Getting from Hanoi to Hong Kong
· Updated · BootsnAll
Hanoi and Hong Kong are about 900 km apart with the Chinese border and most of Guangxi province in between. They are a common pairing on a Southeast Asia trip, and the honest answer on how to travel between them is short: fly.
Flying
Around two hours direct, with several carriers and daily departures. Fares are usually reasonable and this is what almost everyone does.
It is also the only option that does not involve a Chinese visa, which is what decides it.
Overland, and the Chinese visa problem
You can do it by land, and it is a real journey: train or bus from Hanoi north to the border at Dong Dang and Pingxiang, on to Nanning, then a fast train from Nanning to Guangzhou or Shenzhen and across into Hong Kong. There has long been a through service between Hanoi and Nanning as well.
The catch is that the middle of that route is China, and transiting China requires a Chinese visa arranged in advance for most nationalities. China has expanded visa-free transit arrangements in recent years, but the rules attach to specific ports of entry and durations and they change often. Check the current position with a Chinese embassy for your own passport before you plan around it, and do not rely on a travel blog for this, including this one.
Without a visa the overland route is not available to you. With one it takes two days and is a fine trip.
Vietnam's side of the paperwork
Coming back into Vietnam, the e-visa now covers every nationality, up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, 25 or 50 dollars, through the official portal at evisa.gov.vn. Thirty-odd nationalities are exempt for 30 or 45 days.
Check that your e-visa lists the border you intend to use. This is the classic e-visa mistake: they are issued for named ports of entry, and a land crossing is not the same as an airport.
By sea
There is no scheduled passenger ferry between Vietnam and Hong Kong. Cruises call at both, which is a different kind of trip.
What to do with the stopover
If Hong Kong is a connection rather than a destination, it is a good one. The airport express reaches the middle of the city in 24 minutes, which means a six hour layover is genuinely enough for the Star Ferry, a bowl of noodles and the Peak tram.
Most nationalities get visa-free entry to Hong Kong for a stay of a week or more, separately from mainland China. That distinction is the whole reason this is easy.