Hey there!

You’re probably here because you want to know what it’s like to take the night train in Vietnam. I did that – 3 times, in fact. Let me recount my experience, which hopefully will help you if you’re trying to decide whether or not it would be a good fit for you.

Last December Christian and I were lucky enough to go to Vietnam. I wanted to see as much as possible during my 15-day visa exemption. However, our budget didn’t really allow flying from one place to another, not to mention that flying usually takes a huge part of the day, even for short flights. I also wanted to experience something a little more local. As such, we decided to travel at night by either train or bus. After reading some reviews of the nightbuses on Tripadvisor, we decided to fully stick with trains.

I won’t write an article on the logistics because there are already tons of articles explaining how you can book tickets, when the trains are scheduled, and what the different classes are. I especially recommend this one, by Seat 61, which I find very extensive and which I actually used myself in Vietnam. Instead, I will share my own experience, which will hopefully help you to make your decision and know what to expect.

Our experience taking the night train in Vietnam

 We took the “SE” trains, also known as the Reunification Express. The name originated when the train line’s purpose was to reunite the North and the South after the war. Today, the trains are called “SE” with a number. Even numbers designate trains going up North and odd numbers trains going South. On our trip from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) we took the SE3, SE7, and SE1 in that order chronologically. The smaller the number the better and newer the train is supposed to be, but that’s not always the case…

We spent every night in a “soft sleeper” room which have four beds per room. They’re only a little more expensive than “hard sleeper” rooms (with six beds) so we decided to splurge a little for our comfort.

I had three wildly different experiences, going from best-case to worst-case scenario. Let me share them with you:

Night one : Better than I expected

At the train station

Our first trip was from Ninh Binh to Da Nang. We waited at the train station for several hours because we had already seen the Tam Coc caves. At one point Christian left to get cash and I stayed at the station with the bags. Suddenly three little Vietnamese girls came to me shyly, shortly followed by a woman in her mid-twenties. “Excuse me,” she said. “I’m an English teacher, do you think my students could practice by speaking with you?” I was surprised and agreed immediately.

We had a lovely chat on very important things like my favorite food, my favorite things in Vietnam, and my favorite soccer player. I also had the opportunity to chat with the teacher and learn more about school and life in Vietnam – it was an amazing experience and probably one of my best memories to this day. I saw other tourists approached by local children as well, so if you have some spare time before your train don’t hesitate to wait at the station and you might be able to chat with some locals!

The train itself

When our train arrived, we showed the tickets we had conscientiously printed at our guesthouse. An attendant scanned them and let us on the platform. We entered the train and found ourselves in a long, narrow corridor with large windows. Our room was right next to the train door, but when we tried to enter it was locked! We looked around a little awkwardly (like, what now?? What if we can’t get in?), when a train hostess came and opened the door for us. Turns out the elderly couple we shared the room with had locked the door to prevent strangers (excluding us) from entering. After reading some online reviews of strangers barging into the cabins we also decided to keep the door locked.

We climbed in the top bunks. Word of advice : if you’re physically handicapped or have any kind of knee/foot/leg injury I definitely suggest you choose a bottom bunk. There is only a small peg on the wall to help you climb in the bed so it can be quite challenging. There was a lot of space to put our bags so that wasn’t a problem. After the initial motion sickness passed we fell asleep pretty fast.

We woke up at five in the morning when our roommates got off and had the cabin to ourselves for the next couple of hours until a train attendant came to straighten the couple’s sheets (not change. Straighten. Ew). We enjoyed the beautiful views on the rest of the journey and got off well-rested at Da Nang station. I honestly didn’t expect a night train in Vietnam to be that comfortable.

Night train in Vietnam – night one recap:

• Views: 10/10 The stretch between Hué and Da Nang is really beautiful, so I would definitely recommend you do this during the daytime. Our train did this bit between 8am and noon and the scenery was indeed breathtaking. If you’re considering doing this route by train I would definitely recommend you take a lower bunk. We were in the top bunks and had to really stretch our heads to see out of the window.
• Cleanliness: 7/10 Everything seemed very clean but I didn’t love how they didn’t change the sheets between passengers. No cockroaches or other bugs though.
• Comfort: 8/10 It wasn’t a five-star hotel, but come on. You’re in a train in Vietnam. The mattress was comfortable and you could even charge your phone.
• Motion sickness: 6/10 At one point I was afraid I might throw up but then I got used to it
• Quality of sleep: 9/10 Everything was great except for the early awakening
• Bathrooms: 7/10 Honestly could have been way worse. The floor was wet but that’s what you get in a moving train. Also, it was most definitely water so no worries.

