Vietnam
Vietnam is a country shaped like a railway. It runs 1,700 km from the Chinese border to the Mekong Delta, rarely more than a hundred kilometres wide, and a single metre-gauge line threads almost the whole of it. The Reunification Express takes about thirty hours to do it — past paddy fields and fishing villages, and over the Hải Vân Pass, where the track clings to a headland above the South China Sea.
Its name is not decoration. The line was cut in two by the war and put back together afterwards: the first through train ran again on 31 December 1976. Up in the Central Highlands there is a stranger survivor — the Da Lat Railway, seven kilometres of a lost French rack railway, running out of a 1938 Art Deco station that is now a national monument.
Rail journeys in Vietnam
Da Lat Railway
Seven kilometres of a lost railway — the last living fragment of a French rack line, running out of a 1938 Art Deco station that is now a monument.
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Reunification Express
The length of Vietnam on one metre-gauge line — thirty hours from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, and a pass where the track hangs above the sea.
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Is Vietnam easy to explore by train?
Very. Because the country is long and narrow, one line — the Reunification Express — connects nearly everywhere travellers go: Hanoi, Huế, Da Nang (for Hội An), Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City. You can ride it in one 30-hour go or hop down it in stages, which is what most people do.
Do I need to book Vietnamese trains in advance?
For sleepers, yes — soft-sleeper berths on the popular overnight legs sell out, and around Tết (Lunar New Year) the whole network is effectively full. Short daytime hops like Huế to Da Nang are easy to get, and the Da Lat heritage line is turn-up-and-go.
When is the best time to visit Vietnam by rail?
Spring (March–April) and autumn (September–November) are the safest bets. Vietnam is long enough to have several climates at once, so the north and south are rarely at their best together; the central coast sees typhoons and flooding roughly September to November, which can disrupt the line.
What are Vietnam's best scenic railways?
The Reunification Express, and above all its three hours between Huế and Da Nang over the Hải Vân Pass — widely reckoned the finest rail ride in Southeast Asia. For something odder, the Da Lat Railway is the last fragment of a rack railway that once climbed into the Central Highlands, and the overnight run up to Lào Cai is the way to Sa Pa.