Dalat and Nha Trang Visit

You should consider a combination of tail and bus for your trip.

The Mai Linh Express bus takes about six hours from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat. Da Lat is about 90 minutes by bus to Nha Trang.

The Nha Trang Express train, more of a name than a description of it's speed, travels between Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City with the journey taking about 5-6 hours. It is NOT the Reunification Express.

The advantage of rail is it is much roomier for children.

If you take a Mai Linh bus (the safest by far) from HCM early in the day you will be able to enjoy the sights of daily living in rural VietNam, something which is more difficult from a train. There are many bus departures during the day.

MAI LINH Reservation Office
64-68 Hai Bà Trưng
Phường Bến Nghé
Quận 1
Hồ Chí Minh    710154

Tel: +84-(0)-8-3829-8888

GPS: 10.777312,106.704290 for your Android smartphone.

In Da Lat it is hard to better The Dreams Hotels for price, value and enjoyment. (Breakfast included for your hungry kids)

Dreams Hotels
161, 164B Phan Dinh Phung
Da Lat
Lam Dong Province     671680
Rel: +84-(0)-63-383-3748
Email Res: info@dreamshoteldalat.com
Web: www.dreamshoteldalat.com

GPS: 11.947462,108.435854 for your Android smartphone.

Da Lat city is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level! (My home town is a little higher)

VietNam Railways 5-Star Nha Trang Express
Hotline:098-576-1122
Email: sales@trainvietnam.com
Web: www.trainvietnam.com

ITINERARY
Train SNT2: Sai Gon – Thap Cham – Nha Trang (20h00 – 03h22 – 05h00)
Train SNT1: Nha Trang – Thap Cham – Sai Gon (19h00 – 20h50 – 03h56)

Nha Trang Train Station
17 Thai Nguyen
Phuoc Tan Ward
Nha Trang, 651746

(ticket office from 07.00H to 14.00H) (+84-58-382-2113)

GPS: 12.248290,109.185890 for your Android smartphone.

In SaiGon just use a taxi. The station is at:
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Train Station
01 Nguyen Thong
Ward 9
Quan 3
Ho Chi Minh City   722972
Tel: +84-(0)-8-8343-6528 & +84-(0)-8-8346-6091

GPS: 10.782054, 106.677219 for your Android smartphone.

NOTES:
Duong Sat (Road of Steel) owns the tracks and runs most of the trains. The Nha Trang Express is a private company that ONLY owns this train.

GIVEN THAT THE NORTHBOUND TRAIN is essentially a night train, I recommend your itinerary be HCM >> Nha Trang >> Da Lat >> HCM.

DB Time: 01.38 seconds

Hi Jaitch! Thank you for the input. 

We would be using a van for transportation. And probably would leave Binh Duong around 5AM going to Dalat.

I wonder if anyone could help us out with the places to visit. 

namron wrote:

We would be using a van for transportation. And probably would leave Binh Duong around 5AM going to Dalat.

Avoid the Highway 1A (Ha Noi Highway).

REMEMBER: TET MEANS BOOK NOW!

And if you rent a driver - make him go SLOW when he is with 100 KM of DA LAT. The roads are killers (literally). I live near Da Lat in Buon Ma Thuot.

Thank you very much for the advise.

The Dreams Hotel recommendation is a good one. However, I would sure like to see how any bus can travel from Nha Trang to Da Lat in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Must be the bullet bus. Myself I would ride no bus that can travel that distance in 90 minutes. Futa bus lines is also very good. They will also provide a free shuttle to where it is you are going in Nha Trang or Da Lat. They do not provide that service in HCM though. I think the tour of the silk manufacture is very interesting when you come to Da Lat as well.