Night two: could have been better

The next day we made our way back to the train station to take the SE7 night train to Nha Trang, a famous beach town. This time upon entering the room we saw an elderly man already asleep and another man feeding a baby. I cursed to myself. What were the odds of having a freaking baby in our room? Don’t get me wrong, I love babies – it’s just that nobody likes being woken up by a baby in the middle of the night. This is actually luckily not what happened. The baby was adorable and slept through the entire night. Once the baby and his father were asleep, we were getting ready to sleep as well.

That’s when I saw it : a cockroach. Running on the wall right next to my bed. I find cockroaches repulsive even under normal circumstances, but when your room is less than 6 square meters is when it gets really gross. Nothing keeps them from crawling into your bed at night and eating your face (okay, I might have overreacted). We tried to kill it for maybe half an hour, after which it pretty much disappeared. My knight in shining armor Christian offered to switch beds – an offer which I gladly took. We both managed to sleep through the night pretty well. Overall the night wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the first one, but it was bearable and we got a very decent sleep. We felt rested enough to carry on with the rest of our day.

Night train in Vietnam – night two recap:

• Views: 7/10 I personally couldn’t enjoy them because we were traveling at night, but the Vietnamese countryside is always beautiful so you should have enough to admire if you’re traveling during the day.
• Cleanliness: 5/10 The beds were fine, but… cockroaches. Ew.
• Comfort: 6/10 Again, the cockroach kind of ruined this for me.
• Motion sickness: 10/10 Maybe I was used to the movement. Maybe the cockroach distracted me. Either way, I can’t complain.
• Quality of sleep 6/10 Because of the cockroach I couldn’t fully relax.
• Bathrooms 5/10 You never really get used to the water flooding the floor.

Night three: Worst. Night. Ever.

We had read that the smaller the number on the train, the more modern it is. Since the SE3 was nicer than the SE7 we decided to book the SE1. Bad decision. This time we booked bottom bunks because it was all there was left.

As soon as we entered the cabin the problems started. The sheets on the bed looked odd and I remembered what I had seen the train hostess do on our first night – someone had already slept in those sheets. I nope’d and pushed them aside, deciding to sleep directly on the plastic-covered mattress instead.

I lifted my feet to pull them closer when I heard a weird noise. My shoes were making that noise because there was something very sticky on the floor. Upon closer inspection we realized our upper-bunk neighbor had stored a styrofoam box in the space between our beds. It was under the cabin’s small table so we hadn’t noticed it before. The sticky stuff was all over the floor. “Maybe he has fruit or something in there,” Christian offered an explanation. I nodded but my paranoid side started thinking about if blood stuck to your shoes like that and if the action movie cliché of storing organs in styrofoam boxes was actually true.

It gets worse.

We were already pretty grossed out at this point, but then things got even worse : a cockroach ran on the wall. And another. And a few minutes later, yet another. Over the course of the next half hour Christian killed between ten to 15 cockroaches. After a quick check under our beds we decided to finally try to get some sleep since most of them were probably dead and wouldn’t bother us anymore. Nonetheless, that was a particularly crappy night. I didn’t remove my shoes because I was kind of pissed that they hadn’t even bothered to change the sheets, and they kept sticking to the cabin wall because of the sticky (fruit? Organ?) juice on on the floor.

I used my backpack as a very uncomfortable pillow  and tried to stay as far from the wall as possible to avoid any cockroaches. When we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 5AM I had probably slept three hours the entire night. I lay in my bed as one of the top-bunk people came down to retrieve his styrofoam box.

The “oh shit” expression on his face made me feel kind of bad for him.

Night train in Vietnam – night three recap:

• Views: unsure/10 Most of the ride was at night, so I can’t really judge them. They’re apparently not as nice as the one between Hué and Da Nang, but the Vietnamese countryside is known for its beauty.
• Cleanliness: 0/10 Because of the dirty sheets, the cockroaches, and the leaking styrofoam box.
• Comfort: 0/10 Turns out your backpack isn’t a great pillow.
• Motion sickness: 10/10 I was too distracted and too used to it, I didn’t even notice anything.
• Quality of sleep: -2/10 I’m not even going to comment on this one.
• Bathrooms: unsure/10 Honestly, I didn’t dare to go in the bathrooms after the night we had. HCMC station has particularly gross bathrooms though.

Do I regret taking the night train?

Definitely not. After everything I had read about night buses in Vietnam this definitely seemed like a safer and more comfortable option. At the very least I got a cool story to tell, and even though the last night wasn’t great the two first ones were just fine. Traveling by night also allows you to spend the entire day doing what you want. If your budget allows, you can also book a bed in a private room: a bed in a regular, 4-bed room cost about 1M VND, with a private 2-bed room costing about twice that per bed. If you want more privacy and a better experience overall this can definitely be worth it.

I hope my experience taking the night train in Vietnam helped you, whether you are debating taking the train or simply curious as to what to expect. Have you taken the train in Vietnam or any other Southeast Asian countries? How was your experience? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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