Hanoi to Saigon

Posted on by tessandmax

Hello lovely people!

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday 🙂

Today I am going to do a post about overland travel in Vietnam. Ever since i decided on this big SE Asia trip i have been researching the best and cheapest ways to get from point A to B.

I will base this on where I plan to go. If you see a city that is NOT on this list and should be, please let me know!

We will be starting at the top and working our way down.

Hanoi – Ha long Bay – Hanoi

Hanoi – Sapa – Hanoi

Now, i don’t know how long we will be spending in each place as we wont have a time limit, however we will have to be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia by a certain date as we are planning on volunteering with FREETHEBEARS! which will need to be pre booked.

Explore Hanoi

Ha Long Bay day cruise

Hanoi – Sa Pa – Hanoi for a home stay

Hanoi – Da Nang

Da Nang – Hoi An – Da Nang

Da Nang – Nha Trang

Nha Trang – Saigon

I wouldnt mind adding a sneaky trip to Phu Quoc and hopefully Da Lat! 😉

PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU THINK I SHOULD ADD HUE OR MUI NE AND WHY!

If you look carefully, you can find home stays in Sa Pa that include the overnight train from Hanoi, as i have said in a previous post on Hanoi, Sa Pa is pretty out of the way and originally it wasn’t on my list, google images was enough to quickly put it on.

The website i use to research train fares is: https://vietnam-railway.com

The one thing i keep trying to research with little luck is if its cheaper to book over there.

The happy but sad part is..I do really want to experience train travel in Vietnam and was quite happy doing the train the whole way down to Saigon but the thing is, flights are cheaper!

I have been comparing prices and in case you didn’t know, Jetstar fly’s all over Vietnam.

For example Hanoi – Da Nang by sleeper train is roughly $38USD. A direct 1hr flight with Jetstar is $22USD and as you go on the flights just get cheaper!

So i think for Vietnam i will fly even though i did want a real experience i will still get that from Sa Pa Hanoi sleeper train but when it comes to backpacking its all about money. Why pay $40 for an 8 hr train ride or $22 for an hr flight?

Now if your game, this is a big money saver. You can do an open sleeper bus tour from Hanoi all the way down to Saigon for $50. Please make sure you research this well because i have found some pretty nasty articles, which is why i decided to avoid it. Here is a great article: http://www.pommietravels.com/2014/04/night-buses-in-vietnam/

Have you experienced any of these forms of travel through Vietnam? I would love to hear about your experience!

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7 thoughts on “Hanoi to Saigon”

  1. This is exciting! So, I never had a bad experience on a sleeper bus, nor did my friend, but maybe we were lucky? I have read a lot of articles that are aggressively critical of Vietnam based on only one or two negative experiences, it is frankly the same anywhere.

    I think Hue is really great, just for a night maybe. It is the old royal seat of Vietnam, and has the Vietnamese equivalent to the Forbidden City in Beijing. It isn’t worth staying there a huge amount of time. Near Hue as well is the DMZ, which is historically interesting.

    Mui Ne really isn’t so great, nor is Danang, unless you wanted more of a beach style mini-break? I have written some blogs about it (just did it!) and have written about Hue, Dalat (which isn’t on here) and Mui Ne very briefly. If that would help?!

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    1. Hey! Thanks so much for your comment! I would love to read it if you can send me the link! We are going all through se asia so not so much going to Vietnam for a beach break as we have thailand for that 😉 we really want a local experience with lots to explore we are very adventurous and my boyfriend is obsessed with waterfalls!

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      1. https://joestrongtravels.wordpress.com/

        Take a look if you fancy! Waterfalls is a great shout, I’m definitely with that – check out Dalat and surrounding countryside for that, but obviously I’m just one person so use other people just in case I’m wrong and you hate me.

        Okay well some of them were gross but we had come from China and I think anything seemed like luxury in comparison. I think it depends where from, ie if the bus is on a popular part of the tourist route. Have you consider also hiring bikes? It’s a beautiful way to see the country and the coastal roads are magnificent. The sleeper buses are so dependent, they do stop but obviously they can get a bit rank if the toilets broken…!

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      2. thanks so so much! i have just followed your blog its awesome! We have deffintley considered hiring bikes, my boyfriend can ride but currently doesnt have a licence haha, do you think that would be a problem

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      3. Ah thank you! Well I hope it helps a little bit at least. Oh man, my friend couldn’t even drive or anything, and they didn’t bat an eyelid. You’ll be fine!

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