Vietnam Railway

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(Please!) Read the 447 Tripadvisor reviews to see that this is prolly the 
best way to see the best and worst Viet Nam has to offer.

Yes, the experience is certainly a life-lesson well learnt.   I'm happy to
report I will never travel by (any) train in Viet Nam ever again

Do it to believe it.   It is Viet Nam.    Great views, (don't) believe anyone,
be prepared for the filth, the scams, the cheapness, the thieving, the...

..everything imaginable..?    Buy tickets at the station for half price,
be assured 'express' means it stops even where there are no stations
and yes, after this, you can enjoy Viet Nam fully by knowing it could not
get any worse.   Or better..?    The views and price + life experience
should not be missed if you want to appreciate fully how fortunate you
are to know the good, bad & ugly...

..if you survive...     
.

Sometimes I wonder if we are in the same country.
Last year I took the 20 hour train ride to DaNang for Tet.
We had the hard, cheapest seats going north.
Coming back we had the soft seats, which were nice.

I have no idea what people expecting, but it was exactly what i expected.
the car was kept pretty clean, cleaner than the train I took across Canada, back in the day.
I even slept on the floor, since it seemed the thing to do and I survived, certainly no worse than any red eye flight.

Yes, the train stops often because it is only a single track, but again, for a single track line, it was amazingly efficient, in that the stops either coinciding with normal station stops or if only a siding they were no more than 10 minutes.
I've been on American and Canadian trains wand they will pull over for an hour to let a freight pass.

All in all, having a choice of a 20 hour flight from USA to SGN via China or Korea or the 20 hour train, I'd take the train every time.

felicia.kate wrote:

Or is there someone you can recommend?

Perhaps The Man in Seat 61?

felicia.kate wrote:

Hi there!

I work with Discovery Channel Canada's Mighty Trains. Is anyone here an english speaking expert about trains in vietnam? Or is there someone you can recommend?

Thank you!

felicia

This is my experience along with some personal opinions.

I'm not an expert, and some will likely disagree with my 'advice', but it's worked for me:

This is an official website of the Vietnam national railway system:

http://www.vr.com.vn/en

The first thing you should know is that the internet is overflowing with websites you'll find if you Google "Vietnam Railways".

Except for the link I shared (and one other I can't locate at the moment) all others are travel agents who inflate the price of a ticket up to, and even in excess of, ten times what it costs to purchase tickets in a train station.

They are like visa agents in that they charge whatever the market will bear.

On the website I shared, online purchases and train route information are accessed through the dropdown link to "customer guidelines".

A captcha check will verify you "to purchase tickets", but once you have passed the test, you can check out seat availability and pricing without having to pay anything.

I've never purchased online from the official website, so I can't tell you how well that system works, or how the ticket is actually issued (maybe email or will call at the station, but that's speculation).

I personally confirm general availability of tickets online at least one day ahead of my departure date, and then I go to the station just to physically purchase the ticket(s).

You must have your passport or a copy of it with you, so if staying at a hotel that "holds" your passport, you must ask to use it.

I believe it's cash only at the station.

I've never tried using a credit card.

I also haven't noticed any ATMs in the 5 stations I've visited, so I consider coming prepared with Vietnamese cash (Đồng) a necessity.

The boarding ticket is imprinted with your seat number AND train car number, so once you've been allowed through the gate to get on your train, you look for the number of the car and proceed to the conductor waiting nearest that car.

For instance, if your ticket is for car 8, but the nearest conductor is standing at the end of car 7, that's where you will enter and work your way inside to car 8.

There is official information that greatly limits the amount of luggage you take on board, but in reality, you can take whatever you (or a porter/helper) can manage to carry onto the train.

I personally have my trusted driver identity an 'official' porter to help me at the station. I tip in advance at least ₫5,000 per bag (though in reality, I usually give ₫10,000 per bag).

Someone like user [at]Ciambella can tell you what you "should" pay, but whatever you pay, and whether or not you pay in advance, it's important to settle the matter before handing over your bags to the porter.

Otherwise, you end up with a nasty scene train side when the porter demands twice the amount you are offering.

I also give a tip to the conductor, because the porter will probably only be allowed to hand your bags up to you as you board the train, and without the conductor helping a little, you'll be hard pressed to move multiple bags down the corridor to your cabin.

IF you are traveling with multiple bags, I definitely recommend the soft "seats" (actually they are berths) as you can always put some things on the seat with you if the train is full and your cabin mates have already taken up the available storage space, including the floor.

Don't hesitate to store a large suitcase under the window table, if that spot is still available, because any Vietnamese travelers who join you in your cabin will definitely take advantage of that spot for stowing their own belongings.

First come, first...

The food system is very similar to getting Vietnamese street food:

A cart will come by with fresh-cut fruit portions wrapped in cellophane, plus canned/bottled beverages and prepackaged snacks/chips, candy, etc.

