Hanoi to Da Nang by train, bus, flight

We enjoyed the nighttrain from Hanoi - Danang. With 2 kids and 2 adults it's easy to travel. Bring soms food and drinks yourself! Beds are very hard. Read before about the aircon, so we were prepared, but it was not that cold I expected. We really enjoyed the views. It was a good experience!

Great experience. Superbly clean carriage.

Great experience and sleep however toilets and food were a bit yuck.

Great trip even with a 2 year old. I had a little blip as went to board train and had printed the wrong part that didn't have carriage and seat/bed number so will make sure on the next trains that I have the correct information. Overall great experience.

At £33pp, the overnight train offered not only an adventure and cheap travel but also a bed for the night (saving on hotel costs too). It wasn’t a bad journey, arrived on time and was quite clean. We shared a 4 bunk cabin with a Vietnamese family. The children were lovely and their parents were very conscientious...making sure they didn’t wake us too early. Comfort wise...if you see it as an upgrade from an airplane chair on a 16 hour flight, you’ll be fine. Recommendations; that you take some bread rolls or noodle pots as if you miss the food cart at 06:30, you’ll have to wait until you get off the train for breakfast and book a bottom bunk...oh and use Mai Linh taxi (green one) outside of the station to Hai An....cost us d450,000 to the hotel and the driver was very friendly.

Journey was easy and on time, fairly easy to get to sleep but not very comfortable bed. Staff would come and tell us when our stop was because the announcement was in Vietnamese. Toilets were smelly and needed to be cleaned, with no toilet paper. No running water in some toilets. Also when someone left our cabin we saw the staff remake the bed but didn't change the bed sheets. Overall not a bad way to travel but not the most comfortable.

It's necessary to say the things in English as well, since most of people in the train is foreign. Someone needs to clean the toilet. We should be able to choose our bed (bottom or top). The company needs to sell biscuits or sandwiches for breakfast.

Clean room, dirty toilets. Trip took a bit longer then expected.

Toilets were horrific people smoking outside our cabin smoke was coming inside. There were men lying outside the entrance to the toilets on the foor. Not the first class service we were expecting.

Great service from 12Go and the train trip was fine. Ran a little bit late but it was no problem.

Amazing scenery, reasonably comfortable and clean cabin. Much better than flying or bus! Train staff are not very helpful though, and toilets are less than ideal.

Absolutely amazing trip 10/10

Tuvimos cambio de horario a último momento. Las conducciones.del vuelo magníficas

I found the train trip quite a positive experience. The beds are quite hard and there is no room to sit up during the day, but I enjoyed the trip and slept well.

Not sure if it was just the car we were in or the whole train, but it was so loud! There was a loud metallic knocking that began around midnight and continued until we arrived at 8AM. I also think most of the food ran out before they got to us, we were the very last cabin in the train.

The first class sleeper was comfortable, and we had it to ourselves. Getting on the train was difficult as we had to carry our 4 suitcases up and down stairs. The food service staff were polite and helpful and spoke English. The train crew were simply rude. I have not been shoved or shouted at so much in years. We had to track down someone when we thought we were near Danang, there was no announcement. That man simply shoved my elderly wife and shouted something we could not understand. We loved the scenery; but the service was pretty poor.

I've traveled a lot in Thailand via train, but was a bit nervous for my first train trip in Vietnam. Everything was easy and went without any problems. My e-ticket arrived quickly via email, the railway staff were friendly and helpful, and the views from the train were so beautiful.

Train was right on time and staff looked good. 1st class is not very fancy. We even got some bugs in our beds and the toilets are a bit dirty. Train makes a lot of noise, but there is a beautifull view in the mountains.

Advertised as 1st class however expect a very basic compartment with absolutely no frills at all. The dinner offered was a chicken rice combo which was delicious and at £6 for four of us was great value. The scenery was stunning in places and we are glad we did it but are not looking forward to our next trip in 3 days when we travel from Danang to Saigon.

Acceptable cleanliness for the 1st class sleeper, small shared toilet with limited toilet paper, poor cafeteria with smoking people in a closed kitchen. train stewardess can't speak English so prepared with internet google translate.

