Hanoi - Hong Kong by train...

Which class should you choose?


Price for children?

 Traveller Jeremy Buddress travelled from Hanoi to Hong Kong in April 2009:  "We bought our Hanoi-Nanning tickets at Counter 10 of Hanoi main station - a 4 berth soft sleeper for 1,102,000 VND per person.  The process was a little confusing.  We went to the station on a Tuesday to try and confirm costs and times. 
While the ticket machine at the entry to the main waiting area spits out slips for you spot in the queue, the ‘5‘ button that we pressed for "International Tickets" produced a 5000-series number which never ended up on the display even after 45 minutes of waiting, so we went to a ticket window to ask.  So, after stepping up to on of the other ticket counters we learned that the train did in fact leave every day (contradicting what one travel agent told us, even after making a "confirming" phone call). 

We weren‘t ready to buy yet as we were still waiting for our China visas, which is another story.  But it does bring up a good point - you do need your passport when you buy tickets with the proper China visa ready to go.  So after getting our visas we returned to the station on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately the noonish hour was apparently lunch so we waited until Counter 10 reopened around 13:30. Counter 10 is the only one labelled ‘International Tickets" in English.  The transaction was speedy and we paid in cash.  We caught a cab from the Old Quarter to the Gia Lam Train Station in northeast Hanoi for about 70,000 VND. 

Gia Lam is much smaller than the main station but nice enough.  We boarded our train right on time with only six other passengers. The stop at the Vietnam border control was no more than 20 minutes (off of the train, minus luggage) and at the China border was only about 15 minutes (off of the train, with luggage). Arrival and departure times were spot on per your timetable. 

On arriving in Nanning we grabbed a room at a hotel across the street from the train station for 80 RMB, as the train didn‘t leave for Guangzhou until 00:30 that night. 

Getting our tickets for this leg was a bit more challenging, as the Nanning ticket area is labelled almost entirely in Chinese.  Fortunately we were able to buy our domestic tickets at the international counter (#16, also labelled in English) for 197 RMB per person in a hard sleeper.  These were 6 berth, open to the corridor bunks that were full to capacity. 

There appeared to be an earlier train around 19:00 that night, but it was full minus hard seats.  Our train left about 15 minutes late from Nanning, but again it was smooth sailing after that.  Arrival at the Guangzhou Main Station was a bit hectic as it is quite massive. Meeting our friend "out front" proved to be a challenge. The KFC is a nice landmark, attached to the station, right in front, if you need to meet someone there.

Traveller Erandathie Jayakody travelled from Hong Kong to Hanoi in January 2009:  I didn‘t buy the tickets in advance, I bought tickets along the way.  China Travel Services in Hong Kong can arrange tickets for you with a few days notice from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and from Guangzhou to Nanning.  There is a China Travel Service and another travel agent at the Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong (at the concourse, not at the MTR station itself). 

However, I found it cheaper to buy the tickets from the station.  I caught the train from Hung Hom station in HK to Guangzhou East Station on 2 January 2009.  Hong Kong to Guangzhou was HKD$ 190.  It left promptly at 10.42 and arrived in Guangzhou at about mid-day.  Buying the ticket from Guangzhou was a bit difficult as I got caught up in the Chinese New Year rush, however I managed to buy a sleeper ticket to Nanning to depart same evening. 

The ticket to Nanning and Guilin are sold at Counter 7.  The ticket cost RMB 173.  The train departs from the Guangzhou main Station, the taxi ride from Guangzhou East Station to the main station costs about RMB 30.  The train left at 16.52pm and arrived in Nanning at approximately 6am.  I then bought a ticket for the new overnight train from Nanning to Hanoi [see below].

Traveller Cath Battersby traveller Hong Kong to Hanoi in January 2009:  We bought our tickets 3 days ahead at Hung Hom station at China Railways (HK) holdings, under McDonalds. We paid HK$999 for 2 of us HK to Nanning hard sleeper. (HK$190 HK to Guangzhou, RMB 179 Guangzhou to Nanning and HK$100 commission each). Soft sleeper would have been a total of HK$1235 for 2. We had to pay in cash. The staff were very helpful and provided us with a B & W map of Guangzhou metro.  We left HK at 11.17.

