’t want shoved under the bus, you want a guaranteed seat with a door that locks, and you want to start the day in Hue, Da Nang, or Nha Trang without spending 6 hours on the road.
Bus beats train when: You’re going somewhere off the rail line (Sapa, Phong Nha, Ha Giang, Dalat, Mekong Delta). The bus network connects everything. For Hanoi to Hoi An, sleeper buses run door to door in 12-14 hours for ₹920-₹1,472 (~250,000-400,000 VND or ~$9.55-$15.28). For that corridor, the bus wins on price and the comparable comfort.
Flight wins on time and is worth the premium on: Hanoi-Da Nang (1.5 hours, ₹2,208-₹4,416 (~600,000-1,200,000 VND or ~$22.92-$45.84)), Da Nang-Saigon (1.5 hours, ₹2,208-₹4,416 (~600,000-1,200,000 VND or ~$22.92-$45.84)), Hanoi-Saigon (1.5 hours, ₹2,944-₹5,520 (~800,000-1,500,000 VND or ~$30.56-$57.30) on VietJet, Vietnam Airlines, Bamboo). If your itinerary is short, just fly and don’t look back.
Indian Passport Specifics for Vietnam Trains
You need your passport to book and to board; the name on the ticket must match the passport. There’s no visa-related issue with trains inside Vietnam. As of 2026, Vietnam requires Indian passport holders to apply for an e-visa before arrival (90 days, multiple entry, ₹2,408 (~25 USD)), with no visa-on-arrival option at airports or land borders. You can apply through the official e-visa portal or read the full Vietnam visa process for Indian passport holders.
Carry physical passport copies on the train. Plain-clothes police do occasional ID sweeps on night trains, especially south of Da Nang. It’s a 30-second check, not a problem if your documents are in order.
There is no Indian embassy contact that matters for train travel; the Indian embassy in Hanoi is for emergencies only and trains are not an emergency.
Getting Connected
Mobile data works on the train. Viettel and Mobifone have coverage along the full Reunification Express route. There are short dead zones through tunnels and remote coastal curves, but you’ll be online for 90% of the journey. A local SIM is ~₹184-₹368 (~50,000-100,000 VND or ~$1.91-$3.82) with 30-day data, or you can land with Get Nomad eSIM and switch it on at the airport.
Subodh’s Pro Tip: The Hanoi to Hue night train (SE7 or SE3) is the single best use of a sleeper train in Southeast Asia. Book the soft sleeper lower bunk, bring a 2L water bottle and instant noodles, and wake up on the Hai Van Pass at sunrise. It’s a 14-hour experience and one of the few train rides that justifies the slow speed.
Safety Alert: Watch your bags at Hanoi and Saigon stations. The platforms get crowded and reported pickpocketing rises around Tet and Reunification Day (late April). Use the luggage rack inside your sleeper compartment and lock it with your own small padlock if you have one.
Subodh’s Take
Vietnam rail is one of those Southeast Asia travel facts that surprises first-timers: yes, it works, yes, you can pay for it, yes, the coastal stretch is genuinely worth doing at least once. But it’s not the primary way to get around Vietnam. Build your itinerary around sleeper buses and short flights, then add one or two train segments for the scenery. Specifically, an overnight Hanoi to Hue and a daytime Da Nang to Nha Trang is the best two-segment pairing if you have 10-14 days total. Skip the full Hanoi to Saigon overnight unless you specifically want the experience.
FAQ
Can I book Vietnam trains online from India? Yes, through 12go.asia or dsvn.vn. 12go is the easier path with Indian payment cards.
Do Vietnamese trains have AC? Soft sleeper yes, hard sleeper sometimes, soft seat mostly, hard seat rare. Check the class before booking.
Is the Reunification Express safe for solo female travellers? Travellers report it’s fine. Compartments are shared by gender in soft sleeper by default but you can request female-only at booking. Doors lock from inside.
What if my train is delayed? Common by 30-60 minutes, occasionally by 2-3 hours. DSVN does not compensate. Build a half-day buffer into any connection plan.
Can I use Indian Rupees to buy tickets? No. All Vietnam train bookings must be in VND or USD. Carry enough VND from the airport ATM, or use 12go to pay in INR with UPI.
FX verified 2026-07-16 at 1 INR = 270 VND (1 VND ≈ ₹0.0037).