Separately, at meal time, what can best be described as a 'rice cart' will be pushed through by two people.

These are much like the "Cơm" curbside restaurants seen everywhere in Vietnam.

You will be offered a plate of steamed rice and (hopefully in English) told you options for meat & vegetable items.

Just as with street vendors, don't hesitate to ask for more than one meat item.

You will be charged accordingly.

When you purchase your ticket, you will know if you have an upper or lower berth.

I prefer the lower because it's difficult for me to climb up and down.

However, on my last train ride a few weeks ago, a couple with two children joined me in the cabin, and it was impossible to keep the kids out of my face for much of the time.

At that moment I wished I was in an upper...

More about seating options available on this website (NOT an official government site):

https://www.vietnamonline.com/transport … erths.html

As is discussed in various threads on this site, the Vietnamese do not share the Western tendency to value personal space, so be prepared to be magnanimous and gracious as your space is invaded, otherwise the experience will be miserable.

I will say that only the little child attempted to crawl into my berth with me, and the otherwise inattentive mother quickly put a stop to that.

There are electrical outlets to charge smartphones, etc, and WiFi in some stations (Danang has it) but not on the trains I've used, so be prepared to use some data.

Bottled water is available from the snack carts.

Depending on the car you are in, there may NOT be a Western toilet available, meaning, you will have to squat over an opening in the floor.

You can always walk to another car and look for the sign "Western Toilet". 

Train cars always point in the same direction in reference to the engine.

So cabins are always on the right, which means the window opens to the west on southbound trains and to the east on northbound trains.

For example, to comfortably view the scenic coastline between Đà Nẵng and Huế from a cabin, the northbound route beginning in Danang is the best option.

There are windows in the corridors, but ALL window glass is usually dirty, so pristine photographs may be impossible to obtain.

If you tipped the conductor on boarding, you won't need to tip again to get help disembarking at your destination.

Just be prepared to get your bags to the exit the conductor designates at least 15 minutes before arrival.

You can also ask the conductor to flag down a porter for you when you are unloaded.

That way you will know you have someone authorized to do the work.

If someone is coming to meet you (a courtesy car driver, etc) they probably won't be allowed to meet you train side, so you'll need a porter to handle extra luggage.

Tip after your luggage is loaded into the car/taxi, giving whatever you gave the porter who helped you at your station of origin.

As with everything in Vietnam, your experience will be tempered by your expectations.

If you expect something similar to the wonderful European rail experience, or even the acceptable Amtrak service in the United States, you'll likely be disappointed.

However, if you go forth expecting very little except a way to get from one place to another, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much you enjoy the ride, especially if you don't travel with a lot of luggage.

Feel free to send me a private message if you need to follow up on any of this.

To explain and expand something I said:

There are "soft seats" in open cars and "soft seats" (actually berths/beds) 4 to a cabin.

I have ridden in the open car soft seats, and they are adequate.

However, I'm 6' 2" and 256 lbs, currently traveling with extra luggage, including an acoustic guitar and a CPAP machine, so unless I'm taking a short trip and plan to return to my stuff at a hotel, I can't imagine using anything but the 4-berth cabins.

My experiences with train in Vietnam, both day (soft seats) and night (4-berth in regular cars and 4-perth in cars reserved for foreign tourists) were all very pleasant. 

WCs in all Vietnam train stations left a lot to be desired but the trains themselves were all clean with spotless and odourless WCs.  Blankets were clean, seats and berth were all very comfortable.  I wouldn't hesitate to say the comfort level was similar to trains in Europe -- DB, SBB, NSB, SJ, ScotRail, BR, and Trenitalia.  Actually, Vietnam trains in the last few years were better than a good number of the Italian trains I've travelled on over the decades.

Unlike on red-eye flight, I didn't have any problem sleeping on night train here, except once when temperature throughout the entire train was set at 13°C.  All night long, my sleep was interrupted by the sound of teeth chattering from the locals.  When we arrived at the station, our luggages were all frosted over and the Vietnamese travellers all looked like Eskimos.

Being able to sleep on a train was a big bonus to me, as I can't even sleep on the mattress at home here half of the time.

Ciambella wrote:

I wouldn't hesitate to say the comfort level was similar to trains in Europe

Wow, Ciambella Certified. 
Euro-like trains are plenty good for me. I was wary before about going long distance, after Thailand hard and bumpies, but now I'll have to plan a trip.

The Man in Seat 61 has excellent information, everything you need. I use the sleeper trains a lot, overnight sleepers in soft seat 4-berth, and much prefer them to flying within Vietnam, highly recommended. OceanBeach above describes the experience very well. I've bought tickets online and at the stations and agents, never any problem, including online credit card payments.