TRAIN TRAVEL ADVICE

• Treat yourself a nice dinner before getting onto the train because only some snacks, drinks and certain types of food are sold on train. No good food or dinning carriage on any train here. Trains also leave late at night so passengers often go to bed after boarding.
• At the station don’t let strange people touch your bags or lead you to your cabin. They ask for money afterwards. Just wave them off and you’ll manage yourself easily.
• There is no restriction for the luggage carried on trains as long as you can carry them. Luggages are in the cabin with you (under your beds or any space if you book the entire cabin).
• We offer free things in your cabins, so everything in your cabin is complimentary. For everything else that is outside of your cabins, they are not free. They are sold by government staff so please consider and ask for the prices before you take anything.
• Dining carriage, Cafe or shower facility are not available on any train here in Vietnam.
• Hanoi railways station is located inside city center so it is easy to take taxi from your hotel to the railways station (120 Le Duan Street, Hanoi). You should ask your hotel in Hanoi to call the taxi for you and have the price before you get in.
• Lao Cai railways station is located about 1 hour and a half from Sapa town. There are public buses at the railways station and taxies, but you should ask your hotel in Sapa to arrange the shuttle transfer (shuttle bus / private car) for you. It is safe because the driver will take you to the right hotel to get paid to avoid the taxi scam.
• Always get to know the fixed taxi price before you get in any taxi in Vietnam (The meter does not work sometimes or the driver can try to cheat you)
• Trains / Check-in gates are open about 1 hour before the trains leave. Therefore, you should arrive at the railways station about 30 – 45 minutes before the train leaves. There is no need to arrive too early but should not later than 30 minutes.
• It is better to spend extra money to get a private cabin on trains because you / we will not know who will share the cabin with you.
• Bring toilet paper just in case, and hand sanitizer for shared toilet facilities.
• You do not get a key to your compartment but it locks from inside so keep valuables with you if you leave the compartment. You can lock the door when you are inside.
• 2 berth cabin is usually a four berth cabin with the top two beds folded up. 
• If you want to take a chance to use so-called out-off date transportation, you can take train. If you are looking for something modern, please not.
• There is a screen showing the correct platform for your train. The tickets where showing coach and seat/bed number so it is not difficult to find.
• Train trip is noisy and bumpy-bear in mind that you are in a vehicle but gentle bumping on the tracks sometimes rocks you to sleep :-). Earplugs / music players are helpful too.
• The rail from Sapa back to Hanoi is not as good as the rail from Hanoi to Sapa so it can be more bumpy and noisier.
• The Air-conditioner is a central air-conditioner which is used for the whole train. Therefore, we cannot turn it off but there are places on the ceiling that you can turn down a little bit if the air-conditioning is too strong.
• If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us at any time.

Have a nice trip to Sapa!