Sapa, a small town on a plateau in northern Vietnam, is a popular summer resort in Lao Cai Province. Today, the town retains much exotic architecture dating back to the French colonial period.
Sapa doesn’t have an airport. It can only be reached overland. It takes approximately 9 hours from Hanoi to Lao Cai by train, and around 7 hours by sleeper bus. Trains do not go straight to Sapa, but to Lao Cai. There are plenty of buses from Lao Cai Railway Station to Sapa, taking around 1 hour.
Trains between Hanoi and Lao Cai are specially designed for tourists. They feature privately-owned carriages. Ticket prices vary depending on the operators. There are two overnight trains between Hanoi and Lao Cai, SP1/SP2 and SP3/SP4.
Updated on May 30th, 2019
SP1 Hanoi–Lao Cai | |||
---|---|---|---|
Station | Travel Day | Arrive | Depart |
Hanoi | Day1 | 21:35 | |
Yen Bai | Day2 | 01:25 | 01:40 |
Bao Ha | 03:46 | 03:49 | |
Pho Lu | 04:28 | 04:31 | |
Lao Cai | 05:30 |
SP3 Hanoi–Lao Cai | |||
---|---|---|---|
Station | Travel Day | Arrive | Depart |
Hanoi | Day1 | 22:00 | |
Yen Bai | Day2 | 02:13 | 02:20 |
Bao Ha | 04:21 | 04:24 | |
Pho Lu | 05:03 | 05:06 | |
Lao Cai | 06:05 |
Updated on May 30th, 2019
SP2 Lao Cai-Hanoi | |||
---|---|---|---|
Station | Travel Day | Arrive | Depart |
Lao Cai | Day1 | 20:55 | |
Pho Lu | 21:48 | 21:51 | |
Bao Ha | 22:28 | 22:31 | |
Yen Bai | Day2 | 00:31 | 00:38 |
Hanoi | 04:32 |
SP4 Lao Cai-Hanoi | |||
---|---|---|---|
Station | Travel Day | Arrive | Depart |
Lao Cai | Day1 | 21:40 | |
Pho Lu | 22:33 | 22:36 | |
Bao Ha | 23:13 | 23:15 | |
Yen Bai | Day2 | 01:20 | 01:28 |
Hanoi | 05:30 |
There are two kinds of trains running between Hanoi and Sapa, normal trains owned by Vietnam Railways and luxury trains owned by private enterprises. Privately-owned trains are more comfortable, but more expensive than normal ones.
Privately-owned trains include Victoria Express, Chapa Express, Livitrans Express, King Express, Faxipan, Sapaly Express, Orient Express, King Express, and Pumpkin Express. They have the same schedules with normal trains owned by Vietnam Railways.
All carriages are divided into five classes:
Vietnam has two international railway connections to China. One is from Hanoi to Nanning in Guangxi Province; the other is the Vietnam-Yunnan Railway from Haiphong to Kunming. The Vietnam section of the Vietnam-Yunnan Railway starts at Lao Cai, which looks across the river opposite Hekou, a small border town of China.
Lao Cai and Hekou’s customs buildings are on each side of the Red River, connected by a bridge and within walking distance. There are four daily trains connecting Hekou North Railway Station with Kunming Station.
Updated on May 30th, 2019
Train Number | K9818 | K9828 | K6142 | K9824 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stations | Time Table | Time Table | Time Table | Time Table |
Hekou North | 07:00 depart | 09:35 depart | 11:30 depart | 22:55 depart |
Pingbian | 07:50 | 10:41 | 12:17 | 00:10 the next day |
Mengzi | 08:29 | 11:21 | 13:11 | 00:55 the next day |
Mengzi North | 08:49 | 11:53 | 13:32 | ---- |
Jianshui | 09:30 | 12:32 | 14:24 | ---- |
Qujiang | 10:05 | ---- | ---- | ---- |
Tonghai | 10:28 | 13:40 | 15:13 | ---- |
Yuxi | 11:04 | 14:20 | 15:55 | ---- |
Kungyang | 11:37 | 14:53 | 16:28 | ---- |
Kunming | 12:34 arrive | 15:45 arrive | 17:19 arrive | 06:36 the next day, arrive |
There are four ways of buying Vietnamese train tickets.
There are two trains running between China and Russia including Trans-Mongolian Railway.
International train tickets for the Trans-Siberian can be bought in China, Mongolia and Russia.