Ninh Hoa to Dong Hoi

By train the journey from Ninh Hoa to Dong Hoi is scheduled to take from 15 to 17 hours depending upon which train you take.

Train Times from Ninh Hoa to Dong Hoi

There are currently 2 trains a day from Ninh Hoa to Dong Hoi.

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Location of Ninh Hoa Railway Station

Location of Dong Hoi Railway Station

About Travel to Dong Hoi

Dong Hoi is the largest city in Quang Binh Province, located about halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Dong Hoi is a coastal city with around 120,000 permanent residents that attracts a healthy number of domestic tourists, but isn’t popular as a destination in its own right with foreign visitors. Most foreign visitors who come to Dong Hoi are passing through on route to Phong Nha and the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park.

Staying Overnight in Dong Hoi

Travellers arriving late at night into Dong Hoi have the option of staying overnight in the city before continuing their journey the following morning. Major hotel booking websites list over 50 hotels and guesthouses in the city, ranging in price from the equivalent of $10 USD a night to $100 USD or over for more luxurious accommodation with sea or river views.

Much of the tourist accommodation in Dong Hoi is located more than 6 km to the east of the train station on Nhat Le Beach and Bao Ninh Beach. There are also, however, several hotels located on the approach road (Thuận Lý) to Dong Hoi Train Station that you could easily walk to, such as the Hung Thinh Motel which is 160 metres from station and costs around $15 USD a night for a basic A/C room with private bathroom.

Travel to Phong Nha

Phong Nha Village is a popular tourist destination, and the main entry point for the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park.

Phong Nha Village is 44 km by road from Dong Hoi Railway Station and there are 2 ways you can travel there by public transport:

• Local Bus: Travel by local bus takes around 90 minutes and it’s the cheapest way to complete the journey. Bus services to Phnong Nha depart from Nam Ly Bus Station, which is 1.3 km walking distance to the east of Dong Hoi Railway Station. The last bus of the day normally departs at 17:00.
• Taxi: Formal and informal taxis wait for the arrival of long distance trains in the car park in front of the ticket hall at Dong Hoi Railway Station. The price of the journey is not fixed and needs to be negotiated with the driver. For foreign visitors the fare tends to range from 600,00 to 1,000,000 VND ($25 to 40 USD) for a journey that takes around 40 minutes.

Visiting Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park

The Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park covers a massive area (857.54 square kilometres), much of which is mountainous with 12 peaks ascending to over 1,000 metres above sea level and largely inaccessible by road. The park also contains over 300 caves, including the largest cave in the world which wasn’t explored until 2014. The plant and animal life in the park is also very diverse, with an estimated 314 types of birds and 154 species of mammals.

In order to reach the entrances to the very large caves, or trek deep into the park, visitors need to hire a private guide or join an organised tour, particularly for cave exploration. We recommend researching and booking online in advance for the more specialised tours within the park, many of which book out months in advance.

Visitors can also enjoy the park by hiring their own transport, or taking one of the shorter half day or day long tours around the park which can booked directly from tour companies and transport operators located in Phong Nha Village. The most popular, and easy to organise tour in the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is the boat trip to Phong Nha Cave.

Boat tours to Phong Nha Cave depart from a boat pier on the Song River in the centre of Phong Nha Village. Tours last around 2 hours and a fee both for entry to the cave and the boat needs to be paid at the boat pier:

• Entrance Fee: 150,000 VND per person
• Boat Fee: 550,000 VND per boat (up to 12 people)

Because the boats are quite large, finding other people to go on the tour with cuts down on the costs considerably.

The journey along the river from Phong Nha Village to the entrance to the cave is about 5 km. From the entrance to the cave the boat travels a further 1,500 metres into the cave, where passengers can then disembark the boat and walk along a short distance further into the cave to see the stalactites and stalagmites.