The country’s first luxury train transforms the legendary North-South railway into an eight-day high-end land cruise.
Vietnam has launched its first luxury train service, positioning itself as a serious contender in Asia’s premium rail travel market. SJourney operates eight-day journeys along the historic North-South railway connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Operating as a land cruise, the train travels predominantly at night – meaning passengers retire in one province and wake to breakfast in another, ready for a full day of curated excursions before re-boarding. It’s the antithesis of Vietnam’s typical tourist circuit of constant hotel check-ins and airport sprints.
The 13-carriage train carries a maximum of 60 guests in 10-square-metre cabins with proper en-suite bathrooms, mini bars and wardrobes. Every design detail references 1930s Indochine aesthetics: furniture commissioned from Hanoi craft villages, bamboo and wood throughout, red ochre and metallic gold paintwork gleaming along the exterior.
Two restaurant cars bookend the train, serving rotating menus that shift with the landscape. Chefs occasionally emerge for live cooking demonstrations between courses, whilst the bars never close.
By day, the train crawls at 40 kilometres per hour through rice paddies, coastal lagoons and mountain passes. Stops at Ninh Binh, Quang Binh, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Phan Thiet deliver jeep tours through craft villages, private yacht excursions, temple visits and traditional performances at station platforms.
Journeys start from $8,600 per person. Book October to December 2026 departures by 28 February with code SJEB10 for 10% off.
