Getting from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (and return)
· Updated · BootsnAll
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are about 1,700 km apart at opposite ends of the country, and the journey between them is the spine of almost every Vietnam itinerary. How you make it is the single biggest decision in planning the trip.
Flying
Two hours and fifteen minutes, many flights a day, and cheap. Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air and the other domestic carriers compete hard on this route and fares are frequently under 50 dollars if you book ahead.
If your time in Vietnam is short, fly, and spend the days you save in Hue or Hoi An instead of watching the country go past a window.
Both airports are close to their cities. Noi Bai is about 45 minutes out of Hanoi; Tan Son Nhat is barely outside central Saigon, which is why you can hear it.
The Reunification Express
The train is the other answer, and for a certain kind of traveller it is the right one.
The full run takes somewhere between 32 and 35 hours. Five services leave each end daily, at roughly 06:00, 09:00, 13:10, 19:30 and 22:00. There are four classes: hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper and soft sleeper. A berth in a four-person soft sleeper costs in the region of 65 to 85 dollars for the whole length.
Here is the advice that matters: do not do it in one go. Thirty-five hours in a compartment is an endurance test and you will see the best scenery in the dark. Break it into two or three overnight legs with days in between, which is what most experienced travellers do.
The obvious stops are Hue, Da Nang for Hoi An, and Nha Trang. Broken up that way, the train stops being transport and becomes the trip.
The one stretch you should not skip
Between Hue and Da Nang the line runs along the coast and over the Hai Van Pass, with the sea below on one side and jungle cliffs above. It is among the best rail journeys in Asia and it takes about three hours.
Do that leg in daylight even if you fly the rest.
Buses
Open tour buses run the length of the country and are the cheapest way to do it, with sleeper coaches and a hop-on ticket that lets you break the journey. Reckon on 30 to 40 hours of actual travel, split up.
They are inexpensive and they are not comfortable. Vietnamese sleeper buses have berths built for Vietnamese frames, the driving is assertive, and the horn is used as a form of communication rather than a warning.
Booking
Train tickets can be bought at stations, through agents and online, and sleepers sell out well ahead around Tet, the lunar new year, when the entire country travels at once. Avoid that week for any long-distance journey in Vietnam unless the crowds are the point.