Train Travel

Danang’s railway station serves as the main access point to Hoi An, a 40-minute drive from the Old Town. In startling contrast to the larger city train stations, Danang is easy to navigate, clean, and well serviced with a tourist help desk manned by English-speaking staff. As a stop between Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, Hue's train station is near the river on the east side of Le Loi. If you're short on time (and money), overnight trains are a good way to travel while you sleep. Express trains are recognizable by the SE prefix. Local trains, which are much slower and cheaper, have the TN prefix. Trains between Hoi Chi Minh and Hue cost about 1,260,000d and take 18½ hours. Those between Hue and Hanoi cost around 887,000d and take 14 hours. There are also daily connections between Danang and Hanoi, with a stop in Hue and Dong Hoi.

The train ride between Danang and Hue is like passing through a postcard; it’s one of most scenic train coastal train routes in the country, taking in the Hai Van Pass, Son Tra Peninsula, Lang Co beach, and the jungle-clad mountains of Bach Ma National Park. Crossing mountainous landscape, the route gives way to patches of emerald and blue, where rice fields meet lagoons and bays. The public TN train takes four to five hours and includes stops at the smaller coastal stations including Lang Co, while the more expensive Reunification Express (SE trains) take 2½ hours. The later costs roughly 300,000d and is offered four times daily. The SE trains also continue on to Dong Hoi—the main station for Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park. The journey from Danang takes six to seven hours, or four to five hours from Hue.

Hue’s train station is conveniently located 1 km (½ mile) from the city center and serves as the central transit point for the country-long Reunification line, with daily services to Ha Noi (13 hours), Nha Trang (12 hours), and Ho Chi Minh City (20 hours). A licensed taxi (look out for the green Mai Linh cars) to centrally located hotels should cost no more than 50,000d.

Train Contacts

Hue Train Station. On right bank at southwest end of Le Loi St., 2 Bui Thi Xuan, Hue, Thua Thien-Hue. 234/3822–175; www.vietnam-railway.com. Ticket office, daily 7 am–7:30 pm.

Lang Co Train Station. Lang Co, Thua Thien-Hue. 236/3821–175.