Luggage from Saigon to Hanoi?

craveman · Jun 28, 2012

Hey guys

I'll be buying a motorbike in Saigon soon to travel up to Hanoi. I'm only going to take a small bag along for my trip and would like to have the rest of my stuff transported to Hanoi, to be safely stored. Do any of you know of a company that could do that? Doing it by mail will cost too much and if I opt for either train or air, I will need someone to pick it up and store it.

Are there maybe any bus companies that would provide that service? Any inputs would be helpful.

Thanks!

:happy1:

VietHorse · Jun 29, 2012

Need you to provide some more details, eg.:
- Estimated total weight of your luggages?
- How long do you need the lugage to transfer to you from SGN to HAN?

I think there are many buses or even train, they will accept the transportation order, but for storage I am not so sure.

Normally, the bus left HCMC and arrive HAN after 3 days and they will call you up for receiving - I don't think they have store to accommodate your stuff.
For train transportation, there 're some option for you to choose, express transfer via passenger train (take ~ 3 days) or via cargo train (may be a week or more). In HCMC or HAN, they all have ware house there. You need to contact and check with them for detail.

For sure the price of bus or train would be very reasonable.

If need transport via airline, with almost 24hrs delivery (door to door) they will charge 60,000VND for the first 2kg. And 18,000VND more for each additional kg.
Let's say you have 30kg luggage -> total = 60 + 18(30-2) = 564,000VND ~ USD27.00

craveman · Jun 29, 2012

VietHorse;280451 wrote: Need you to provide some more details, eg.:
- Estimated total weight of your luggages?
- How long do you need the lugage to transfer to you from SGN to HAN?

I think there are many buses or even train, they will accept the transportation order, but for storage I am not so sure.

Normally, the bus left HCMC and arrive HAN after 3 days and they will call you up for receiving - I don't think they have store to accommodate your stuff.
For train transportation, there 're some option for you to choose, express transfer via passenger train (take ~ 3 days) or via cargo train (may be a week or more). In HCMC or HAN, they all have ware house there. You need to contact and check with them for detail.

For sure the price of bus or train would be very reasonable.

If need transport via airline, with almost 24hrs delivery (door to door) they will charge 60,000VND for the first 2kg. And 18,000VND more for each additional kg.
Let's say you have 30kg luggage -> total = 60 + 18(30-2) = 564,000VND ~ USD27.00

Hey Viethorse

Thank you very much for your reply. Me and my girlfriend both have a bag weighing around 30kg each. So, that would make it a total of 60kg to be transported from HCMC to Hanoi. It should take us around 3 weeks to travel between HCMC to Hanoi.

Today, I had time to shop around and see if there were any companies that could help. I found 2: Ha Linh Travel and The Sinh Tourist. Ha Linh offered to store our bags and send it to Hanoi 3 to 4 days before we arrive for a fee of 600 Dong. Sinh on the other hand charges 500 Dong and would ship our bags immediately and store it for us on the other side. As Sinh is a larger company I think we might go for them.

Thanks again and if you know of any other options please let us know.

Cheers

VietHorse · Jun 29, 2012

The two companies you asked are tourist companies at the foreigner place so they can communicate well with you. Further more, I think they have a certain level of reputation at that area so you can believe them.
If you think their offer still high, you can try to contact with the Cargo services at Saigon Railway Station. I believe that would be a bit cheaper. I have sent a big bike to my friend in Hanoi end of last year (a Honda 1,000cc) and it cost me almost 2mil Dong.

For me, $20-30 for shipping 60kg to Hanoi is not too bad. And the thing is, with Ha Linh or Sinh, you can communicate with them easier than with the Railway people.

craveman · Jul 1, 2012

VietHorse;280461 wrote: The two companies you asked are tourist companies at the foreigner place so they can communicate well with you. Further more, I think they have a certain level of reputation at that area so you can believe them.
If you think their offer still high, you can try to contact with the Cargo services at Saigon Railway Station. I believe that would be a bit cheaper. I have sent a big bike to my friend in Hanoi end of last year (a Honda 1,000cc) and it cost me almost 2mil Dong.

For me, $20-30 for shipping 60kg to Hanoi is not too bad. And the thing is, with Ha Linh or Sinh, you can communicate with them easier than with the Railway people.

The deed is done! We chose The Sinh Tourist who seemed professional, so now it is fingers crossed and hope for the best. They charged 500 000 Dong for two large bags. I'm very excited as tomorrow we're off on our road trip!:wave:

Thanks again Viethorse for your inputs.

Adios!

VietHorse · Jul 1, 2012

Well done! Just make sure you have their contacts at two ends. And the best would be the storage address in Hanoi.
So why don't you start a new thread called your own Vietnam trip report?

craveman · Jul 2, 2012

VietHorse;280488 wrote: Well done! Just make sure you have their contacts at two ends. And the best would be the storage address in Hanoi.

We've made sure to do all that! Now all we can do is cross our fingers...

So why don't you start a new thread called your own Vietnam trip report?

Lol, well I will definitely do a trip report although I'm so far behind on my blog that it might take a while...I recently posted my Northern Thailand Trip report and still have to complete Laos and Cambodia. Hopefully I'll find a few spare days somewhere.

Happy riding

:happy5:

chrisynok · Oct 3, 2012

Hi,

I work for Flamingo Travel a motorbike rental/tour company, if anybody in future needs help with luggage transportation we are more than happy to help any enthusiastic bikers wishing to travel Vietnam.

This is a free service, all you are required to do is pay for the secure postal service which in my experience is roughly $15 for about 15kg to 20kg. We have an office in Hanoi and an office in HCMC (Saigon). We can store your luggage in our office ready for you on your arrival.

Please contact us before to arrange this service.

Chris
Flamingo Travel Vietnam

Cruising · Oct 3, 2012

chrisynok;283022 wrote: Hi,

I work for Flamingo Travel a motorbike rental/tour company, if anybody in future needs help with luggage transportation we are more than happy to help any enthusiastic bikers wishing to travel Vietnam.

This is a free service, all you are required to do is pay for the secure postal service which in my experience is roughly $15 for about 15kg to 20kg. We have an office in Hanoi and an office in HCMC (Saigon). We can store your luggage in our office ready for you on your arrival.

Please contact us before to arrange this service.

Chris
Flamingo Travel Vietnam

I was nearly going to suggest you but he had already made arrangements.

We rented 4 XR 250`s 2 1/2 years from Flamingo for a one way trip were the bikes were shipped to Saigon for us to ride and return them to Hanoi.

It all went clockwork so Hung and Flamingo are recommended.