Hanh Cafe

Hanh Café is a travel operator that specialises in arranging travel schedules throughout Vietnam. It’s possible to travel by bus from Hanoi down to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in the south of the country, stopping in all the major tourist destinations you’d expect.

Hanh Café is a well-established operator with around 20 years of experience so far. The buses offered along these routes typically seat approximately 40 passengers.

There are plenty of buses departing the company’s base in HCMC, with five buses each day heading to Nha Trang between 08.00 and 22.00. The journey takes around 9 ½ hours so you can choose whether to travel overnight, arriving by 07.30, or if you’d prefer to travel during the day and be in Nha Trang by 17.30. Seats are priced at VND210,000 for all departures so the choice is yours.

There are also four departures every day heading in the opposite direction, from Nha Trang to HCMC. These departure times also allow you flexibility to suit your schedule with buses leaving Nha Trang at 08.00, 20.00, 20.30 and 21.00.

Mui Ne is an incredibly popular destination for visitors, especially those based in HCMC, and there are plenty of options with Hanh Café. There are seven buses per day heading to Mui Ne throughout the day from 07.00 until 20.00, the trip usually takes five hours so you can choose whether you wish to arrive by lunchtime or in the evening. There are six buses heading in the opposite direction between 01.00 and 16.00, priced the same at VND140,000.

Of course, if you want to travel between Mui Ne and Nha Trang, or vice versa, there are daily services connecting the two destinations. Two buses a day travel in both directions, leaving Mui Ne at 01.00 and 13.00 and departing Nha Trang at 08.00 and 20.30. This four hour journey costs around VND180,000 in either direction.

There are plenty of other popular routes that are serviced by Hanh Café, including a daily 11 hour bus between Da Nang and Nha Trang. Priced at VND340,000, this bus departs Da Nang at 16.00, travelling through the night to arrive in Nha Trang at around 03.00.

If you’re planning on heading to Hanoi then you’ll be pleased to know that there are services connecting he capital with Da Nang and Hue. There is a bus departing Da Nang daily at 14.30, priced at VND320,000, which is due to arrive in Hanoi at 04.30. If you’re in Hue, you can jump aboard a bus at 17.30 which will have you in Hanoi at 07.30 the next morning for around VND280,000.

The biggest advantage travelling with Hanh Café is the very competitive prices. These buses tend to be cheaper than tickets with some of the operator’s competitors and far less than travelling by train.

The bus itself is pretty comfortable, certainly ideal for some of the shorter trips, but it may be a bit cramped for tall visitors.

The lack of bathrooms onboard these buses is a particular problem. Although there are breaks throughout the journey, they can be fairly irregular and using public toilets during the night may bit always be the most pleasant experience. Unfortunately, this is an issue with most buses throughout Vietnam.

Typically, Vietnamese buses experience frequent delays and Hanh Café services are no exception. Traffic across the country is unpredictable and services will often arrive later than expected. However, with Hanh Café this is not always that inconvenient as the scheduled arrival times can be less than ideal in the first place. Sometimes arriving at 05.30 instead of 04.30 could be handy as you’ll have less time to wait before you can arrive at your accommodation to check in.

If you require some expert advice about your itinerary then why not pop into one of the Hanh Café offices? There are several throughout the country including in HCMC (229 Pham Ngu Lao), Nha Trang (10 Hung Vuong) and Hoi An (2 Thai Phien).

Travellers are always pleased with the price of Hanh Café services, with very reasonable long-distance trips available. Fares are always far lower than tickets in private train carriages and even below the standard Vietnam Railways prices. For this reason alone many visitors recommend Hanh Café to travel around the country.

As is the case with many bus operators across the country, the biggest complaint usually tends to be the lack of bathrooms on the buses. To those used to travelling on western buses, this will be a shock at first but you’ll have to quickly get used to it if you want to travel by bus!