How to travel from Hanoi to Sapa:

 1.  Head to Hanoi Train Station (Ga Hà Nội) – We took the taxi from Hoan Kiem Lake to the train station.  It took only 5min and cost 32,000 VND.

2.  Travel by train to Lào Cai (which is the closest you can get to Sapa by train) – We took Livitran Express (SP7).  It departed at 8:25 PM sharp and was supposed to arrive at 4:50 AM the next day, but due to track maintenance, we were delayed and didn’t arrive until 6:30 AM.  Prior to exiting the station, you will be asked to hand over your train tickets, so don’t throw them out.

3.  Travel from Lào Cai to Sapa (38km) – Once you leave the railway station, there will be a barrage of people offering you a ride.  By private car, it will cost you $20-25 USD.  We had asked our hotel to arrange for a shared minibus to pick us up.  Upon arrival, someone had a sign with my name on it and led us to their minibus.  It’s a well-organized operation.  They fill the van/minibus with people from different hotels & drop you off at your destination.
The ride is 45-50min and is a very scenic, winding ride up to Sapa Town; though it’ll be hard not to nod off after an exhausting overnight train ride.

A bit about Hanoi Train Station (Ga Hà Nội):  The station has 2 gates/entry points and depending on what ticket you purchased, you either need to go to Station A or B (double check with the company who sold you the tickets).

Station A is at 120 Le Duan, and is off the main street.  This station is used for trains heading south*.
Station B is around back on Tran Quy Cap Street (down some side streets).  This station is used for trains heading north.

*Although Station A is supposed to be for trains heading south, when we were heading to Sapa (i.e. north), we were actually allowed to enter through Station A.  We just had to walk further.  Both stations actually connect to the same rail yard.

Purchasing train tickets:

Since we were scheduled to head to Sapa on the same day we arrive in Hanoi, it was vital that I had our train tickets booked in advance.  However, this was more difficult than I thought it would be, and resulted in hours of online research.  Train tickets in Vietnam do not have your name on it and if lost/stolen, there is no way to replace it.

One of the most informative sites was Seat 61.  Their recommendation is to purchase tickets online via Vietnam Impressive.  And although it has been proven to be reliable, it would mean adding $14 USD to each train ticket (which worked out to be $56 USD for our side trip to Sapa).  I really couldn’t justify this cost, so I contacted a few companies that I found online.  The odd thing was that it seemed like the companies were all working out of the exact same office.  This seemed a bit odd to me, especially since every company asked for payment upfront.

I was really uncomfortable with this, so I went to Plan B – ask my hostel to assist me with booking the train tickets.  The only thing was that I had read reviews where other travelers did the same thing – paid upfront, and then never received their tickets.  I took the risk & asked Little Hanoi Hostel 2 to assist with my booking.  I was asked to pay upfront via onepay.  Once payment was confirmed, I asked Mr. Toan to send me a scanned copy of my official tickets, which he did.  Phew! 🙂

We picked the tickets up from the hostel when we arrived.  What we had were actually train vouchers, so we had to exchange them for real tickets. When we arrived at the train station, we went to the room labeled ‘Waiting Room for International Visitors’ to get the actual tickets (because we purchased Livitrans tickets), then walked to our platform.

Voucher on the bottom; Actual ticket on top