Subway in Hanoi and how to use it

Hanoi's Kaoke Metro and what you need to know

Since 2021, a new urban transport system, the metro, has been launched in Hanoi. This is an above-ground-underground metro, i.e. part of the lines and stations are above ground, part underground. The stations, trains and carriages are new and comfortable, with air conditioning. We took a ride on this subway, and we liked everything, except that so far you can't really go anywhere on it.

The fact is that so far only two lines are working, and not completely. These lines are located away from the center and pass away from tourist places and attractions, so this type of transport will not be particularly useful for tourists and travelers yet. But development work continues, and it is planned to cover more of the city with metro stations, including the tourist area and even Hanoi Airport.

Most likely, all this construction will be delayed for another decade. However, below in the article are practical information and videos that will help you take advantage of them.:

How much does the fare cost and how to use tickets

• Ticket price

  The cost of a subway ride in Hanoi depends on the distance. The minimum price for 1-2 stations is 8000 VND (approximately 0.3 USD), then 9,000 and so on up to 15,000. Children under 6 years old - free of charge. You will find out the price when buying tickets at the station. To do this, you need to specify your destination station.

• Working hours

  Trains run from 05:00 to 22:00 with an interval of 6-10 minutes.

Tickets are one-time in the form of a card, there are travel and cumulative tickets. It makes no sense for tourists to buy savings or travel cards, so buy one-time tickets-cards every time at the station. A one-time ticket is valid for one person, respectively, if there are several of you, then a ticket card is purchased for each.

A ticket can be purchased at each station at the ticket offices or at the automatic terminal:

• In terminals

  Terminals accept cash and cards, but Russian cards do not work. Accepts cash in bills up to 50,000 VND, issues change.

  There is an English language in the terminal interface, the purchase is done very simply: select the station and the number of tickets, you will see the final cost, then "feed" the bills to the machine, and get the ticket cards and change.

  

• At the ticket offices

  At the ticket office, just name or show the name of the terminal station and the number of tickets, they will tell you the cost.

  

After buying tickets, follow the turnstile to the entrance. Here you need to lean the cards against the reader, after that the turnstile will open and you can pass.

At your terminal station, to pass through the turnstile to the exit, you do not need to lean the card, but insert it into the slot of the receiver. The machine will "eat" the card, read it, and if everything is in order, it will open. If you try to get off at another station that you didn't buy a ticket to, the turnstile will return it and won't open.

Lines and where to go

Unfortunately, now, and in the next couple of years, the existing two subway lines of Hanoi for tourists are mostly useless. Perhaps one exception that we found is if you stay in one of the hotels near the metro. Then you can get to the Cat Linh terminal station, and from it you can walk one and a half kilometers to Ba Dinh Square with the mausoleum and some other places.

We have marked the metro lines and stations on our interactive map of Hanoi with points of interest and hotels for download.