Nice on time. Nice vieuw in the morning. Soft bed is pretty hard. They use the sheets again for next traveller. Breakfast was horrible.

The ehh "1st class" experiencewas ehh haha a bit of a joke, kinda going back to the UK in the 40s trains. It is a very bumpy ride so if noise stops you sleeping, its maybe not the best option for you. Oh and the toilet hane broke haha so lots of us got stuck in the bathroom, i had to rescue a room mate at 3am! However, its a cool experience if you wanna travel back in time a bit,and the views in the morning were amazing!

Journey was great, felt like we had only been on the train for a few hours as we slept the whole time. Travelled ‘first class’ far from British first and the mattress was a little on the hard side. Great for travellers and like minded people - not a luxury experience but was great for the price!

- Very dirty compartment. - Floor not cleaned since 1980. - Extremely hard beds. - Rough track. - Almost impossible to fit in the wc and hardly able to close the door except when balancing on the toilet lid. - No toilet paper. + On time. + Good breakfast sandwiches. VIP sleeper as designation is a joke. It should be called basic accomodation.

Some cabins were newer, some older. I was not lucky enough to be placed in new part of the train, despite I ordered 1st class and there were 4 beds per cabin as stated, the cabin itself was old and bathroom was even older... perhaps I'll be luckier next time.

Better than I expected. I slept well and there was a decent bathroom. Good cabin mates too. It’s a good idea to bring your own sleeping sheet. I should add that the train was on time and staff very organized. If facilities were better, I would give it a higher rating.

We took this trip with my children aged 15 and 12, meaning we had a cabin to ourselves. This is not for fair weather travellers or pampered children (there is no wifi). If you are happy to eat Vietnamese food, there is food on the train and beer too which is very cheap. My advice would be to bring your own toilet roll and some ear plugs. The train rocks and rolls its way through the night, which did, in the end give me some motion sickness, not something I usually suffer from. This is an experience with some fabulous scenery but don't expect to get much sleep! But bite the bullet and do it anyway!

Crew wasn't that nice, pretty rude in station but it was confortable and not delayed

Great value for money. Left on time and arrived on time. Sleeper was not first class but fine for an overnight trip

Air con was on the whole trip and the car was freezing cold. I couldn't sleep. None of the operators spoke English so I couldn't communicate the issue to them. Bring warm clothes if you're traveling during the winter months

Budget friendly and no - fuss.

We ticket other tickets ans we recieve any days bevoer leaving An e-‘mail that we got An other train and we cant react( also the toilets are mot clean.

No decent restaurant for 1st class. Had to cross 9 wagons to the absolutely dirty 1st wagon and no proper food for such a long trip. Next trip on railways we will make sure to pickup some decent sandwiches nearby the station. Overall though it was an interesting experience.

Definitely worth a try. Bring your own food and warm clothes. Otherwise good experience

Standard and cleanliness is horrible, even in first class. But views in the morning are wonderful!

It was an interesting journey - the train wasn't VIP but we are experienced travellers and value the experience over the level of comfort. The guards worked hard to keep the old facilities usable, and we enjoyed getting a coffee in the dining car in the morning as the journey unfolded. Not for those who do want luxury

The printed ticket told us to go straight to the coach and show the ticket to the ticket-taker. Unfortunately, the railway personnel at the gate would not let us on to the platform because we did not have an 'official' ticket with a bar code they could scan. And therefore we were told to wait for someone to show up. Someone did eventually show up, with a large tour group and we thought this person was their tour guide as she was not wearing any kind of official uniform and seemed to be talking only to the big group. Only later did we find out that this person worked for Livitrans/Violette and had the power to let us in and tell us our coach and berth numbers. So after much drama and wondering if we will get on the train, we finally did get on it. So the system works, sort of, if you are patient and know what to look for. Livitrans and Violette can make it a lot easier by having thier personnel wear clearly marked clothing so they can be identified. Also, assigning us berth numbers before hand would have helped so we could have planned if our family were to be split up (we were not, but others on our train were). The train ride was fine. The air conditioner was on pretty strong in the middle of winter and we were given only a thin duvet cover (not the duvet itself). My wife and daughter were very cold at night and I raided the staff's compartment to get more duvet covers for them. Why they cannot provide a blanket that is thick enough to withstand the AC is a mystery to me. Eat before getting on the train and bring as much food as you can with you. The food on the train is below mediocre. Also bring enough water. The staff on the train is helpful, but speak very little English or any other foreign language - take that into account. If you traveling between Hue and Danang during the day, the scenery is beautiful. That makes the trouble of the train ride worth it. Don't let these types of problems deter you from taking the train. They do get resolved eventually - you just have to be mentally prepared to deal with them.