We weren’t allowed through security until 10:35.  Buy any drinks/snacks you need in advance, nothing past security except toilets and duty free. Excellent train and trouble free departure/immigration.  Upon arrival at Guangzhou the signs to the metro are in English and easy to follow.  It is fairly simple to work out how to get to the main station with the coloured maps on display. Large signs at Guangzhou main station show you which waiting room you need for your train. Lots of snack food and hot water available. 

The overnight train to Nanning was a smooth journey.  The signs in Nanning are now in English too and we bought tickets for train #5517 to Pinxiang (RMB 17, 8am – 11:30). Hard seats, friendly co-passengers and some great scenery on this trip! In Pinxiang there were a large number of people vying for our business. We paid RMB 5 for a mototaxi/tuktuk to the border and changed money in the back. Very quick and easy at the Chinese border and more money changing opportunities (although we didn’t see anywhere official).

It’s useful to have Dong as you’ll need to pay a small fee (VND 2000) for your ‘medical check’ at Vietnamese immigration. We had a trouble free entry.  Once through immigration we could not find anyone that would take us to Dong Dang. This may have been a scam but we had to settle for paying US$5 each (cheaper if you can pay in Dong) for a taxi to Lanson. We were taken straight to a minibus office and we paid VND 110,000 (their starting price was VND 200,000) for a seat to Hanoi’s main train station. This took about 3 hours and left almost immediately.

Traveller Alan Merry travelled from Hong Kong to Hanoi in 2007:  "I booked from Hong Kong to Nanning at the agency within the shopping mall attached to Hong Kong’s Hung Hom station two days before departure and was told that I had the last available soft class sleeper. 

The fare from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was HK$190 (about £13/$25) and from Guangzhou to Nanning the sleeper ticket was priced at Y274 (about £18/$34).  The agency also provide me with a map of the Guangzhou underground indicating that a change of train was needed to get from Guangzhou East to Guangzhou [main] Railway Station.  The train left promptly at 11.17 arriving at 12.58  

Of course, in China, all of the signs are in Chinese, making it difficult to know where to go to buy tickets or board trains.  At Guangzhou East, you descend one floor from the main concourse to find the ticket office for the underground.  Guangzhou’s underground is modern clean and efficient. 

The clue to finding the right train is its number, which is printed on the ticket. The departure board refers you to a waiting room rather than a platform and you are directed from the waiting room to the train when it is ready for boarding. There is a special waiting room at Guangzhou for soft class passengers.  Departure from Guangzhou was at 16.57 and, as promised, the train was full.

As it got dark, shortly after 6pm most passengers took to their bunks, while I occupied a fold-down seat in the corridor to watch the world go by.  Although arrival at Nanning the following morning was some two hours later than the scheduled 05.47, there was plenty of time to buy the next ticket, to Pingxiang, (Y17 = £1.10) and take a short stroll before departure.  This is a rather more scenic part of the journey as the train climbs into the mountains. 

After about four hours arrival was at the almost completed new Pingxiang station where there was a selection of taxis ready and vying for business to take me to the border post.  Although quoted "only Y3" by the young man, this had grown to Y20 (about £1.30) before we reached the boarder. 

On the Chinese side the French style buildings are still intact, used as shops, surrounded by neat gardens leading to the old gateway and on to the modern building which is the Chinese border post.  Then it is a few yards downhill to the rather less imposing Vietnamese post.  Here things are less chaotic than it appears.  You pick up an immigration card, fill it in and place it in your passport which you then put on top of a pile on the counter.

 The immigration officers work their way though these and having stamped them will wave them in the air to be claimed.  Seemed to work.  Then another taxi down to Dong Dang which cost $10 US for the ten minute journey.  The service in the French style station was very helpful and friendly and the ticket to Hanoi cost 36,000 dong, just over £1 ! (again paid in US dollars)

The train is not so much a passenger train as a parcels train with passengers.  The seats are wooden slats and all of the local passengers come with varieties of parcels. Departure was at 14.20 (Vietnam time is one hour behind Chinese time) and the 100 mile journey took some 4½ hours.