A train to the Wild West.
The facility is great, the cabin the beds, refreshments, even toilets and sink.
But the knocking sound coming from the train suspension will not let you sleep.
Come to the train very tiered.
The train ride was great but I went to the bathroom at the very beginning and they were disgusting, urine all over the seat and floor... needless to say I refrained from going again the whole time
Vietnam trains are mostly average, mostly depart and arrive on-time. Boarding process poorly organized, there is no ticket desk or counter. Most passengers boarded 45-minutes prior, but, Fanxipan REP did not appear until later to hand-out boarding passes. VNR employees insisted that train would not depart with waiting passengers, but still, given language differences, was un-nerving and unnecessary.
Train was clean. There was someone at the station to help us. Since I'm pregnant they even helped with luggage and cha ges our beds to bottom bunks. Staff on the train helped us arrange transport from the station to Sapa before we got there. All in all a world class experience.
We had to collect the tickets at the station, and be there at least 45 minutes before. The Fanxipan rep didn't show until 20 minutes before so we were quite worried we wouldn't be able to travel.
We weren’t satisfied with the process of getting the tickets, the train was very loud in comparison with others that we experienced before & the other people in the cabin didn’t care that we wanted to sleep
The noise and overall stability in the train makes it difficult to sleep and also the cabins are very small. The train had a 40 minutes delay as well. The gate was not the one on the ticket and the staff there were telling us to go up then down, then up again. This was a mess. We book a taxi at the station and were almost scammed. We paid 800 000 vnd to go to Ta Van in a private car and a van full of people came and it was a hassle to tell them to refund us our money.
The mattresses were very hard and the A/C was very cold and even when they listen to us and turned it down, it was not enough, so we couldn’t sleep very good because of the cold, specially on the beds on the top. 20 minutes before the arrival a man (staff) opened our cabin without o asking before to say “wake up”, it felt so intrusive
The A/C was extremely cold and even when we ask them to turn it down they didn’t do it, so we couldn’t sleep very good because of the cold, specially on the beds on the top
The mouse in the Cabin due to something broken under the Cab did not let us sleep. After asking the Board Stuart we only understood that we had to wait until 11 pm because the noise was linked to the railway Change. It never disappeared. Awful experience.
The local support was good and clear, and the train left right on time. The carriages were somewhat dated, but perfectly ok for this night journey. As the train is narrow gauge, it does rock a bit, especially if you are on a top bunk.
Booked train with other family but found out at station we were on different trains we did go to same destination which was fine. Found train bunk different to asess with no ladder at 70. Lucky still agile.
Straight forward enough to navigate. The train journey wasn't the most smooth in terms of ride comfort. Beds were hard but did the job. I'm quite tall so didn't have to crap up too much which was nice. Air conditioning was a bit weak, ok if you were on top bunk but lower bunks felt a bit stuffy. Did the job.