Trains from Yen Bai to Lao Cai

By train the journey from Yen Bai to Lao Cai is scheduled to take from 3 hours 41 minutes to 3 hours 43 minutes depending upon which train you take.

Train Times from Yen Bai to Lao Cai

There are currently 2 trains a day from Yen Bai to Lao Cai.

Buy Tickets from Yen Bai to Lao Cai

Use the Search Box below to buy your train tickets from Yen Bai to Lao Cai.

From Lao Cai it’s a further hour by road to Sapa. Bus services to Sapa depart from in front of Lao Cai Train Station.

Location of Yen Bai Train Station

Location of Lao Cai Train Station

About Travel from Yen Bai to Sapa

Lao Cai is a fairly large city with over 130,000 permanent residents which is located on the border with China. Very few leisure travellers go to Lao Cai other than in transit to nearby Sapa or across the border into China. Apart from taking the opportunity to look across the border into China, there’s not much there of interest for tourists to do or see. The early arrival time of the trains travelling from Hanoi via Yen Bai to Lao Cai, however, gives passengers plenty of opportunity to go straight to Sapa.

Travel from Lao Cai to Sapa

It’s 59 km by road from Lao Cai to Sapa, and travelling by public transport the journey is scheduled to take from 60 to 80 minutes depending upon which service you take.

• Buy tickets from Lao Cai Train Station to Sapa.

There are plenty of different options for travelling from Lao Cai to Sapa, including  bus, minivan and taxi services. For travellers arriving in Lao Cai by train the easiest option is to take one of the services which picks us passengers at Lao Cai Train Station and takes them direct to Sapa:

• Asian Bus Travel
  • Services from 05:30 to 22:00
  • Journey time is 1 hour
  • Costs equivalent of $6 USD per person
• HT Travel
  • Services from 06:00 to 21:30
  • Journey time is 1 hour
  • Costs equivalent of $8 USD per person

Sapa Town

Sapa is a popular tourist destination in the foothills of the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range. One of the appeals of travelling to Sapa, particularly for South East Asian holidaymakers is the climate. The town is located at around 1,500 metres above sea level which means that it’s much cooler than lowland Vietnam. It snows sometimes in December and January, and during the winter it can be cold staying in Sapa because few of the hotels have heating in the rooms.

Sapa Town itself is very pleasant. There is a lake, an old stone church, and a town square featuring a Satuday Night Love Market where young men from the local hill tribes play flutes as a part of ancient courtship tradition. The main attraction, however, is the scenery.

From Sapa Town you regularly have clear views of Fansipan Mountain, which rises to 3,143 metres above sea level. Fansipan Mountain is generally considered to be the last significant mountain of the Himalayas, and you can reach the top by cable car. There are also lots of walks you can do in the surrounding countryside, the most accessible of which is the Walk to Cat Cat Village.

Accommodation in Sapa

Sapa has a very well developed tourist infrastructure. The town itself has over 400 hotels and guesthouses for visitors to choose from. The cheapest accommodation is in hostels, such as Fuji Sapa Central Hostel, where a bed in a shared dormitory room costs the equivalent of $3 to $4 USD a night. At the other end of the scale, a night at the Aliana Boutique Sapa Hotel & Spa will cost over £100 USD for a standard room.

For mid-range hotels a large premium is charged for rooms with a view of the mountains, and an even larger premium is charged for a private balcony. For this reason we recommend checking very carefully exactly what room you are booking. The better value rooms quite often have no view whatsoever and a quite a few visitors end up being disappointed when they check in to their Sapa hotel because on the pictures on the booking website suggested something different.