The railway between Da Nang and Hue City is the most beautiful route to explore during train travel in Vietnam.
Around 2.5 hours and moving 100km from Da Nang Train Station to Hue Train Station, you will explore the countryside, Hai Van Pass, rice paddies, ocean views, and mountainous settings.
Vietnamdrive would like to introduce you to essential tips about this train excursion between this distance.
- Address of Da Nang train station: 791 Hai Phong Street, Tam Thuan Ward, Thanh Khe District, Da Nang City
- Address of Hue Railway Station: 02 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Phuong Duc Ward, Hue City, Thua Thien Hue Province
Real duration of a train from Da Nang to Hue
The schedule of trains is 2.5 hours from Da Nang to Hue (or vice versa). However, in my experience, most of them are not on time. Many trains are delayed.
Thus, the real-time travel from the station of Da Nang to Hue may take longer than 2.5 hours.
However, plus time to move from your hotels to the railway station in Da Nang, and you need more time to move from the station to your hotel in Hue. The total time for your trip can take you around 4 hours or more.
When you have a tour within a day in Hue City, you should think twice before you book train tickets.
>> Please check: One day tour to visit Hue City from Da Nang.
Cheap train tickets from Da Nang to Hue or vice versa
Train tickets are low for this route:
- Price is from 106,000VND (~ 5USD) to 339,000VND (~14USD)
- The difference depends on the types of seats or beds.
- The rates can be changed at various periods.
Vietnamdrive does not recommend you choose the cheap ones. For example, for the SE20 train, you have to wait and wait.
From Da Nang to Hue, you should choose SE2 or SE6 trains. SE2 train has one special coach with 7 cabins, and 2 VIP cabins have 2 sleeping beds on each with 339,000 VND each bed.
Special passengers belonging special groups will be entitled to fares, as follows:
- Children under 5 years old who go to at least an adult;
- Children 5 to 9 years old 50% of the fare;
- Vietnam heroic mothers 90% fare reduction;
- Disability or severe special people 25% discount; and
- Vietnamese people elderly (over 60 years) decreased by 20%.
To get the discount on the price, the passengers must have some proper documents to show when buying tickets and when traveling on the trains.
Places to buy train tickets
It’s easy to buy train tickets with the help of your hotel receptionist or a travel agent. Of course, you have to pay a little commission for their work and time.
You can book them by yourselves:
- The first option is to come to the ticket counters at the train stations in Da Nang or other cities. The staff will guide you through buying tickets quickly.
- The second option is to book them online. You can come here https://dsvn.vn to check and book the tickets.
Tips: Many websites sell train tickets, but you should be careful to buy them from fraudulent websites. You will lose your money. I like to work directly with the official site of the Vietnam Railways https://dsvn.vn.
Buy a ticket in advance
You should buy a ticket as soon as possible. In spite of that, you also notice your itinerary to book it at a suitable time (not too early) in case you need to change the time of travel.
Sometimes, I come to the train station to buy a ticket, just an hour before the train runs. This method is for ordinary days and a short distance from Hue to Danang for example. If you are a traveler, booking tickets early is recommended.
Special notes are applied for Tet Holidays, national holidays (ex, 2 Sep – the Independence Day) in Vietnam, and the time when students move to other cities for the new school year (often the end of Aug). The tickets are sold out quickly.
30 minutes to the train in advance
You should come to the train station at least 30 minutes before your train departure. This rule is to ensure that you do not miss your train. This is because most of the trains stop for a short time at each station, but luckily many trains stop in Da Nang around 15 minutes.
However, really notice when you use a train from or to Hue station, some trains just stop for only 5 minutes, too short to do anything.
Thus, when you come to Hue train station from Da Nang City, you should prepare your luggage before the train reaches the station to get out of the train faster. Luckily, the staff will tell on speaker to notice when the trains are nearly to the station in Hue.
Main activity when you are on the train
When you travel on the train from Da Nang to Hue, it is not long to do any unique things. Relaxing, reading a book, and checking Facebook are popular activities for the local people.
As a tourist, you may do another to value your holidays. The main activity on the train between these areas is to enjoy the view of the oceans, mountains, rice fields, and countryside. The settings of the scenery are lovely. You should not miss preparing an excellent camera to take stunning pictures of nature along the rails.
Move to the train station in Da Nang
To travel to the train stations in Vietnam in general, and in Da Nang in particular, has different choices to do by using a grab, taxi, a private car, or a motorbike. Motorbike is the cheapest transportation to move in Da Nang city.
Please note that the train station in Da Nang city center does not connect directly to the international airport of Da Nang. It is 3 km far away from each other.
Thus, the guests have to go out of the airport to move to the train station. It’s the easiest way to catch a taxi, fast and comfortable when you have luggage, making you have time to come to the train on time.
Not really clean toilets on trains
I hate to use “happy rooms” on most trains, not happy at all. The smell is terrible, but no choice when I need it. Thus, I often carry a mash in case I have to use their toilets. And, bring your own paper is also recommended to go to these toilets.
Food and drinks on the train from Da Nang to Hue
Coffee and soft drinks will be sold on the train on a small cart by the staff of Vietnam Railways.
They also sell rice if the train runs during lunchtime from 11:00 AM to 12:00 at noon.
The traveling time for this journey is not long, so I often buy or carry Vietnamese snacks. And I do not mind more food when traveling.
Tips: Food and drinks sold on the train are alright (at least for the locals) to taste, but most of them are not a good flavor. And, I will never buy any food from sellers in the shops on the ground at the train stations in Vietnam anymore. Not all of them, but most of the food there has lousy quality, and some products can expire, so check them carefully before buying.
Alright with safety on the train, but keep an eye
The same with other public transportation in Vietnam, I have not met any problems when moving on the trains. However, we often tell guests that care is always right. It means it’s better to keep your eyes on your luggage, money, wallets, and other valuable property. All of them should be put in good-locked bags.
Schedule of trains from Da Nang to Hue
As Vietnamdrive mentions above, SE2 and SE6 are recommended to choose to travel to Hue from Da Nang City. Besides, here are other ones in case SE2 and SE6 are full.
| Trains | Time from Danang station | Time to Hue station |
| SE8 | 1:01AM | 3:26AM |
| SE6 | 10:40AM | 1:42PM |
| SE4 | 12:58PM | 3:35PM |
| SE2 | 3:11PM | 5:36PM |
| SE20 | 6:10PM | 8:35PM |
Below are the trains from Hue to Da Nang Railway Station.
| Trains | Time from Hue Station | Time to Danang |
| SE5 | 5:45 AM | 8:26 AM |
| SE3 | 8:56 AM | 11:25 AM |
| SE19 | 9:44 AM | 12:28 PM |
| SE1 | 11:11 AM | 1:41 PM |
| SE7 | 8:43 PM | 11:13 PM |
The schedule table of train time is updated on 3 Nov, 2023.