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Hue
Train Tickets
How to buy tickets...
Do I need a reservation? Can I stop
off along the way? Can hop on and
off?
Yes, yes, and no... All trains
require a reservation, so you need a
specific ticket/reservation for each
individual train journey you make.
If you want to travel from Saigon to
Hanoi (or vice versa) stopping off
on the way, this is not a problem,
but you will need to book it as a
series of separate journeys, with a
separate ticket for each leg either
bought in advance or bought as you
go along. You cannot buy an open
ticket and hop on and off trains
without a reservation.
Buying tickets at the station...
It's easy to buy train tickets at
the station when you get to Vietnam.
Apart from peak holiday periods such
as Tet, it's not difficult to book a
soft sleeper a few days in advance,
but be prepared to be flexible over
your exact choice of class, train
number or departure date. If you are
booking for the same day or the
following day, you might find the
best quality trains full, but other
trains will probably have berths
available. Reservations were
computerised in 2002, and you can
buy tickets for most train journeys
within Vietnam at Saigon and Hanoi
station booking offices. So for
example, you can buy both a
Saigon-Hue ticket and a Hue-Hanoi
ticket at Saigon station ticket
office. However, at other stations
such as Hue, Danang or Nha Trang,
you can only book journeys starting
at the station you're at. At ticket
offices, you pay in Vietnamese Dong,
US dollars are not generally
accepted. If you're sure of your
itinerary and it's important to be
on a specific train on a specific
date in a specific class, then you
can pre-book by email with several
travel agencies, see below.
Can I buy all 4 berths in a
compartment to have a room to
ourselves?
Privacy-loving westerners often ask
this. The answer is that in theory
yes you can, but it can't be
guaranteed that the train staff
won't allocate additional passengers
to the berths they know to be empty.
My advice is don't bother, just book
2 beds in a 4-berth soft class
sleeper. The Vietnamese may view it
as selfish to take up 4 beds when
you only need 2, given that places
on their national transport system
can be in short supply at times.
You'll be safe and comfortable
sharing a 4-berth soft sleeper, and
might actually meet some real
Vietnamese people this way!
Rail-based tailor-made holidays
in Vietnam..
Alternatively, there are UK agencies
who will book Vietnamese rail travel
for you as part of a tailor-made
itinerary, such as
www.regent-holidays.co.uk. These
agencies are usually willing to book
the trains you specify, but only if
one or two hotel bookings are also
made through them, usually at the
more expensive tourist-orientated
hotels.
What are the trains like?
Trains SE1 to SE6...
The best trains are the ones with
'SE' train numbers, equipped with
modern air-conditioned coaches. They
have:
soft class air-conditioned sleepers
(4-berths per compartment).
hard class air-conditioned sleepers
(6-berths per compartment)
air-conditioned soft class reclining
seats.
a restaurant or buffet car.
in soft sleeper, simple tray meals
are served in your compartment along
with mineral water, included in the
fare.
Train SE1/SE2 also has private
4-berth air-conditioned sleepers of
a higher standard attached between
Hanoi, Hue & Danang, see
www.VietnamTripAdvisor.com.
The coaches on these 'SE' trains
have large picture windows,
unobstructed by the wire mesh that
protects other trains' windows from
stones. Choose these trains if you
can.
Which class should you choose?
Air-conditioned soft sleeper is the
recommended choice for most western
travellers, for any journey
involving overnight travel. Air-con
soft sleeper cars have western-style
toilets at the end of the corridor.
However, air-con hard sleeper is
perfectly acceptable if you're on a
budget or if all the soft sleepers
are sold out, so don't rule it out.
Some hard sleepers have squat-type
toilets only, if that's an issue for
you. Air-con soft seat is a good
choice for daytime journeys, but not
for overnight trips as you can't
sleep properly in a seat.
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