China Travel Forum

[Abercrombie]

Hi fellow travelers:

I am going to start my trip to Kunming Mid January and would appreciate if you can help me on the following :-

I will be in Hanoi and would like to get to Kunming either by train or bus. Is there one ? I know that there's a train running from Hanoi to Lao Cai near to the border of Vietnam and the province of Yunnan.

Do I take another train upon arrival at LaoCai? Any details of the transport - the time and how many hours and the fare?

Thanks lots!

[Jack Li]

hi..

1.Maybeyou should take train from Hanoi to Lao Cai. Day train 6:10 am arrives 4:35pm Hard seats only, no sleeping berths. Night train 9:15pm arrives 5:30 am, sleeping berths 4 berths to a cabin, a/c too cold (I took this); another train leaves 10:15pm arrives 7:35 am.

2. When you reach Lao Cai, take a local taxi to the Vietnamese-Chinese border, about 3km away. Crossing the border may take you 1 to 1.5 hours as you have to clear 2 customs and 2 immigration check points. You are now in Hekou.

3. Take sleeper bus from Hekou to Kunming. Sleeper bus have beds, and he says he remembered them as painted green colour. They leave at 7:00pm and takes about 12 hours to reach Kunming.

The International Railway from Hanoi to Kunming has been suspended cos of flooding which caused the rails on the Chinese side to give way.

Another point is that when I took the train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, the train actually left 20 minutes earlier than scheduled !!!

Anything else I can help ?