Not only known for its long coastline with many stunning white sand beaches or the beautiful rice terraces on the big mountain, Vietnam is also famous for its magnificent limestone caves.
In Quang Binh province in central Vietnam, there is a huge limestone cave system with glistening stalagmites and stalactites that are very famous around the world. And Phong Nha Cave is one of the most famous caves in this complex.
If you are interested in exploring this cave and wondering how to get to Phong Nha Ke Bang from Hanoi, this article will give you all the detailed information to determine the best means of transportation to travel.
Distance between Hanoi and Phong Nha Ke Bang | Dong Hoi
As the country’s capital, the city of Hanoi is a great place to start your trip to Vietnam. To come to Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, people normally first go to Dong Hoi town, Quang Binh province, because the train station, airport and bus station are all here.
There shortest distance by road from Hanoi to Dong Hoi is approximately 500km, and it takes approximately50km from Dong Hoi at Phong Nha Ke Bang Park.
The best ways to travel from Hanoi to Phong Nha, Dong Hoi
There are 3 types of transportation you can consider to come to Phong Nha from Hanoi: train, plane and bus. Let’s learn the details below.
Hanoi – Phong Nha Ke Bang by bus
Even though Dong Hoi is not as famous as other towns in central Vietnam such as Hue, Hoi An or Danang, it is the starting point for exploring Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, where the magnificent Phong Nha cave. From Hanoi, most tourists choose to go to Dong Hoi Town first to stay overnight, and the bus is the cheapest means of transport to travel to Vietnam.
There are bus regular and sleeper bus. But with such a long traveling distance, sleeper bus is always a preferable choice. It only costs you 18 – 24 € for a sleeper bus ticket.
In fact, you can take a bus directly from Hanoi to Phong Nha Cave. There are a few different companies operating this route and their timetables suggest journey times will be somewhere between 9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.. Schedules vary as some companies will make more stops than others, or will stop for longer.
You can easily find tickets for this ride at Bao Lau, one of the best sites to buy tickets in Vietnam.
Hanoi – Phong Nha Ke Bang by train
Since the nearest train station to come from Hanoi to Phong Nha Ke Bang Park is in Dong Hoi Town, if you want to go to Phong Nha Park by train, you need to go to Dong Hoi first . The great thing about traveling by train is that there are many different options. There is a good variety of seats and cabins available, and many trains depart throughout the day and evening, however, we recommend choosing the sleeper type. There are also two different departure points from Hanoi: Hanoi Main Station and Giap Bat Station.
Normally, tourists would choose Hanoi train station as their starting point as it is more popular and convenient with plenty of English speaking staff to give support and directions. A one-way train ticket from Hanoi Station to Dong Hoi costs approximately €22 to €26, and it takes around between 9:30 hours of travel to 11 hours for the longest.
Trains to Dong Hoi from Giap Bat tend to take a little longer – around an hour to an hour and a half longer from this station, however, ticket prices are usually a little cheaper than on trains from the Hanoi train station, so keep that in mind if you’re traveling on a budget.
Train Hanoi – Phong Nha Ke Bang
For this trip, I have only listed prices for berths because the trip is long and hard or soft seats are not recommended.
| Schedules | Duration | Hard berth | Soft berth | |
| Se1 | 10:20 p.m. – 7:45 a.m. | 9:25 a.m. | 651,000 VND | 664,000 VND |
| Se3 | 7:25 p.m. – 5:18 a.m. | 9:53 a.m. | 651,000 VND | 664,000 VND |
| Se5 | 8:50 a.m. – 7:13 p.m. | 10:23 a.m. | 614,000 VND | 635,000 VND |
| Se7 | 6 a.m. – 4:11 p.m. | 10:11 a.m. | 614,000 VND | 661,000 VND |
| Se9 | 2:25 p.m. – 1:25 a.m. | 10:58 a.m. | 556,000 VND | 605,000 VND |
| Purple Trains | 7:25 p.m. – 5:18 a.m. | 9:53 a.m. | 1,750,000 VND | |
| Laman Express | 10:20 p.m. – 7:45 a.m. | 9:25 a.m. | 1,850,000 VND | 2,900,000 VND |
Hanoi – Phong Nha Ke Bang by plane
The quickest way to get from Hanoi to Phong Nha is by plane. When you’re traveling such a great distance, taking a flight to Dong Hoi makes sense. There is 3 airlines who travel from Hanoi to Dong Hoi: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet air and Bamboo Airways. The actual flight time is only about one hour, so even adding in the time it takes to get to and from the airport at each end and do all the necessary queues at the airport, you’ll still get to Dong Hoi much quicker than if you traveled by bus or train.
Depending on your travel time, the time you book your flight and your ticket class, the ticket price will vary from€45 or above. This is a very affordable price for a fast and convenient type of transport.
