ianandmarFirst of all, while air transport is generally inexpensive in Vietnam, land transport wins over convenience and value for money because airports are far out from the city center. Also, instead of paying for another night’s accommodation, we would rather save a little bit of money by taking overnight buses or trains.
We did a few intercity trips around Vietnam in a span of 3 weeks. After a week in Hanoi, we hopped onto an overnight bus and headed to Hue, our next destination.
We didn’t prebook our trip. If you walk around the Old Quarter, there are travel agencies side by side. A day before the intended departure, we booked with Kim Travel, an agency we happened to come across with last year (2016) when we did a Halong Bay tour.
And because they had the cheapest rates and our experience was pretty good with them, it was only natural to book with them again. I will be putting in Kim Travel’s details below if you need them.
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Hanoi to Hue by Bus
Trip Starts
It cost us VND 300,000 / USD 13 for an overnight bus ride to Hue, which includes a mini van pick up from our hotel in Old Quarter to the bus station, where we transferred to a bigger bus.
There is only 1 departure time. We were picked up by a mini van at 5:45pm from our hotel, consequently, 6:15pm we were at the bus stop after a few more pick ups around the Old Quarter.
Foreigners were the only passengers for this trip. Seems like a lot of bus companies prefer not to mix tourists and locals for some reason.
Some tickets had seating numbers while the rest are kind of random. Ours didn’t so we had the option to choose from the remaining available seats upon going in.
We always choose the ones where we can see the compartment of the bus just to be sure that our bags are still there.
This stop was the one and only stop so be sure to use the comfort room should you need to.
In whatever circumstance, eat anything that is sealed or cooked right in front of you. First of all, you do not know how long the food has been there, waiting for buses to stop time and time again. We were at another bus once, from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh, and we saw something nasty. Apparently, some food places return the left overs back to the containers. O.M.G. I know. The exact thing I saw was braised pork fat and skin with soup, was poured back to a pot, to be served again. What the F. After that incident to this day, we have never eaten in stop overs anymore. I’d rather starve than eat something so gross!
Back to the bus to sleep for the night. The experience was actually not bad at all because not only did we sleep pretty well, but the seats were comfortable, the bus was clean, and with free bottled water each. But most of all, the bus had an actual working WiFi! I cannot stress enough that our number 1 reason for taking overnight buses is because it saves us a day of paying for accommodation.
Trip Ends
At exactly 7:00AM the next day, we have arrived at a bus station somewhere in Hue. The one we took dropped us somewhere around the map below.
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Recommended Area to Stay
From the stop, we only walked to our hotel for 15 minutes. I would say our hotel probably has the best location because food options are only a few steps away and they aren’t as expensive as the surrounding areas in Citadel. And for just VND 230,000 / USD 10 per night for a room with aircon, what more can you ask for? Seems like we were in luck as it also comes with breakfast for 2!
Kim Travel details below:
Address: 2B Ly Quoc Su, Old Quarter
Phone: 0439 386 476
email: kimtravelhanoi@gmail.com
*not paid to advertise. just happy with their services.