Train left on time and arrived on time. Cabin was clean and tidy, traveling 1st class VIP. Complimentary drinks and fruit were available, but would still recommend taking your own snacks. Not as smooth as Bangkok to Chiang Mai train. None of the staff spoke English. For some extraordinary reason we were woken at 7am in the middle of nowhere! Our exclusive cabin was no longer exclusive when two passengers joined us in Hue!

The two stars certainly do not mean that you should not go. It is just a match of stars according ti the standard of the train SE1 and the service provided. I did see one train set that could be one of the 2016 refurbished ones, other than that, and the one we slept in were very old. Cockroaches... a lot!

The train was clean and comfortable. The staff was not as friendly as assumed. Dillutable coffee and tea for the morning was distributed at night and charged for in the morning. We understood it to be free. Just a little uncomfortable situation based on bad communication.

VIP did not feel like VIP. Yes we got one free soda, water, banana and a bread roll. But besides that the bed was hard and the room a/c was very cold. The toilets were disgusting, seat and floor wet and lack of toiletpaper. The staff was friendly, but no one could any english. The best help was a phone with google translate. The “restaurant” in the first wagon only serves noodles and the room is messy and not very clean. Our trip was a 16 hour long trip from Hanoi to Danang, sadly it ended up being 22 hours with a lot of waiting between stations and a switch to a bus and back to a train just before Da Nang due to flooded tracks. More informations in english during the tour would have been apreciated. Advise is to take an airplane instead of waisting many hours in what must have felt like being in prison. Sorry!

Toilets were disgusting

Really comfortable journey on a nice bed. I slept really well on the journey and the train had everything I needed including power socket. The only negative for me was that the quality of food was really poor. Avoid the chicken soup.

We enjoyed our adventure! There were 4 of us, so we had a cabin to ourselves. The beds were quite hard, but it was only 1 night. The toilet was fine. Washroom also fine. The scenery in the morning was beautiful. We had lots of fun on the train.

Cozy train journey. Could not expect more.

Generally satisfactory but needed better direction to carriage and cabin. Please get rid of non train staff from hassling us with our baggage on the platform and wanting payment for directing us to our carriage. Cabin temperature was just slightly too cool. Would certainly take same train again.

Didn't even need to print the train tickets - just showed them the email which was really easy!

The trip would have been perfect if: - although we traveled on 1st class, the cabin was full of cockroaches and a mouse was runnuning up and down in the car - the aircon was freezing, no option to switch it off or at least to set it to a higher temperature Beside these problems the trip was ok, we arrived on time and the cabin was "clean". The view is beautiful when the train is approaching Da Nang (last 1,5 hour of the trip) Don't use the buffet car, this is the source of the above mentioned creatures. I would only recommend for such people who likes that type of adventures and do not fear to sleep in a fridge with disgusting animals.

was def not value for money.. expensive for a cabin with reused sheets and smelly pillow. vietnamese ppl drunk and singing isnt a lullaby..

We enjoyed the journey but we're confused on boarding as we were directed to the Violette carriage and thought we would be in the livitrain carriage. It would have been good to know our carriage before we embarked. The main problem was the very cold temperature in the upper bunk and the cotton 'blanket' was not sufficient. It was very difficult to sleep when the air con was so very cold. But the train journey overall was wonderful and the journey along the coast I the last few hours of the journey was simply spectacular.

