Sapa is a mountainous area, belonging to Lao Cai province of Viet Nam. Thanks to stunning scenery, Sapa is really fascinating to many travelers and photographers. However, because Sa Pa is located in northwestern Viet Nam, a remote region, so traveling to Sa Pa will take a lot of time. If you want to save your time, you can choose an overnight train from Ha Noi to Lao Cai.

From Lao Cai, you can take a shuttle bus or local bus to reach to Sapa (shuttle bus is better if you bring along a lot of luggage).

This train includes two main categories: express – taking 8 – 9 hours, signed as SP and low – taking 9 – 10 hours, signed as LC.

Train name	Itinerary	Departure hour	Arrival hour	Kind
SP1	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	21h10	5h25	express
SP2	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	20h05	4h35	express
SP3	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	21h50	6h15	express
SP4	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	20h45	5h10	express
SP5	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	19h40	4h22	express
SP6	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	18h55	3h40	express
SP7	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	20h35	4h50	express
SP8	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	19h30	4h05	express
LC1	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	22h00	7h22	low
LC 2	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	21h20	6h55	low
LC 3	Ha Noi – Lao Cai	6h10	16h35	low
LC 4	Lao Cai – Ha Noi	09h15	20h15	low

This information above is just for reference. It is not exact completely and some parts can change a bit, especially departure hour, but the it is still at night.

On my last Sapa tour, when came back Ha Noi, I booked an overnight King Express ticket of tourist class on SP8. The train departed at 18h50 and arrived in Ha Noi at 4h55.

The cabin is paneled wood, has 4 beds, an air-conditioner, a lamp for reading and a relatively wide luggage compartment above. The train has a corridor leading to cabins.

During the journey, the train just lightly swayed, but sometimes it suddenly shook quite dramatically. Sound of the train’s engine is quite noisy. Although that, I and others still slept well. Maybe because I have been familiar with noise of my city since I was born.

I and my friend stayed at the same cabin with two Indian people, the father and his daughter. We talked about travel. In other cabins, everybody also talked happily. At about 21h, most people went to sleep.

When the train was about to reach to the final station, the train staff awoke us by knocking at the cabin’s door. We woke up, brushed teeth, washed face and wait a few time before reaching to the eventual station.

I am quite satisfied with this train journey because I slept well. To me, sleeping is really important. And specially, traveling overnight while I rested, not in day, so I could save time for moving.

Xuan Tran (Kimina) – Active Travel Asia