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Hanoi: Overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai and Sapa

October 28, 2017 By Suanie 1 Comment

Sapa, a regularly quiet mountain town is famed for three things: breathtakingly beautiful terraced rice fields, Fansipan which is the highest peak in Vietnam, and being home to highland ethnic minorities.

It is 334 km from Hanoi, accessible via rail or road. Vietnam Railways runs day and overnight trains to Lao Cai town (2km from the China border!), from which you would take an hour’s ride on a bus or private car to Sapa town.

There was no question that I would go for the sleeper train. Yes it would be a rickety ride, don’t kid yourself about a smooth overnight journey. Yes it would take 8 long hours, where the day bus would take only 5. You cannot reason with someone who cannot be reasoned with, especially when it comes to unrealistic ideas about long, romantic, great railway journeys.

The question now is, which train? There seems to be plenty of options, with Old World names such as Orient Express, Fanxipan Express, Victoria Express, Sapaly Express, Livitran Express etc that quite feed the imagination. To make it more confusing, the trains range from US$60 to US$150.

I asked my Vietnamese friend, Le for advice. She did one better – she helped to buy our train tickets for us, yay! You need a translator for this one

Wait… US$35 return train tickets each? On a no-fancy-name train? Are you really sure it’s the right purchase? Should I be worried?

“It’s all the same train!” Le scoffed. “Private companies just decorate some cabins with lamps and curtains, then sell expensive tickets for them.”

“You will be fine in the normal cabin,” she declared.

She was right, of course.

In fact, the most difficult part of journey was being conned out of US$2 by a tout waiting at the Hanoi train station. A local chap snatched my paper ticket, quickly glanced through it and beckoned for us to follow him. He was rather fast and I couldn’t stop him in time. He then demanded money for ‘leading us to the right platform’.

Turns out, this is a common scam, an easy way for these chaps to make a quick buck. I paid up, though I saw a couple of tourists loudly scolding their ‘guide’, making a scene and refusing to pay the tout. Good on them! Hanoi train station Got to know where you’re going

The standard cabin comes with 4 berths. Decent mattress and pillow, and a thick blanket to counter the cold freezing air conditioner. Space seems limited, avoid over packing for your trip to the mountains.

If you are overweight or have injured your ankle/leg in any way, you may find the Upper Berths challenging to get to. The standard 4-bed cabin People who are not overweight. Thanks for taking the Upper Berths.

We went through the town and peeked into strangers’houses, for the train tracks go between private housing. I suppose the residents must be pretty used to this.

The Chuong Dong bridge was also beautifully lit up at night. Someone came around to sell snacks and drinks. We were quite tired and dozed off very quickly. If you need real rest, you might want to take a (prescribed) relaxant. This train moooovveess… if you are a light sleeper, you are going to spend the next 8 hours counting a lot of sheep. Vendor selling snacks

Not ready to wake up? Not to worry, the radio will play a Vietnamese song to ‘gently’ awaken you, to ensure that you are prepared to leave the train as soon as it arrives at Lao Cai. Same goes for the return trip to Hanoi. Not sure if they play it in the private tourist cabins. As we walked to the main Lao Cai station to catch our one-hour ride into Sapa town, we saw the nicely decorated private cabins. Some had beautiful lamps, some had lovely curtains, a few had paintings hanging on the wall. Not bad, if that is what your idea of a train journey is. Walking past luxury cabins

Don’t worry if you did not make prior arrangements for transport from Lao Cai to Sapa. Lao Cai is a transit town, and there would be many people wanting to take you to Sapa. Our return trip to Hanoi, arrived in the morning

Next: Sapa.

1 Comment Filed Under: Travel + Trips Tagged With: hanoi, hanoi 2016, sapa, sapa train, sleeper train, train travel