Was a good trip, friendly staff all around.. It's a nice train in south east Asia.. Be prepared for it. Will use again for sure

Don't forget: - warm clothes (aircon is freezing) - earplugs (lots of noisy people smoking en talking in corridors) - cleaning wipes (to clean te toilet before use, very filthy) - toilet paper (the one rol that is standing there is covered with piss) - food (or you live on grose coffee and pringles) - clean sheet or blanket (or you sleep under a used one) If you got the above list you will have a marvelous trip! Lovely vieuws! Good sleep! Nice people all around you! Enjoy your adventure!

Train on time. No issues with the ticket at all. If you have kids the prices are different check this before booking.

Overall a great trip. We both slept well and enjoyed the amazing scenery. We took plenty of provisions though there is a snack trolley. It's definitely worth making sure you have the lower bunks - you can use them as seats and there's a table for eating. Our guard was running an unofficial upgrade scam - a cabin to yourself for 30 dollars. He wouldn't come down in price.

Good trip

Very nice trip. The cabin was clean and even the toilet was clean. Friendly servixe.

No complaints really was just a little cold and the toilets were a little special !!!!!!!

Not the worst overnight train I've ever been on but close! The reviews are fairly accurate; these trains are not the cleanest, the air conditioning means you freeze in the night, the toilets may be western style but they are filthy and stink almost as bad as the ones in India and the noise from fellow passengers and the train requires headphones or earplugs to get any sleep at all. We were in first class and luckily sharing with another British couple so locked the door to the cabin almost as soon as we left Hanoi. Apparently children under 12 travel free so a number of the cabins in our coach had many more occupants than expected and the children were very noisy, running freely along the corridors, banging on doors and walls until well after 10pm and again from about 5am. The number of people in each cabin meant that a lot of the adults were also out in the corridor talking loudly... The blanket and pillows are reused without being washed between passengers, this is something that didn't even happen in India where they at least provided pillowcases which were changed each time someone left the train - luckily I had read the reviews so had a shawl which I used to cover the pillow and wore full length pjs tucked into socks with a cardigan over the top to protect against the dirty sheet and the cold! Adverts and reviews differ so it might be useful to know that on the SE1 train there was no free wifi and no meals were offered, though a woman sat at the end of the carriage with a trolley selling crisps and popcorn (when she was awake) and opened our door to ask if we wanted coffee at about 6am. Therefore it may be useful to eat before boarding the train and purchase a few items for breakfast as you'll no doubt be awake early! The views in the morning between Hue and Danang are stunning and seeing the sunrise was pretty but at £43 each it's a long, expensive and uncomfortable way of travelling. We were due to get an overnight train from Danang to HCMC but decided to have another night in Hoi An then fly (only £60 each when booked the day before). If you are backpacking and / or watching every penny then the trains in Vietnam will do their job but otherwise I'd recommend flying as they were very disappointing, particularly in comparison to the similarly priced Thai trains.

Pleasantly surprised, travelled with my husband, 2 daughters 11 & 9, we ate before boarding and just took snacks and that was sufficient. The food trolley goes past often if you need anything more. Beds were quite comfy, we all managed a good sleep, the kids slept 10 hours. Only complaint really was the toilet which we had been warned about so we took disinfectant wipes etc and limited our water intake.

Cannot complain - expectations met due to through research. Trains are basic but serviced and maintained. Staff friendly and helpful despite little English. Soft berth not that soft but surviveable. Recommend at least one train experience in Vietnam.

The bed was really hard, they said It was soft bed for First class ticket... Also someone was smoking during all night on my cabine.

Service of 12GoAsia and VN Railways are good. I loved the journey. Just one thing, please refund difference of child discounted fare which I have been charged as Adult.

Comfortable seat, clean and the train ran on time.

Viet Jet seems okay, but the gal I dealt with made my life miserable and she did not speak good English and didn't get anyone to help her. I have two more Viet Jet flights scheduled. I'll give them another chance.

4 birth cabin, kids loved the train experience. Train good, cabin clean, on time. Bit of an issue with the air con but was soon fixed. Assortment of snacks to buy, no full meals. Scenery stunning from Hue to Danang. Definitely do it again. Word of advice, only use squat toilet.